7. “The Holiday” (2006)
Sadly, the only good shot of co-star Eli Wallach available was this one of the back of his head. But the friendship his Old Hollywood screenwriter character forms with Kate Winslet’s frustrated journalist in Nancy Meyers’ film is one of the most delightful subplots of any rom-com this century.
You know the basic contours of the plot: Winslet, London-based and in a toxic workplace faux-romance with the always creepy-sexy Rufus Sewell, trades homes with Cameron Diaz’s Tinseltown trailer-cutter and all parties find reinvigoration and renewal. Diaz ends up meeting, and falling in love with, delightful single-dad Jude Law in the English countryside, while Winslet goes head over heels for Jack Black as a Hollywood movie composer. It’s all fun and light and full of good cheer, and who isn’t already looking for a little Christmas spirit after this 2021?
Even better: it has a charming Hanukkah celebration that sees Winslet’s Iris getting together with her new friend Wallach and some of his Old Hollywood pals. Maybe it’s a little cheesy that Wallach’s character is literally supposed to have added the “kid” to “Here’s looking at you, kid” in “Casablanca,” but that’s certainly a forgivable offense.