Amanda and Iris both have relationship problems in the build up to Christmas. They then decide to house swap for the festive period after finding each other online, Amanda living in LA and Iris in Surrey, England. It is quite the culture shock of each woman.
I guess it is typical of a romantic comedy that women are trying to get away from a man and the horrible situation this has created. For Iris is quite possibly one of the most heartbreaking scenes. She is in love with Jasper and has been for three years, they had a little bit of a thing but he picked another work colleague over here. At the work Christmas Party the engagement is announced, just after he could have pre-warned her. Jasper has continued to lead her on and is basically not a nice character. Instantly as a viewer we do not like him at all! Amanda splits up with her boyfriend after finding out he cheated on her, he tries to blame her and the way she was in the relationship but luckily she does not see that as an excuse.
On swapping they immediately are thrown another possible love interest. For Iris we meet Miles who is a film composer and having a difficult time himself with the women he seems to pick out. For Amanda we get Graham who is Iris' brother and doesn't actually find out she has left the country when turning up one night pretty drunk to stop over. The film is clichéd and obvious throughout but that does not make me love it any less, I really would place this as one of my top guilty pleasure films. I class it as a Christmas film with it being over the festive period but it doesn't actually feel very Christmassy in all honesty. Which again is a plus as it isn't used Christmas for the love stories just more of the escape. Graham does have a little twist in his story which keeps the film very nice, as you fear the worst and that he is just a full on womanizer.
The best thing about the film though has to be Eli Wallach as Arthur an old writer who Iris meets and listens to everything he has to say. He recommends classic films for her to watch and she manages to convince him to eventually pick up an award he has been giving for his achievement in film. Those parts really are lovely and pretty special in all honesty.
I adore Kate Winslet in this film and think the character of Iris is very relatable, especially with her unrequited love remark. She really does get a lot of very interesting and thought-provoking lines. A character I am sure most people can relate to at some point in their lives and hopefully one day that they will push away from the person who keeps them from really living. That is certainly not something that people should want for themselves.
I honestly do not care what anyone says about this film in terms of it being bad as I totally love it. That has been confirmed with another viewing, as somehow I had failed to gush and put my thoughts down for this film. I am sure loads of others must love it too?
