Title: Almost Christmas
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: David E. Talbert
Starring: Kimberly Elise, Omar Epps, Danny Glover
Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins

What It Is: For the first Christmas since the death of his wife aging mechanic Walter (Glover) just wants his family with him for the holidays. His only real want is for them to get along during the holidays. As his eldest son, Christian (Romany Malco) preps for his campaign his daughters Cheryl (Elise) and Rachel (Gabrielle Union) deal with some old wounds. Lastly, all must deal with the matriarch of their family being gone.

What We Think: This is a terrible movie. All of the jokes fall flat. Literally every one of them. There’s nothing of substance outside of trying to get us behind Walter and how he’s feeling following the death of his wife. This very emotional, very raw moment loses all of its power. All we can hope is that right around the corner is another terrible joke. There’s just all this stuff that never gets developed all clustered into one almost 2-hour film. How is this thing 111 mins without anything being accomplished. I really just do not get it. Danny Glover is wasted. Mo’Nique, she is wasted. Boy is this a missed opportunity.

Our Grade: D+, Skip this! This is the best advice I can give you. It’s not a good Christmas movie or a particularly good film outside of the holiday malaise. It isn’t Hallmark Channel level, at the very least the acting is well enough. What it is instead is not nearly the film it should be. For its inability to craft anything worth roasting over an open fire and instead looking closer to a dumpster fire I cannot recommend this. Just go watch Scrooged, or The Night Before or literally anything else based around Christmas. Maybe try Kiss Kiss Bang Bang instead.