There’s a certain thrill watching a movie that not only takes place in a place you know and love, but was actually filmed (in part) there. So when Holland was shown at SXSW and a date was announced for it’s release on Prime Video, a lot of people were excited. Heck, some of us in Michigan not only have visited, but have family that live there. But what is billed as a thriller actually just is a hot mess of a movie that has too many subplots going to keep it cohesive. And it taking place in Holland, Michigan not only misrepresents the area but is so irrelevant to the story it could have be plopped down in any small town in the country with the same result.
Yes, the city of Holland has a large Dutch population to this day, but the amount of locals that only converse in Dutch and only associate with other Dutch residents. Yes, the area is highly religious, and even back in the 90s, when the movie is set, wasn’t as xenophobic as portrayed. Yes, there’s the Tulip Time festival yearly, and it’s a great time, and parades do happen, but its more a tourist presentation now than anything else. And if you are familiar with the area, or culture, you would know it was called clogging not “Dutch Dancing”. But, surface level, that’s just the beginning of the issues that Holland has.
In the leading role is Nicole Kidman as Nancy Vandergroot, an import to the area and the movie only illudes to her dark and dangerous past. We never see any indication of this, just her saying she has a past. But doesn’t everyone. Not since Stepford Wives has she slapped on such a doe eyed persona, but the difference is – this time it’s an under developed personality of the character, not calculated in the previous role. She is the dutiful wife who acts like she’s being held hostage in this quaint town that has a cultural personality. And when her husband does one thing out of character, she doesn’t address it with him, instead she goes on a downward spiral thinking he’s having an affair without any evidence. Nancy uses this as an excuse to lie to her husband so she can uncover his plots, to cheat on him and to do unscrupulous things. All the while spiraling in her life to the point you may think she needs medical intervention, or an update on her meds.
Kidman’s character and acting for the film definitely don’t do it any favors. But the movie itself doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. Is it a thriller about betrayal, is it a love story (that just consists of lust) or is it something darker? It has about six different stories it’s trying to tell and none of them seem to be connected by more than loose threads and Kidman’s doe eye act. It’s hard to keep track of what the movie wants you to get out of it other than constantly asking what tangentially connects any of the movies parts.
The trailer for Holland definitely brought in a lot more viewers than the movie deserves. The idyllic location only can bring so much to a story if you actually use it as more than just a skim coating treatment and a marketing ploy. Thankfully, Holland doesn’t need to advertise it’s beauty to bring in tourists that break records every year, but why it was used for this movie is still baffling.
Holland is currently streaming on Prime Video.
Overall Rating
About Holland
In this wildly unpredictable thriller, Nicole Kidman is the meticulous Nancy Vandergroot, a teacher and homemaker whose picture-perfect life with her community pillar husband (Matthew Macfadyen) and son (Jude Hill) in tulip-filled Holland, Michigan tumbles into a twisted tale. Nancy and her friendly colleague (Gael García Bernal) become suspicious of a secret, only to discover nothing in their lives is what it seems.