The Perfect Holiday 2007

Critics score:
16 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: If tickets to this yuletide dreck are hiding in your stocking, you'd be better off with a lump of coal. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Queen Latifah and Terrence Howard act as commentators, nudging the contrivances this way and that. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The Perfect Holiday, as many a holiday movie before it, meticulously goes through the motions, but never quite finds the magic of the season. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [A] wretched yuletide comedy. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: There's not much original about the film, but it's played with high spirits and good cheer, there are lots of musical interludes, and it's pitched straight at families. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: The Perfect Holiday makes the safest, blandest choices possible in delivering some Christmas cheer for the whole family. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: For fans of lousy seasonal cheer, Dec. 25 comes early. Read more

Mekeisha Madden Toby, Detroit News: The sparks that [Union and Chestnut] ignite onscreen cannot save the disjointed mess of a film that is The Perfect Holiday. Read more

Whitney Pastorek, Entertainment Weekly: [Queen Latifah and Terrence Howard] may be a draw, but it's too bad no one thought the endearing performances in this charming (if cliche) family romance would be enough. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Dear Santa: Please leave better scripts under her Christmas tree. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Ostensibly a Christmastime comedy about romance, The Perfect Holiday manages to be none of the above. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: It's a shame that Gabrielle Union can't get better scripts than this one. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The cold void of January can't come fast enough if it means an end to releases like The Perfect Holiday. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Jovial and junky as all get out, The Perfect Holiday is about what you'd expect from a holiday comedy daring to put 'perfect' in its title. As in anything but. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: In the annals of Noel films so wincingly, gratingly, insultingly bad that a lump of coal would be vastly preferable, The Perfect Holiday ranks alongside Surviving Christmas for sheer unwatchability. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The Perfect Holiday is so modest and good-natured that its flaws are hardly glaring. Read more

David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle: Despite the flabby direction and uninspired plot, The Perfect Holiday almost works because Chestnut and Union are an attractive couple and you want them to get together. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Maitland McDonagh, Time Out: Read more

John Anderson, Variety: There's a lot of sap in this Christmas tree. Read more

Julia Wallace, Village Voice: The actors distinguish themselves mainly by their ability to make the material, directed and co-written by Lance Rivera, seem even more painfully awkward and unfunny than it already is -- which is very. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: [The script] hasn't been written as much as stamped out like so many cheap Christmas knickknacks that will be on the clearance shelf come Dec. 26. Read more