In Last Holiday, Queen Latifah lives up to her royal moniker by rendering a less-than-regal dish into the cinematic equivalent of comfort food. You may emerge feeling slightly guilty for having indulged in such a pre-packaged meal. But go ahead:  savor that warm, full feeling and forgive yourself later. 

Last Holiday is a modern fairytale about Georgia Byrd, a shy department store worker from New Orleans who learns how to live life to the fullest. The top salesperson in the cookware department, she's given a terminal diagnosis and figures it's time to stop being meek. She cashes in her savings and indulges her dream of luxuriating at a European spa hotel. 

The major surprise in this mix of silly humor and sentimental self-help is Latifah's low-key persona. Given her boisterous work in Beauty Shop and Barbershop 2, and her TV shilling for Pizza Hut and Wal-Mart, you expect a less self-composed, dainty, and sensitive star. Latifah infuses the recipe for Last Holiday -- based on a screenplay by British novelist J.B. Priestley and whipped together by director Wayne Wang -- with coziness.

During her splurge at the Grand Hotel Pupp Georgia encounters the disdainful retail magnate who owns her store (Timothy Hutton) and some junketing politicians, including a Louisiana senator (Giancarlo Esposito). They perceive Georgia as a threat while she wins everyone over by standing up for the average working woman. She says the right thing and provides a model of joie de vivre and carpe diem vitality.

The second big surprise in Last Holiday involves the haughty gourmet chef she idolizes even more than the Food Network's Emeril Lagasse. Georgia and the hotel's acclaimed chef, played by Gerard Depardieu, bond over butter and the versatility of turnips. Her disciplined diet of Lean Cuisine goes out the window as she indulges in his fattening artistry. Latifah and Depardieu share a gusto that is hard to resist, and her romantic relationship with an equally shy colleague (LL Cool J, also playing against type) has its own charms.  If the movie weren't too long already, you'd wish they could have more screen time together.

Last Holiday is a harmlessly schmaltzy, often messy blend that gains extra meaning for being set in pre-Katrina New Orleans. Denizens of the Big Easy can use a pick-me-up -- and Queen Latifah as Georgia Byrd fits the bill. 

(Released by Paramount Pictures and rated "PG-13" for some sexual references.)