DECEMBER 2007,
Wayne Dawkins
A soulful, wholesome
‘This Christmas’
The syndicated review
of “This Christmas” published in my 90,000-circulation hometown
paper in
Nevertheless, the
reviewer and the Daily Press, my paper, gave “This Christmas” 2.5
stars out of 4-star rating. That’s better than a so-so 2-star
rating, but not enough sparkle to merit 3-star very good validation.
Three weeks since the
November opening, I got to see the film for myself. I went to an
I concur with the
reviewer on many of the style points. In the first 30 minutes, the
characters seemed a little stilted before the ensemble warmed to
their roles.
As
for the clichés, I welcome them. It was time for
Or, instead of using
“cliché,” which can be interpreted as dismissive, did the virtually
African-American cast riff effectively off a canon of classic movies
and a few pop icons?
“This Christmas”
offers me a new film to compare with two black films, the
Christmas-oriented “Preacher’s Wife,” [1996] starring Denzel
Washington, Whitney Houston and Courtney B. Vance, and “Soul Food,”
[1997] starring Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Mekhi Phifer, and Vanessa
Williams.
The stars of this
season’s holiday movie are Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo, Regina
King, and R&B teen idol Chris Brown.
Regina King mirrors
Vivica Fox 11 years ago as the earth mother and at times pushy big
sister and second mom of the clan. Meanwhile Devine is a tad sexier
version of the matriarch of “Soul Food.”
Just a tad sexier
because the grown-up kids are surprised that Ma’Dere has had Joseph
Black [Lindo] living with her for four years. Some of these children
are a little queasy imagining mom getting her freak on.
Lindo,
the deacon,
adds the masculine flavor that was apparent in
“The Preacher’s Wife” because of Vance’s role as the pastor, and
Denzel’s saccharine-sweet part as the angel.
As for Chris Brown,
and his character, the reviewer said the director Preston A.
Whitmore II borrowed liberally from “Mama, I Want to Sing!” the
1980s stage play. I guess that was a problem. Yet consider this: In
our attention-deficit times, many movie goers probably don’t know
about “Mama, I Want to Sing!” so “This Christmas” does customers a
favor and introduces them to a remake of the wholesome performance.
Truth
be told, Brown recalls a teenage Frank
Sinatra. In the 1940s, old blue eyes, decked out in his sweater and
full head of wavy hair, had the girls swooning. In the 2000s, young
brown eyes [Chris Brown] must have the girls jumping out their skin
as he woos them with an updated version of soul man Otis Reddings’
“Try a Little Tenderness,” plus another soulful swing at “This
Christmas” that should make the late great Donny Hathaway proud.
And yes, up above I
uttered the “W” word, wholesome. I crave black-themed movies that
are PG and PG-13, stuff I can see with my family and also see
joyfully with friends and strangers. The movie crackled enough with
a little sexual tension and suggestion. There was some violence, but
not the gratuitously traumatic kind. Black folk are too close to
violence and trauma in real life, so we don’t have to see scenes
played out on screen.
This Christmas was
entertaining. It is not filmmaking artistry, just some good old
commercial entertainment. It’s the kind of holiday film that will
join my must-see viewing along with “Love Actually” [Hugh Grant,
Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Keira
Knightley] plus other fare.