'Holiday Rush' Movie Review

Introduction

Everything is going perfectly for Rush Williams. Perfect job. Perfect house. Perfect family - all until he loses his job, loses his house and almost loses his family. Determined to make this Christmas perfect, Rush does everything he can to keep the Christmas magic alive.

Key themes

Rush Williams is at the top of his game, being the number one host of his radio show on the WLME radio station, Rush and his partner Roxy Richardson are sure that they are going to close the deal and part own WLME. However, their dreams were sold too soon and the two lost their jobs at the station

Rush is left disappointed as his dreams were cut short at their peak. He also fears not making Christmas perfect for his spoilt children that are expecting a lot

Roxy informs Rush that their old radio station, where they originally started, is up for sale. However, after recently being unemployed Rush doesn't believe the dream can be possible.

With investment from his Aunt Josephine and Roxy's savings, Rush believes he can relive his dream.

However, dreams are expensive, and Rush made the huge decision to sell his house in order to purchase the station. This meant he had to move his whole family of five back to his old family home - with one bathroom!

Rush's spoilt children are more than uncomfortable with the change and are happy to express it. Still demanding their 'rights', Rush tries to explain to them the dream and the love for the home that was once the place where they all grew up

Whilst building their business, Rush and Roxy realise their love for one another and Rush decides it is time he moves on from his dead wife and his tragic death to cancer

Not everyone is happy with Roxy settling in. Rush's son Jamal bursts out in anger about Rush's decision to love another woman and welcome her to the family.

Jamal walks out, everyone is worried and looks for him. Rush knows where Jamal would be and talks to him. He discovers that Jamal struggled to settle into their old home because it reminded him of his mother.

Rush determined to make life better for his children, works harder to keep the Christmas magic alive and get his radio station up and running, despite all the setbacks caused by WLME

Everything is going perfectly, it appears that Rush will be able to air his first broadcast on his own radio station - however, lack of secure finance means that the station will be temporarily closed down until financed is secured

Rush with a new determination to focus on his family and love life, enjoys Christmas with his family whilst involving the family in a generous act to prove his love for Roxy

As if a Christmas miracle, Rush secures the finance for his radio station and rushes down to air his first broadcast

The rest of Christmas is spent at the church helping the less fortunate and ends with a spectacular solo from Aunt Josephine. Everyone is happy and together - Christmas is saved a new type of perfect

Key observations/thoughts

• For a booming radio station, the hallways of WLME were very empty, barely anyone walking or rushing around looking busy
• Aunt Josephine voices how 'spoilt' the children are but appears to be on 'stand-by', she complains buts does nothing about it, in fact she partakes in spoiling the children (making their breakfast and lunch)
• Where did Aunt Josephine get the pot of $45,000 of savings out from? Was she just carrying it around? (dangerous to be carrying around that amount of money)
• The children complain that they have an 'awful house' on a 'awful street', but it doesn't appear so. The house looks very nice from the outside, has a security system, lights are controlled from the phone, has enough rooms for everyone and is relatively spacious. (very different perspectives of 'awful')
• Why did Jamal give up on Harvard? Just because their finances are not as high as they were before, does not mean he can't afford getting into Harvard. (he could take out a loan)
• Why did the Christmas tree seller recognise Rush, but not say anything or react when Rush went to talk to him?
• If the children grew up in the 'small' house, why do they suddenly despise it?
• At some point, Rush and Roxy were spending a lot of time setting up the Christmas tree rather than setting up their business 4 days til Christmas - where are their priorities?
• When sharing memories, we hear Rush and Roxy laughing, but when we see their faces they appear serious rather than joyous as we heard them to be
• How long ago did Rush's wife die?
• Janella quit a while after Rush and Roxy left - why? (she clearly had loyalties to them, so why didn't she quit at the same time they left?)
• How did Maya have Jamal's friends numbers? (he is a few years older, she really shouldn't have his friends numbers, especially as they are guys)
• The twins did not seem worried about Jamal leaving at all
• The woman that Roxy and Maya ran into had a (about) a 1 year old in buggy and was holding (about) a 6 month old, surely she should have the 6 month old in a pram and hold the 1 year old?
• The twins (Evie and Gabby) are always referred to as the twins, throughout the whole film, this is very disregarding (doesn't give the twins individual personalities)

Conclusion

Holiday Rush is about a dream, a dream to be the best and live the perfect life. The film focuses on the radio industry, but gives glimpses into the life of Rush, who doesn't have as perfect of a life as he appears to have. We see him fall and struggle to get back up, but he eventually makes it with a little 'Christmas magic and spirit'. I think that the film was trying to illuminate Christmas and its spirit, but ultimately, the events that occurred were all due to hard work and perseverance. The film highlights family and love, but we don't actually get to know much about Rush's family - we never knew much about his wife, apart form the fact she died to cancer. Aunt Josephine, although a strong character in the film, she doesn't have much of a story - where is her husband? Does she have children? We don't know much in general, therefore, that theme is also blurred in the film. The film highlighted on giving back, but it was very insignificant and at the end. The 'fall' of Rush was to present how Christmas isn't about material gifts, but that message was lost as Rush appeared to care about the money and he wanted to regain his high status as he number 1 radio show host, so that message was not portrayed as well as intended. I think that too many themes were placed into this film and they all ended up getting intertwined in a confusing and mismatched way. The Christmas element to the whole film, its basic layer, flat lined completely, making this film a 'not-so-Christmas-y' Christmas film

Cast

Romany Malco - Rush Williams

Sonequa Martin-Green - Roxy Richardson

Darlene Love - Aunt Josephine Robinson

Amarr M. Wooten - Jamal Williams

Deysha Nelson - Maya Williams

Andrea-Marie Alphonse - Evie Williams

Selena-Marie Alphonse - Gabby Williams

Deon Cole - Marshall Stone