Last Holiday (2006)
Direted by Wayne Wang
Written by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman
Starring Queen Latifah, LL Cool J Jane Adams, Timothy Hutton, Giancarlo Esposito
Release Date January 13th, 2006
Published January 12th, 2006
Sitting down to watch the Queen Latifah comedy Last Holiday I had low expectations. My expectations were exceeded mightily by a good natured sweet comedy about life, love and the ever looming specter of death. Okay, I added the specter of death thing. This is, after all, a comedy.
Last Holiday is a comedy about a woman who is told she is going to die soon and chucks it all -job, friends, bills- and runs off to wile away her last days in a resort in the alps. The specter of impending death never really enters the film because Queen Latifah is such a joy to watch and director Wayne Wang such a carefree auteur that he eschews making a real movie and focuses his attention on making his star look good.
Queen Latifah stars in Last Holiday as Georgia Byrd, a small demonstration cook with dreams of running her own restaurant. For now she spends her evenings watching Emeril Live and cooking great meals she doesn't eat. She cooks for practice and occasionally for a teenage neighbor but mostly she cooks for the joy of cooking.
At work Georgia fends off an ever menacing middle manager (Matt Ross) whose ambition threatens everyone's job, and finds time to gossip with her pal Rochelle (Jane Adams). The gossip most often turns to talk of the handsome new grill salesman Sean (L.L Cool J) who has his eyes on Georgia though she refuses to believe it.
The plot kicks in when a head injury at work sends Georgia to the hospital where her doctor gives her a prognosis of imminent death due to a brain tumor. Georgia has about two weeks to live. What would you do if you only had two weeks to live? For Georgia Byrd, the answer is to quit her job and run to a fabulous European resort with every cent of her savings and spend her last days indulging the finest food in the world from one of the world's greatest chef, Chef Didier (Gerard Depardieu).
Flashing what little cash she has for the best room in the place, the best table in the restaurant and the finest clothes in Europe naturally draws the attention of her fellow guests that coincidentally include a Senator (Giancarlo Esposito) from Georgia's own district and the owner of the store Georgia worked at (Timothy Hutton). The less said about this convenient plot, the better.
Based loosely on a British comedy from 1950, of the same title, Last Holiday is an ebullient film full of vibrant life and surprisingly big laughs. Director Wayne Wang is not working with much of a script which forces him to rely mostly on the charms of his lead actress. The effervescent Queen Latifah rescues what would have likely been a very dull picture with a terrifically self-effacing and brave performance that earns big laughs and loads of pathos.
If you can't sympathize and laugh riotously with Queen Latifah clearly you are far too cynical.
As the one true draw of Last Holiday Queen Latifah had a lot riding on her and you never once see her sweat. Whether she is sassily rebuffing the advances of the lecherous Senator or wrapped head to toe in a mud wrap and needing a bathroom break, Latifah's every move is pure charm, she is just that lovable.
Sure, Last Holiday is mindless and often forgettable. The plot is a joke of coincidence and predictability. Who cares! When you get to spend 90 minutes with a movie friend like Queen Latifah that makes up for a lot of problems. Queen Latifah is simply that much of a pleasure to watch in Last Holiday, so much you forget how bad the picture as a whole truly is.
There are few actors or actresses who can make you forget you are watching a bad movie and simply focus on them. Queen Latifah failed to pull off that trick in awful films Taxi, The Cookout and Bringing Down The House but she really pulls it off in Last Holiday, a bad movie made pleasant even entertaining by a star truly coming into her own.
Last Holiday is like candy, it may not be good for you, it may rot your teeth or your brain, but while you're enjoying it nothing else matters. This is a movie for candy lovers.
