The Best Man Holiday (2013) Directed by Malcolm D. Lee

Are you taking notes Tyler Perry? This is how a 'black dramedy' should be done.

I'm really not saying that this is a great movie but it at least is a well balanced one, that's also pleasant to watch. It doesn't put the emphasis on racial issues but rather simply just on people's issues instead. Despite some serious themes and issues it never feels like this movie is ever getting too heavy though. There is always a pleasant atmosphere and some relieving humor and characters, without ever exaggerating things too much. It above all things still is a realistic feeling movie, due to all of its human themes, story and characters.

Yes, this is a sequel to the 1999(!) movie "The Best Man" but trust me, it really isn't necessary for you to first watch that one. Sure, it helps, since that way you'll already know all of the characters and their back-story but this movie does a pretty good job brining you up to speed about things. I for one have never seen the 1999 original but I never felt or thought that I was missing something or that certain things were going over my head. I got a pretty good sense of all of the characters and their relationships, within the very first minutes of the movie.

It's a pleasant and good to watch movie, pretty much all throughout but at the same time, it also really isn't making a big impression to be honest. It's all some pretty basic stuff and in a lot of ways this movie feels like it would have been better as a mini-series or perhaps even TV series. All of the drama and developments seem more suitable for TV in my opinion and it's all a bit too much and tiring for a 2 hour long movie. Not that the movie ever bores or becomes a repetitive one but half way through I already was ready for the movie to end. Things all pretty much developed had at that point and it wasn't looking like the movie was going to do anything different or surprising.

But really, I'm not complaining too much, since I definitely liked watching the movie and it also really isn't doing an awful lot wrong, despite the fact that I still can't give it a very high rating as well.

One of the highlights of the movie is the acting. All of the characters have both something likable and despicable about them, just like real life people. No one is perfect and we are all not without our flaws. Sometimes you want to laugh with the characters and sometimes you just want to shake them around. But no matter how much you are going to dislike some of the characters at some points, it never stays that way for very long. I also think it's great that all of the actors from the first movie agreed to appear in this one again, even though some of them are some pretty big stars by now, with some very full and busy schedules. Perhaps that's also one of the reasons why this sequel took so long.

There are a lot of different characters but the movie never feels too full and there is a pretty good and effective balance between all of the many different characters and their individual plot lines.

It's not a great or terribly original movie but it's good and enjoyable to watch nevertheless!

6/10

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