Sunday, March 05, 2006

LAST HOLIDAY - charming weepie romance flick

LAST HOLIDAY isn't exactly a romantic comedy. At least, there aren't many laugh-out moments. But it is a feel-good romance in the best traditions of the genre. It stars Queen Latifah - an actress who has that rare quality of making you want to spend time with her when she is on screen. She projects a warm and straightforward personality. You want nice things to happen to her. That's exactly what you get in this flick. Queen Latifah plays a hard-working, sensible sales assistant in a department store. When she discovers she has only three weeks to lives, she cashes in her life savings and goes on one final hoorah at a fancy Alpine hotel. While there, she straight talks sleazy businessmen and politicians, earns the love and respect of the hotel staff (not least Gerard Depardieu) and eats some damn fine food! This being a weepy rom-com, I do not think I am spoiling any surprises to say that she gets to live happily ever after with her new boyfriend, played by LL Cool J. Overall, LAST HOLIDAY is clearly not a work of art, but it is awfully sweet and made me shed a tear or two near the end. The operation is carried off by Queen Latifah's charm, and while the opening segment could have been cut by twenty minutes, I really didn't want the movie to end. Aw, shucks!

LAST HOLIDAY is on release in the US and UK.

No comments:

Post a Comment