STUDIO: Sony
RELEASE DATE: November 11, 2008
STARRING: Delroy Lindo, Idris Elba, Loretta Devine, Chris Brown, Columbus Short, and Regina King
WRITTEN BY: Preston A. Whitmore II
DIRECTED BY: Preston A. Whitmore II
FEATURES: Deleted & Extended Scenes
"Making This Christmas Special"
"This Christmas" Music Video Featuring Chris Brown
Cast Commentary with Regina King, Sharon Leal, and Lauren London

The heartfelt, family, Christmas movie genre is an unusual one to critique. There's an emotional, cuddly-feely quotient to these movies that either works for you or it doesn't. For me, it's almost always based on how much I like the characters. It's easy to overlook melodrama and manipulation if you're honestly rooting for the likable people involved. And a lot of that goodwill comes before a frame is even shot. If you cast a family Christmas movie well enough, you've won half the battle. That's the only way I can really explain how much I like This Christmas, a movie that the critical side of me knows is overdone melodrama but that I simply enjoyed watching. It's a movie enhanced by a charismatic cast and a heart in the right place - two things that go much further than most critics are willing to admit.

For the first time in years, all of the Whitfield kids have come home for Christmas and they've all brought some serious baggage with their fruit cakes and gifts. The family is headed by Ma'Dere Whitfield (the fantastic Loretta Devine) and her boyfriend Joe (Delroy Lindo). The baby of the family (Chris Brown) still lives at home and hides his musical talents because he's worried that his mother won't approve (his pop was a musician who loved the road more than his family). Whitfield family members who come home for Christmas dinner include homemaker daughter Lisa (Regina King), a woman who gives up way too much control to her obnoxious husband Malcolm (Laz Alonso), the cold businesswoman Kelli (Sharon Leal), the college student Mel (Lauren London), the marine on leave Claude (Columbus Short), and the rebellious musician Quentin (Idris Elba). Mel has a new love named Devean (Keith Robinson) and Claude has a girl that he's afraid to bring to the dinner table. Everyone has a secret and everything gets wrapped up by the end, but This Christmas works. Writer/director Preston Whitmore II brings a confident, assured pace to the film and the spirit in which the movie was made is infectious.

This Christmas has been out of theaters for a year and hits Blu-Ray just in time for this year's holidays. It should be a nice rental for a lot of satisfied audiences who forgot about it in the last ten months and those who buy it will find a pretty average transfer and collection of special features. The video and audio are never bad, never extraordinary. Same goes for the special features, which includes deleted & extended scenes, a featurette, a music video, and a commentary that makes it clear how much the cast loved making this movie. (For more on that, check out our interview with Regina King.) The transfer and features may just be so-so, but This Christmas is better than average.