Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson
If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.
[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.
To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.
More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.
(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)
In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.
(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)
I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line "The Weirdest Love Story ever told!" (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.
(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)
See also the remake: Death Takes A Holiday (1971)
艾米丽在巴黎的乡村爱情版本。美国下饭剧里的亚裔家庭未免也太可爱无害了吧。和现实生活中的的亚裔家庭有关系吗？
三观很正的现代喜剧，攀岩hiking做蜡烛，导演仿佛在偷窥我的生活。爱情果然要从友情开始！
作为圣诞romcom很合格了，有笑点很温馨也有稍微深刻一点的意义。不过最后女主求男主原谅发现自己已经爱上了男主有点过于突然，现实中这样的typical instagram女生是不会爱上有美丽心灵住在爸妈地下室的害羞内敛nerd。Tag好惨，白白被catfish了最后结尾都懒得提这个人。为了提高收视率还提到了好几个于zg有关的reference显得有点刻意，本来以为导演有多讨厌love actually,结尾居然向love actually 致敬。Love actually就是最好的圣诞电影！
最后一段致敬《真爱至上》 是很有圣诞氛围的爱情电影，Nina也瘦了好多越来越美了，但是为什么是女孩子在勇敢追爱勇敢面对自己啊！真的没有男性pua心理让女主最后求原谅吗？我！不！信！
温情欢乐圣诞喜剧。bug肯定太多完全不能细想。总体还是可爱的。
一不小心看了这个很新的圣诞电影，我大学时期的完美女神！
such a cliché 这种Asian男和白女的搭配感觉也有特意讨好亚洲观众之嫌
蛮传统的轻喜剧，最后一段致敬真爱至上点到了感动点上。
Jingyang made it, finally!
so American popcorn movie 一半弃 any predictable movie is not a good one
15分鐘後，凸- -凸。滿屏尷尬滴看完了。
圣诞电影*2，其实剧情还蛮扯的，毕竟男主的颜值太没有说服力了，而且是他欺骗在先，最终还是女生反思自己的错。但依旧是蛮可爱的电影。三点五分吧，还算ok的电影啦。
欧阳万成在《硅谷》里的形象太深入人心，很难相信他这回真是个好人。虽然他性格的确很讨喜，但是为啥岑哥不是男主，他真的好帅啊……Nina脸上胶原蛋白已经不在了……【虽然我不觉得宝贝儿外头冷是圣诞强奸神曲，但是这个版本我爱了哈哈哈哈哈
“Josh，30，Candle Maker” 这很酷
终于有人说了 love actually的确是世界上最难看的圣诞电影
Jimmy O Yang and Nina Dobrev make this movie so much fun to watch! 我觉得是最近看过最搞笑也很温馨的电影，二人搭档又意想不到的效果，推荐！
Love doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be honest.
怎么说呢这片子，这两个主角并不搭，这个女主年纪轻轻应该夜生活过度，而且吸毒，脸上医美也救不了，已经到了怎么一个定位才会和说脱口秀的亚裔合作，作为圣诞节合家欢类故事过于老套，女主的转变纯粹是导演让她转，丝毫没有说服力，但是整个片子气氛还行
就是一个典型的美式白人圣诞烂俗爱情剧本，单单把男主换成了华裔，反正我是很难想象有哪个亚裔家庭像白人这样过圣诞节的，不过即使单单这样也是非常难得了（男主一家都是亚男白女的卡司）, 更不用说还有“he was born in Beijing and he was amazing in bed” 的台词了， 哈哈，给奈飞加分！
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