This Christmas (2007)

A Christmastime drama centered around the Whitfield family's first holiday together in four years.

Director:

Preston A. Whitmore II

Writer:

Preston A. Whitmore II

Stars:

Regina King, Columbus Short, Delroy Lindo

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Delroy Lindo	...	Joseph Black
Idris Elba	...	Quentin Whitfield
Loretta Devine	...	Ma'Dere Whitfield
Chris Brown	...	Michael 'Baby' Whitfield
Keith Robinson	...	Devean Brooks
Laz Alonso	...	Malcolm Moore
Columbus Short	...	Claude Whitfield
Sharon Leal	...	Kelli Whitfield
Lauren London	...	Melanie 'Mel' Whitfield
Lupe Ontiveros	...	Rosie
Jessica Stroup	...	Sandi
Mekhi Phifer	...	Gerald
Regina King	...	Lisa Moore
David Banner	...	Mo
Ricky Harris	...	Cousin Fred

Storyline

In Los Angeles, Shirley Ann Whitfield, affectionately called Ma'Dere, is the matriarch of the Whitfield family, she with six children: San Francisco residing wife and mother Lisa who feels the need to act as the responsible one in managing her extended family's welfare, as such sacrificing her own wants in the process; traveling jazz musician Quentin Jr. who the family has not seen in four years; Claude the marine; New York ad exec Kelli who admits she is the selfish one; college student Mel; and Michael (called Baby) who still lives at home while figuring out what he wants to do with his life. Ma'Dere has lived in the family home for a few years now with Joe Black, a church deacon, with Ma'Dere's husband/the children's father, Quentin Whitfield Sr., long having left the family to pursue a life as a jazz musician. Because of the pain associated for Ma'Dere, Sr.'s piano sits in the garage untouched. Quentin, being a chip off the old paternal block, is the most disconnected from the ...

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Plot Keywords:

family home | musician | christmas | secret | piano | 

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Taglines:

You can't exchange family.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for comic sexual content and some violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 November 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Acasă de Crăciun

Filming Locations:

St. John's Episcopal Cathedral - 514 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$17,958,183, 24 November 2007, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$49,121,934, 6 January 2008

Company Credits

Production Co:

Facilitator Films, Rainforest Films, Screen Gems

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lauren London was offered to be in this movie without having to audition based on her performance in ATL (2006).

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Goofs

When Claude Whitfield got arrested, Joe Black said that he was AWOL from the Army. At the end of the movie he has on a Marine Corps. uniform. Army personnel go 'AWOL'. Marines go 'UA' (Unexcused Absence).

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Quotes

Shirley Ann 'MaDere' Whitfield: [Noticing Sandi] Who is this?
Lisa Moore: That's your daughter-in-law.
Kelli Whitfield: Um, this is not funny.
Lisa Moore: No, it's not, but I'm going to keep drinking until it is.

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Crazy Credits

The opening Screen Gems logo is bright red and covered in Christmas tree lights.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: The Mist/This Christmas/August Rush/I'm Not There/Purple Violets (2007)

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Soundtracks

Opening
from The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Written by Andrea Guerra

User Reviews

Christmas is Christ-mas

This Christmas, is your typical black movie, where is the uniqueness and where is the fresh ideas, I am sick and tired of people hollering about their atheists, the writer must be an atheist himself: because he left Christ out of the entire movie, and it is labled this Christmas, if you are not going to acknowledge God, stop trying to make money off his name. Christmas is Christ-mas,

Also, when you have a church scene, if you cannot mention God in the song, leave it out completely, I do not want to hear the chior singing mistletoe, really!??? what happen to silent night or go tell it on the Mountain, Joy to the world; They made church a joke: They should have use the song this Christmas; when the family was visiting each other, shopping, or cooking, Not during church: Also, the overdone story lines where the black men are shooting at each other, robbing, stealing, going to jail, families arguing and fighting, black women lay around and end up with some STD and do not want to get married or remaining single; I am disgusted with these stories; the writer seem to be selfish: Also, you have people question, why we do not watch black films.

However, We are tired of the repetition stories, also people, stories like these carry spirits and they can come out of the screen and leap into these people homes, we have to be careful, we are entertaining demons, if you do not believe me, for example, when Michael Jackson did the song ghost, He laid on the ground and turned to dust, is he not gone today, even though its just a video of a song, and when Redd Foxx played the role of Fred Sandford, having a junk yard buiness with his son, and always pretending to have a heart attack, in real life, he died of a heart attack, also a woman played on a soap opera, chased after men, the man always choose another woman over her, and she was left lonely, in real life, do you know she is divorced and left alone, It is okay to play a sad role once in awhile, but overdoing it, is too much, then it become spirits leaping into people homes or take effect on the characters real life, and women lives who want to get married, also have you seen the movie the shining, the woman went crazy in the movie, and now they announced on Inside Edition, a a couple of weeks ago, that she went mentally insane, and now she is in a mental institute, this is real life,

I am expecting something better from these black films; If we are going to do a Christmas movie, do it right, its about Jesus