Almost Christmas (2016)

Ah, the holidays. It's a chance for families and friends to get together in complete peace and harmony. Pffft! If only! It's a wonderful thing when people come together to celebrate holidays and other family-centric moments, but they rarely go according to plan – or as smoothly as most of us wish they would. Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Eid, Festivus, the Winter Solstice or any other gathering with loved ones, you're probably familiar with the problem. You get together people who love each other, but rarely see each other outside of holidays, weddings and funerals and some people pick up right where they last left off – with annoying habits, strong differences of opinion and old grudges that should've been dealt with or dropped long ago in the interest of family harmony. This scenario is the foundation of many a holiday comedy, including "Almost Christmas" (PG-13, 1:52).

Walter Meyers (Danny Glover) is having a very tough time. The mother of his children and the love of his life died suddenly some months ago and he's now facing his first Christmas without her. He has also secretly made the difficult decision to sell the family home, a house that has become a place of sadness for him since his dear wife's passing. Walter is also struggling with trying to duplicate his wife's famous sweet potato pie for the holidays. He invites his four adult children and their families to spend Christmas together in that house (one last time), despite the problems that he knows they have getting along.

As with all families, there are a lot of differences within the Meyers family – and a lot of history – some positive and some… challenging. Rachel (Gabrielle Union) is a single mom who's very independent (almost pathologically so) who aspires to be a lawyer, but feels stuck in her job as a waitress. Rachel's lack of actual accomplishments brings judgment from her older sister, Cheryl (Kimberly Elise), who is a dentist. But Cheryl has problems of her own, mostly because of Lonnie (J. B. Smoove), her ex-athlete husband who constantly talks about his glory days, often to pretty young women who are not his wife.

Walter also has two sons who are at very different places in their own lives. Christian (Romany Malco) and his wife, Sonya (Nicole Ari Parker), have their hands full with two precocious children. Christian is also running for Congress and is so focused on his campaign that he brings his campaign manager (John Michael Higgins) with his family for the holidays. The youngest of Walter's kids, Evan (Jessie T. Usher) is a college football player with lots of potential – if he can recover from a shoulder injury, and stop taking his pain killers, and get past his mother's death, which seems to be affecting him more than his siblings.

Not only are all these related (but very different) people coming together for Christmas, they're all staying in the family home for the days leading up to the holiday. Adding to theÂ… um, festivities are Walter's loving but loud and opinionated sister-in-law, career back-up singer Aunt May (Mo'Nique), Evan's best friend, Eric (DC Young Fly), who has "a thing" for Aunt May, next-door neighbor Malachi (Omar Epps), against whom Rachel is nursing a very old grudge, and a local grocery store cashier named Jasmine (Keri Hilson) who has what turns out to be an unfortunate connection with two members of the extended Meyers family. There's plenty for this collection of c

Fmovies: Almost Christmas is not even almost original. It is larded with clichés and stereotypes about a black dysfunctional family celebrating the 5 days until Christmas. Along the way is the usual squabbling, infighting, and romance with a very heavy dose of sentiment about patriarch Walter's (Danny Glover) loss of his wife, and their mother, a year ago.

The intermittent episodes of grief for her are too many and sap the comedy from the film. Yes, some amusing moments creep in and out, especially the dinner scene where an errant husband played by a writer, actor, J.B. Smoove receives his comeuppance. The timing is as good as that of the best comedies of the Three Stooges or Martin and Lewis.

Mo'Nique as Aunt May steals the show with black mamma stereotyping but a real flare for comedy that makes the cliché feel fresh. Although her language is frequently peppered with variations of "your ass," she has a twinkle that brings out the house's laughter.

All dad wants as a present is for them to get along. Most of the time they don't, but, hey, if they did, there'd be no action worth chronicling.

Danny Glover plays an aging widower in this holidays movie. It's been a year since his wife died and now all of his children are gathering back home for Christmas. All the children have problems of their own.

And that's about it. This is about as by the numbers Christmas family drama as you can make it. It's almost comical how every single character has their own little drama moment, their own little life crisis to be solved through the magic of Christmas. And they're such clichéd problems as well. One of the has forgotten to make time for their family. One of them is using a bit too many pills. One of the them doesn't know what direction to take in their life. One of them has problems with their spouse. They're so inoffensive that it's almost offensive in and on itself.

And it's not like the movie isn't well-acted. These are good actors, all of them, with Glover being a legend in his own right. Rather it's the script that doesn't have any backbone to it, nothing to say or to convey.

Then again, even though I was more than a bit exasperated with it, the film is, in the end, harmless. I know that's a faint praise to give, but then, it's a pretty faint movie experience.

See it, don't see it it. It probably won't make much of a difference either way.

Almost Christmas fmovies. We just got finished stuffing our faces with turkey, pie, yams, macaroni and cheese and stuffing. Before we can even go back for seconds, and pack away some leftovers, we get flooded with holiday themed entertainment. Almost Christmas, is the first holiday themed movie to hit the big screen. It is the latest Christmas film that represents the entire dysfunctional family getting together for Christmas. I know what you are thinking, and the answer is yes. This type of film has been done so many times before. The dysfunctional family ripping at each other's throats, using profanity at each other and by the end of the movie, they are all smiling, drinking eggnog (elf cum just kidding) and singing Kumbaya while looking at a glaring Christmas tree. On the other hand, this film truly does have an all-star cast, the director has improved from his last film, it is entertaining, and this film is a nice way to start the holiday season.

Written and directed by David E. Talbert (Baggage Claim), the film depicts a family coming together for the holidays soon after their beloved matriarch has died. Widower Walter Meyers, played by Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, The Color Purple), a well-off, retired automotive engineer, hosts the gathering at his comfortable home in Birmingham, Alabama (Even though the movie was filmed in Georgia).

