Almost Christmas (2016)

Almost Christmas (2016)

5/10

Starring

Kimberly Elise

Omar Epps

Danny Glover

Gabrielle Union

J.B. Smoove

Directed by David E. Talbert

Almost Christmas is almost a good movie. The movie didn’t totally suck, and it had all the ingredients to make you laugh and think deeply about what was happening on screen. The "but" here is that it didn’t make the best use of all those ingredients to become a memorable film. The moment the credit shows, the chances of you even remembering one of the characters you just watched is low.

The good thing about the movie is Mo’Nique. Her character was all over the place, making enough jokes to keep me interested in what was happening. Mo’Nique wasn’t the only good thing—Kimberly Elise gave a stunning performance in her portrayal of Cheryl throughout the movie.

One of the bad things about the movie is that it had too many people in it, which studios do in the hope of getting the audience to go see the movie, but sometimes this does not work. A lot of things were going on at the same time, making it hard to keep up. Although the cast tried to deliver good performances, there were too many of those “tries” going around, and in the end, I was left wishing some of them would just go away or stop showing up on screen. The problem lies with the director not making the best of the script and the writers trying to jam too many actors into one film—which is never a bad idea if you know how to use them well.

The movie had a cast lineup of Kimberly Elise, Omar Epps, Danny Glover, Gabrielle Union, J.B. Smoove, and more.

That said, the script was very cheesy, and the story, while not predictable at all times, definitely had more than enough room for improvement.

The movie plot starts with the introduction of Walter Meyers (Danny Glover), who is now a widower after the passing of his wife. This will be the first Christmas the family has without her, and getting things just right the way she used to do it is becoming a problem.

His grown children and family are also coming for Christmas, along with their Aunty May (Mo’Nique). Sibling rivalry starts between the children, and as Christmas draws near, it looks like a dark and sad holiday is ahead.

In the end, I can’t safely tell anyone to go see this movie, but I’ll leave it to you to decide whether to give it a try or not.