In what seems to be a new Christmas holiday tradition of mine, on days like this I'll scroll through the Netflix holiday movie line-up and see what warm, feel-good fun the online streaming service giant can come up with next. So today, I stumbled across the 2019 Christmas-themed romantic-comedy "Holiday Rush."
Directed by Leslie Small and co-written by Sean Dwyer & Greg Cope White, the story centers around Rashon "Rush" Williams (Romany Malco), a popular New York City-based hip-hop radio DJ and his beautiful producer friend Roxy Richardson (Sonequa Martin-Green, "The Walking Dead"). A few weeks before Christmas, Rashon and Roxy's radio station WMLE is bought out by CamCom, a large telecommunications firm, which then switches over to a pop music format and unceremoniously fires the two of them.
Dejected, Rashon, who is a widower and lives a privileged upscale lifestyle with his four spoiled children - Harvard-bound eldest son Jamal (Amarr M. Wooten), fashion-minded Mya (Deysha Nelson), and twin girls Evie (Andrea-Marie Alphonse) and Gabby (Selena-Marie Alphonse) - is then forced to sell their home and move back in with his loving Aunt Jo (Darlene Love). Meanwhile, Roxy comes up with a risky proposal that in order to get back on their feet - and, by extension, the airwaves - they buy up WBQL, the old radio station where the two of them, years earlier, originally got their start. It will take a Christmas miracle for Rashon and Roxy's gamble to pay off, especially with looming competition from the CamCom-owned and -operated WMLE and its ruthless corporate-minded new head honcho Joceyln "Joss" Hawkins (Tamala Jones).
As you can see, "Holiday Rush" is not a deep or particularly involving holiday film, like a lot of Netflix Christmas movies are. But also like a lot of Netflix Christmas movies, "Holiday Rush" provides a much-welcomed distraction from the, well, Holiday Rush of this time of year. It makes you feel warm and good inside. And sometimes, that is all that really matters. And sometimes, that may be all that you really need.
6/10.
Directed by Leslie Small and co-written by Sean Dwyer & Greg Cope White, the story centers around Rashon "Rush" Williams (Romany Malco), a popular New York City-based hip-hop radio DJ and his beautiful producer friend Roxy Richardson (Sonequa Martin-Green, "The Walking Dead"). A few weeks before Christmas, Rashon and Roxy's radio station WMLE is bought out by CamCom, a large telecommunications firm, which then switches over to a pop music format and unceremoniously fires the two of them.
Dejected, Rashon, who is a widower and lives a privileged upscale lifestyle with his four spoiled children - Harvard-bound eldest son Jamal (Amarr M. Wooten), fashion-minded Mya (Deysha Nelson), and twin girls Evie (Andrea-Marie Alphonse) and Gabby (Selena-Marie Alphonse) - is then forced to sell their home and move back in with his loving Aunt Jo (Darlene Love). Meanwhile, Roxy comes up with a risky proposal that in order to get back on their feet - and, by extension, the airwaves - they buy up WBQL, the old radio station where the two of them, years earlier, originally got their start. It will take a Christmas miracle for Rashon and Roxy's gamble to pay off, especially with looming competition from the CamCom-owned and -operated WMLE and its ruthless corporate-minded new head honcho Joceyln "Joss" Hawkins (Tamala Jones).
As you can see, "Holiday Rush" is not a deep or particularly involving holiday film, like a lot of Netflix Christmas movies are. But also like a lot of Netflix Christmas movies, "Holiday Rush" provides a much-welcomed distraction from the, well, Holiday Rush of this time of year. It makes you feel warm and good inside. And sometimes, that is all that really matters. And sometimes, that may be all that you really need.
6/10.