Movie review: 'This Christmas'

Chris Brown in "This Christmas" (Credit: Suzanne Tenner/Screen Gems)

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2 1/2 stars (out of four)

Overstuffed, formulaic but very easy to take, “This Christmas” ends with a fixed shot of the major cast members each taking a turn on an improvised dance floor in the warm, cozy upper-middle-class L.A. home of Ma’Dere, played by Loretta Devine. The scene goes on a while, but it’s fun — it’s a curtain call for the actors, even though it’s a movie, like the dance Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin did a generation ago in “All of Me.”

“This Christmas” is a family reunion comedy-drama from writer-director Preston A. Whitmore II. His previous directorial assignment was the street-ball dud “Crossover,” so this one’s a heartening improvement. The Whitfield clan is large and far-flung, and back together for the first time in years, everybody has a secret or two to withhold and eventually divulge. Rifts are repaired, and the friendly insults fly freely. One son, the military man, is about to marry a white woman. Another son has gambling debts and a couple of hoods on his tail. One daughter is stuck with a cheating husband trying to wrangle control of the family dry cleaning business. Another daughter is stepping out with a firefighter. And, as we learn in the musical finale, the youngest Whitfield sibling, helpfully named “Baby,” has the voice of an angel but he cannot reveal as much until well into the picture. Reason: Ma’Dere’s ex-husband — a musician and a wandering scamp — soured Ma’Dere on music, period. Then Baby says, “I want to sing, Mama!” Whitmore is not afraid of open-hearted emotionalism nor of God-fearing expressions of faith.

The cast is so good, you just glide right over the contrivances of the plot. Delroy Lindo plays Devine’s steady beau, and he is a rock of acting sanity. The daughters are portrayed by Regina King, Sharon Leal and Lauren London, charismatic and sharp comic actresses all. Chris Brown, singing phenom, is a little green around the gills in the acting department, but as Baby he has vocalizing pipes for days and high notes to spare. Even though “This Christmas” lingers at the gate too long in a church sequence that, for all I know, may still be going on, the first-rate ensemble milks the script for all the comedy and drama available, plus a little more. And while we’re strictly in workmanlike territory here as far as craft goes, Whitmore keeps everyone in the same film and doesn’t push anyone into the realm of caricature, which would’ve been fatal.

mjphillips@tribune.com

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