Christmas movies are usually about Santa Claus and this film does not stray too far from that premise. This romantic holiday flick is narrated by a sweet, kind-hearted Santa's helper who spreads the holiday cheer. Played by Queen Latifah (who's also one of the film's producer), she does not allow anything to stop her, not even a Scrooge-like partner (Terrence Howard) known as Bah-Humbug.
In this Yuletide tale. the narrator and her sidekick look in on the life of a part-time department store Santa named Benjamin (Morris Chestnut), who is a struggling songwriter, and a beautiful divorced mother, Nancy (Gabrielle Union), who is raising three young children. The problem with these two adults is that Benjamin, while writing romantic love songs, is searching for a love of his own, and Nancy, with all her charm, cannot find her "Mr. Right" because her life is involved with her children and she lacks self-confidence.
Nancy's child care problems could be remedied, but she must contend with her ex-husband J-Jizzy (Charlie Murphy), a big-time hip-hop celebrity who cannot find time for them. J-Jizzy's problem is his ego, which is as large as his mega-music empire. He is a great provider monetarily, but he is relunctant to spend time with the kids unless it can enhance his image in the entertainment world. Meanwhile, Benjamin's problems could be solved if he could sell his songs.
The three children in this Christmas flick are oldest son John-John (Malik Hammond), who desperately misses his father, Mikey (Jeremy Gumbs), the middle sibling who has his doubts about whether or not Santa is real, and little Emily (Khail Bryant), who is very smart and vivacious. The children are relative newcomers to the film industry and give fine performances. The family bonding scenes are very sensitively done and seem to come quite naturally for these young actors.
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Article comments
1 - olivio
did we see the same movie?