Holiday Rush – 20th December

This new Netflix Original was enjoyable if a bit unbelievable. The basic premise of the film was that a rich radio DJ loses his job and has to downsize his lifestyle. His four children must give up their life of privilege and move into their aunt’s house. A rags to riches story mixed in with moving on from the loss of a parent. Another branch to the story is that Rush’s producer, Roxy starts getting closer to Rush, the DJ and she helps him to set up his own radio station.

What I found unbelievable was how spoiled Rush’s children acted in the first two thirds of the film. The daughter, Mya was putting in a pool in the garden and bossing around the workmen so rudely. They all wanted ridiculous Christmas presents and when they had to sell their house so their father could buy a new radio station instead of making the best of it, they all complained. I know some kids can be like this but I don’t think anyone would treat their father that way, especially since their mother died when they were all young and they were raised in a small or normal sized house.

Apart from this, I thought the film was entertaining, especially after the kids realised how selfish they were being whilst watching old home videos of their mother. A pet peeve I have with recent films is that old footage or photos always look too new. It couldn’t hurt to put a few filters on it surely. I liked the characters of Rush and Roxy played by Romany Malco and Sonequa Martin-Green. I also liked that the black characters were in positions of authority and wealthy for once while the white characters were the workers. A real twist on the last 100 years of cinema.

Overall I would give this film 3/5. Might watch again in a few years, if only to point out the flaws of the children. Something that children would probably enjoy but maybe a little too simple for adults. A cute Christmas story though with a twist.

Author: indie-film-fanatic00

Film Student at Oxford Brookes

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