Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis in Happiest Season
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Happiest Season is filled with hilarious misunderstandings, more than one coming out pun, and a running joke about dead fish. However, at its core, it's a character-driven dramedy that's so rooted in the queer experience that, to be frank, is going to be a bit divisive. Whether you're satisfied by the end, I'm not sure, it's up to you. But the journey there is a jolly holiday treat.
The holiday romantic comedy is as much a staple of the season as a dysfunctional family argument at the Christmas dinner. Oh wait. Either way, there's often a formula to our holiday entertainment. However, Happiest Season—now streaming on Hulu—looks to break the mold by focusing on a lesbian couple played by Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis. And while the story does hit some of the same familiar beats, it's a largely subversive take that's rooted in the queer experience. Still, there's something for every member of the family to enjoy.
Abby (Stewart) and Harper (Davis) are a long term couple living together happily in Pittsburgh—they're so happy in fact that Abby is ready to pop the question much to her best friend John's (Schitt's Creek's Dan Levy) chagrin. After talking about Abby's dislike for the holiday since her parents died—take a drink for the holiday movie drinking game—Harper makes the spontaneous decision to invite her to her conservative small town for her family's annual Christmas party. However, on the way Harper reveals that she lied to Abby about coming out to her family and asks her to pretend to instead be her roommate until she can tell her family she is gay after the holiday.
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From there, Happiest Season has all the hijinks you'd expect as the pair arrive having set the ruse. Immediately it's clear the Harper's mother Tippy (Mary Steenburgen) has taken Abby's status as an orphan a little too to heart as she looks down at her with sadness. Her father Ted (Victor Garber), on the other hand, is too focused on his campaign for mayor to pay too much attention to her. And of course, there are the kooky siblings Jane (Mary Holland), an awkward and nerdy holiday lover, and Sloane (Alison Brie), a perfectionist in constant competition with Harper.
Every member of the cast is superb in creating little ticks and moments with their characters, especially Holland whose performance as Jane very nearly steals the film. After a series of misunderstandings, more than one pun about being in a closet, and a subplot about dead fish, Happiest Season heads for more dramatic territory as the strain of hiding her identity weighs on Abby and strains her relationship with Harper. It doesn't help either that Harper seems to be slipping into her at home “straight” persona a little too well and her high school friend Riley (Aubrey Plaza) hits it off with Abby.
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Therein lies the problem with Happiest Season. The very act of hiding oneself until you're comfortable is completely valid—something I did too for some time. However, the movie is a little too heavy-handed with Harper's betrayal of Abby to the point that it's hard to root for the couple. However, Dan Levy's gorgeously delivered third act monologue about the very personal journey about coming out infuses some understanding that saves the ending a bit—still it will be quite divisive.
Happiest Season has its problems but at the core, it is the exact kind of delightfully entertaining holiday rom-com that we're looking for. There are moments that had me laughing, crying, and screaming with delight. And, of course, there's the lesson. “I'm gay.” Why are those two words so difficult for so many of us queer people to say? Happiest Season aims to find an answer to that question while simultaneously delivering an entertaining holiday comedy filled with the nutty characters we all love—and love to hate.
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Hey! I'm Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I'm also a Tomatometer-approved critic.
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