Movie Review: Last Holiday

Movie Review: Last Holiday
Starring: Queen Latifah, Timothy Hutton, Gerard Depardieu, LL Cool J
Director: Wayne Wang

Synopsis: Timid store clerk Georgia (Queen Latifah) finds out she has a terminal illness and decides to live out the rest of her life in style.

Review: I decided to see this movie because it was getting pretty favorable reviews. Not that I follow that all the time necessarily, but I do use it as a guideline. Ebert & Roeper said that while some parts are predictable, it is still worthwhile to see, and I have to agree. I'm not terribly picky about movies, really, usually as long as the popcorn is good.

Anyway, though not Oscar-worthy or anything, I still enjoyed Queen Latifah's performance. Though I do think the movie has a very forgettable name. In fact, I couldn't remember it when I got to the ticket counter. I just said "the Queen Latifah movie", then noticed other moviegoers in other lines saying the same thing.

Queen Latifah plays Georgia Byrd, a shy houseware store clerk. She has a crush on Sean, played by LL Cool J, and he has a crush on her, though they are both pretty timid about it. At home she has a "book of possibilities" and that is where she puts pictures of her and Sean pasted over other couple's faces, and recipes she has made, though never eaten, because it's Lean Quisine for her. Deep inside she wants to be a chef or something like that, but that is filed away with all the other "possibilities".

Then one day after bumping her head, she is given a cat scan and told she has 3 weeks to live. After some thinking, she decides to cash in her savings and do the things she always wanted to do but never did.

She flies to some exotic country (the name escapes me) and checks into the Presidential Suite of a beautiful hotel (at $4,000 a night). She buys a beautiful wardrobe and gets any spa treatment she wants. She dresses up in evening gowns and dines in the hotel restaurant where a famous chef she has always admired cooks. She orders everything on the menu and catches the chef's, as well as other notable guests' attention. Among those notable guests is the owner of the store where she used to work, and he is a bit of a jerk.

It's fun to Georgia come out of her shell and live like there's no tomorrow, literally. I mean, what girl wouldn't want to be outfitted in a new wardrobe for any and all occasions, order anything on the menu, and stay in a luxurious suite? There are a few lines along the way that made me kind of chuckle. No serious holding my sides laughter, but harmless entertainment.

People start to assume that Georgia is someone she is not, perhaps someone with an important position. She does not lead them on or lie to them, which I found refreshing. There are too many movies out there based on omigosh-when-is-he-going-to-find-out-that-she's-really-the-maid? kind of thing. She just wants to do what she wants to do, and if it attracts other people's attention, it really has nothing to do with her. She has some moments of solitary reflection that I appreciated.

The movie is a bit of fluff, no real drama, so the jerk gets his comeuppance, and thank goodness when he does, he doesn't offer Georgia the job of her dreams or a million dollars or something unbelievable like that. In fact, there is no need for him to offer her anything. So she doesn't end up the president of the United States or an important dignitary, or anything out of this world.

But in facing the fact that she could die, she opens her life up to "possibilities".

I'm giving this movie a 6.5 out of 10. Solid fluff comedy, nothing more, nothing less.


So I finally made it out to the movies! yay! I really didn't care what I saw. But I didn't feel like I wasted my time.

Don't forget, babies, that we still have a movie line contest on the table. Out of respect for the Count, I won't repeat the line. You'll have to scroll down to my last post to see what the contest is.

Love to you all.