REVIEW: ‘Holland’ Is A Floundering Mess

If pushed to be forgiving, perhaps there’s at least an enjoyable film buried underneath the nonsensical yet bloated Holland (2025), a profoundly annoying psychological thriller from director Mimi Cave. But any forgiveness evaporates 30 minutes as the unfortunate realization sets in that this isn’t just a dumb movie; it’s bad.

Not even Nicole Kidman can save it. Kidman doesn’t even managing to bring her typical charisma to a film that sucks the life out of every frame. For a story entrenched in mystery and the suggestion of illicit affairs and potential murder, there’s no intrigue or tension. We’re simply waiting for it all to end.

In a not-so-novel concept, Kidman stars as Nancy, a teacher and homemaker living a seemingly idyllic life with her husband and son. However, this sunny, picture-perfect midwestern life is festering with twisted secrecy as Nancy realizes that her husband, Fred (Matthew Macfadyen), is lying to her. With the help of her almost too-eager colleague, Dave (Gael García Bernal), the two begin to unravel Fred’s secrets. Nancy believes that Fred is having an affair, but the truth is much more sinister than that.

Or, so, that’s what Holland tells us. But nothing in the style, direction, or performances truly captures that taut, throwback thriller atmosphere the film strives for.  It so desperately is trying to evoke a very specific ‘90s aesthetic of filmmaking — trying to be timeless and classic in its rendering.

Still, modernity sticks to it like glue, pervasive in the film’s inability to shake its crisp and clean saturation. Even the work of frequent Ari Aster cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski (Midsommar, Beau is Afraid) can’t inject Holland (2025) with any sense of bleached foreboding.

Holland (2025) struggles to find any depth.

Irony eats away at any intrigue Holland (2025) might generate, and the script is too self-aware of other pictures that have come before it that play with similar themes. The film is so afraid of sincerity that it nearly becomes a parody — Trap if not shot by a filmmaker who understands that earnestness can be a virtue in storytelling. The Coen Brothers without the understanding of what makes a black comedy tick. Instead, Holland (2025) gathers every slice of genre within reach, committing to none of them, resulting in a film without personality or identity. There’s no style or narrative momentum.

Written by Andrew Sodroski, the film goes on far too long with the central mystery unveiling itself way too late in the film. And by the time it happens, we’re so sure that something is amiss that there’s no shock in the reveal. It easily could have trimmed at least twenty minutes of the total runtime for a tighter, leaner film. Instead, we spend far too much time meandering in the middle, with suggested narratives for a misused Bernal that ultimately go nowhere. The fact that Bernal’s naturalism and endless charisma are muted here is evidence enough of Holland’s (2025) inability to find purchase.

Kidman, too, struggles to convince us. Part of this is due to limited writing and Kidman leaning too far into the wide-eyed, breathlessness of her character. No decision that Nancy makes holds weight because she’s a sketched-out first draft of a character. She loves mysteries, is clearly drawn to Dave, and is protective of her lifestyle. But we don’t understand what drives her beyond what we’re told. The dynamic between her and Dave also suffers due to a lack of chemistry and, again, because there’s no buildup. We get no sense of why Nancy loves her community aside from what we’re told.

A complete waste of talent. 

That lack of buildup permeates throughout most of the lifeless Holland (2025). Macfadyen comes closest to selling his character, but mainly because the actor can strongly suggest something nefarious behind average, nice-guy smiles. But by the time he’s given more to do, the film is finally, blessedly, wrapping up.

Cave clearly had a vision, an idea about what it means to present one version of ourselves to the world while our true selves linger beneath, ready for a quick surface. A story about a woman ensnared in midwestern pleasantries that obscure a greater, underlying infestation. But the clash of genres and visual styles made for an aggravating experience. From poorly staged dream and nightmare sequences to long shots that fail to capture the threat the film is trying to impose, it might as well be directionless for how middling and inert it is. Even in the bloodiest moments, there’s no spark.

Ultimately, the worst part about Holland (2025) is how little we care. Why should we, when the apathetic script offers us so little reason, invest ourselves in the lives of these characters? The thinly drawn story doesn’t provide us access to their interiority, and the film, which is so poorly shot and paced, extinguishes any intrigue. The shocking disconnect undercuts the severity of the story as we do our best to stay focused until the relief of the credits roll.

Holland is available now on Prime Video.