''Holiday Heart'' is a 2000

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

directed by Robert Townsend and starring

Ving Rhames Irving Rameses Rhames (born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles as IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the ''Mission: Impossible'' film series and gang kingpin Marsellus Wallace in ''Pulp Fiction''. He also a ...

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King ...

, Jesika Reynolds, and

Mykelti Williamson Mykelti Williamson (born March 4, 1957) is an American actor best known for his roles in the films ''Forrest Gump'', ''Con Air'' and '' Ali'', and the television shows ''Boomtown'', '' 24'', and '' Justified''. In 2016, he portrayed Gabriel Maxs ...

. It aired on the cable TV channel Showtime, and was distributed on DVD by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

. It was based on a play by Cheryl L. West, and involves a gay drag queen befriending a single mother and her daughter and trying to protect them from the criminal environment around them. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, for Woodard's performance, among other award nominations.

Plot

Holiday Heart (

) is a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

African American man who performs as a

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

at a popular nightclub in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He is talented, tough, compassionate, and a dedicated Christian. After his

boyfriend A boyfriend is a male friend or acquaintance, often specifying a regular male companion with whom a person is romantically or sexually involved. A boyfriend can also be called an admirer, beau, suitor and sweetheart. The analogous female ...

dies, he befriends a down on her luck, drug addicted, single woman, Wanda (

) and her young daughter Niki (Jesika Reynolds). Holiday offers them a stable home and becomes a much-needed father figure for Niki. However, things go astray when the mother becomes addicted to drugs again and after a series of bad relationships, starts one up with a successful drug dealer Silas (

) who is as

homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...

as he is chauvinist. Silas gives Holiday money and insists, with some threats, that he stay out of their life, which Holiday agrees to do before preparing to move to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Wanda and Holiday have a fight, and Holiday reveals that he was raped in jail. He was sent there after killing a man to protect his mother. Niki is then left alone. Silas has to go away on a "business" trip, because Wanda starts to use too much of his product, and she becomes a prostitute to feed her drug addiction. Holiday steps in to take care of Niki and raises her as his own daughter. Under Holiday's guidance, Niki is baptized at the local Church, and graduates from elementary school with honors. Soon after, a more friendly Silas re-enters their lives, and is thankful for what Holiday has done. He has been getting a house in Florida ready for Wanda and Niki, but is still earning a living by selling drugs. Holiday and Silas become a sort of "odd couple" as Niki begins junior high school, with Silas more willing to respect and tolerate Holiday. After Silas brings Niki along on one of his illicit sales, she runs away and bumps into her mother, who is in a flophouse turning tricks. Ricky, Wanda's new boyfriend, shows

pedophilic Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...

interest in Niki and Wanda agrees to prostitute her in exchange for heroin. However, Niki escapes as Ricky beats Wanda in anger. Silas finds Niki and leaves her in the care of Holiday. As an angry teenager, Niki begins to rebel, and Holiday loses his temper and slaps her. Right before Christmas, Wanda appears at the gay

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

where Holiday works and wants his help in getting clean and sober. The two walk to Holiday's car, with a bike for Niki, when Ricky and his associate, assault Wanda and steals Niki's bike gift. Holiday manages to beat them up, but not before Ricky gets into his car and runs over Wanda, killing her. He then is stopped by officers. The film then shifts to a few months later, where Niki is home from "spring break" and visiting her mother's grave with Holiday and Silas. Silas has returned and informs Niki and Holiday that when they get back from a trip to Paris, he has a surprise waiting for them.

Cast

References

*''Holiday Heart'', Showtime promotional VHS, 2001

External links

* {{Robert Townsend 2000 films 2000s Christmas drama films 2000 LGBT-related films American Christmas drama films American LGBT-related television films African-American LGBT-related films Christmas television films Transgender-related films Cross-dressing in American films Films directed by Robert Townsend Films scored by Stephen James Taylor African-American drama films 2000 drama films Drag (clothing)-related films Films about dysfunctional families Films about domestic violence Films about drugs Films set in Chicago American drama television films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films