Last Holiday (2006)

After she's diagnosed with a terminal illness, a shy woman decides to take a European vacation.

Director:

Wayne Wang

Writers:

Jeffrey Price (screenplay), Peter S. Seaman (screenplay),

Stars:

Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, Timothy Hutton

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Queen Latifah	...	Georgia Byrd
LL Cool J	...	Sean Matthews
Timothy Hutton	...	Matthew Kragen
Giancarlo Esposito	...	Senator Dillings
Alicia Witt	...	Ms. Burns
Gérard Depardieu	...	Chef Didier
Jane Adams	...	Rochelle
Michael Estime	...	Marlon (as Mike Estime)
Susan Kellermann	...	Gunther
Jascha Washington	...	Darius
Matt Ross	...	Adamian
Ranjit Chowdhry	...	Dr. Gupta
Michael Nouri	...	Congressman Stewart
Jaqueline Fleming	...	Tanya
Kendall Mosby	...	Anton

Storyline

In morte veritas. Georgia Byrd clerks at a New Orleans department store. She defers pleasure: cooks gourmet meals, eats Lean Cuisine; likes a co-worker in silence; has savings, but hasn't left Louisiana. All that changes when a CT Scan discloses she has three weeks to live. She cashes her savings and heads to Europe's Grandhotel Pupp, where Chef Didier presides. She checks into the Presidential Suite, orders everything on the menu, snowboards, and comes to the attention of the chef and the hotel's powerful American guests: a Congressman, a Senator, a retail magnate, and his mistress. She has nothing to lose, so she tells them what she thinks. Will the truth set them free?

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Plot Keywords:

chef | terminal illness | senator | hotel | congressman | 

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Taglines:

Enjoy yourself . . . It's later than you think!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual reference

Details

Official Sites:

Paramount [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

13 January 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

As Férias da Minha Vida

Filming Locations:

Austria

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$24,059 (New Zealand) (26 May 2006)

Gross:

$24,059 (New Zealand) (26 May 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Last Holiday Productions, Paramount Pictures, ImageMovers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All the dishes served in the movie were prepared by Food Network chefs who traveled with the crew to do the cooking. They also taught Queen Latifah some basic cooking techniques so she would look like a professional chef in the movie.

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Goofs

When Georgia is trying on the black and white striped suit, she is wearing the same chain necklace that one of the sales clerks is shown placing around her neck a couple of shots later.

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Quotes

Gunther: [reading the fax on Georgia's misdiagnosis] Ya-Ha-Ha!
[calmly]
Gunther: I will take care of this.

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Crazy Credits

The end credits show us how everybody in the movie's futures turned out.

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Connections

Referenced in The Hour: Episode #7.44 (2010)

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Soundtracks

"I Feel Pretty"
Composed by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Performed by Nellie McKay
Produced by Adam Schlesinger
Nellie McKay performs courtesy of Columbia Records

User Reviews

This movie will make you feel good.

I saw this film with my mom, and we both loved every minute of it. In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone loved it, because it was one of the only movies that everyone clapped at the end. Although it was often silly and predictable, it was absolutely hysterical and had a lot of heart.

Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah), a worker at a supermarket, is a normal, shy and reserved person. She's afraid to talk to the guy she loves (Sean, played by LL Cool J), and she never does anything exciting. Within the first 15 minutes, you see her cook a wonderful looking meal which she cooked along with the show "Emeril", in which she takes a picture of and gives to her neighbor. She in turn eats a Lean Cuisine. These greatly affect the establishment of her character, so I give props to the writers.

She later hits her head and learns that she has a terminal disease and is going to die in 3 weeks. She is very sad at first, and goes back to her normal life for a day or two, when she finally looks at her possibilities book (a book with all the things she wish she would have eaten, vacations she wanted to go on, and fake pictures of her marrying Sean), and decides to go to the "Grandhotel Pupp" and live up her last three weeks.

Once at the hotel, she sees the senator of Louisianna (who was supposed to attend her church service) and Congressman Kragen, the owner of the chain of shops that she works at. She also meets the hotel staff, ranging from a mean housekeeper to a kind chef she had wanted to meet. That is where the humor really starts.

She completely splurges, getting the nicest room in the hotel and getting orders of everything in the restaurant, making everyone think she is a very important person. She also manages to get many different spa treatments and do many exciting things including snowboarding and base jumping.

You get all the humor of a typical Queen Latifah movie, with a lot of heart that will make you love the movie even more. The drama isn't really extremely big, but it really makes you enjoy the movie more. The best part of the movie, in my opinion, is when Georgia says "Next time... we will laugh more, we'll love more; we just won't be so afraid.". It makes you appreciate life and enjoy the movie. You will laugh, you may even cry, but you will leave the theater with a smile on your face.