Holland: Nicole Kidman’s Performance Shines Bright in this Misfire

Holland marks Mimi Cave’s sophomore feature, following 2022’s Fresh, and recently had its world premiere earlier this month at the SXSW film festival. Set in Holland, Michigan in the early 2000s, the film is centered around Nancy (Kidman) is a schoolteacher living a picture perfect life with her husband Fred (Macfadyen), and their young son Harry (Jude Hill). However, Nancy’s life is thrown into chaos when her and her colleague Dave (Bernal) discovers a twisted secret allegedly involving Fred. Setting the bar so high with Fresh, it’s a shame to report that Cave’s follow-up is a misfire and that perhaps shows signs of a sophomore slump.

Now it should come as absolutely no surprise that Kidman is far and away the best thing about the film, as she often is. She perfectly taps into its quirky tone and zany sense of humour, delivering a great performance in spite of a film that lets her down at almost every turn. Meanwhile, Macfadyen and Bernal each deliver solid performances, and work very well with Kidman. The setting of Holland is unique for a story like this, offering up a nice change of pace visually from the recent onslaught of similar looking thrillers. Boasting a promising premise, at least on paper, the story may be far from boring, but the script is a complete mess that seriously holds the film back from achieving its full potential.

The kind of thriller that would have been fresh and effective had it been released somewhere in the early 2000s, which is ironically when the film is set, but as it stands today, it is not only stale but also predictable and underwhelming on nearly every level compared to any of the films it has taken inspiration from. Derivative of other comedic mystery thrillers, with Fargo being the first film likely to come to mind, it never forms an identity of its own. Instead, the film appears satisfied in just copying better versions of itself. Additionally, it tries way too hard to be funny, resulting in some unfunny moments and wild tonal shifts as it tries to juggle multiple tones and takes a more serious turn.

Another issue is that the story simply isn’t as exciting as it should have been, as audiences are left waiting for it to improve and gain any sort of momentum. However, the third act does pick up but by the time it comes along, is it too little too late, all leading to such a weak and abrupt ending that is sure to leave audiences feeling unsatisfied. For a film that is clearly building up to a big reveal, it is honestly confounding how predictable that entire build up is and how easy its so called big twist from a mile away. Once that happens finally comes, one can’t help but wonder what else it even could have been and wish that the film had taken it further.

At the end of the day, Holland may not be a complete dud but while it does have some redeeming qualities to it, Cave’s follow-up is undeniably a step though the bulk of its issues could be attributed to the script, more so than her direction. Though a film that is more than capable of hitting the right spot for those looking to for a sub 2-hour watch, it is also a frustrating and insanely predictable one that is derivative of several better mystery thrillers.

still courtesy of Prime Video

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/