The Best Man Holiday Review

Good Movie but not what you expect    C+


Best Man Holiday starts off as a relationship comedy but quickly becomes a sad melodrama. From the commercials and trailers you can’t tell what is the major theme of Best Man Holiday. Most

best-man-holiday
people think they are going to see a funny well acted movie about college friends uniting with, of course a little drama in between but with a feel good ending. Overall you can’t say this is bad movie but you don’t come out of it feeling the same way as you did in The Best Man. If you were a fan of the first and waited more than decade for this movie I don’t think this is the movie you have been waiting for.
Best Man Holiday starts off about ten years after the first movie Harper Carter (Taye Diggs) is now married to Robin played by Sanaa Lathan. Robin is expecting while Harper just finds out that he is laid off from NYU. To make matters worst, with a baby on the way and bills pilling up, Harper hasn’t had a best selling book in a while. His agent suggest he write an autobiography about his friend Lance Sullivan who plays for the NY Giants and is about to break the all time rushing record. He convinces Harper that the book will play good to today’s audience and will land him a big advance. Lance played by Morris Chestnut already has a rocky relation with Harper going back to the first movie. However, when Mia, Lance’s wife played by Monica Calhoun e-mails Harper to come for a holiday reunion, Harper jumps at the chance. Harper sees this as an opportunity to do an autobiography on Lance as his agent suggested.

As the gang gets back together a lot has changed. Harold played by Julian Murch has married Candace the stripper in part one who was named Candy. Harold has been gaining donations for his school but he comes to a recent snag when his biggest donor pulls out while revealing something about Candace’s past.

Jordan played by Nia Long has stayed in the TV news field and has a new boyfriend. Shelby played by Melissa De Sousa is back. Now she’s a reality celebrity living a lavish lifestyle. She is still single but has kid. Quentin, (Q for short) played by Terrence Howard hasn’t changed he’s still the same eccentric dude that knows how to get in and out if trouble.

With Harper secretly writing a book on Vance and Harold secretly dealing with his wife’s past, their storyline gets trumped by the secret Mia is holding.
When Mia’s situation is revealed the movie turns from a quirky relationship film to a serious melodrama. This takes away from any laughs, which you expect to enjoy in a comedy.
In this installment I felt Mia’s character got more play and better lines then the first one but Monica Calhoun is a good actress and her character needed more development. Nia Long has less of a role but her character shines through. For the most part everyone gets a balance of screen time. There’s an emotional football seen in the flick that plays out really well reminiscent of something you see in those classic sports movies.
The movie towards the end tries to reel in viewers from its serious nature and take it back to the comedy, which doesn’t work. Good to see everyone back together but I was looking for something different.

The-Best-Man-Holiday-Image-03