Almost Christmas was more than almost perfect! Best known for his plays, this is David E. Talbert's third feature film. And in the case of Almost Christmas, third time is definitely the charm for Talbert as writer and director! This is a huge improvement from First Sunday and Baggage Claim! One of the major differences between Almost Christmas and the other two is that Talbert is not one of the producers and Will Packer is. Will Packer has served as executive producer for Being Mary Jane, Roots, and Straight Outta Compton. He has served as producer for Think Like a Man, Think Like a Man Too, Ride Along, Ride Along 2, About Last Night, and many more including most importantly for this review, This Christmas (one of my favorite holiday films)! So when you put Talbert with Packer you can expect an all-star African-American cast playing diverse roles with diverse storylines. And that is exactly what Almost Christmas delivers, and what I love so much about it!
What we have here is a 2016 Soul Food, This Christmas, Love & Basketball, and Why Did I Get Married. And I don't mean a replica of those films. Though there are definitely some similar storylines, Almost Christmas is its own film. However, there is something to be said of some of the actors playing the roles they are known for. Mo'Nique balanced Queen of Comedy perfectly with Academy Award winner. Gabrielle Union gave us classic, uptight Gabby. And she went to prom again with Omar Epps, whose role was very reminiscent of Quincy McCall. And Kimberly Elise was definitely giving us a taste of Diary of a Mad Black Woman when she pulled that shotgun out!
All the actors did an excellent job! It might be easier to list who wasn't in this film, with even Gladys Knight and Monica having small roles. As to be expected, Danny Glover delivered as the patriarch who was madly in love with his wife and kept family first. Jessie T. Usher and Romany Malco played the two sons, and also did a great job. As did the in-laws played by Nicole Ari Parker and J.B. Smoove (who definitely brought the jokes along with Mo'Nique). Even D.C. Young Fly and Keri Hilson did great in their roles. And I was also impressed with the young actors. Nadej Bailey and Alkoya Brunson kept the audience full of laughs with their incessant need to catch everything on their phones and share it on social media, very reflective of Generation Z (Post-Millennials aka iGeneration). And the youngest of the bunch, Marley Taylor, is absolutely adorable and has the acting chops to match!
As for the film itself, it was absolutely well done! The opening montage was perfect! Perfect images. Perfect music. Perfect pace as we watched the family grow over the decades. The scenes easily transitioned between comedy and drama. The comedy never fell flat, and the drama was executed perfectly. There were scenes where the audience could feel and sense the pain and loss of a character without the character even speaking to the pain and loss. Though I must admit, the scene between Danny Glover and Jessie T. Usher, wasn't as great as it could have been. I imagine it was written to be the scene where all of the audience's built-up tears burst through their tear ducts, unable to be held in any longer. Unfortunately, unlike the other scenes where I felt complete empathy for the character, I felt pushed out of the film and was reminded that I'm watching actors. For a few minutes we watched what felt like Jessie T. Usher trying very, very hard to make some tears fall. The tears never came, but then after cutting back to his face from Danny Glover's face, his cheeks were smeared with liquid that looked like someone who was just balling uncontrollably. It's as if they had several takes, gave up, used the final shot, and then put water on his face. The problem is that we could see him struggling to make the tears come (which is what took me out of the film momentarily). So adding water to his face just exacerbated the situation. I'm going to blame this on directing, because I think the better options would have been to start the scene with water on his face or not have the character cry. Because ultimately, it really took away from the scene. I think Jessie T. Usher did an excellent job throughout the film, and likely with the direction he was given for this scene. In fact, he made my eyes water in earlier scenes without any tears. So he definitely showed the ability to emote the pain, but in this particular scene the only thing I felt was a strain to produce tears.
There were other great scenes throughout the film; like the dance scene with music from each generation, which reminded me of plays (though they'd probably be singing in the plays). Even Danny Glover showed us some of his moves. The scenes between Omar Epps and Gabrielle Union were well done. All of the actors really played well off of each other.
I really appreciate the diversity of the characters. The patriarch was not merely a mechanic, but we learned he owned 6 shops. His children included a star football player, a law school student, a dentist, and a son running for Congress. And their aunt was a world renowned backup singer. There were strong father figures, who were also loving husbands. And at the same time things were not perfect. There was a divorced, single mother, adultery, ongoing fights between siblings. But ultimately, they were a strong family unit!
I really enjoyed this film both for what it was and for what it represents. I highly recommend this film and urge you to support it in theaters starting November 11th!
9.5/10