The Phoenix Network:
About | Advertise
 
Features  |  Reviews
-->

This Christmas

Hallmark cribbing
By CHRIS BRAIOTTA  |  November 20, 2007
1.5 1.5 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for This Christmas.

Christmas movies have always meant boring white people going home to settle lifelong resentments and eat ham. It’s only fair that black folks get a crack at re-enacting these insipid mechanics. As artificially homy as a plug-in air freshener, writer/director Preston A. Whitmore II’s This Christmas fills the bill. The unwieldy ensemble story has no fewer than six grown kids staying with mom (Loretta Devine), each cramming hangers-on and manufactured conflict into a bland, overstuffed lump. There’s not a single moment that doesn’t bristle with exposition and cliché — only Idris Elba as Quentin and Delroy Lindo as Joe give the film’s Hallmark cribbing anything resembling life. 117 minutes | Boston Common + Fenway + Fresh Pond + Suburbs
Related:
  Topics: Reviews , Delroy Lindo , Idris Elba , Preston Whitmore ,  More more >
  • Share:
  • RSS feed Rss
  • Email this article to a friend Email
  • Print this article Print
Comments

Today's Event Picks
ARTICLES BY CHRIS BRAIOTTA
Share this entry with Delicious

 See all articles by: CHRIS BRAIOTTA

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



Friday, November 21, 2008  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group