LISTS… Taking a Trip into the Heart of 3 Romantic Movies

#1980s #2000s #2020s #AllPosts

 

Loving to travel, and travelling to find love…

 

Women in these three movies take journeys of all sorts to discover love with a stranger at Christmas time.

 

The Holiday (2006)

A Castle for Christmas (2021)

 

This is my February post for this weekly entertainment themed challenge from Wandering Through the Shelves. For this challenge, you had to write about three to five film releases featuring the topic, “Romance Tropes Edition: Travel Romance”.

More about this blog’s 2023 blogging challenge is found HERE… and this page also includes the blogger’s challenges for this year, if you are now keen to join this fun collaboration.

…. welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them.

All my contributions for 2023 are found HERE… and my and others’ contributions for this particular topic are HERE. Please note I will be adding all links to this collaboration as I get them…

My choices are A Castle for Christmas (2021), The Sure Thing (1985) and The Holiday (2006) where these very different women travel. All either find love along the way or after they get to their holiday destination.

In two out of three of these, they tick all the boxes for those who like those chocolate box romances but are more sickly than gooey… and the other is simply delightfully sweet in every way.

 

A Castle for Christmas (2021)…

A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS Trailer (2021) Romantic Movie, Movie Coverage

A Castle for Christmas (2021) is an American TV Movie which my mother watched after it was recommended by all and sundry as a must see film in Christmas 2021. My Darlin Husband and I also tried to watch it that year but gave up after less than 10 minutes.

This was despite the welcoming Scottish scenes of familiar sights of Edinburgh Airport, the Scottish countryside at its most festive and for me, the thought of Cary Elwes in a kilt. Despite all of these plus points, and knowing a relative – who will remain nameless – was working behind the scenes we gave up watching, as more Scootland than Scotland. Last Christmas, and fulfilling a promise made to my mother, we tried again and battled our way through it.

This film was directed by an American, aptly known for her horror films. It tells of the approaching 60-year-old Brooke Shields as an American-based, best-selling romantic novelist, Sophie Brown who travels to Scotland. This trip is to avoid a wee scandal after she kills off a leading character in her latest book, leading to uproar from her readers (but the film, Misery (1990) this is not). All this plot is regurgitated with a shameless plug for The Drew Barrymore Show (2020-), where Sophie is a guest star.

Apparently, Sophie’s father lived in Scottyland, in the days of yore. Once in Scotland, Sophie meets the charming “Scottish” people in both a knitting group and the guise of the hot, young and single, Duke of Dun Dunbar Castle (Elwes). She takes a fancy to his “castle”, which is now conveniently for sale. She decides to take a wee impromptu tour, to discover said relative left his mark on the building. Thus sealing the deal of buying this castle, after spotting his sheer vandalism in the woodwork. 

Sophie joins the local knitting group full of stereotypical Scots and is a big hit. She also meets and immediately falls out with Dun Dunbar’s Duke and then has to move in with him in said “castle”. Obviously, the plot then follows the inevitable – read predictable – pattern as boy meets girl, boy hates girl formula. He’s grouchy and cantankerous yet boyishly handsome, and the inevitable contrived shite continues with icky snowy scenes (yawn).

Then the predictability continues with bonding with the Duke of Dun Dunbar over Scottish dancing, (fake) history and snow. But sadly surprisingly no cameo from the Loch Ness Monster. This cameo was sorely missed as even McMillan and Wife mentioned it HERE (and we saw a more credible character in a kilt aka Rock Hudson as McMillan in a MacMillan tartan, which is much, much better than these fake Scots).

This is a Netflix does Hallmark movie by the numbers, and is filled with Scottish snowy scenes that will warm your heart (boke), wee quaint Scottish villages that may have appeared in Outlander, and more tartan than you can shake your fist at (and you do). IMDb states that the castle is really a “Tudor-Gothic revival mansion” and was found just outside Edinburgh, not that you’d guess with the more random Scottish geographical features on her journey there, which are literally all over the place.

