{"id":1024,"date":"2013-11-15T18:13:15","date_gmt":"2013-11-15T18:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2017-02-18T06:11:13","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T06:11:13","slug":"the-best-man-holiday-14-years-later-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/?p=1024","title":{"rendered":"“The Best Man Holiday”…14 Years Later!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"From<\/p>\n

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\u00a0From left, Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Harold Perrineau and Terrence Howard suit up for \u2018The Best Man Holiday.\u2019<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
In 1999, Malcolm D. Lee had an unexpected hit with \u201cThe Best Man,\u201d a romantic dramedy about African-American friends figuring life out together. It would be nice to think that viewers waited 14 years for a sequel only because everyone involved in the original was too busy working on other movies. But in an industry that still visualizes projects in black and white, there may have been other factors at play. Why, after all, has most of this movie\u2019s cast \u2014 all talented, all movie-star gorgeous \u2014 met with only limited mainstream success? That\u2019s not to say they haven\u2019t found their footing since appearing in \u201cThe Best Man.\u201d Each has worked steadily in films and TV. But come on, Hollywood, \u00a0Taye Diggs\u00a0and Nia Long should be go-to names for any big-budget popcorn project by now.<\/div>\n
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\"Sanaa<\/p>\n

Sanaa Lathan in ‘The Best Man Holiday’<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

While Diggs\u2019 Harper provided a focus for the first film, the sequel shifts its center to Monica Calhoun\u2019s Mia. After marrying in the original, Mia and Lance (Morris Chestnut), a superstar Giants running back, have four children and a seemingly perfect life. But Mia desperately misses her old friends, who have drifted apart. So despite Lance\u2019s reluctance, she invites them all to their suburban mansion for Christmas.<\/p>\n

Everyone shows up, but some participants are less enthusiastic than others. Best-selling author Harper has an ulterior motive for attending, and doesn’t realize his pregnant wife, Robyn (Sanaa Lathan), is stressed about him reconnecting with former flame Jordan (Long).<\/div>\n
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Similarly, Candace (Regina Hall) and Shelby (Melissa De Sousa) look set to reprise their competition over Julian (Harold Perrineau), who is grappling with a shocking revelation. As for ever-mischievous bachelor Quentin (Terrence Howard), he\u2019s gleefully ready to cause trouble. Lee doesn\u2019t waste time playing catch-up, so it\u2019s worth watching \u201cThe Best Man\u201d again before revisiting these complicated lives. As long as you know all the players, you\u2019ll delight in their new highs and lows: makeups and breakups, birth and death, faith and forgiveness. (The religious element is stronger this time around.)<\/div>\n
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\"From<\/p>\n

From left, Monica Calhoun, Melissa De Sousa and Nia Long in \u2018The Best Man Holiday\u2019<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n

The film does feel overlong and the tone is occasionally wobbly. But Lee keeps the pace generally steady, mixing comedy and melodrama in even amounts. Most of all, it\u2019s a pleasure to see each of the actors enthusiastically returning to the roles that helped kickstart their careers.\u00a0De Sousa, bound by a thankless part in the original, turns out to be a comic delight, while Calhoun\u2019s luminosity deepens her soapy story line.\u00a0Chestnut and the Oscar-nominated Howard, who has had the most box-office success, are adept team players. \u00a0But it\u2019s Long and Diggs who really stand out, with charisma to burn.\u00a0The movie ends with a setup for another sequel, which will undoubtedly be embraced by fans. Let\u2019s just hope we don\u2019t have to wait another 14 years to see it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0From left, Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Harold Perrineau and Terrence Howard suit up for \u2018The Best Man Holiday.\u2019 In 1999, Malcolm D. Lee had an unexpected hit with \u201cThe Best Man,\u201d a romantic dramedy about African-American friends figuring life out together. It would be nice to think that viewers waited 14 years for a sequel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevindkinsey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}