Last Holiday (2006)

Upon learning of a terminal illness, a shy woman decides to sell off all her possessions and live it up at a posh European hotel.

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
Michel 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:

fatal disease | department store | businessman | hotel | chef | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual reference

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

13 January 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las últimas vacaciones

Filming Locations:

Pupp Hotel, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,508,779, 15 January 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$38,360,195, 5 March 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

Food Network posted the recipes for all of the dishes on their website. Specific dishes prepared for the movie include:

• Lobster Salad in Potato Leek Nests
• Duck Hash on Toasted Baguette
• Spiced Lamb Shanks with Blood Orange Relish
• Roasted Quail with Brioche and Chorizo Stuffing
• Risotto Barolo with Roasted Vegetables
• Bananas Foster
• Poulet Tchoupitoulas.

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Goofs

When Gunther is reading Georgia's letter you can see that the word "buried" is misspelled "burried".

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Quotes

Matthew Kragen: Where are you going?
Ms. Burns: Well, first I'm going to go find Georgia, and then I'm gonna go back to school and I'm gonna get my business degree. And then one day, when your wife finally decides to divorce you and takes half of everything you have, I'll only be too happy to help her figure out exactly how much that should be.

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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 God Bless America (2011)

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Soundtracks

Emeril Live Opening Theme Music
by Daniel Shklair

User Reviews

Enjoyable Feel Good Movie

Currently, we have our fair share of pointless actions films (absent of any plot and decent script) or films that are trying to take themselves too seriously or films that are too dark and downbeat or films which try to be funny but are not so it was a pleasure to go with my family recently to see Last Holiday.

Queen Latifah comfortably heads a cast who delivered solid, believable performances across the board (and some new faces to me). OK, the story was a bit contrived and some sequences were a bit far fetched (the snow board ride for instance) but it was a great deal of fun.

The story, which looked at people's aspirations and dreams and the need to take every day as it comes, to enjoy life to the full (as we don't know what is round the corner) was played out with great passion and skill. Latifah's comedy acting (loved the raised eyebrow and sideways glances) was relaxed and easily won over the sympathy of the audience. Great, also, to see Gerard Depardieu again as I haven't seen him for a while.

Refreshingly set in snowy Prague, good Direction and lovely Cinematography. I recommend that you see it.