What We Did On Our Holiday
Sometimes, there are films that escape your notice. Not for any reason other than the fact that you were simply uninterested or it had a meagre release. This is why God invented Netflix, and if you don’t believe that the almighty descended to this plan to provide VOD services in an exquisite display of indie films, television series, and favourites then you are wrong. Sometimes, you skim over a film but Netflix brings it right back, telling you that you’ve just got to see it. What We Did on Our Holiday is one of those films which, through my own fault and blind ignorance to the aurora of transcendent Rosamund Pike, is actually brilliant and should’ve been seen by more people.
Films about chaotic families pulling rank to enjoy a blissful holiday are regular features on the comedic circuit so perhaps it as difficult for the film to find a voice - even if it has Doctor Who. Peeling away from the usual train-wreck of vacations, What We Did on Our Holiday sees the McLeod family on a tentative and stressful journey to Scotland, visiting patriarch Doug’s father Gordie’s birthday. With the grandfather dying, the holiday is drenched with stress and anguish as Doug and his wife Abi try to keep it together. Except, they are anything but as they, and their children Lottie, Jess, and Mickey are hiding their explosive divorce…Can they all hide this secret for a successful family holiday?
What We Did on Our Holiday is a staple of the dry comedy that powers British comedies in a droll and witty way. It captures an excellent air of humanity, balanced against the off-kilter transpirations throughout the script. Whilst the rambunctiousness is thick and plentiful, as is the subtlety. The story is remarkably enriched with this small moments of blissful humour that are helped by removing a word, and allowing the action to say it all. In highlight, Amelia Bullmore’s Margaret reacts to her husband’s flippant comment about intelligence in Abi. It’s a small pause but it fills the screen and conveys her emotions so well, you can’t help but roll with the laughter.
That being said, however, a lot of the comedy comes from the children verses parents dynamic. Whether that be the more strained moments, the car journey and a pet rock being one of them, or when they accept their new circumstance, the team feel like a credible family unit including the extensive one too that What We Did on Our Holiday melds with realism.
Powered by some earnest performance by the glorious Pike, David Tennant, Billy Connolly, and Ben Miller, What We Did on Our Holiday balances the ridiculous weird with the emotion behind it, allowing the mad-happed events that unfold to do so with delicate understanding and visceral intentions. Combined, they all add different elements to the story but utterly human ones too. They take their characters and flesh them out with spirit, unique to the story, that this feels like a home movie of mayhem, rather than a constructed film. The children, Emilia Jones, Bobby Smalldridge, and Harriet Turnbull, are great too, which is marvellous when a collective group of rapscallions who try their earnest best with remorseful repercussions.
There is innocence and guilt but family ethics and relationships that are utilised gloriously throughout. With Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin’s script and direction, the cast are given room to breathe life into the story and the characters whilst providing a wickedly dark and entertaining story. It may not be your first choice at first glance, but I urge you to watch this genuinely heart-warming and funny film.