Everybody needs somebody"”even if it's the last man you want to see on earth. If you never saw Malcolm D. Lee's (Spike's cousin) 1999 surprise hit The Best Man, don't worry. The opening creditsfor The Best Man Holiday fill you in on what you need to know for this time around.
The main cast from the original returns for a tale that takes place fifteen years after the wedding of Lance and Mia Sullivan (Chestnut and Calhoun). Taye Diggs plays Harper Stewart, a best-selling author in need of an idea to write a new best-seller. Harper and his wife Robin (Lathan) are invited by Mia to attend a Christmas get-together that will reunite the whole gang.
Back in 1999, you could argue that the most notable names in the cast were Nia Long (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Friday) and Morris Chestnut (Boyz N the Hood). However, with the emergence of Taye Diggs (Ally McBeal, Private Practice), Terrance Howard (Crash, Hustle & Flow, Iron Man), Sanaa Lathan (Nip/Tuck, The Cleveland Show), and Harold Perrineau (Lost, Sons of Anarchy) as critically-acclaimed talent to mainstream, non-black audiences, that's no longer the case. There's more star-power here with this same cast now than there was then, and Hollywood is hoping general audiences will come and help them make more than the $34 million they made on the original.
Based on the pleasurable chemistry from this bright cast, it's totally possible. While most of the film's humor stems from dramatic irony, most of the drama comes from the consequences and aftermath of the first film. There are a couple of dramatic turns in this tale, but it mostly feels contrived in order to make the story have more weight. Without that conflict, it would just be about old friends sitting around, reminiscing, and wise-cracking on each other. And while it is fun to see them do that, the plot for Harper and subplots for the other characters run very thin.
Certain characters are poised with potential story arcs that end up going nowhere. It's all just smoke and mirrors to add more to its unnecessary 122-minute running time. If the storyline were as fresh as the rapport between the cast, this would be a holiday must-see. But as it is, it's the stars that make it so.
