There are more status symbols hanging from this family drama than a department-store tree has ornaments. As the Whitfield clan gathers at their matriarch’s house, they spend much of their time comparing cars, outfits and salaries. Because the picture has an all-black cast, there is an underlying defensiveness to all of this. The filmmakers’ first, dubious concern is presenting a black movie family whose holiday is as commercialized, overpriced and affluent as those of white movie families of the past – right down to the Hispanic housekeeper (Lupe Ontiveros) who helps cook Christmas dinner.
