{"id":89,"date":"2006-01-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-12T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2006\/01\/laugh-holiday.html"},"modified":"2006-01-12T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-01-12T12:00:00","slug":"laugh-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2006\/01\/laugh-holiday.html","title":{"rendered":"Laugh Holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Queen Latifah made me cry. I wouldn’t normally admit that I teared up during a heartwarming, inspirational romantic comedy, but I’m willing to go on the record so that others might not pass up “Last Holiday<\/a>, “a remake of the 1950 movie<\/a> of the same name. In it, Queen Latifah plays Georgia Byrd, a demure, church-going New Orleans department store worker, who decides to travel to Europe and pursue her dreams of staying in a grand hotel and eating foods prepared by a world famous chef after being told she has only three weeks to live. Once in Europe, Georgia’s new-found passion for life leads to a comical case of mistaken identity and some truly hysterical scenes in the hotel spa.<\/p>\n

While not exactly ground-breaking storytelling–and there’s a somewhat distracting political subplot–the laughs are plentiful, the scenery fantastic, and it’s great to see Timothy Hutton and Gerard Depardieu back on the big screen. As a general rule, I try to avoid anything that could be labeled “inspirational,” but Queen Latifah’s energy embodied the reinvigorated Georgia Byrd so perfectly that I couldn’t help but get caught up in the tale and get a bit verklempt <\/span>at the appropriate moments. Georgia’s story speaks to everyone who has ever postponed chasing their dreams, and that’s probably a good 99% of the population.<\/p>\n

When interviewing Queen Latifah <\/a>about the film and her own spiritual journey, I admitted that, although my usually-stony media-maven self shies away from movies that are heartwarming, she replied,”Get your ‘heartwarm’ on, girl!” (You can read the interview here<\/a>.) So to all of you looking for an enjoyable–and, yes, inspirational–film to watch this weekend, go and get your “heartwarm” on with “Last Holiday.”<\/p>\n

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Queen Latifah made me cry. I wouldn’t normally admit that I teared up during a heartwarming, inspirational romantic comedy, but I’m willing to go on the record so that others might not pass up “Last Holiday, “a remake of the 1950 movie of the same name. 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