As this film was made in Scotland, this film naturally caused a wee uproar among us Scots, with fewer Scottish people in front of the camera than behind it. The Scotland-based characters probably learned their OTT Scootish accents from Loch Ness (1996). Loch Ness is another film crammed with a cast of non-Scots. The travesty that is A Castle for Christmas was beautifully summed up by Eddie, a friend and fellow Scottish entertainment blogger, at Film Authority HERE as…

… A Castle for Christmas drew me into a festive buffet of wayward accents and glutinous sentiment from which no-one emerges unscathed. A slice of holly-jolly romance, it’s a hoot for anyone who knows what life in Scotland is actually like; this is US wish fulfilment, dressed in tartan, drowned in eggnog and served with a sprig of wilting heather.

But will it be true love for the American and the “Scot” or will it just be a (non-Highland) fling or will she return to the airport – in the only taxi in Scotland – brokenhearted? Not really a spoiler to say that in a nutshell, the title foreshadows the plot. And Drew Barrymore really should have known better…

 

The Holiday (2006)…

THE HOLIDAY [2006] – Official Trailer (HD), Sony Pictures Entertainment

House swaps back in the day were never this glamorous or romantic, and possibly never will be. So dispend all disbelief as you watch the Christmas blockbuster romance – read schmaltz – that is The Holiday (2006). Cameron Diaz is Amanda, a movie trailer producer who has just been dumped by her cheating boyfriend, Ethan (Edward Burns) in sunny Los Angeles. Kate Winslet is Iris who is going through unrequited love at its most painful in England. She still loves her rotten ex-boyfriend, Jasper (Rufus Sewell) who has moved on and got happily ensconced with a work colleague.

Amanda lives in a superduper house with a swimming pool etc in LA. Iris lives in a picture-postcard English country cottage that is probably listed and must cost a fortune to heat (but that’s irrelevant). Both women want a wee break from their exes, pining and sobbing into their pillows. They both decide on a wee holiday abroad, log in to a House Swap website, and then agree to swap houses after they find each other straight away, in what is an against all the odds moment. While on their holiday abroad, one finds true love with Jude Law and one friendzones Jack Black.

This film is added out with a pretty by the numbers romance involving Amanda and Jude’s character and a really tedious plotline with Iris and an old screenwriter, Arthur (Elli Wallach, with 171 much better films and TV) (who for the record is also friendzoned). Amanda falls for Iris’ brother, Graham (Jude Law) is a single dad – and widower – with two adorable wee girls who like teepees. speak in the style of a Jane Austen novel and it seems enjoy playing with leggy American blonde ladies. Graham (Jude Law) is as English as his name sounds, and there’s the sappiest montage ever that once upon a time ago reduced me to tears. But swiftly moving on…

Winslet as Iris manages to get through this formulaic rom-com without snogging Miles (Jack Black)  – who was more likely friendzoned but possibly an f…buddy? as implied in a Director’s cut that didn’t happen – but putting up with his “zany” (read annoying) humour. She also learns from Albert that she deserves better in life and love (yawn). Oh, how we laughed… and nodded our heads at this wisdom with these two men respectively. 

I confess the first time I watched this film as a singleton, I loved those opening in film trailers which now kind of pale in comparison with those from Tarantino in his Grindhouse homages. I sobbed pathetically at the plot, despite it having more cliches than 2012 (2009). I believed that Jude Law was the ideal bloke to meet and fall in love with on a Christmassy holiday. And that I too could hide behind snowy trees in a sappy montage. But then after extolling all about this then rom-com favourite, to my recently acquired Darlin Boyfriend (who later became Darlin Husband) it kinda fell flat on the rewatch.

 

The Sure Thing (1985)…

The Sure Thing (Trailer) (1985).avi, Fraguss Productions

Now to the best of the three, and it’s back to the 1980s. Gib is your typical John Cusack character, hopeful in love, over-garrulous and a wee bit quirky. Apparently, Cusack was only 16 or 17 (bless) when this film was made and he hadn’t even graduated from high school. As Walter “Gib” Gibson, Cusack paved the way for more his roles of the same for decades.

After Gib leaves school, where he lost his mojo with the girls with his stock astrology themed (and therefore nerdy to some) chat up line, he becomes a university student in New England. His best friend, Lance (Anthony Edwards) goes to the UCLA.

