Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Cameron Diaz | ... | Amanda | |
Kate Winslet | ... | Iris | |
Jude Law | ... | Graham | |
Jack Black | ... | Miles | |
Eli Wallach | ... | Arthur | |
Edward Burns | ... | Ethan | |
Rufus Sewell | ... | Jasper | |
Miffy Englefield | ... | Sophie | |
![]() |
Emma Pritchard | ... | Olivia |
Sarah Parish | ... | Hannah | |
Shannyn Sossamon | ... | Maggie | |
Bill Macy | ... | Ernie | |
Shelley Berman | ... | Norman | |
Kathryn Hahn | ... | Bristol | |
John Krasinski | ... | Ben |
In London, Iris Simpkins writes a wedding column in a newspaper and nurtures an unrequited love for her colleague Jasper Bloom. Near Christmas, she is informed that Jasper is engaged to marry another colleague, and her life turns upside down. In Los Angeles, the movie-trailers maker Amanda Woods has just split with her unfaithful boyfriend Ethan and wants to forget him. Through a house exchange website, Amanda impulsively swaps her mansion for Iris' cottage in Surrey for the holidays. While in Surrey, Amanda meets Iris' brother and book editor Graham and they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile, Iris meets her new next door neighbor the ninety year old screenplay writer Arthur, who helps her retrieve her self-esteem, and the film composer Miles, with whom she falls in love. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
I think this film deserves a better rating than the current 6.9 on IMDb. I to expected it to be just like other rom com's but it was much better than i expected and very enjoyable.
The story starts with Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslet) fed up with their love lives; Amanda's boyfriend has been cheating on her and the man Iris loves has just got engaged to someone else. They both decide to switch houses for Christmas for an escape from their complicated lives; so Iris jets off to Amanda's place in sunny L.A and Amanda goes to Iris' quaint cottage in snowy Surrey, England (if only it really did snow at Christmas!) Amanda soon meets Iris' handsome brother Graham (Brilliantly played by Jude Law) and Iris meets musician Miles (Jack Black) and you can guess the rest...
The acting is strong and well handled. At first i found Cameron Diaz hugely annoying but as it went on i warmed to her character; she and Jude had lots of chemistry and their relationship was handled well and Graham's secret was a good twist.
I thought Jack Black was great in this different role, he and Kate also had chemistry and he was totally believable. I wish their storyline had been a bit longer though as they spent way more time on Cameron and Jude's part.
Kate Winslet as usual was funny and touching as Iris and maybe one of the best parts of the film was her relationship with the old man (Eli Wallach) they both seemed to have a connection and it was nice to hear his stories of when he was a writer in the good old Hollywood days when he knew Cary Grant and co! If you want beautiful scenery, escapism from the millions of horror and action films out there and good characterisation, than this is for you. It's not as soppy as other rom/com's and it's easy to identify with the characters, it's also very festive and my dad even liked it and he hates romantic films!