Just in time for the holiday season and family get-togethers comes the family-oriented movie, This Christmas, from director Preston A. Whitmore II. In the festive film, every offspring of the California-bred Whitman family returns home for the first time in years — and, as is usually the case in holiday family reunion movies, chaos ensues as soon as each member of the brood is present and accounted for.
Each of the six Whitfield children arrives home carrying as much emotional baggage as actual luggage. Family secrets are uncovered, hidden relationships are revealed and family bonds are tested as the Whitfields attempt to celebrate the holiday. But a lot of dirty laundry must be aired before anyone can crack open the eggnog. Eldest son Quentin quarrels with his mother’s longtime beau, daughter Lisa struggles with an unfaithful husband and middle child Claude juggles a secret girlfriend and an unwarranted leave of absence from the army — just to name a few of the issues encountered by the loveable, yet crazy, Whitfield clan.
While some of the shenanigans border on the side of ridiculous (for example, a Christmas Eve sleepover with a couple of thugs who are after Quentin), much of the family’s strife is both dysfunctional and hysterical. And the Whitfields deal not only with awkward situations (youngest daughter Mel’s late-night kitchen hook-up is interrupted by the arrival of the rest of her siblings) but also with real family issues: The clan struggles to reconcile with the absence of its patriarch, the infamous “Senior” who abandoned the family years before.
The family members’ distinctive personalities are what really put this movie a notch above other family Christmas films. The Whitfield matriarch (Loretta Devine), affectionately referred to as “Ma’Dere” by her children, is the consummate tough mama, habitually threatening to “bitch slap” her children “into the middle of next week.” Her utter delight to have all her children around her is quickly dampened by their general misbehavior, but her displeasure at her children’s antics makes for plenty of hilarious one-liners (upon walking in on daughter Kelli unpacking her vibrator, she cracks, “Need some batteries?”).
Especially amusing is Regina King as oldest daughter Lisa. King turns the depressing situation of her character’s husband’s affair into a laugh fest. Cases in point: she drives his beloved Escalade into a river and she gets creative with a bottle of baby oil and her husband’s leather belt (use your imagination). King also participates in one of the film’s more absurd happenings: an all-out girl fight with her younger sister, Kelly. Of course, the brawl occurs outside in the pouring rain. Still, the requisite “Oh, no! My hair!” line garnered a few chuckles from the audience.
The teenage heartthrob Chris Brown, playing youngest son “Baby,” steals the screen in every scene he’s in, proving that he is a full-blown triple threat: singer, dancer and, now, actor. Brown’s devilish grin and happy-go-lucky persona do more than capture the hearts of every female in the audience (who screamed with delight any time he came onto the screen); the kid has talent, as both a singer and actor. Brown delivers a goose-bump inducing performance of “Tenderness” and showcases his acting chops in a heated confrontation with his musically disinclined mother.
The overall setup of This Christmas is somewhat formulaic — the cooky, yet loveable, family getting together for the holidays, the near-immediate bedlam that arises and the heart-tugging resolutions reached just in time for the Christmas ham. But the charismatic cast more than makes up for the film’s overused plotlines and makes for an enjoyable movie, despite the overly sentimental, champagne-filled ending. But, after all, what would the holidays be without a tearful “all we have is family” toast over the Christmas Day feast?