Das perfekte Weihnachten (2007)

Das perfekte Weihnachten: Directed by Lance Rivera. With Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Faizon Love, Charlie Murphy. A young girl turns to a department store Santa in the hopes that he will help find a new husband for her divorced mother.

“THE PERFECT HOLIDAY is another one of those typical holiday films that some have touted as the u0026quot;first African-American ensembleu0026quot; that plays like its a television special than a theatrical release. This is another one of those hair-splitting claims that requires us to consider another movie about another over-the-top out of control African-American family going through the motions around the most joyous time of the year. For one,Gabrielle Union and Morris Chestnut make a sexy caramel couple. Maybe that explains why theyu0026#39;re always paired up in movies. In this case you didnu0026#39;t get enough of their chocolate combo work in such films as u0026quot;The Brothersu0026quot;,u0026quot;Two Get Play That Gameu0026quot;,and u0026quot;Breaking All The Rulesu0026quot;. This time around theyu0026#39;re back in u0026quot;The Perfect Holidayu0026quot;. u0026quot;Holidayu0026quot; has Chestnut playing a struggling singer-songwriter working part time as a mall Santa. Apparently, this must be at the progressive mall if theyu0026#39;re hiring a brotha to play of the traditionally alabaster St. Nick.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen a little girl(Khail Bryant)hops on this fake Santau0026#39;s lap,all she asks for is a man to pay her mom(Union)a compliment she tells her friends she would like. Once our Kriss Kringle sees how mochalicious this girlu0026#39;s mama is,he decides to fulfill the wish himself. This sets off a farcial courtship between the two,which mostly has him keeping an eye out for one of her other children(Malik Hammond),who tries to prank this fool out of his momu0026#39;s life(Fortunately,baby girl hips him to her big brou0026#39;s tricks whenever heu0026#39;s in Santa mode.)The boy wants his mom to get back together with their father(Charlie Murphy of Chappelleu0026#39;s Show),an egostistical rapper our part-time Father Christmas-who doesnu0026#39;t know heu0026#39;s going out with his ex-is also hoping to work with. As cute and cuddly as this sounds,I have seen better movies with the same plot line and it is basically forgettable. What follows next is a series of events so uninspired and delusional that an old soul like Father Christmas couldnu0026#39;t save this fiasco of a film with a strong black cast. And speaking of the supporting cast,the actors are mostly made up of former UPN and WB sitcom players not to mention former comedians(Faizon Love from WBu0026#39;s u0026quot;The Parenthoodu0026quot;and was also in the first u0026quot;Fridayu0026quot; film opposite Ice Cube and Chris Tucker;Rachel True from u0026quot;Half and Halfu0026quot;;Jill Marie Jones-aka Toni Childs from u0026quot;Girlfriendsu0026quot;,and I know some of you wonder whatever happened to her after her departure from that show…;not to mention comedian Katt Williams and a host of others from u0026quot;BETu0026#39;s Comicviewu0026quot;)who look as if they took the job because,they didnu0026#39;t have much else to do.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe baffling parts of this are the special guest appearances by Queen Latifah and Terrance Howard as the night-and-day spirits who decide the fate of these characters. Terrance Howard is totally waste here(who looks like he doesnu0026#39;t want to belong in this in the first place and for an actor with an impaccable capacity of playing good roles),and it shows in some of the performances since the only saving grace here is Latifah herself who keeps this movie afloat,since Latifahu0026#39;s production company Flavor Unit films produced this movie which explains why she is there(Latifah serves as executive producer). But it is nice to see Union and Chestnut once again on the screen making black beautiful which is the only saving grace here.”