Last Holiday

Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo @TheCinemaSource.com

It is a question many people wonder about, and one that Last Holiday attempts to answer: What would you do if you found out you had less than a month to live?

For Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) life has always been full of possibilities, she was just always too afraid to fulfill them. Instead she keeps her dreams concealed within a scrapbook—dreams like visiting Europe, cooking with great chefs and settling down with her handsome co-worker, Sean (LL Cool J). Too bad Georgia plays her life on the safe side, never taking any chances, never having any fun.

Georgia’s life is about as mundane as it can get. She sells cookware in a New Orleans department store, when what she really wants to do is open her own restaurant. She dresses like a frumpy old woman—baggy cardigans, long skirts, hair pulled back tightly in a bun—when she should really allow her beauty to shine. She prepares delicious Emeril Lagasse-style meals, but would rather take pictures of them than actually eat them. And even though the attraction between her and Sean is clearly mutual, she’s too shy to make a move.

Her way of living gets a wake-up jolt, however, when she receives the tragic news that she has only a few weeks left to live. And this is where the movie descends into a clichéd fairytale farce. Georgia accepts her fate from the doctor (What, no second opinion?). After a few seconds of wallowing in “why me?” despair, she decides it’s time to—as her idol Emeril would say—kick it up a notch. She liquidates her assets and books a flight to a posh, Czechoslovakian resort nestled within majestic, snow-capped mountains. Here she intends to spend the rest of her days.

From there Georgia discovers the person she was always too scared to be. She speaks her mind, gets a seaweed wrap, goes skiing and base diving, dresses like royalty, and cooks with a famous French chef (Gerard Depardieu). Her complete make-over attracts a lot of attention. What a coincidence that the Senator from her hometown (Giancarlo Esposito) as well as the smarmy owner of the department store chain where she works (Timothy Hutton) just happen to be staying at the same resort! After these big-wigs notice the fabulous new Georgia, she can’t help but get involved in their affairs—teaching them all a thing or two in the process.

Last Holiday, a take-off of the 1950 movie of the same name, is meant to be a cute, lightweight comedy with a positive message. One person can make a difference, the movie insists. Live life to the fullest, the movie implores. Too bad these themes are not incredibly original. You start to wonder, if life is so short, why am I sitting here watching Last Holiday?

It is also a shame that the characters are mostly bland cardboard cutouts of real human beings. Poor LL Cool J is the love ...