''Almost Christmas'' is a 2016 American

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

comedy-drama film written and directed by David E. Talbert and starring

Kimberly Elise Kimberly Elise Trammel (born April 17, 1967) is an American film and television actress. She made her feature film debut in '' Set It Off'' (1996), and later received critical acclaim for her performance in ''Beloved'' (1998). During her career, ...

Mo'Nique Monique Angela Hicks (née Imes; born December 11, 1967), known professionally as Mo'Nique, is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She has received an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award. She ...

Nicole Ari Parker Nicole Ari Parker Kodjoe (born October 7, 1970) is an American actress and model. She made her screen debut with a leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film '' The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love'' (1995) and went o ...

Gabrielle Union Gabrielle Monique Union-Wade ( Union; born October 29, 1972) is an American actress. Her career began in the 1990s, when she made dozens of appearances on television sitcoms, prior to landing supporting roles in 1999 teen films ''She's All That' ...

Keri Hilson Keri Lynn Hilson (born December 5, 1982) is an American R&B singer, songwriter and actress. She was born and raised in Decatur, Georgia and spent most of her youth working with producer Anthony Dent as a songwriter and background vocalist for ...

Jessie Usher Jessie T. Usher Jr. (born February 29, 1992) is an American actor. Known for playing Lyle on the Cartoon Network series '' Level Up'', Cam Calloway on the Starz television series ''Survivor's Remorse'', and Reggie Franklin / A-Train in the Amazo ...

, Danny Glover,

Omar Epps Omar Hashim Epps (born July 20, 1973) is an American actor, rapper, and producer. He has been awarded nine NAACP Image Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, one MTV Movie Award, one Black Reel Award, and one Screen Actors Guild Award. Epps's film r ...

John Michael Higgins John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963) is an American actor and comedian whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's '' The Late Shift'', and a starring role in the American vers ...

, D. C. Young Fly, and

Romany Malco Romany relates or may refer to: *The Romani people or Romany people, also known as Gypsies *Romani language or Romany language, the language of the Romani people *"Romany", the pseudonym of a broadcaster and writer of Romani descent, George Bramwel ...

. The film follows a dysfunctional family that comes together for the holidays for the first time since their mother's death. Principal photography began in late 2015 and early 2016 in

Covington, Georgia Covington is a city in the U.S. state of Georgia and the seat of Newton County, and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Census, its population 14,113. History Covington was founded by European immigrants to the United ...

. The film premiered in Los Angeles on November 3, 2016 and was theatrically released in the United States on November 11, 2016 by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. It received mixed reviews and grossed $42 million.

Plot

Walter Meyers ( Danny Glover) is a retired automotive engineer who lost his wife Grace (Rachel Kylian) 10 months earlier. Now that the holiday season is here, he invites his four grown children and the rest of the family to his house for a traditional celebration. Walter knows that if his daughters Cheryl (

) and Rachel (

) and sons Christian (

) and Evan (

) can spend five days together under the same roof, it will truly be a Christmas miracle. As his children arrive, Walter realizes a perfect Christmas without his wife, Grace is easier said than done. Cheryl, a dentist and the eldest child, arrives for the holidays with her goofy husband Lonnie (

J. B. Smoove Jerry Angelo Brooks (born December 16, 1965), commonly known by his stage name J. B. Smoove, is an American actor, comedian and writer. After beginning his career in 1995 on ''Def Comedy Jam'', he was a writer and performer on NBC's ''Saturday Ni ...

), a previously famous basketball player who develops a mutual interest in a young grocery store worker named Jasmine (

