Film Reviews

Last Holiday

• Rating:
• Director: Wayne Wang.
• Starring: Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Gerard Depardieu, Timothy Hutton.
• Details: US, 112mins, PG.

Frumpy Georgia Byrd (Latifah) dreams of becoming a chef and likes nothing more than cooking up a storm for her next-door neighbour's son; that and flirting with her shy department store co-worker Sean (LL Cool J). But when an accident at work renders a CAT scan necessary, Georgia finds that she has a rare disease and has three weeks to live. Cashing in her life savings, she takes off for the Czech Republic and books herself into the suave Hotel Pupp, where she is waited on hand and foot. Her easy-going but larger than life persona makes her a celebrity around the hotel and soon she gains the attention of famous chef Didier (Depardieu) and the unwanted attention of evil businessman Matthew Kragen (Hutton), who believes Georgia is there to wreck his business plan. Never veering, not even a millimetre, from the middle of the road, Last Holiday is one of the most boring romantic comedies of all time, somehow managing to avoid both romance and comedy in the process. The lazy, tacked-on romantic story between Latifah and LL Cool J is so poorly written a hack would be embarrassed in showing it to the dog for fear of being attacked. Where other comedies released this year at least tried to make the audience laugh, Last Holiday doesn't even bother, as even Latifah seems bored with her own punch lines. Latifah, who is either operating on autopilot or just isn't a talented actress, goes through the motions, waiting for the movie to end. We know how she feels.

Review by Gavin Burke