I just love Last Holiday! It's one of my favorite movies ever, and I've probably seen it twenty times by now. It stars one of my favorite modern actresses, Queen Latifah, costars one of my favorite celebrity boyfriends, Gérard Depardieu, and features an incredibly inspiring storyline filmed at an exotic, glorious setting. It's my dream to follow in Queenie's footsteps and take a vacation to Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary.
Queenie works in the cookware department of a department store. She loves to cook, follows recipes on cooking shows, and photographs her food, but she doesn't get to enjoy her creations. Instead, she eats Lean Cuisine. She has a crush on LL Cool J, one of her coworkers, but despite encouragement from her friend, Jane Adams, she barely has enough courage to say hello. She has an accident at work and gets a CAT-scan, which shows she has the very rare and incurable Lampington's disease. With only three weeks to live, she throws caution to the wind. She tells off her boss, cashes in all her investments, and plans a permanent vacation to the place she's always wanted to visit: Hotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia.
The movie was filmed on location and in the hotel, so audiences are treated to the beautiful ceilings-that, thanks to Queenie's suggestion, will make you want to cry-and the beautiful ski slopes and outdoor markets. There's nothing so glamorous as snow, and since this movie takes place over Christmas, it's even more gorgeous. As Queenie says when she looks at the view from her hotel window, "What world was I living in?" Also, since what remains of her life coincides with the end of the year, there's a poetic beauty about the scenery. Yes, it's the end of December, but everything's bright, beautiful, and full of life.
Speaking of bright, beautiful, and full of life, Queen Latifah has never been more of the three than in Last Holiday. She starts the movie with her hair pulled in a severe bun and without wearing makeup, but when she tells the boutique saleswomen, "Make me international," and books a few spa treatments, she gets a full makeover. I absolutely love Queenie, and she puts so many nuances into this role. After her makeover, when she's wearing one of her stunning new dresses, she sits at a table-for-one in the hotel dining room. The menu is embossed with the chef's name, a man she's idolized for years and whose cookbooks she's collected. She runs her fingers over the letters and smiles, but it's more than excitement that lights her face. "I can't believe I'm here," mixes with, "One of the last meals I'm going to eat is going to be prepared by my favorite chef," mixes with, "Don't focus on my dwindling time, just focus on appreciating the moment." It's a very brief expression, but it's very clear and powerful. So, when she orders every dish on the menu, we understand why.
Do you know who plays the famous chef? In real life he's generous, passionate, loves to cook, and speaks with an accent, so the casting was no doubt an obvious choice. Gérard Depardieu, of course! He brings his usual level of perfection to the role, and it's so great to see him in the kitchen. In his entrance scene, he complains about an entire table ordering his dishes with picky substitutions, and when he receives Queenie's order, with no substitutions, he insists on visiting her table personally. It's just as adorable to hear him warn the others, "No substitutions," the next time they order as it is touching when he gives his heartfelt advice to his new friend: "It's not how you start, but how you finish."
The supporting cast is delightful, and the eclectic hotel staff alone will make any audience member want to book a vacation. Also staying at the hotel are a congressman, a senator, the head of the fictional department store chain, and his "secretary". Giancarlo Esposito, Michael Nouri, Timothy Hutton, and Alicia Witt, respectively, are all essential and three-dimensional. At times they're superficial, at times they're cynical, at times they're friendly, and all of them are potentially willing to change if a phenomenal woman shows them the way. There's a fine line between making a saccharine-sweet movie about one character who changes a village, and making a realistic, moving movie about one person's influence on a host of different people. Obviously, this movie belongs in the latter category. If all you've seen is the trailer that shows Queen Latifah and Timothy Hutton ski racing, you're in for a very pleasant surprise.
The most incredible thing about this movie is the fact that it's a remake. There are two types of remakes, the faithful and the altered, and Last Holiday is the best altered remake ever. The original was made in 1950 and starred Alec Guinness. With no humor, a tragic romance, and an extremely depressing story, it was a terrible film. Fifty-six years later, the character George Byrd was changed to Georgia Byrd, and Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman wrote a delightful script!
Literally every moment of this movie is great. From hilarious spa treatments, where Lucie Brezovskà wallops Queenie with a leafy branch-"I do it with love!"-to Gérard revealing the secret of life-"Butter, butter, butter"-to Queenie's quick assessment of Alicia and Tim's romance-"Good, now let's move onto something heavy, like world hunger." Grab your Kleenexes and get ready to appreciate life. And, start saving for that dream vacation. I have already!
