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Last
Holiday
Queen Latifah’s movie career is still developing,
and at a good pace, too. Though Last Holiday, the
remake of the 1950 classic with Alec Guiness, ends up being
a light-hearted and entertaining film, it is more of a sideways
jaunt than a big step forward for the Queen.
This
version of Last Holiday revolves around the shy
but friendly Georgia Byrd. A sales associate at a large
department store, she lives a quiet life in New Orleans
(pre-hurricane, we can only suppose), never taking any risks.
An accident
at work leads to the discovery of a much larger problem:
She’s got a rare and terminal illness, and she only
has three weeks to live. Deciding that time is too precious
now, she determines to live out one of the possibilities
she dreamed of, showing others, and herself, how to live
life to the fullest.
The
beginning of the movie just feels slow. It takes it’s
time, lingering on scenes that just aren’t that interesting.
The first hour of the movie really does just drag on, and
until we see Georgia begin her last days, it all just feels
like filler. Certain moments with Georgia’s crush,
Sean Matthews, played rather stiffly by LL Cool J, will
tweak the corners of your mouth, but other than that, we’re
just waiting for her to begin dying so we can see her begin
to live.
But
once she does, the laughs start. Georgia travels to the
Czech Republic, to a resort hotel that houses one of her
favorite chefs, Chef Didier, played elegantly by Gérard
Depardieu. He befriends her for the sheer fact that her
orders ask for no changes to the dishes he creates.
Georgia
also ends up charming the rest of the staff with her frank
ways, and the fact that she treats them like people, not
slaves. The best of these characters is the stiff and smug
Ms. Gunther, played by Susan Kellerman, who steals every
scene she’s in with a sneer.
Queen
Latifah plays wide-eyed Georgia to a tee. Georgia’s
never seen the world, or lived like this before, and we
see it in her eyes how much she loves it, and how much she
hates to leave it. Georgia’s risks end up being great
sequences. Beauty treatments are adventurous in name, and
in experience, and snowboarding ends up being a great mountain
chase, the quality of which you’ll probably miss at
the Olympics.
Quieter
scenes are brief, but make nice breaks, showing off the
scenery of Austria and the Czech Republic in a charming
way. And watching Georgia cook with Chef Didier will just
make your taste buds water.
Director
Wayne Wang (Because of Winn-Dixie; Maid in Manhattan)
is no stranger to the friendly family film, and Last
Holiday is a decent feel good film for this time of
year.
It definitely
leaves you with a warm, fuzzy feeling. But it’s just
that, kind of fuzzy, with no real joy, delight, or surprise
in store for the end, since it’s an ending you’ve
seen many times before, just at different times. It’s
a happy movie, but you might be happier watching it at home.
Rating:
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