Holland (2025) is directed by Mimi Cave and written by Andrew Sodroski. It stars Nicole Kidman, Gael Garcia Bernal, Matthew Macfadyen, Jude Hill, Jeff Pope, Isaac Krasner, Lennon Parham, Rachel Sennott, and Chris Witaske. The film takes place in the picturesque suburban town of Holland, Michigan. It follows Nancy Vandergroot (Kidman), a soft-spoken housewife who begins to suspect that Fred (Macfadyen), her seemingly perfect husband, may be harboring a dark secret. With the assistance of her close friend, Dave Delgado (Bernal), Nancy sets out to solve the mystery of her husband’s odd behavior by acting as amateur private detectives. When the situation becomes more complicated than she could have possibly imagined, Nancy is forced to choose between her secure yet suffocating life in Holland and the possibility of an exciting yet uncertain future. 

Even though the film is mostly a total dud, Kidman is unsurprisingly one of its best aspects. Her performance style feels right at home in these kinds of quirky horror-comedies, but she’s also skilled enough of a performer that she’s able to transition between these tones with ease. The material sucks, but it never makes Kidman feel like less of a performer. The same pretty much applies to Bernal and Macfayden. It’s clear that these are skilled performers, but they’re let down massively by the weak, boring, and frustrating script. 

This is the kind of thriller where the viewer is never entirely sure what’s actually going on or if the main character’s suspicions are even warranted. The problem is that the initial source of Nancy’s suspicion is nothing more than a couple of innocuous polaroids. Sure, hidden polaroids are inherently creepy, but I struggle to understand why that would mean someone is up to no good. Because of this, it’s tough to believe or connect with Nancy’s motivations, but it also fails to establish the necessary creepy tone the story requires. Nancy and Dave never feel like they’re in danger because the script never actually convinces us that they are. Once we understand the stakes, the danger is almost immediately resolved. In other words, the tension never builds in a satisfying way; it just remains stagnant until it randomly explodes and then quickly ends. This would be slightly more forgivable if the eventual catharsis were surprising or unique, but it goes in the most boring and unoriginal direction it could’ve possibly taken. 

The film’s fairytale-like tone and inclusion of miniature sculptures as a visual motif are compelling creative touches, but they never lead to anything interesting story-wise and feel meaningless on a more thematic, abstract level. Other than that, there’s nothing original, surprising, or edgy about any of what the film has to offer. Even the ending, which clearly tries to say something, makes almost no sense. Sure, it has some abstract meaning, but the viewer isn’t going to care if it doesn’t double as surface-level storytelling. No one cares to ask about what it MEANS if they don’t even know what it IS. 

Overall, this is an extremely disappointing horror-comedy that is neither scary nor funny. For a little less than two hours, the film pretty much spins its wheels in a sea of the genre’s most boring tropes only to lead to a climax that’s more or less exactly what the viewer expects. The only thing that saves this movie from being a complete disaster is the strong cast of veteran performers. I still see director Mimi Cave as a director to watch, but if these are the kinds of scripts she’s going to pick in the future, I’m starting to get a tad worried. It’s not awful, but boy is it soulless. In fact, it’s so soulless that describing it simply as “forgettable” would be an injustice. It’s slightly worse than that. C-