The Best Man Holiday Synopsis: When college friends reunite after 15 years over the Christmas holidays, they discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and romances to be reignited.
Fourteen years after the events of The Best Man, professional running back Lance Sullivan (Morris Chestnut) is a handful of yards away from breaking the all-time rushing record in the NFL. He’s still happily married to Mia (Monica Calhoun), and they have four children. With Christmas approaching, Mia invites their old friends to the Sullivan home for the holiday.
Harper (Taye Diggs) is struggling with writer’s block after his book from the first movie, Unfinished Business, was a massive success. He’s also recently been let go from his teaching position at NYU, but has yet to tell his wife Robyn (Sanaa Lathan), who is a rising chef in the culinary world and also nearly nine months pregnant with their first child after fertility treatments and past miscarriages.
Jordan (Nia Long) is a thriving network executive and in a long-term relationship with a man named Brian (Eddie Cibrian), though she seems to have placed her career over any desires of the heart.
Quentin (Terrence Howard) has found his own success, as has Shelby (Melissa De Sousa), now a famous reality star on Real Housewives. Candice (Regina Hall) and Julian (Harold Perrineau) are married, have two daughters, and have opened a school for underprivileged kids. The school depends heavily on donations, and their wealthiest donor, a man of high morals, has pulled his support of the school after discovering Candace’s past as a stripper.
Harper and Lance have had a strained friendship after it was revealed that Harper and Mia slept together in college, and it’s clear that as soon as Harper and Robyn arrived at the Sullivan home, Lance still holds a grudge. However, he tries to hide it behind snarky comments and subtle digs. That’s not the only tension in the house. Shelby, finally given something resembling a real personality, causes discord with everyone, most notably with Candace.
Robyn is still insecure and jealous of Jordan’s past almost-love affair with Harper. Julian is struggling with the knowledge that Candace accepted money for sexual favors years before they ever met, putting his school at risk. Occasionally, I wanted to yell, “Get over it already!” but honestly, I get it. Resentments and jealousies are hard to shake off, especially when you distance yourself from people and let those issues fester rather than deal with them head-on, something this group of longtime friends has come together to do, even if they don’t initially realize it.
Eventually, all of these simmering problems boil over and come to a head, especially when Lance realizes Harper is writing a biography on him behind his back. But when it’s revealed that one of their own is dying, priorities shift, and old grudges fall away for understanding and reconnections.
I loved the first movie when it was released and still enjoy watching it. Do I say The Best Man Holiday is even better than The Best Man? The ensemble is still outstanding, and just like in the first film, you truly feel these characters’ connections to one another. The history between them, dating back to college, is palpable and honest, and I believe that’s a difficult task to pull off with an ensemble of this size. It would be easy to focus solely on one or two characters and shove the others into the background, but The Best Man Holiday gives ample and much-deserved time to everyone, and thankfully, the movie doesn’t suffer for it.
Expect plenty of melodrama, but there is also a lot of raunchy humor and tender moments. I wasn’t expecting the amount of devastation I would feel toward the end of the movie, but that’s how skilled director Malcolm D. Lee has been at weaving a cohesive story over two films with a group of characters that can, at times, be unlikeable, but are also easy to care about and for.
Like many Christmas films, The Best Man Holiday is about the faith we put in one another (and God, if that’s your thing), and recognizing that the things that truly matter will always overcome the petty squabbles and drama. After all, life is far too short to hold onto past grudges. The end is heartfelt and funny, certainly leaving it open for the possibility of a third film. After some digging, I found that Lee plans on a third movie called The Best Man Wedding, but it’s been delayed indefinitely until they find the right time to do it. Here’s hoping it won’t take them another 14 years as it had with the first sequel!
Watched: 12/18/2019
Notable Song: Christmas Time to Me by Jordin Sparks
