完美圣诞节 The Perfect Holiday review by Kevin C. Johnson

The sight of Queen Latifah catching computer-generated snowflakes on her tongue while talking into the camera about what makes the perfect holiday nearly pushes "The Perfect Holiday" past the point of redemption.

So does watching Morris Chestnut chase an improbably wind-swept dollar bill down the street and a slumming Terrence Howard mugging in a role Cuba Gooding Jr. wouldn't take on his worst day.

All of this goes down in the first few minutes of "The Perfect Holiday," the second and lesser of two current African-American Christmas family flicks, which follows the successful "This Christmas."

The broader, negligible "The Perfect Holiday" stars Gabrielle Union (a natural actress chock-full of annoying tics), as Nancy, a hard-working, successful mother of three. She's separated from her husband, J-Jizzy (a ridiculously too-old Charlie Murphy playing a P. Diddy-like rap mogul), and wants to feel desired.

She'd love for a nice man to walk up to her and pay her a compliment.

We know Benjamin (Chestnut, who starred with Union in "The Brothers" and "Breakin' All the Rules") is a nice guy because we see him give money to the homeless. We also know it because when he's not toiling as a struggling R&B songwriter, he's paying the bills working as a department store Santa. As if all store Santas secretly are heartthrobs disguised in red fat suits.

When Nancy's precious daughter Emily (Khail Bryant) sits on Santa's lap, she asks Santa for a man to give her mother that compliment.

Once Santa spies the beautiful Nancy, he has no problem making that happen — out of costume, of course.

In classically tired and tedious sitcom form, nonhilarity transpires from there, beginning with Benjamin and Nancy meeting.

There's also Benjamin getting his demo into J-Jizzy's hands without realizing the rapper's connection to Nancy, Benjamin dodging Nancy when she pays J-Jizzy a visit at the record label offices, J-Jizzy realizing his newest songwriter is dating his ex, and everyone realizing Benjamin is actually Santa.

It all adds up to one silly yet harmless made-for-basic-cable piece of fluff.

That would be fine, except "The Perfect Holiday" is playing at the nearest multiplex. In that regard, it falls way short. All the cheese and corn on screen doesn't sit well in the stomach.

Latifah (an executive producer) and Howard (who must have been on the losing end of a bet to take this role) pop in and out of the story briefly as angels.

But no amount of divine intervention can save a well-intentioned "The Perfect Holiday."

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