If you've seen every slushy, sentimental Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel and are still able to keep your breakfast down, you might want to catch this.
The Perfect Holiday (2007)
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Reviews Counted:55
Fresh:9
Rotten:46
Average Rating:3.9/10
Consensus: The Perfect Holiday is the perfect example of Christmas movie clichés run amok.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for brief language and some suggestive humor.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Dec 12, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $5,750,831
Synopsis: Christmas wishes come true in Lance Rivera's (THE COOKOUT) second turn as a director, THE PERFECT HOLIDAY. Struggling songwriter Benjamin Armstrong (Morris Chestnut) is an all-around nice guy who... Christmas wishes come true in Lance Rivera's (THE COOKOUT) second turn as a director, THE PERFECT HOLIDAY. Struggling songwriter Benjamin Armstrong (Morris Chestnut) is an all-around nice guy who is both looking for love and waiting for his big break. In the meantime, he works part-time as a shopping mall Santa, and one day receives a sweet request from young Emily (Khail Bryant): all she wants for Christmas is for her mommy to meet a nice man. A busy divorced single mother of three, Nancy (Gabrielle Union) has lost her faith in love since her bitter divorce from James, aka mega-rap star J-Jizzy (Charlie Murphy). When Benjamin uses Emily's inside information to make her Christmas wish come true, it looks likes he's found love with Nancy. But will a big career break cost him everything? And will Nancy's eldest son, John-John (Malik Hammond) accept him and give up on his dream that his parents will reconcile? With some help from Mrs. Christmas (Queen Latifah), reminiscent of Clarence in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, they all just might have a perfect holiday. Murphy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his younger brother Eddie, is fun as J-Jizzy, pushing the gangsta rapper stereotype to comic extremes. Terrence Howard appears briefly as Bah-Humbug, who attempts to foil Mrs. Christmas's good deeds. Faizon Love and Katt Williams lend comic support as Ben's best buddy, Jamal, and J-Jizzy's manager, Delicious. Union and Chestnut make a lovely couple, but the kids steal the show here. Hammond does a great job as a little boy who is trying to be a man and along the way realizes that his father isn't perfect. Bryant and Jeremy Gumbs, who plays middle-child Mikey, make their big-screen debuts. [More]
Starring: Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Charlie Murphy, Katt Williams
Starring: Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Charlie Murphy, Katt Williams, Faizon Love, Terrence Howard, Queen Latifah, Jill Marie Jones, Rachel True, Malik Hammond, Khail Bryant, Jeremy Gumbs
Director: Lance Rivera
Director: Lance Rivera
Screenwriter: Lance Rivera, Marc Calixte, Nat Mauldin, Jeff Stein
Story: Lance Rivera, Marc Calixte
Producer: Mike Elliott, Joseph P. Genier, Marvin Peart, Shakim Compere, Queen Latifah, Leifur B. Dagfinnsson
Composer: Christopher Lennertz
Studio: Yari Film Group
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Release:
Nov 11, 2008
Reviews for The Perfect Holiday
Queen Latifah and Terrence Howard act as commentators, nudging the contrivances this way and that.
The Perfect Holiday is so modest and good-natured that its flaws are hardly glaring.
The dialogue is so one-note, the plot absurd, and most attempts at humor fall flat.
In the annals of Noel films so wincingly, gratingly, insultingly bad that a lump of coal would be vastly preferable, The Perfect Holiday ranks alongside Surviving Christmas for sheer unwatchability.
Either you're in the mood for a sweet and simple Christmas movie or you're not. If you are, then Perfect Holiday should fit the bill nicely.
The messages here are what you'd expect: Love your family. Don't be selfish. Don't tell lies. Have a happy holiday. Christmas doesn't have to be perfect to entertain you. Just like this movie.
The cast is game, the script is watered nog, the kids push their charm hard, Murphy is often excruciating, Union is pleasant in a sitcom mommy way, and Lance Rivera is a zero stylist.
Ostensibly a Christmastime comedy about romance, The Perfect Holiday manages to be none of the above.
The actors distinguish themselves mainly by their ability to make the material, directed and co-written by Lance Rivera, seem even more painfully awkward and unfunny than it already is -- which is very.
Picking the single dumbest element in this extremely dumb movie is easy.
Stay for the nail-biting conclusion, but only if you can stomach the horror of Queen Latifah and Terrence Howard reaching career lows as manifestations of all that is cheerful and insufferable, respectively, about the holidays.
Be grateful that Gabrielle Union and Morris Chestnut have the wherewithal to elevate a mediocre script.
There's not a single scene in Holiday that doesn't feel like it was copied from any number of other cookie-cutter rom coms, Christmas-themed or otherwise.
Spicing up Christmas with some savvy soul, are tough love story tour guide Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard as her sidekick mute meanie, and devilish duo Katt Williams and Charlie Murphy's J-Jizzy, doing musical bad boys with deliciously nasty glee.
Latest News for The Perfect Holiday
November 07, 2008:
Spicing up Christmas with some savvy soul, are tough love story tour guide Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard as her sidekick mute meanie, and devilish duo Katt Williams and Charlie Murphy's J-Jizzy, doing musical bad boys with deliciously nasty glee. ![]()
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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