Fresh
o matter how silly the situation, each member of the uniformly strong cast creates a nice balance between sentimental and sweet -- which is just how every holiday gathering should feel.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
This Christmas
You can't exchange family.
2007 · 1h 57m · PG-13
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Directed by
Preston A. Whitmore II
Overview
This year Christmas with the Whitfields promises to be one they will never forget. All the siblings have come home for the first time in years and they've brought plenty of baggage with them. As the Christmas tree is trimmed and the lights are hung, secrets are revealed and family bonds are tested. As their lives converge, they join together and help each other discover the true meaning of family.
Director and cast
- Preston A. Whitmore II Director
- Delroy Lindo as Joe Black
- Idris Elba as Quentin "Junior" Whitfield
- Loretta Devine as Shirley Ann "Ma'Dere" Whitfield
- Chris Brown as Michael "Baby" Whitfield
- Keith D. Robinson as Devean Brooks
- Laz Alonso as Malcolm Moore
- Columbus Short as Claude Whitfield
- Sharon Leal as Kelli Whitfield
- Lauren London as Melanie 'Mel' Whitfield
- Lupe Ontiveros as Rosie
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
56%
Tomatometer
Rotten
This is good-natured, determinedly aspirational African-American entertainment, but did it have to be quite so heavy on the cliches?
Trevor Johnston, Time Out
Fresh
I could actually see this becoming kind of a minor perennial during the holidays.
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Rotten
If the real-life Christmas experience tends too often to be marred by the rude contradiction between expectations and reality, movies like the ultra-bland holiday family movie This Christmas are at least partly to blame.
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
Rotten
An incoherent mess in which scenes of teary reconciliations sit uncomfortably next to protracted gags involving catfights, car wrecks and a big bottle of baby oil.
Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail
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