L'ultima vacanza

Last Holiday is a feelgood movie. You know from the start there will be cheesy moments and a happy ending but it doesn't matter as you don't watch such a movie for surprises, nor to be intrigued. Those movies are made to make you feel good and that's exactly what it did. There is the right amount of joyful and sadful moments, so you will feel both emotions while watching Last Holiday. And it's not even spoiling that I tell you there is a happy end as there always is a happy end. That's why it's a feelgood movie. The cast was enjoyable to watch, especially Queen Latifah playing the main character. As for the comedy factor I had a couple good laughs, mostly in the well found repliques from Queen Latifah. Every now and a while everybody needs a movie like this one, something easy and pleasant to watch.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this movie.

Yes the plot has been done many times before. As with most romantic comedies, it's nothing deep, had some cheesy moments and was totally predictable (I figured out the whole movie in the first 10 minutes).

But I really enjoyed it all the same. I laughed a lot in this movie. Partly because I could totally relate to trying to live life under the radar as woman that doesn't look like a model. Plus it was refreshing to see an African American woman shown with some depth in a movie. Not just the mean black woman.

There was very little cussing, little sexuality, and no nudity. Truly refreshing these days.

If you just want to enjoy a movie without having to put too much thought into it, go see this movie.

I saw this film with my mom, and we both loved every minute of it. In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone loved it, because it was one of the only movies that everyone clapped at the end. Although it was often silly and predictable, it was absolutely hysterical and had a lot of heart.

Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah), a worker at a supermarket, is a normal, shy and reserved person. She's afraid to talk to the guy she loves (Sean, played by LL Cool J), and she never does anything exciting. Within the first 15 minutes, you see her cook a wonderful looking meal which she cooked along with the show "Emeril", in which she takes a picture of and gives to her neighbor. She in turn eats a Lean Cuisine. These greatly affect the establishment of her character, so I give props to the writers.

She later hits her head and learns that she has a terminal disease and is going to die in 3 weeks. She is very sad at first, and goes back to her normal life for a day or two, when she finally looks at her possibilities book (a book with all the things she wish she would have eaten, vacations she wanted to go on, and fake pictures of her marrying Sean), and decides to go to the "Grandhotel Pupp" and live up her last three weeks.

Once at the hotel, she sees the senator of Louisianna (who was supposed to attend her church service) and Congressman Kragen, the owner of the chain of shops that she works at. She also meets the hotel staff, ranging from a mean housekeeper to a kind chef she had wanted to meet. That is where the humor really starts.

She completely splurges, getting the nicest room in the hotel and getting orders of everything in the restaurant, making everyone think she is a very important person. She also manages to get many different spa treatments and do many exciting things including snowboarding and base jumping.

You get all the humor of a typical Queen Latifah movie, with a lot of heart that will make you love the movie even more. The drama isn't really extremely big, but it really makes you enjoy the movie more. The best part of the movie, in my opinion, is when Georgia says "Next time... we will laugh more, we'll love more; we just won't be so afraid.". It makes you appreciate life and enjoy the movie. You will laugh, you may even cry, but you will leave the theater with a smile on your face.

OK, "Last Holiday" is not an Oscar contender, but it is an uplifting and well-made film. Georgia, the main character played by Queen Latifah, was living a very dull and boring life and suddenly, she realized that there was more to life than working all day and eating microwave dinners. She was a woman who followed her dreams. Timothy Hutton is a wonderful villain and LL Cool J plays his heartthrob role very well. The Czech Republic provided a gorgeous (albeit COLD) backdrop. Yes, some of the plot points are implausible, but who cares? The scenery - and Queen Latifah's wardrobe - were breathtaking and most important, this movie was ENTERTAINING and these days, there are very few films that you can say that about. At the performance I attended, there were about 200 people in the audience and we all applauded at the end of the film. Go see it for a good laugh!

Currently, we have our fair share of pointless actions films (absent of any plot and decent script) or films that are trying to take themselves too seriously or films that are too dark and downbeat or films which try to be funny but are not so it was a pleasure to go with my family recently to see Last Holiday.

Queen Latifah comfortably heads a cast who delivered solid, believable performances across the board (and some new faces to me). OK, the story was a bit contrived and some sequences were a bit far fetched (the snow board ride for instance) but it was a great deal of fun.

The story, which looked at people's aspirations and dreams and the need to take every day as it comes, to enjoy life to the full (as we don't know what is round the corner) was played out with great passion and skill. Latifah's comedy acting (loved the raised eyebrow and sideways glances) was relaxed and easily won over the sympathy of the audience. Great, also, to see Gerard Depardieu again as I haven't seen him for a while.

Refreshingly set in snowy Prague, good Direction and lovely Cinematography. I recommend that you see it.