30 Ridiculous Things The Characters In The Holiday Do Instead Of Going To Therapy

We all have those movies that we just have to watch around the holidays. When the calendar hits November, it suddenly becomes acceptable to put Elf or The Santa Clause on repeat because, hey, that's just part of getting into the spirit. It doesn't necessarily mean the movies are...good. In fact, Christmas movies especially are kind of ridiculous. While it's pretty much universally accepted that Love Actually has a lot of issues, I feel it's high time for another movie to get an equal amount of scrutiny: The Holiday.

To be clear, I love The Holiday. I've already watched it about 1o times this month, and despite all its flaws, I wouldn't want it any other way. But, oh boy, are there flaws. It wasn't until maybe the 100th time I viewed it that I realised that the entire cast of characters is made up of some deeply troubled people who are acting on irresponsible whims based solely on their recent traumas and heartbreak. What ensues is an absolutely bonkers narrative that would have been simpler, healthier, and way less expensive if everyone had just gone to therapy.

Of course, that wouldn't make for a great movie. However, there are some things that, as someone who should probably be in therapy herself, I just can't ignore: Parental negligence. Reckless spending. A legitimate suicide attempt. If you watch the movie again through this brand-new lens, things get a whole lot darker, and have me strongly considering writing a letter to check up on whoever wrote these people into existence. Nancy Meyers, call me.

But I get that that's not exactly the most festive attitude to have, and you may be calling me a grinch for daring to speak ill of the movie in the first place. Nevertheless, ahead are 30 bananas things that happen in The Holiday, and once you take a look yourself, in the words of Amanda's (Cameron Diaz) dumbass ex-boyfriend Ethan (Ed Burns), I think you'll see my side.