In this heartwarming and uplifting remake, Queen Latifah stars as Georgia Byrd, a conservative, reserved woman who works hard as a cookware salesperson in a Louisiana supermart. That is, until she is diagnosed with a terminal disease and has only weeks to live.

After a lifetime spent counting calories and clipping coupons, Georgia cashes out her life savings and goes on a last holiday to a posh resort in Prague. Faced with her soon-to-come mortality, she decides to live life to its fullest. In doing so, s…e becomes a liberated woman who is not afraid to do the things she wants without weighing the consequences of her actions. The result is a very enjoyable storyline in which we get to experience Georgia’s joie de vivre fully.

Queen Latifah is excellent in this role, and she delivers a great performance. She has an air of class and elegance to her, while still remaining down-to-earth. The story is smart and well written, avoiding the fish out of water clichés in favor of a story centered on liberation and self discovery. The cinematography is gorgeous, filling the screen with breathtaking mountains, grand hotel lobbies, and ritzy casinos.

With its refreshing storyline, beautiful locations, and top performances by Queen Latifah and Timothy Hutton, this movie does not disappoint.

Audio

The 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track is good, but not exciting. Surround effects were frequent, but underwhelming. The musical score is well presented and comes through nicely in the fronts. The dialog is crystal clear and well located.

Video

The film is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Colors are bright and vibrant, particularly the alpine shots and the grand dining room scenes. Saturation is very good, with only minimal bleeding in the bright reds. Blacks are crisp and deep. The picture is very clear, without any noticeable print damage.

Menus

The main menu is text with clips from the movie looping every 60 seconds. Submenus are text over static image without sound. Well laid out, but nothing fancy.

Special Features

• There are three full-screen featurettes totaling 30 minutes. These have interviews with the producer, director, writers, actors, photographers and designers, intermixed with behind-the-scenes footage and clips from the movie. Well done, but not overly interesting.
• Two deleted scenes are included, without commentary.
• Two full recipes related to the movie are included in the features section. One is Emeril Lagasse’s own recipe for Poulet Tchoupitoulas – which includes an ingredients list for Emeril’s Essence. The next is a recipe for Banana’s Foster, as prepared by the Food Network. The inclusion of these recipes is really a unique idea for a DVD.
• Other features include several previews for upcoming Paramount DVD releases.

Final Thoughts

With a great performance by Queen Latifah, marvelous scenery and a truly uplifting storyline, this is a movie that aims to please and succeeds. The video and audio are well done, and there are even a couple of decent extra features. Last Holiday is worth checking out.

Special Features List

• “Last Holiday: Packing Light” featurette
• “Last Holiday: Last Look” featurette
• “Last Holiday: 23 Years in the Making” featurette
• Deleted scenes
• Two recipes from Last Holiday
• Theatrical trailer