Queen Latifah is the reason to see ?Last Holiday.? This generally entertaining remake of the 1950 film starring Alec Guinness only fully blossoms when Queen Latifah is on the screen. Fortunately for audiences, Queen Latifah is in 99% of the scenes.
Oscar nominee Queen Latifah (?Chicago?) stars as Georgia Byrd, a compassionate New Orleans sales clerk who delights in whipping up gourmet meals - which she refuses to eat herself ? for her young neighbor and the older shoppers who visit the store where she works.
Georgia?s all about helping others, tucking her own hopes and dreams safely away in a book labeled 'Possibilities.' Included in the pages of 'Possibilities' are photos of her handsome co-worker, Sean (LL Cool J).
Too shy to speak to Sean about private things, Georgia plays it safe by sticking to talking about work. Their relationship remains strictly on the work associate level until Sean finds himself drawn to the in-store kitchen where Georgia has cooked up a tasty treat too heavenly to deny sampling. Flustered by the close proximity of the man of her dreams, Georgia runs into the edge of a cabinet and knocks herself out. Coming to in a doctor?s office, Georgia soon learns she has a terminal disease and has but a matter of three or so weeks left to live.
The diagnosis changes everything for Georgia. She decides to treat herself to things she wants most out of life: a visit to a grand European hotel, rich food cooked by the world?s best chefs, and finding out what it feels like to engage in risk-taking activities such as snowboarding and base jumping.
Emerging from her insulated cocoon, Georgia?s new outlook on life affects everyone she comes into contact with including a millionaire businessman (Timothy Hutton) and powerful politicians.
?Last Holiday? could have used about 15 minutes worth of trimming in the second act. There are a couple of déjà vu-ish moments in the middle of ?Last Holiday? that should have been snipped in order to keep the film moving forward. As it is, there?s a real loss of momentum after Queen Latifah?s character begins hanging out with Hutton?s character?s gang of cronies. It?s too bad the film bogs down at that point as up until then, ?Last Holiday? had built up a lot of goodwill. Once the mid-section of the film loses a little steam, it?s tough for the final act to bring it all back around. The fact the last 30 minutes of the movie works is solely due to Queen Latifah?s undeniable warmth and charm onscreen.
Queen Latifah?s performance saves what might have been an otherwise ordinary romantic comedy from just being another toss-away effort. Along with LL Cool J and a terrific comedic turn by Gerard Depardieu, Queen Latifah rescues the film once it begins to forego the romantic comedy elements in favor of heavier social commentary. Now don?t get me wrong. I believe the statements ?Last Holiday? makes are timely, important and well served in the film. However once the points are made, it would have been best to move on to lighter fare. Instead, the nails are driven just a tad deeper than they need be.
Despite its shortcomings, ?Last Holiday? is a decent start to a new year sure to be filled with more romantic comedy misses than hits.
GRADE: B-
?Last Holiday? was directed by Wayne Wang and is rated PG-13 for some sexual references.