years ago) - heartbroken by some recent developments in her life she hopes Tom and Kate's retreat will fix her. Currently, we have our fair share of pointless actions films (absent of any plot and decent script) or films that are trying to take themselves too seriously or films that are too dark and downbeat or films which try to be funny but are not so it was a pleasure to go with my family recently to see Last Holiday. two years ago, during a wellness retreat, her sister Jenna died under suspicious circumstances. It was labeled suicide but Fran needs answers so she's attending the latest retreat by the same self-help guru as Jenna did. Some overlap but I still had one or two '𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵.... 𝘸𝘩𝘰'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?' moments. Making notes would have helped ✒📒🙈

This is a tale that’s filled with slightly weird people. They’re all a little quirky in different ways, which adds to the suspense because as the plot develops, it’s difficult to know whose narrative is reliable. The viewpoint switches between past and present as the details emerge, but it’s impossible to second guess and there’s a subplot of revenge running through the present theme. It’s very clever and the narration is superb. Tense and twisted, impossible to second guess where it will all end and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Compelled by her grieving mother, teacher Fran books onto it in the hope of uncovering who was responsible for her sister’s death. Queen Latifah is a natural actress with a lot of charm. She is the basic reason for watching "Last Holiday" because she dominates it with her charming presence. LL Cool J is seen as Sean, her love interest, who doesn't have much to do in the movie. Timothy Hutton plays the mean spirited American millionaire who feels upstaged by a woman who he learns was his employee. Gerard Depardieu plays Didier, a chef that sees in Georgia a kindred spirit. Alicia Witt, Giancarlo Esposito, and Michael Nouri, appear in supporting roles. Jenna is the sweet sister who attended the retreat where so many strange and unexplainable things started to occur incessantly as like she’s been trapped into a classic claustrophobic Christie story! Georgia impresses the hotel's staff, with the exception of the cantankerous guest services manager Ms. Gunther, with her naive manner and forthright kindness. She also mingles with some of the other guests, including Matthew Kragen, an arrogant self-help guru and the owner of the department store where she worked; Kragen's assistant/mistress Ms. Burns; and Louisiana power brokers Senator Dillings and Congressman Stewart. Kragen is wary of Georgia and suspects her of trying to sabotage his business, but the rest are charmed by her free spirit.With Tom and Kate restarting the retreats Fran who is Jenna’s sister enrols herself. Desperate to discover what actually happened to her sibling. But by uncovering the truth is she putting her life in danger. A sensational novel!’ GILLIAN MCALLISTER You come to SoulShrink to be healed. You don’t expect to die.

The movie was filmed on location and in the hotel, so audiences are treated to the beautiful ceilings-that, thanks to Queenie's suggestion, will make you want to cry-and the beautiful ski slopes and outdoor markets. There's nothing so glamorous as snow, and since this movie takes place over Christmas, it's even more gorgeous. As Queenie says when she looks at the view from her hotel window, "What world was I living in?" Also, since what remains of her life coincides with the end of the year, there's a poetic beauty about the scenery. Yes, it's the end of December, but everything's bright, beautiful, and full of life. The story, which looked at people's aspirations and dreams and the need to take every day as it comes, to enjoy life to the full (as we don't know what is round the corner) was played out with great passion and skill. Latifah's comedy acting (loved the raised eyebrow and sideways glances) was relaxed and easily won over the sympathy of the audience. Great, also, to see Gerard Depardieu again as I haven't seen him for a while. Jenna’s mother is set on blaming Tom for her daughter’s death. She sends her daughter, Fran, to the retreat that Tom organized (or rather his wife, Kate). Seeing online that Tom has been released and within three days he's begun tweeting again, Fran’s mother Geraldine is bloody angry! Geraldine decides Fran should try and find out what happened to her daughter Jenna as she doesn’t believe it could of been a suicide. So Fran books herself on the next retreat to confront Tom and look for answers. Will Fran get her answers and will she get out alive? Kate is more than just Tom's assistant. Much more. SoulShrink was her idea, her baby, Tom the person she chose to front it. She is focused on success, complete with all the trappings, and God help anyone who gets in her way.Here are our three POVs: middle aged Fran is still haunted from her sister’s memory who has been missing for two years. She attended to wellness retreat in Gozo but so many things went dangerously wrong! Thanks to the pressure and guilt tripping of her miserable parents who lost rest of their sanities after sudden disappearance of their young daughter, Fran attends to the same retreat because the same health guru couple Tom and Kate reopen the place after Tom has been set free from two years long prison time. We see both Jenna and Fran's storylines throughout the book. Plus, there are plenty of unlikeable characters. Were they unlikeable because they had something to hide? An agenda perhaps? The unlikeable characters served as suspects for me. The plot kept me guessing and formulating an idea about what could have happened to Jenna. But at the end of the day, I thought the book simmered when it could have sizzled. I found I had to suspend some disbelief while reading this. Unlikely scenarios and dangerous situations might have scared off some, but Fran is determined to learn the truth at any cost.

