Last Holiday Only Makes You Wish Queen Latifah Was Terminal

Queen Latifah ("Taxi" and other horrific comedies) stars in "Last Holiday," a remake of the 1950 film with Alec McGuiness that was rewritten to fit Latifah after John Candy died. Perhaps Candy had the right idea: this 90-minute "comedy" (if one's standards are suitably low) of a terminally ill woman's last hedonistic days make you only wish that Latifah was ready to shuffle off this mortal coil. Latifah plays Georgia Byrd, a woman who cannot eat the gourmet foods she cooks because of her diet and who lusts quietly over fellow coworker Sean (LL Cool J) discovers she has three brain tumors, and one month to live. Going on a spending spree, Latifah spends the rest of the film montaging one dress after another, as a wealthy egotist somehow mistakes her for a wealthy CEO. Perhaps the movie's most serious problem, however, is timing: it is set in New Orleans, where people have died, and truly are making life-or-death decisions. In short, don't make plans to go on this "Last Holiday": it may make you want to be as terminal as both Latifah's character and the entire storyline itself.