The Perfect Holiday

Benjamin (Morris Chestnut) is an aspiring songwriter who attempts to break into the music business by giving a copy of his recording track of a Christmas album to a rap artist named J-Jizzy (Charles Q. Murphy). Nancy (Gabrielle Union) is a divorced mother, who is too busy taking care of her three children to take care of herself. Her daughter Emily overhears her mother say that she wished for a compliment from a man, and the daughter tells the local mall's Santa Claus about her mother's wish.

The Santa Claus turns out to be Benjamin, who notices Nancy. Later, while sitting in a Starbucks after his shift as Santa, Benjamin and his friend Jamal (Faizon Love) see Nancy go into a dry cleaners. Benjamin borrows Jamal's jacket, pretends to drop it off at the cleaners, tells Nancy that she's a very attractive woman (granting her wish), and leaves. Eventually, the two start to date and end up falling in love—without Ben realizing that Nancy's ex-husband is J-Jizzy.

Things take a turn for the worse, however, because Nancy's oldest son, John-John is jealous of Benjamin going out with his mother and plots to break up the relationship. What follows is a series of funny and touching scenes that show viewers what "family" is really about.

Our Two Cents:

Mostly this movie wasn't that great, but it wasn't that bad either. It had a lot of annoying things about it. #1 Queen Latifa's character. What the heck is point of her? Nothing against the actress, but we found her character confusing and distracting. Maybe we missed something that happened in the beginning. But it would have been better without whatever she was. #2 We didn't find the romance very believable. They seemed like they were too perfect and in love too suddenly, especially considering that she has 3 kids.

It has a few redeeming qualities to it. #1 J-Jizzy. So basically he and his manager: Hilarious. #2 The kids. Sometimes the kids can kill the movie, sometimes they make the movie. This one is definitely the latter. #3 The premise that he, as the mall Santa, approached Nancy to grant her daughter's wish... Adorable.

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★★★★  •   Acting ★★★★★  •   Chemistry ★★★★★  •  Overall ★★★★★

Links: IMDB  •  Buy DVD on Amazon

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Holiday in Handcuffs

Gertrude 'Trudie' Chandler has officially lost it. The day started with a perm gone tragically wrong, a botched job interview and the one thing she thought she had going for her--Nick, a boyfriend every parent would love--dumps her mere minutes before their departure for her family holiday trip. Not wanting to face her parents as a single woman, and in complete desperate lunacy, she spots David Martin. He's a handsome professional looking guy that would be a perfect substitute... so she kidnaps him. Trudie thwarts every attempt to escape, so David decides to exact his revenge in the best way he can think of. He decides to play the perfect boyfriend so when the inevitable moment of truth comes, it will be all the more embarrassing for Trudie. Will David play his role too well and fall for Trudie for real?

(Summary from IMDB)




Our Two Cents:

Melissa Joan Hart + ABC Family = Sheer delightfulness. This movie is over the top in all the right places. We can't help loving it. You can't get much more guilty pleasure than this one.

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★★★★  •   Acting ★★★★★  •   Chemistry ★★★★★  •  Overall ★★★★★

Links:
IMDB  •  Buy DVD on Amazon


Trailer:

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Holiday Switch

A week before Christmas, Paula Ferguson finds herself struggling with bills and life with her blue-collar husband Gary and her two daughters. When her high school boyfriend Nick Kensington returns to town, Paula wonders if she made the wrong decision when she chose her date to the prom. What would her life have been like if she stayed with Nick?

One night, while everyone else is asleep, wondering if she made the wrong choices in life, she is in the basement and bumps her head. When she comes to, she hears a strange voice calling from inside the dryer. Looking inside, she can see an opening in the back and she crawls through. On the other side is the laundry room in a luxurious mansion and a maid calling her Mrs. K. Even her clothes have changed from worn flannel pajamas and a terry cloth robe to silk and lace. It turns out she is Mrs. K, Mrs. Kensington, that is!

As she becomes more acquainted with what life would really be as the wealthy Mrs. K, without her real husband Gary and without her two girls, she wonders if she should have, as they say, been careful what she wished for. She soon realizes despite their financial problems, she had a really great husband and great life as Paula Ferguson. Is it too late to take back her wish?

Our Two Cents:

This isn't the greatest movie, but we like it anyway. It's another one of those, what would life had been like if scenarios. I enjoyed watching her journey from loving her new pretend life to realizing all the great things she really had. Great message that things don't have to be perfect to be wonderful.

Ratings:
Storyline/Writing ★★★★★  •   Acting ★★★★★  •   Chemistry ★★★★★  •  Overall ★★★★★

Links:
IMDB  •  Official Site



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