The attendees include Cheryl, played by Kimberly Elise (For Colored Girls, Diary of a Mad Black Woman), Walter's oldest daughter; her sister Rachel, played by Gabrielle Union (Meet Dave, The Birth of a Nation), with whom she has a contentious relationship; oldest son Christian, played by Romany Malco (The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Love Guru), an ambitious politician running for Congress; and much younger son Evan (Jessie T. Usher), who's becoming hooked on painkillers while recuperating from a recent sports injury. Along with other cast members J.B. Smoove, Mo'Nique, Omar Epps, Gladys Knight, John Michael Higgins, and Nicole Ari Parker.

So, the first thing I would like to talk about is the cast. Oh my God, this is a good cast, and it is the cast that makes this movie so much better than what it should be. I know I mentioned how this films plot is something a majority of people have seen, especially in the Christmas genre. But, the cast really lights things up this holiday season (that pun wasn't intended, and if it was it was pretty lame). The real stand out cast members are J.B. Smoove (Hall Pass, The Sitter) and Mo'Nique (Precious, Phat Girlz). Mo'Nique is hilarious as the wig-wearing, ready to fight, drunk, name-dropping Aunt May, who has "performed" for Mick Jagger and Chaka Khan and enjoys imparting all of her wisdom to Walter and her nieces and nephews. I never thought I would say this, but Danny Glover has literally been out performed by everyone! Really, the cast is the redeeming quality for this film. One thing I have to get off my chest is the character Jasmine, played by Keri Hilson. God Lord was that lady fine!

Also, this film is a comedy and a drama. The movie does have some decent laughs, but nothing really very new. The best comedy bits really do come from Mo'Nique and J.B. Smoove, and it is usually through dialogue. The director did improve from his last film, so I feel like he is getting more efficient with filmmaking. Where this movie falls flat is the script. The script is so generic and been there done that type of story, even for a holiday themed movie. Similarly, I would consider this more of a comedy than a drama. The drama

I thought the movie was put together well for the most fun effect.

Really like the opening montage that explained the family origins and the plot of the movie. Done very well.

Love the very well known black cast that fills the film. The only people who I never seen before were the actors playing the children. Although I cannot recall if these actors have worked together before (With the exception of Romany Malco, Nicole Ari Parker and J B Smooth all being cast members of Kevin Hart's show Real House Husbands of Atlanta), I did see some good chemistry among the cast.

Yes, a lot of it was cliché with typical family archetypes like Kimberly Elise as Cheryl, the older sister who has got her life together (on the surface anyway) and judges her little sister Rachel, played by Gabrielle Union for not having hers together, and Jesse T. Usher as Evan, the young bratty baby brother whose the most emotional and it sends him down a dark path.

But the cast is amazing, made up of seasoned players who are experts in the roles they play. I really liked Danny Glover as the center of the household force to keep it together as the family celebrate their 1st Christmas without his wife, the real backbone of the family. JB Smooth was real funny, but Mon'Niqe was really killing it as Aunt May. Every laugh out loud joke in it, she was a part of.

It's a well played hand. The clichés are just that, but the cast is good at bringing life to them enough to take you off your guard with laughter and get you all choked up about celebrating the holiday season with your family.

After 10-months when his wife Grace passed, Walter (Danny Glover) wants to bring the family together for a Christmas dinner and that may be the last one since he is thinking of selling the house, but has told no one. He knows it won't be easy since many of his children have issues with each other. He just asks them for 5- days to be civil to each other until Christmas.

This is touted as comedy but I found nothing funny in here, no clever lines or good sight-gags. Well, they tried a funny sight-gag when Lonnie (J.B. Smoove) tries to set up the Santa and sleigh on a roof that was not funny, over-acted and actually, quite annoying. Okay, they tried another one when Rachel gets stuck in a window ledge trying to get inside. Could have been funny. Wasn't.

I would call this a slice of life that many will recognize as something that may have happened in their lives during a Christmas or some- such holiday when all are not so civil to each other. Hey, it happens. For a Christmas movie there is very little Christmas music in here.

In time we learn all the issues each sibling has with each other and we really don't care about them, but you know the script, by the end of all this, will resolve everything. And then all are happy. Nice, eh?

Danny Glover is always good in any role he takes. As Walter he has a lot on his mind: selling the house, making sure his kids don't kill each other and looking constantly for the recipe his wife Grace used to make her masterpiece: Sweet Potato Pie.

Notables: the siblings: Gabrielle Union as Rachel a single mother trying to finish law school; Kimberly Elise as Cheryl who is married to Lonnie a one-time basketball star; Romany Malco as Christian the politician who is married to Sonya (Nicole Are Parker); Jessie T. Usher as Evan the High School basketball star who hopes to make it to the pros.

Other notables: John Michael Higgins as Brooks the manager of Christian running for Congress; Omar Epps as Malachi who is constantly after Rachel as his love interest; and Mo'Nique as Aunt May and Walter's sister-in-law. And let's not forget Keri Hilson as Jasmine who Rachel invites to the Christmas dinner knowing this will upset Cheryl because she, Rachel, knows Lonnie had sex with Jasmine. You will learn that Rachel and Cheryl can't stand each other.

The story moves along at a good pace, the dialogues come quick, but again nothing funny as I saw it. There should be a category that lists some movies as: COULD HAVE BEEN FUNNY. Okay then, that is my category. This is pleasant, not funny, but more of a kind of slice of life story. Kinda. (5/10)

Violence: Not really. Sex: No. Nudity: No .Language: Small stuff and not much of it.