Holiday Heartbreak (2020 BET)
Cast: Michael Colyar, LisaRaye McCoy, A.J. Johnson
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Synopsis (via BET)
A hopeless romantic is cursed with relationship problems after her chauvinistic father mistreats the wrong woman.
Thoughts
The movie begins with a shirtless hunk named Mike blowing off a side piece. He is cheating on his wife and abandoning his daughter to enjoy beautiful women. One woman puts a curse on him. When his daughter turns 30, she will pay for her father’s philandering way. She will fall for a POS man just like him.
Flash forward, and Mike is still living large and self absorbed. His daughter Monica is grown and has landed a job in Atlanta. She is struggling in her love life, and her father gives her a hard time about it. What is she supposed to do? Go to “husband R Us?” Monica chugs wine to deal with Mike. She is frustrated, and he isn’t making things better. Monica mentions that she feels cursed. Triggering Mike’s memory.
Monica runs into an old classmate named Eric, who is back in town trying to save the community center. She complements his muscular arms, and he makes a DICK PUN?!?!? They talk about being single, but the conversation is cut short because Monica has to go out with her friends for her birthday. They exchange numbers before she goes.
Keri and Joi welcome Monica to the dirty thirty club and talk about how fine Eric is. They do some shots and are about to leave the party when a creep Santa holds mistletoe over Monica’s head and tries to kiss her. They are not into it but do a shot with him to get him to leave them alone.
The next morning, Keri and Joi stop by Monica’s house to look for their friend. Monica got too drunk and went home with the man in the Santa hat.
Monica shows up for a family dinner and brings an unexpected guest, the Santa hat guy, whose name is Wild Bill. They have been dating for only a few weeks and are all over one another. She tells her dad that she wants to marry him. She is planning on quitting her job and going on tour with her new man. Wild Bill tells everyone that Mike is his idol for his pimp womanizing ways. Monica and his second wife Joyce are shocked to hear this. Mike apologizes and tells his daughter she is making a mistake. Then he fights Wild Bill.
Eric wonders why Monica isn’t returning his calls and stops by Mike’s house to see the problem. Mike starts talking about the curse. Eric tells him that he has had too much to drink, haha. Joyce believes him and says Mike manifested this guilt for years and has projected it onto Monica. Joyce tells him that he needs to apologize to the woman he has hurt in the past. Eric goes with him for some reason.
At the house of the woman, whose name is Summer St. John. (Of course, she put a spell on him with that name!) Mike demands that she talk of the curse, and they get into an argument. Eric tries to talk sense into Mike and asks him to apologize for Monica. Mike apologizes, and Summer challenges him to apologize to the one woman he hurt the most, and the woman must accept his apology.
Mike goes to a few houses of past hunnies but realizes that the woman he hurt the most is his wife, who passed away. He visits her grave and apologizes.
Monica and Wild Bill are getting married????? Keri and Joi try to stall. Mike and Eric’s wedding to get there in time to stop the marriage. Mike distracts Wild Bill while Eric sneaks into the bridal suite. Eric tells Monica that he loves her and always has. They are about to kiss when Wild bill burst into the room. Eric pleads with Monica and tells her about the curse. Eric shoots his shot and goes for the kiss. Expecting for the spell to be broken, Eric is heart broken when Monica runs off upset.
In the bathroom while looking in the Mirror, Monica comes to her senses. She rushes after Eric after breaking it off with Wild Bill. (Who seems to not even care, he marries his assistant instead.) Monica and Eric kiss and the spell is broken.
Flash forward to New Year and Eric has saved the community center. Everyone celebrates in slow motion. Meanwhile Wild Bill performs his comedy to an empty bar, his assistant/wife loves it. Then we get some small scenes of what everyone is doing, ending with Monica and Eric snuggling on the couch and drinking champagne together. Weird ending actually!
Side Note
Minority Report: The entire cast feature Black actors.
BET’s holiday slate this year was impressive. I enjoyed all three of their new movies this year. This movie was my least favorite.
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Overall rating
🎄🎄 (2 Christmas Trees)
🍷🍷 (2 glasses of wine required.)
*Photo Credit: © 2020 BET
