The Perfect Holiday
The Perfect Holiday | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Lance Rivera |
Produced by |
Joseph P. Genier Leifur B. Dagfinnsson Marvin Peart Mike Elliott Petra Hoebel (line) Queen Latifah Shakim Compere Stevie "Black" Lockett (associate) |
Written by |
Jeff Stein Lance Rivera Marc Calixte Nat Mauldin |
Starring |
Morris Chestnut Gabrielle Union with Faizon Love and Terrence Howard and Queen Latifah |
Narrated by | Queen Latifah |
Music by | Christopher Lennertz |
Cinematography | Teodoro Maniaci |
Edited by | Paul Trejo |
Production company | |
Distributed by |
Yari Film Group Freestyle Releasing[1] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $5,812,781[2] |
The Perfect Holiday is a 2007 family comedy film starring Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut, and Terrence Howard and is produced by Academy Award-nominated actress Queen Latifah, who also narrates the movie. The film was released on December 12, 2007. The film has also appeared on many television networks, including Disney Channel and Family and BET.
Tagline: This Christmas, the perfect man just happens to be Santa.
Plot
Benjamin (Chestnut) is an aspiring songwriter who attempts to break into the music business by giving a copy of his recording track of a Christmas album to a rap artist named J-Jizzy (Charles Q. Murphy). Nancy (Union) is a divorced mother, who is too busy taking care of her three children to take care of herself. Her daughter Emily (Khail Bryant) overhears her mother say that she wished for a compliment from a man, and the daughter tells the local mall's Santa Claus about her mother's wish.
The Santa Claus turns out to be Benjamin, who notices Nancy. Later, while sitting in a Starbucks after his shift as Santa, Benjamin and his friend Jamal (Faizon Love) see Nancy go into a dry cleaners. Benjamin borrows Jamal's jacket, pretends to drop it off at the cleaners, tells Nancy that she's a very attractive woman (granting her wish), and leaves. Eventually, the two start to date and end up falling in love—without Ben realizing that Nancy's ex-husband is J-Jizzy.
Things take a turn for the worse, however, because Nancy's oldest son, John-John (Malik Hammond) is jealous of Benjamin going out with his mother and plots to break up the relationship. What follows is a series of funny and touching scenes that show viewers what "family" is really about.
Queen Latifah and Terrence Howard play omniscient roles in the movie. Howard is a mischievous and sly angel named "Bah Humbug", while Latifah is the kind, thoughtful angel, called "Mrs. Christmas".
Cast
- Gabrielle Union - Nancy Taylor
- Morris Chestnut - Benjamin Armstrong
- Charlie Murphy - J-Jizzy
- Malik Hammond - John-John Taylor
- Jeremy Gumbs - Mikey Taylor
- Khail Bryant - Emily Taylor
- Faizon Love - Jamal
- Jill Marie Jones - Robin
- Katt Williams - Delicious
- Queen Latifah - Mrs. Christmas
- Rachel True - Brenda
- Terrence Howard - Bah Humbug
Reception
The film was neither a critical nor commercial success. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 16% of critics gave positive reviews based on 54 reviews. It has a consensus stating The Perfect Holiday is the perfect example of Christmas movie clichés run amok.[3] Metacritic gave the film a 35/100 approval rating based on 22 reviews classifying the film has "generally negative reviews".[4] On its opening weekend, it opened poorly at #6 with $2.2 million. [5] The film grossed $5.8 million domestically.
References
External links
- Official website
- The Perfect Holiday at AllMovie
- The Perfect Holiday at the Internet Movie Database
- The Perfect Holiday at Metacritic
- The Perfect Holiday at Box Office Mojo
- The Perfect Holiday at Rotten Tomatoes
- A Father and Son’s Perfect Holiday - Dad and 7 year old son discuss performing stunts in Queen Latifah's film at Mosaec.com