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.