The downfall, for me, was the denouement. It all went a bit pear-shaped and OTT. I was disappointed. I can't say more than that for fear of giving something away.

See also

Geraldine Fitzgerald, the grieving mother of Jenna (the woman who went missing at the Gozo retreat) has never gotten over not knowing what happened to her daughter, and is sure that Tom holds the key to the truth. To find much needed answers, she convinces her eldest daughter, Fran, to enrol in the retreat. Georgia has always dreamed about a fabulous vacation in places she can't afford. That is why the Grand Hotel Pupp is the only place she even contemplates. Located in the Tyrolean Alps, it's a picture perfect place for the rich and famous and since Georgia has come with the idea of enjoying herself, she doesn't mind the expense. After all, she cashed in all her securities for this last fling. Queen Latifah play Georgina Byrd, a New Orleans saleswoman who learns that she only has a few weeks to live, so she decides to use her remaining time to take a dream vacation to a European resort. Once there, she starts taking on all sorts of risks and challenges because she really has nothing to lose. What really makes Last Holiday something is Queen Latifah. She offers a dazzling and enjoyable performance as Georgia. Her character is really hard to hate as well. LL Cool J plays Sean and he likes Georgia but he is kind of afraid to make a move. LL Cool J's performance is actually a little weak so it's a good thing that he didn't get a lot of screen time. Tim Hutton was pretty good as the bad guy. Alicia Witt was okay, a little bland though. There were some other supporting characters that were funny like Susan Kellerman as Gunther. Her Last Holiday was a book I was so excited to read. I have read a few C.L. Taylor books prior to this and I have always found her writing engaging and addictive but there was something missing from this outing. I think it stems from the fact that any logical reader must suspend disbelief at an astronomical level. It was a highly imaginative story that ended up just being to much for me to swallow. I love stories that are intriguing with a mystery that allows me to join the dots, if you are like me this probably isn’t the book for you.

Last Holiday is clearly not an Oscar worthy film but it is an enjoyable one and one that's hard to hate. The premise is pretty depressing yet optimistic at the same time. Georgia is a hardworking, quiet and hopeful girl. In the beginning of the movie, she lives a dull existence until she hits her head and finds out she is going to die in two weeks. After this, she decides to live life to the fullest. She doesn't want to be scared of the world anymore. For her final two weeks, she decides to fly to a fancy hotel in Prague she has always dream of going to. This raises the question if you need to have a lot of money to really live life to the fullest. It seems a little too much for me but everyone would want to spend their last two weeks differently. For those expecting a movie like the original, forget it. The original had an effective twist at the end and it was more social commentary than escapist humor. This version is more escapist humor but that doesn't mean it's a bad movie just not as effective as the original. Fran signs up to attend the retreat guided by the same team duo that held her sisters retreat. Under disguise can she find the answers she is looking for? Jessica Reaves of the Chicago Tribune awarded the film three out of four stars and described Queen Latifah as "soft, bold and very funny, infusing this otherwise predictable movie with a contagious charm." She added, "While this is not exactly a profound film, and the message is hardly new, it's testament to this movie's joyous energy that it doesn't matter in the least. We may know exactly where we're going, but the journey is so much fun, all but the most peevish audience members will find it impossible to complain." [6] Unfortunately, I don’t think the second half is as good. The retreat events become rather longwinded and overlong and so it gets a bit dull. There are a lot of characters to get your head around too and some of them change their names which gets confusing. It’s the end though that I have the biggest problem with as it just doesn’t work for me. As the ‘string puller’ is revealed the motivation seems spurious and it feels implausible.C.L. Taylor is the six times Sunday Timesbestselling author of seven gripping stand-alone psychological thrillers: THE ACCIDENT, THE LIE, THE MISSING, THE ESCAPE, THE FEAR, SLEEP and STRANGERS. One of my favourite lines: " 'There's no need to cause a fuss.' A fuss? I found out my dad's not my dad and she acts like I found a hair in my soup?" The dangerous rafting experience was something no upstanding retreat would ever engage in with inexperienced people. They don't even know if these people can swim.