If you’re looking for a light and fun romantic comedy to jumpstart your holiday season, Holidate could well be it. It has a witty script, good chemistry and a really fun, albeit unoriginal premise.

Synopsis: Sloane (Emma Roberts), being the only single person in her family, is constantly being set up by her family with different guys because they want her to be happy. Contrary to their goal, it makes her even more miserable. She meets Jackson (Luke Bracey), a happy go lucky pro golfer and it turns out they have more in common than they think. They make a deal to become each other’s “holidate” until further notice and so proceeds a year filled with holiday dates with no actual commitment.

I love Holidate‘s tongue in cheek approach to dating. I love how they blatantly poked fun at relationships and the perception of happiness. It was fun how Sloane and Jackson were so free with each other, unemcumbered by the constant need to put their best foot forward.

I liked that the two of them were there for each other even through the worst heartbreaks. Jackson never left even when she literally sh*t her pants. Eww right? Other guys would have bolted.

I think what made their relationship work was the friendship that they developed from spending so much time together, as well as their honesty with each other.

Unfortunately, while they were honest about their previous relationships and other not so pleasant details about their lives, they were less than honest about their growing feelings for each other. Their holidate rules muddled their relationship and it did not help that their “advisers” were also clueless about what they were talking about.

At this point, I liked that Jackson was the one who owned up to his feelings first because its rare for a guy to do that. The fact that he was the more mature one in the relationship only added to his appeal.

Even though there were moments that were so corny, they were borderline cringey, Emma Roberts and and Luke Bracey still made it work because of their strong chemistry. Perhaps because she was so American and he was so Australian, the contrast delivered something unique.

Also, because the film didn’t take itself seriously and made a joke of just about anything, everything panned out like it was supposed to.

Holidate was more Sloane’s story than Jackson’s but its okay because she had an interesting family. They all represented different relationship issues and they were all relatable although they were borderline annoying.

All in all, Holidate did not have the most original story. It was fairly simple but it filled out the better part of two hours with an entertaining take on the holidays for single people. It will definitely boost your holiday mood. And this is just me but I think the ending left enough room for a sequel. I would definitely check it out if it happens.

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For more holiday romcom recommendations, check out my article Netflix rom-coms that will get you in the holiday ‘kilig’ mood