) shortly after arriving in town. His eldest son and second born, Christian, struggles with balancing his campaign to become a congressman and his desire to spend time with his wife and 2 kids. Christian invites his campaign manager along so they can get more work done. His manager helps set him up with potential financial backers. Meanwhile, Rachel, his youngest daughter and third born, struggles to financially support herself and her daughter due to her recent divorce and studying to become a lawyer. The youngest, Evan is a successful football player recovering from a shoulder injury, but when his coach tells him his arm is completely healed, Evan struggles to give up the pain medication. Throughout their 5 days together, the Meyers family experiences ups and downs. Rachel and Cheryl trade barbs at each other, Lonnie has an affair with Jasmine, and Christian is pressured to help demolish a part of town that includes a homeless shelter his mother supported. Out of spite, Rachel invites Jasmine to Christmas dinner to embarrass Lonnie and Cheryl but when the sisters accidentally find their mother's tin of recipes, they stop fighting and Rachel tries to disinvite Jasmine via voicemail. On Christmas Day, Evan discovers Walter plans on selling the house and confronts him. The kids are shocked but Walter stands by his decision. Evan storms off and gets into a car accident. Jasmine arrives to dinner, to Rachel and Lonnie's surprise, and inadvertently reveals their fling to the whole table. Cheryl chases Lonnie off with a shotgun. Later on, in the hospital, Walter helps Evan confront his grief of losing Grace. Cheryl and Rachel make amends and Cheryl gives her sister a check to help her finish law school. Christian tells his potential backers that he won't demolish the shelter. The film ends with Walter finally perfecting Grace's sweet potato pie and him deciding to keep the house.

Cast

* Danny Glover as Walter Meyers * Keon Rahzeem Mitchell as Young Walter Meyers * A. Sebrena Farmer as Grace Meyers * Rachel Kylian as Young Grace Meyers *

as Dr. Cheryl Meyers, DDS, the eldest daughter *

as Christian Meyers *

as Rachel Meyers *

as Evan Meyers *

as Aunt May Deveraux Johnson-Davis * J.B. Smoove as Lonnie Maclay *

as Sonya Meyers *

as Malachi * Nadej K. Bailey as Niya *

as Andy Brooks * DC Young Fly as Eric *

as Jasmine * Monica Brown as Monica the Waitress *

Gregory Alan Williams Gregory Alan Williams (born June 12, 1956) sometimes credited as Gregalan Williams, is an American actor and author. He is best known for portraying LAPD Officer Garner Ellerbee in '' Baywatch''. From 2011 until 2013, Williams portrayed the rol ...

as Pastor Browning *

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, actress and businesswoman. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys K ...

as Dorothy, Shelter Director * Tara Jones as Lucy * Jeff Rose as Brian * Ric Reitz as Coach Packer *Marley Taylor as Dee Meyers * David E. Talbert as Malachi's Mom (voice) * Elias Talbert as Young Evan Meyers (voice) *

Donnie Simpson Donnie Simpson (born January 30, 1954) is a longtime American radio DJ as well as a television and movie personality. He hosted ''The Donnie Simpson Morning Show'' on Washington, D.C. radio station WPGC-FM from March 1993 to January 29, 2010. C ...

as Radio DJ (voice) * Lyn Talbert as Young Grace Meyers (voice)

Production

On April 27, 2015, it was announced that Universal Pictures had bought the comedy script ''A Meyers Thanksgiving'' from David E. Talbert, who directed the film, with

Will Packer Will Packer (born April 11, 1974) is an American film producer who founded Will Packer Productions, and Will Packer Media. Packer has produced or executive produced a wide range of movies that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide at the ...

producing through Will Packer Productions. The film was first retitled ''A Meyers Christmas'', with its setting moved to the Christmas holidays. In April 2016, Universal Pictures announced another title change for the film, now called ''Almost Christmas''. Casting for the film was done in late 2015, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

took place in Gerogia from early November until December 2015.

Release

Universal scheduled the film for a November 11, 2016 release. A trailer for the film was released April 14, 2016.

Box office

''Almost Christmas'' was released alongside '' Arrival'' and '' Shut In'', and was expected to gross around $15 million from 2,376 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $507,000 from Thursday night previews at 1,885 theaters and $5.9 million on its first day. It went on to gross $15.6 million for the weekend, finishing fourth at the box office. In its second weekend, the film grossed $7.3 million (a drop of 56%), finishing fifth.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "While far from the worst holiday dramedy audiences could hope for, ''Almost Christmas'' isn't distinctive enough to prompt a visit to the theater – or annual yuletide viewings." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Accolades

For her performance, Mo' Nique was nominated for the Image Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 2017 Image Awards.

References

External links

* * * {{David E. Talbert 2016 films 2016 comedy-drama films 2010s Christmas comedy-drama films African-American comedy-drama films American Christmas comedy-drama films 2010s English-language films Films about Christianity Films about dysfunctional families Films directed by David E. Talbert Films produced by Will Packer Films set in Atlanta Films shot in Atlanta Perfect World Pictures films Will Packer Productions films Films scored by John Paesano 2010s American films