The characters trapped in John Whitesell’s “Holidate” may not know they’re in a romantic comedy, but they sure know the perimeters of one.
Sloane (Emma Roberts) and Jackson (Luke Bracey) are barely into their first encounter before they start yammering about the usual cinematic expectations of the genre — including the exact ones that will unfold in the film to come — as well as the very same outdated “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” concepts that have bolstered such movies since film history invented them.
But while plenty of rom-coms have tackled this tongue-in-cheek approach before, “Holidate” never attempts to subvert the very things it mocks, instead opting forAt least Roberts and Bracey make for a charming pair, and their chemistry continually bolsters a script that never defies expectations, even as it tries to skewer them with flat jokes and bizarre swings at raunchy punchlines.
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