What would you do if you found out you had only weeks to live? Chances are you wouldn't waste two of your precious hours on this lumbering Queen Latifah vehicle, an improbable remake of a 1950 Alec Guinness Brit-com. The Chicago Oscar nominee plays a shy New Orleans shopgirl who dreams of being a chef, preferably with her colleague LL Cool J mopping her brow. One fatal prognosis later and she's cashing in her savings to gallivant around the resort of Karlsbad, captivating everyone from tetchy cook Gérard Depardieu to venal exec Timothy Hutton with her lust for life and down-to-earth charm.
The original boasted a script by JB Priestley. Wayne Wang's version has Latifah base-jumping, snowboarding and stuffing her face. "Oh Lord, why me?" sings Georgia during Sunday service. You'll probably be thinking something similar.
