A woman’s picture-perfect life in quaint Holland, Michigan crumbles, when she and a friend uncover a twisted secret in their midst.
Chuck says:
You can’t help but admire Nicole Kidman’s work ethic. Since 2021, she’s appeared in five television mini-series and seven feature films, with two more TV projects to be released before the year is out. Not sure what is compelling her to work at such a pace, but more power to her in regards to her getting her passion projects up and running. I just wish she were a bit more discerning in the projects she chooses, as their quantity is adversely affecting their quality.
After 2024’s “Babygirl” and “A Family Affair,” both in-your-face projects produced with the sole purpose of showcasing the actress’ body and sex appeal, comes Mimi Cave’s “Holland.” This lackluster affair is limp foray into David Lynch territory, but lacking in panache, imagination and quality. Taking place in the titular Michigan town, the script by Andrew Sodroski contains nary a surprise, except how deadly dull its hackneyed plot turns out to be.
According to Nancy Vandergroot (Kidman), Holland is the perfect place to live and raise a family. She certainly does her part to make it so, teaching Home Economics at the local high school, all the while projecting the sort of insincere positivity that just makes you want to punch her in the face. This is a woman who draws a heart with ketchup on her meatloaf. She’s the type of person who says, “I’m going to have an attitude of gratitude!” She’s also, bored out of her mind.
Her husband, Fred (Matthew Macfadyen, having fun) is also gratingly optimistic but more sincere. A successful optometrist, he loves his work, his son Harry (Jude Hill) and his wife. While his habit of building elaborate towns for his model trains to run through might seem odd to some, he’s a well-respected guy. The only hiccup in the marriage is that he travels often to conferences, something Nancy becomes suspicious of.
A parking ticket from a far-off town and a credit card number she doesn’t recognize, both found in Fred’s office, turns our heroine into Nancy Drew. She’s convinced he’s having an affair, something she confides in Dave Delgado (Gael Garcia Bernal), the high school shop teacher she’s having an emotional affair with. Before you know it, the pair is breaking into Fred’s office and following him about, intent on catching him with his pants down. Little do they know…
What’s striking about the film is how disengaged it is, regarding its characters and the audience. Despite having a potentially intriguing premise, this is strikingly dull movie. It’s not dark enough to be an exercise in Film Noir, not sharp enough to offer up any social commentary and not original enough to surprise us. Sodroski has all the pieces in place to tackle a wide variety of topics from various angles, yet he’s not daring enough to push the story in any one decisive direction. As a result, the movie just lists along.
The three principals are good, though you get the sense they too aren’t quite sure what tone to strike. Their characters are never treated seriously, their pasts never explored in any depth. Had Nancy’s loneliness and paranoia been taken seriously, I might have had some sympathy for her, while Fred’s character is in dire need of further exploration. As it is, they come off as cyphers, all they do seeming anticlimactic or unimportant.
“Holland” wants to be a story about dark secrets lurking beneath a glossy veneer. Unfortunately, it falls into the trap of being all about appearances and nothing more.
2 Stars
