Black Film Streaming Pick: Last Holiday
Queen Latifah and LL Cool J Make Christmas Sparks
Welcome back to my “Black Film Streaming Pick” series, a continuous column about Black films currently available on streaming platforms. If you haven’t already, take a look at my last pick: Spike Lee’s harrowing documentary 4 Little Girls, which is still available to stream on HBO Max.
This time around, in anticipation of the Christmas season, I’m writing about Wayne Wang’s charming and ebullient Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah and LL Cool J.
She religiously uses coupons at her local grocery store; she cooks high-cuisine meals, which she doesn’t eat, but gives away to a local kid; she sings in the church choir. Georgia Byrd (Latifah) tirelessly works at a New Orleans department store. And when she isn’t there she watches Emeril Lagasse’s cooking show, recreating the dishes to perfection and recording her results in a dream book she keeps locked away in a kitchen drawer. She crushes on an awkward, yet dashing colleague at the department store, Sean, played brilliantly by LL Cool J.
Georgia hesitates to act on her feelings with Sean, even though the attraction between them drips down like melted butter. Georgia lives every moment of her life, cautiously.