At University, in Gib’s English classes run by Professor Taub (a delightful cameo from Viveca Lindfors), he is seen to have a great way with words, unless he’s chatting up the girls or writing things down. Alison (Daphne Zuniga) is the girly swot of this class. Yet, this perceptive teacher believes that Alison is uptight, needs to live a little and doesn’t show her passion in her writing.

Gib immediately fancies Alison, not knowing she has a boyfriend and that they have their whole life mapped out. Love lorn Gib asks Alison for help with his writing skills, in this role reversal of the same on screen situation in Grease 2 (1982). Instead of this scene, ending with a man with some hope of romance in the form of an alter ego like the Grease (1978) sequel, it ends in Alison hating him after he makes a pass at her. 

At Christmas break, these two very different students then take a shared back seat car trip – much to their horror, after seeing each other –  from New England to Los Angeles. In the front seat, are the underused characters, Gary Cooper (Tim Robbins) and Mary Ann Webster (Lisa Jane Persky).

Their destination is UCLA, where Alison will stay with her lawyer-bound boyfriend. Also at UCLA, Gib’s school best friend, Lance has arranged for Gib a date with the titular sure thing who looks like – and is – a young Nicolle Sheridan (think pretty leggy and blonde and the actress from Desperate Housewives (2004-12)). 

Gib’s breakfast choices appall Alison, as he eats crisps and follows it with a can of fizzy juice and this drink is drunk shotgun. In the back seat, Alison and Gib bicker like crazy so much that the couple, they are car sharing with drops them off in the middle of nowhere. Cooper also had to pay a police fine after Alison proved she can be spontaneous to Gib – by flashing her chest to another car – in one of their many spats. Gib and Alison then have to make their own way to LA… 

This film was directed by Rob Reiner who directed films as diverse as This is Spinal Tap (1984) and When Harry Met Sally (1989). These two films have a few shared cast members and connections. Gib has a poster of This Is Spinal Tap in his college dorm. Harry and Sally, the protagonists in When Harry Met Sally also share a car ride, like Gib and Alison. Lisa Jane Persky starred in the latter movie and Robert Bauer played Moke in both the former movie and this film,.

The screenplay may feel predictable but like The Vow (2012), it was based on the real-life experiences of the screenwriter. Interestingly, the man who played the Fonz in Happy Days (1974-84), Henry Winkler was a producer of this movie.

There are some nice in-character touches as Gib’s vivid imagination is seen in his daydreams with the sure thing and Alison’s meticulously planned future with her boyfriend. The New York Times critic, Janet Maslin adds HERE…

To that film’s foolproof on-the-road romantic formula, the filmmakers have added a moral dilemma for Gib, who isn’t entirely comfortable with the frat- party ethics of his friends. That he and Alison come to understand themselves while discovering each other makes the film all the more beguiling.

Robbins and Persky totally steal their scene as they sing show tunes together in the car in their fun introduction as the car-share couple. Named Gary Cooper, Robbins also makes an awkward reference to the actor of the same name. However, I concur with Roger Ebert, who was ecstatic about this screenplay in his spoiler filled review. Like him, I believe that these teenage character protagonists were credibly written. He supports this HERE...

Walter and Alison are closer to real teenagers, with real doubts and hesitations and uncertainties.

And you will discover by the closing credits, that plot has more than one sure thing…

Other reviews featured earlier in this blog that falls under the “Romance Tropes Edition: Travel Romance” theme include… 3 Men and a Little Lady (1990), About Time (2013), The Cassandra Crossing (1976),  The Concorde: Airport 1979 (1979) / Airport ’80: The Concorde (1980), Detroit Rock City (1999), The Heartbreak Kid (1972), Juliet, Naked (2018), The Lady Vanishes (1979), Only You (1994), Our Ladies (2019), Quest for Love (1971), Titanic (1997), The Time of Their Lives (2017) and Voyage of the Damned (1976).

These films include romances, in plots which involve travel in so many more ways than planes, trains and automobiles. Click on those blue links to be transported to those reviews, in all kinds of genres and not necessarily in this time and place.

 

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Don’t forget to read the other contributions for this topic on Wandering Through the Shelves link up HERE.

And tune in March’s post for the TMP Television Edition: Companion Reads, where I will “Pair a book to a TV show that makes a good companion read because they feature similar themes / subject – not necessarily the book it was based on“.

 

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