LISTINGS |  EDITOR'S PICKS | NEWS | MUSIC | MOVIES | DINING | LIFE | ARTS | REC ROOM | CLASSIFIEDS | VIDEO

This Christmas

Hallmark cribbing
Rating: 1.5 stars
November 20, 2007 2:03:31 PM

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
COMMENTS

No comments yet. Be the first to start a conversation.

Login to add comments to this article
Email

Password




Register Now  |   Lost password


MOST POPULAR

 VIEWED   EMAILED 

ADVERTISEMENT

BY THIS AUTHOR

MORE REVIEWS
PHOENIX MEDIA GROUP
CLASSIFIEDS







TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
   
Copyright © 2008 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group