Rated: PG
Starring: Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut, Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard, Charlie Murphy
Directed by: Lance Rivera

• Official Site
  

Although The Perfect Holiday is sometimes fun to watch, it"s not so perfect. The love story is cute, but it kind of gets away from Director Rivera, who turns it into a marathon situation comedy/drama. If you are looking for a not-so-ordinary Christmas story, however, this one will do the trick.

Nancy (Union), a well-to-do divorced mother of three has been so busy raising her children since the separation, that she’s now missing the romance that has gone out of her life. With Christmas fast approaching, she decides to take the kids to the mall to meet Santa Claus.

Her daughter Emily (Bryant) has sensed her mother's sadness, so she tells Santa what she believes is a wish her mother would make. The mall Santa (Chestnut as Benjamin), a common guy who is using this job to supplement his meager income as a song writer, gets a look at Nancy and decides to make her wish come true. When Benjamin finally sells a song to a big rock star J-Jizzy (Murphy), Nancy’s ex-husband, he doesn’t realize the complications it ends up causing him.

The film has some warm moments, but not enough to make it a true Christmas story. Much of the commotion caused by the children in the film, and off-beat comments by background actors Latifah and Howard, give the movie an Are We There Yet crazed feeling instead of a warm and toasty family sentiment.

Totally miscast, Murphy tries to give his character that egotistical rock star look, but goes way over the top, which actually causes a distraction from the comedy instead of assisting it. Actually, he just doesn’t look like a person Nancy would have married in the first place, much less stay with through three children.

On the other hand, Faizon Love gives his funniest performance yet as Benjamin’s buddy Jamal who tries to aid him in his quest to ‘get the girl of his dreams'. I loved his interpretation of Santa’s sidekick elf that ends up dressing as Santa when Benjamin cannot make it to the mall on time. It is the funniest scene of the film.

I know I’m being a little harsh on this small film that's supposed to bring laughter and love during the holidays, but director Rivera just doesn’t make it as a screenwriter and we are not treated to the ‘perfect holiday’ film.

FINAL ANALYSIS: The Perfect Holiday is not so perfect, but if This Christmas has already left the theatres, it’s an okay second choice.

This Reviewer's Rating: 2.5 / 5 

---

Comments

Add New Search RSS

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."