Tears. Laughter. Fussing at the screen. More tears, followed by more laughter. If you didn’t know that The Best Man Holiday opened in theaters this weekend, then you must’ve been sleeping under a rock. It was an emotional rollercoaster that didn’t leave any room for disappointment. Two years in the making and the movie comes as a sequel nearly 15 years after its original aired in 1999. It’s hard to write a good sequel for what was such a great movie, but Malcom D. Lee (Writer/Director) did just that. I knew it would be good for the simple fact that the entire original cast reunited for round two. But I don’t know if I was expecting it to be as great as it was (dare I say, even better).
This cast was about as A-list and gorgeous as you can get and it was so hard to believe that it had been over a decade since they first graced the movie screen together in the hit movie The Best Man. The chemistry was so on point, it was as if they had never skipped a beat. I truly felt like I was in the movie with them with every emotion that I experienced from scene to scene. There were ups, there were downs, and there were definitely unexpected turns and surprises.
Let’s make one thing clear. The tissues I packed in my purse Friday morning were just as much for the drooling as they were for the tears. *Sigh* There was just as much chocolate (and vanilla) eye candy for the ladies as there was for the fellas. I don’t know how it’s possible, but the entire cast looked even better than they did many years ago (there’s gotta be something to the saying “black don’t crack”). Morris Chesnut (Lance), Monica Calhoun (Mia), Taye Diggs (Harper), Sanaa Lathan (Robyn), Harold Perrineau (Julian), Regina Hall (Candace), Melissa De Sousa (Shelby), Nia Long (Jordan), Terrance Howard (Quentin), and newbie “Tall Vanilla Latte” Eddie Cibrian (Brian) did a phenomenal job at taking us in, and uncovering all of the many layers of what happened in the 14 years since The Best Man first hit the big screen.
You don’t necessarily have to see the first film before seeing this one (although it would definitely help). This was the first time in a long time that I not only bought advance movie tickets (and of which every showing was sold out on opening day), but left feeling like I would definitely be back to see it again before it was out of the theaters. I saw several Facebook posts on my timeline, and even articles online that said they saw/heard men crying in the theaters. Yes y’all, Director Malcom D. Lee did his thing on this one! It was definitely worth the 14 year wait. And if there’s a demand for a part three (which I suspect there will be), he promises that it won’t take another 14 years to make.
This review is probably as vague as you’ll get because you really need to just go out and see it for yourself. There were so many lessons on love, life and friendship taught throughout the movie. But I think people love it so much because there were so many positive images on not just love, but black love. And this is something we don’t get to see enough of.
So if you haven’t seen the movie yet, stop what you’re doing and go see it. Not now, but right now!
BMWK: If you’ve seen The Best Man Holiday, what was your take on it? If you haven’t, be sure to come back and let us know what you think after you’ve watched.