 KSL Movie Show Review:...
THE PERFECT HOLIDAY ** By Steve Salles Standard Examiner movie critic GO: if you miss seeing Morris Chestnut and Gabrielle Union together - again. DON’T GO: if you thought Chestnut and Union was a busy street intersection. Tell me if this sounds like any kids you know. When a young girl finally gets a chance to bend Santa’s ear for her Christmas Wish list, all she wants is for someone to pay her mom Nancy a compliment so she can be happy once again. If these were our kids, they’d be rattling off the name of every toy ever made and would be hard pressed to even remember our names, selfish little monsters. Ah, but Christmas brings out the best in all of us, and so we learn that mom is trying to get passed a failed marriage to a famous obnoxious singer, J-Jizzy (Eddie Murphy’s brother Charlie). Her two friends are urging her to find a good man and when one does compliment her (thanks to Santa), they stake out the same coffee house corner in hopes of trapping this guy like a rabbit in a snare. Good grief! Ease up, girls. It’s not like she’s hideous. It’s Gabrielle Union, for Pete’s sake! Benjamin (Morris Chestnut) is both the mysterious charmer and the mall Santa, but doesn’t want Nancy or her three kids to know since he’s embarrassed to be doing only seasonal work. It’s hilarious that the kids are talking to Santa and don’t realize it’s Benjamin with a fake white beard. Guess it’s the Clark Kent and his glasses syndrome. Benjamin is a starving songwriter who hopes to have J-Jizzy record one of his love songs, but he’s also unaware that Nancy is J’s ex-wife. The web of deceit will grow larger, but in the meantime, Benjamin and Nancy have fallen in love, much to the chagrin of the oldest son John-John who is still hoping to reunite his parents. In the midst of all this, you have two angel/devil characters giving fate a nudge where need be. Queen Latifah as the good angel makes sense since she’s one of the film’s producers. But how in the world she ever talked Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard into playing the bit part of the idiot scrooge devil is beyond me. He’s painfully bad (although he is given the funniest line in the movie). So, this well-intentioned holiday film has it’s share of hits and misses, but at its center are these two lovely people, Morris Chestnut and Gabrielle Union, who are making a comfortable living playing each other’s destined sweethearts. It’s a beautiful message handled a bit clumsily, but may be only one of a few chances during this Christmas season to give you a little holiday cheer (this and maybe the Chipmunks). There are no holiday-themed movies to jump up and down about this year, which suggests the old classics may be your best hope to get you in the proper mood. So, “The Perfect Holiday” is far from it - maybe perfectly mediocre would have been a better description.
Movie Showings Links:
Offical Web Site for 'The Perfect Holiday'...
|
 |
Movie Show Home Page
|
