The Best Man Holiday Review

THEN

NOW

Hopefully by now everyone who wanted to see The Best Man Holiday has already watched it; if not, read no further because this post is a SPOILER for the movie. LOL I’m a very harsh critic when it comes to movies, especially sequels because they rarely live up to the original, but Malcolm Lee did a great job comprising this movie. They say quality work takes time, so the 15 years it took to put this sequel out was well worth the wait.

I waited until I had time to re-watch the original Best Man before I decided to blog about it because I wanted to do a comparison of how the characters changed from the first movie to the sequel. For the most part, all of the characters were pretty consistent with the original. Jordan was still the successful, independent go getter; Murch was still the corny youth advocate that couldn’t keep a secret to save his life, and Lance and Mia were still the picture perfect couple that complemented each other perfectly. Harper was still the hard-working unbeliever who had the tendency to be a pessimist at times, and Robyn was still more of the optimist, although a little insecure at times, she was Harper’s backbone. When he was negative or doubtful, she was there to give him encouraging words and support. The characters that seemed to change the most in my opinion were Shelby, Candy, and Quentin. For lack of a better word they were a bit on the “ratchet” side especially Quentin lol.

Over time most people mature and grow out of certain habits, but for Quentin that was not the case. Fifteen years later he was still a womanizer with an UNFILTERED mouth. I never looked at Terrence Howard as a comedic actor but he was hilarious to me in this movie; he was hands down one of the most entertaining characters. In the original movie, Candy’s character didn’t have a large role; the only thing we knew about her is that she was a stripper trying to pay her way through school. Even though she was an exotic dancer, her character still came off as classy, reserved and educated. In the sequel she was loud, vocal, and ready to cut whoever came at her in the wrong way. Shelby’s character for the most part was still the same; she was still dramatic, sidity, sarcastic, and spiteful at times. In the original movie she seemed to be more on the reserved side but in the sequel she was a freak and she had no shame in letting people know. Also in the sequel it was made known that Shelby and Mia were sorority sisters, but in the original movie the two of them didn't interact much at all. The only tie Shelby seemed to have with the crew was that she was dating Murch. I guess Malcom Lee needed a way to bring Shelby’s character back into the circle, but that was actually a smart and subtle way of doing it without throwing off the story line.

Overall I loved the movie; it pulled on so many different emotions, and I felt that the story was realistic and relatable to everyday people. I liked how the trailer for the movie didn’t give away all of the details; it made fans curious and anxious. The movie touched on a lot of themes such as forgiveness, love, taking people close to us for granted, and it touched on a lot of marital situations. What do you do when you’re facing financial problems in a marriage? What do you do when the person you love is dealing with a terminal illness? Will you still honor your marriage vows and stand by the person for better or for worse? I’m not an emotional person but the movie had me teary eyed. Malcom Lee could’ve given this movie a happily ever after ending but that’s not real life; you never know what hand life is going to deal you on this journey. I loved even the smallest details Lee incorporated in the movie like the music. In the original, Stevie Wonder’s song “As” was played, and in the sequel Anthony Hamilton and Marsha Ambrosius performed a slower rendition of the song during one of the scenes. Sidenote: I love the slower rendition because you can really hear the beautiful lyrics. Let me also add that the cast who are all over 40 looked amazing; they’ve aged very well and don’t let me get started on Morris Chestnut. That man is perfection; that smile, those lips, and that chocolate skin……. He does it for me and he is almost twice my age. LOL