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:

Last Holiday

Filming Locations:

Pupp Hotel, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,806,188, 15 January 2006

Gross USA:

$38,399,961

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$43,446,924

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 Darius is eating the Poulet Tchoupitoulas and greens, we hear a microwave beep in the background, suggesting her Lean Cuisine dinner is done. However, when Georgia reaches to get the dinner from the microwave, we see not only that the timer is still on the 2-minute mark, but also that the power control is set to "Low", which is not likely to have been used to heat up a "flash-frozen" dinner. Furthermore, this is an analog dial timer, which would have most likely ended with a mechanical bell, not an electronic beep.

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Quotes

Gunther: Please don't die, Miss Byrd, I read your note.
Georgia Byrd: You went through my stuff?
Gunther: Oh yeah, I go through everyone's stuff, I apologize.

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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

Featured in At the Movies: Last Holiday/The Matador/The Libertine (2006)

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Soundtracks

Wanna Fly
Written by Vassy
Performed by Vassy

User Reviews

Cute movie

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this movie.

Yes the plot has been done many times before. As with most romantic comedies, it's nothing deep, had some cheesy moments and was totally predictable (I figured out the whole movie in the first 10 minutes).

But I really enjoyed it all the same. I laughed a lot in this movie. Partly because I could totally relate to trying to live life under the radar as woman that doesn't look like a model. Plus it was refreshing to see an African American woman shown with some depth in a movie. Not just the mean black woman.

There was very little cussing, little sexuality, and no nudity. Truly refreshing these days.

If you just want to enjoy a movie without having to put too much thought into it, go see this movie.