Last Holiday, a comedy starring Queen Latifah, owes its premise to the 1950 film of the same name starring Alec Guiness. (I saw it ages ago and remember it being a good film, but can’t really remember much about it – hopefully there’ll be a re-mastered release of that film now that this one is out!) The basic plot is that Georgina Bryrd (Latifah) is diagnosed with a terminal illness and told that she has only about 3 weeks to live – so, naturally enough, she takes her entire life savings and decides to blow the whole lot in her final days. Doing so makes her realise how little she had actually “lived” in her previous years on earth and opens her eyes to a few things that she should have done a lot sooner. (She’s the sort of person who will cook a gourmet meal and then watch someone else eat is as she sticks to her lean cuisine.) She also has a huge effect on those around her – who, because of the way she is throwing money around, believe her to be an entirely different person to who she really is…

I don’t want to reveal anything more specific about the plot, so what I will do is describe the main characters among the many people whose lives Georgina touches in one way or another are:

Sean Matthews (LL Cool J) – works at the same department store as Georgina. She likes him but never has the courage to say anything.

Matthew Kragen (Timothy Hutton) – the owner of the company Georgina works for. A self-made man for whom “enough is never enough”. The sort of man who would get a waiter fired for accidentally spilling some wine.

Ms Burns (Alicia Witt) – Kragen’s um… assistant, a very naïve young woman who has isolated herself from her colleagues by having an affair with Kragen.

Senator Dillings (Giancarlo Esposito) – the Senator of the local area but very rarely seen by his constituents. Always off to Washington for important business, (or so he says…), as is the case when the local church, in whose choir Georgina sings, were expecting him to visit.

Chef Didier (Gerard Depardieu) – the famous cook at the hotel Georgina ends up staying in. A real passion for food and dislike of snobs, whom he is frequently asked to cater for.

What Works…

With such a strong cast it’s no surprise that the performances of all the main actors / actresses are very good. Latifah exudes such charisma that you can’t help but like her character, Hutton is superb as the bad guy of the piece, and Gerard Depardieu really enjoys himself as a world renowned chef. (Alicia Witt looks so pasty in this that I hardly recognised her, but that fits in with her character.) Last Holiday is very, very funny in places and is a real feel-good movie. There is some great dialogue in the film and the cinematography (by Geoffrey Simpson) was very nicely done. It’s also good that this is a movie all the family can enjoy with hardly any content that anyone would find objectionable.

What Doesn’t Work…

There’s not a great deal wrong with the film but it’s major flaw is that it creates several interesting characters and situations that it then does nothing with. Many potential intriguing and / or hilarious possibilities are just left hanging or ignored completely, which gave me the feeling that even though I really enjoyed this film, it could have been even better. The musical score left me cold for the most part too.

Final Verdict

Last Holiday is a very sweet, very funny film that is very easy to enjoy. Just misses 5 stars but I’d still recommend you watch it if you like comedies, and especially if you like Latifah.

Other Information

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some sexual reference (UK rating 12A)
Runtime: 112 min
Director: Wayne Wang


Related Links

Queen Latifah was also in Bringing Down the House with Steve Martin and Eugene Levy, and Chicago with Richard Gere, Renee Zellweger, and Catherine Zeta Jones

Gerard Depardieu was also in 102 Dalmations and Green Card


See Also

Top Ten Movies of All Time

Top Ten Comedies

My Top Ten Movies of 2006


Recommended: Yes