The Holiday review（在线收听） |
| Callum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Entertainment. In the Christmas and NewYear season there are always a number of films released set in this time of yearwhich use images of traditional Christmas and winter scenery, like cottages incountry villages covered in snow. One such film in the cinemas at the moment isThe Holiday, a romantic comedy or rom-com which stars Kate Winslet, CameronDiaz, Jack Black and Jude LawIn today's programme we hear a review of the film by my favourite BBC reviewerMark Kermode. I like Mark's reviews because he is passionate about films. Hepraises the films he likes and criticises those he doesn't and if he really doesn't likea film he is very expressive and imaginative in his descriptions of how much hedislikes it. So what about the Holiday? Does he like it, dislike it or hate it? Before we find out, like any good review we need to hear a little bit about the plot. Mark KermodeThe story is Kate Winslet is living in England and she is heartbroken and Cameron Diaz is livingin Los Angeles. And Kate Winslet works in a very little job for the Daily Telegraph. CameronDiaz makes movie trailers in Los Angeles and she's got some problems as well. So you know it'sreally lucky because they end up doing a house-swap together. So Kate goes to Los Angeles,where she meets Jake Black and Cameron Diaz comes to Surrey and she meets Mr Charm himself,Jude Law and you know love starts to blossom. Callum: So it's a film about two women who are unlucky in love, one in Surrey, Englandand one in Los Angeles, United States. They have a house swap, a swap, when youexchange one thing for another. They swap houses and meet new men and lovestarts to blossom, love starts to grow. So far, so good. It seems like a fairly reasonable basis for a romantic comedy andhas a good cast. Time now to hear what Mark thinks about it. Mark KermodeFirstly it's very long, I mean it's over two hours long and it should really have been like you know,at tops, absolute tops, 88 minutes. Callum: His first comment is that the film is too long. He says that at tops, at tops it shouldbe 88 minutes. At tops is a short expression meaning maximum, so the maximumit should have been , the longest it should have been is 88 minutes. This all seemsquite reasonable so far but we are still waiting to hear Mark's opinion of the filmor some clue as to how he feels about it. You don't have to wait very long. Let'shear why he thinks it should be shorter. Callum: Oh dear, that doesn't sound good. Let's listen to that description again: Mark Kermodevomit-inducingly ghastly. Callum: Vomit-inducingly ghastly. So ghastly, so horrible it makes you vomit, whichmeans it makes what's in your stomach come up out of your mouth. This is why Ilike Mark's reviews so much, they are so descriptive and put an image in yourmind of people's reaction to the movie. Mark Kermodevomit-inducingly ghastly. Callum: So what gives Mark such a strong reaction to a romantic comedy? In hisexplanation he talks about the saccharine-sugary coating of the film. Saccharine isan artificial sweetener, it makes things taste sweet, but not in a natural way. SoMark is comparing the film to an artificially sweet food, it's not genuine, it's falsebut still very sweet and like something that's too sweet it makes you feel sick. He also uses the term pastiche. A pastiche is a piece of writing or a film that isdeliberately made in the style of something else, often to show how bad the stylebeing copied is. So is the Holiday a pastiche, is it deliberately trying to be bad, tobe an example of a bad romantic comedy? Mark KermodeIt's one of those films in which the saccharine sugary coating is so badly done that you think thatyou're watching a pastiche, you think somebody is doing a joke about just how badly these thingscan be put together. Callum: Mark thinks that it is so bad it seems like a pastiche, a joke about how bad aromantic film could be. He goes on to say the film is trying to be like thesuccessful romantic comedy Love Actually, does he think it is close to being asgood? Mark KermodeIt desperately wants to be Love Actually, and it is Toilet ActuallyCallum: Well, I think Mark's views on this film are clear. It's not Love Actually, it'sToilet Actually! Not one of his favourites of 2006! If you're making a trip to the cinema in the next few days, I hope you find a filmwhich you enjoy. That's all from this edition of Entertainment. |
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