 |
|
||||
|
BlackNLA Movie Reviews *****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street***** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES:30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare LAST HOLIDAY (PG-13)
MOVIE BIASES: Looks like the very definition of @@ (two reels), but good female buzz. MAJOR PLAYERS: Queen Latifah (Chicago), LL Cool J (Deliver Us from Eva), Giancarlo Esposito (Fresh), and director Wayne Wang (Maid in Manhattan)
Georgia Byrd (Latifah) is dying. Diagnosed with three, maybe four weeks to live around the Christmas season, the meticulous, coupon clipping, play-it-safe New Orleans resident quits her job and cashes in her life savings to ride out her last days at a swanky European resort with alleged healing properties. While there, her carpe diem attitude attracts the attention of the nosy hotel staff, an intrigued New Orleans Senator Dillings (Esposito), and the suspicious, snooty, super-competitive CEO of the department store chain for which she had worked, Matthew Kragen (Timothy Hutton). While she's off gallivanting the slopes in Europe, her love interest back home, Sean (LL Cool J) starts missing Georgia and looking for her.
Despite being a faux-heartwarming exercise in mediocrity, "Holiday" could have been far worse. Instead of being a hoodrat in luxury (could you imagine the "Soul Plane" producers getting their hands on it?), this movie is more like an American in Europe, a high concept remake of 1950's "Last Holiday" starring Sir Alec Guinness as George Bird. Wayne Wang, the lighthearted schlockmeister of the abysmally chemistry-free "Maid in Manhattan," plays it right down the middle. Light on laughs yet earnest in intent, "Holiday," in all it's snowboarding, base jumping, gourmet food orgying glory, is cheesy, predictable, harmless yet surprisingly feelgood.
That's
mostly due to our Queen. Latifah, with an easygoing, sincere performance,
charms with her high cheekbones and winky, beatific smile. Never mind
her recent appearance "Inside the Actor's Studio" –
a movie like this validates Queen Latifah not as a rapper turned actor
but as a bona fide movie star. Even her sweet, awkward chemistry with
LL, the object of her unspoken affection, shows a growth, maturity,
and overall likeability that behooves a movie star who needs better
material. It's not a bad movie or an unwise career move, either. It's
just time better spent polishing her crown on movies worthy of royalty.
@@
REELS Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!
Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com
© 2004, Edwardo Jackson
|
|||||
 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||