There is something wonderfully unhinged about putting Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes, and Jacki Weaver together, dressing them as nuns, throwing a kid into their orbit, and then sending the whole damn operation out on the road. Holy Days knows exactly what kind of movie it is, too. It’s sweet without immediately drowning itself in syrup, eccentric without desperately elbowing you in the ribs, and just naughty enough around the edges to keep its halo permanently crooked. Director Nat Boltt takes Joy Cowley’s novel and turns it into the sort of scrappy, warmhearted comedy that seems almost suspiciously out of fashion these days: one populated by oddballs, bruised souls, questionable decisions, and people who discover they need one another long before they’re willing to admit it.
The real joy, unsurprisingly, is watching Davis, Margolyes, and Weaver bounce off each other. These are three performers who could probably make reading a convent’s plumbing invoice entertaining, and Holy Days wisely gives them room to play. Margolyes barrels through scenes with that magnificent combination of mischief and complete disregard for decorum, Weaver brings an effortless warmth beneath the comedy, and Davis can land a withering look with enough force to leave a crater. Their chemistry gives the movie its pulse. The laughs aren’t built around some relentless barrage of manufactured gags; they emerge from personality, irritation, affection, age, stubbornness, and the increasingly ridiculous circumstances surrounding this very unconventional little family.
And that family is what keeps Holy Days from becoming nothing more than a cute road-trip comedy populated by eccentric old ladies. Beneath the high-speed hijinks and religious habits is a movie genuinely interested in people staring down the terrifying possibility of becoming unnecessary. The convent is facing closure. A young boy needs somewhere to belong. These women, supposedly approaching the quieter chapters of their lives, suddenly find themselves with something worth fighting for. That could have become unbearably sentimental in lesser hands, but there’s enough bite in the performances to keep the film from floating away on a cloud of inspirational bullshit. Holy Days understands that finding purpose doesn’t magically erase loneliness, grief, fear, or regret. Sometimes it just gives you a reason to pile into a vehicle with the wrong people and keep moving anyway.
Sure, you can occasionally see where Holy Days is headed long before the characters get there, and anyone violently allergic to feel-good cinema probably isn’t going to experience a sudden conversion. So be it. Cynicism is easy. Making something genuinely warm without becoming insufferable is considerably harder, and this wonderfully peculiar little movie pulls it off more often than not. Holy Days is funny, tender, proudly strange, and powered by three veteran actresses who appear to be having an absolute blast. It celebrates the families we inherit, the ones we stumble into, and the ones we build out of whatever broken pieces happen to be lying around. Sometimes home isn’t where you started. Sometimes it’s three elderly nuns, a kid, a crumbling convent, and one hell of a detour.
Lightbulb Film Distribution brings the warmhearted new comedy Holy Days to cinemas across the UK and Ireland beginning August 14.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 101 mins
Director: Nat Boltt
Writer: Nat Boltt, Joy Calley
Cast: Elijah Tamati; Judy Davis; Miriam Margolyes
Genre: Adventure | Comedy
Tagline: Breaking the Rules. Keeping the Faith.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Lightbulb Film Distribution
Official Site:
Release Date: August 14, 2026
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A mysterious traveler blackmails a young TSA agent into letting a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Eve flight.
