Kate Lyn Sheil and Thomas Matthews star in ‘Lost Holiday’.
Written and Directed by: Michael Matthews and Thomas Matthews
Starring: Kate Lyn Sheil, Thomas Matthews, Keith Poulson, William Jackson Harper, Ismenia Mendes, Joshua Leonard, Tone Tank, Emily Mortimer
Highbrow society meets hooligans and shenanigans in the Matthews’ brothers “Lost Holiday.” Co-written by Michael and Thomas Matthews, the story involves a group of bored, rich socialites in the Washington, D.C./Maryland area as a kidnapping happens right underneath their eyes.
Margaret (Kate Lyn Sheil) is a New York social worker with a connection to Henry (Thomas Matthews), a wayward individual with more time on his hands then he knows what to do with, and Mark (William Jackson Harper), a lawyer who is desperately in love with Margaret while also being engaged to another woman.
Within the opening frames, we get the sense that we’re in a haze of drugs and alcohol as Margaret weaves her way through a house party, with Mark as the host. Henry is as lit as Margaret, but we get the sense that Margaret really doesn’t care about her surroundings, even when she’s sober.
Sheil plays Margaret with an aloofness that helps us not mind the shenanigans happening about her; we’re just as impaired as she is, but we’re not helpless. The story is carried along, rather inventively through an ongoing commentary on the radio provided by Emily Mortimer . . . . oh, that accent.
Anyway, following the party, Margaret and Henry wander aimlessly from bar to bar, just losing themselves. Following the party, the haze slowly wearing off while still nursing beers, the duo stumble on to a news announcement about the disappearance of Amber Jones (Ismenia Mendes), the news waking Margaret and Henry out of their slumber, taking them on a wild goose chase, literally.
The Matthews’s infuse a frenetic camera style as Margaret and Henry start their search, Henry’s faithful Volkswagen Cabriolet carrying them around the D.C. area, taking time to show the sites as they wander toward Russian’s (Tone Tank) house, a drug den.
After a bad acid trip, the duo follow Russian when they suspect him of kidnapping Amber Jones. The scene staged at a house in the burbs is exceptionally funny as they try to figure out the details on their own. The style of wit that the Matthews’s infuse during the first encounter with Russian speaks volumes to the dark comedy that is “Lost Holiday,” including a rather unorthodox escape.
Unorthodox is a good way to describe “Lost Holiday.” The drug-infused haze really guides our heroes as they amble through clues, thinking they’ve solved the crime when the film takes a hilarious and` unexpected twist.
This Christmas-themed story is sure to jingle its way into future holiday screenings and I for one, am recommending it.
3 out of 4 stars
