Written by: Jeffrey Price & Peter S. Seaman
Starring: Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Timothy Hutton, Gérard Depardieu, Alicia Witt
Rating: [4/5]
Living one’s life like there’s no tomorrow sounds great in theory but struggles in all reality because for most individuals tomorrow will arrive and must be answered to. The bills will still be there as will all of the responsibilities on their plate. However, when given a terminal prognosis, the protagonist in Last Holiday decides she will enjoy her final remaining days in style and while providing some comedy, it displays the beauty and frankness that comes with knowledge of one’s impending end.
Just making it by financially and hating her place of work at a department store, Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) receives distressing news from a medical scan where she’s told she has three weeks to live. She decides to empty out her accounts and stay at a luxury hotel in Prague to finish out her days when she meets some intriguing characters.
Answering the age-old questions of what one would do if they had one more day to live, Last Holiday expands it beyond ever so slightly but it takes a peek at the way living this way would change a person. Change does not feel like the right word but rather lifting the veil of a frankness always inside the person but allowed to run free because of the lack of consequences for it given they will be gone. Quitting her job as she does by mouthing off to her supervisor after hearing her prognosis does not display a change but presenting Georgia the opportunity to say everything she always wanted to say to that man because she no longer needs a job. We see this in satisfying ways such as with her supervisor, but also in the heartwarming manner in which she interacts with hotel employees. Given her circumstance, she could get away with being horrible to anyone given the lack of consequences, but she uses this opportunity to be completely honest and that uncovers a wonderfully sweet moment.
Admittedly, the financial person in me wanted to see how much Georgia had in the bank when she liquidated her IRA and bonds left to her by her mother, especially with the way she was burning money at the hotel. There she pays for a $4,000-a-night room with all of the amenities one could want where she opts for every experiential activity they provide as she takes this completely carefree approach. A piece of wish fulfillment that one burdened with responsibility would love to throw their hands up and enjoy, but of course, our tomorrows will continue to come for many more years.
Tension in this feature does exist and it transpires with Georgia’s interactions with Matthew Kragen (Timothy Hutton) who’s also staying at the hotel with some government official friends and a mistress. Coincidentally the owner of the department stores Georgia worked at and hated, she now has the opportunity to enjoy the lifestyle the man at the top indulges in every holiday. Georgia’s presence at the hotel with this mix of carefree and jubilant confounds Karagen and his guests to the point where they ascribe to her what they believe she could be. From corporate espionage, big Whig, and rival businessperson, Kragen runs the gamut in trying to discern the identity of this woman. Of course, no one could be that carefree while spending all of this money at a hotel of this magnitude but this positivity by Georgia begins to rub off on everyone else that allows all of the seriousness to melt away. We see this specifically with the guests of Kragen and how they begin to see things in a different light because of the way Georgia goes about her time at the hotel.
Leading this feature we have an ever-jubilant Queen Latifah who comes in and represents a ball of sunshine throughout this feature. A beautiful joy that will make even the biggest curmudgeon smile from ear to ear. Latifah plays both the nonchalance of this carefree character, and also the natural sadness of this circumstance so well as she further displays what makes Georgia such a special character to go on this journey with. She gets helped on by Timothy Hutton putting on a mean mug the whole time but the best supporting performers proved to be Giancarlo Esposito playing a Senator and then his mistress Allison Burns (Alicia Witt). These two characters had Georgia impact them the most through her presence, and the actors brought on to portray it got the job done.
Taking in all the luxury one could want with the right attitude, Last Holiday allows us to indulge with a character trying to live her life to the fullest because it will end soon, and it presents such a joyous time. Having this all take place during the holidays, a time when loneliness hits its hardest, Georgia manages to build connections with all those around her at this hotel from the employees, including the famous chef, in addition to the other wealthy guests who get drawn to this lack of care seen through the way this woman composes herself. A wonderful movie to take in and one that should be in the Christmas rotation for all.
Films with Josh 
