You know the film. It’s a film you have never heard of. The cast might be composed of actors you know and love or complete unknowns. You stumble across it on streaming and wonder if it will be worth two hours of your time. This series will be devoted to reviewing films like these, the strange items that pop up when you are looking for a flick on the streaming service of your choice. This is “We Found It On Streaming”
FILM: Happiest Season
Release Date: November 25, 2020
Run Time: 91 Minutes.
Streaming Service(s): Hulu
Rating: PG-13 for some language
One of the hottest takes I have ever made was when I said that Kristin Stewart wasn’t that bad of an actress. Mind you, I didn’t say she was a thespian on the level of a Meryl Streep or a Daniel Day-Lewis, just that she was better than her reputation or Razzies victories would indicate.
You would have thought that I suggested that kicking puppies should be a national sport. Many of my friends on social media couldn’t wait to tell me how wrong I was. Even her eventual Oscar nomination for Spencer could not dissuade them.
If you were one of those people, you can stop reading this now. Because Stewart is the emotional center of Happiest Season and does quite a fine job of acting in it.
Stewart plays Abby, who has been in a same-sex relationship with Harper (Mackenzie Davis) for a year. Harper invites Abby to her home to meet her parents over the Christmas holiday. Even though she is not a fan of Christmas, she agrees to accompany Harper on the trip, even planning to propose to her on Christmas day–much to the chagrin to her friend John (Dan Levy). Complications arise when, on the car ride there, Harper admits that she had never came out of the closet to her parents and asks Abby to be her straight, platonic roommate for the five-day visit. Because if the reality of their relationship got out, it might jeopardize her father Ted’s (Victor Garber) mayoral candidacy.
Co-written by director Clea Duvall and Mary Holland (who also plays Harper’s sister Jane in the film), the film operates on the same basic principles that similar screwball romantic comedy farces work on with one major difference–it’s about a LGBTQ couple instead of a straight one. Heck, Dan Levy plays the gay best friend in the film, a staple of many other romantic comedies. But the film doesn’t treat the gay issues as window dressing. It is a fundamental part of the plot.
The film calls on Stewart to be placed in many awkward situations. And playing awkwardness is one Stewart’s strengths as an actor. Whether it being caught be Harper’s mom, Tipper (Mary Steenburgen), trying to sneak into Harper’s room or watching Tipper spring Harper’s ex-boyfriend, Connor (Jake McDorman) on her over dinner in the hopes they will reconcile, Stewart exemplifies the feeling you’d expect her character to be feeling without her even saying a word.
As a matter of fact, one of the strongest parts of the movie is when Duvall lets their actors wordlessly show what they are thinking instead of spewing their hearts outs in dialogue. Harper’s older sister Sloane (Alison Brie) shows her jealousy of Harper by a pained look at Ted’s favoritism towards her younger sister. When Harper sees Abby with her ex-girlfriend Riley (Aubrey Plaza), you could see the full gamut of emotions cross over her face.
Duvall could afford to do this because the cast is first rate. The standout of the cast is the lesser-known Holland. Her Jane is weird and quirky. It could have been a one-note performance in the hands of any other actress. But Holland brings a humanity to the role that makes the character relatable and likeable. Yeah, it is kind of cheating because Holland did write the role for herself. But when the character gets a mini-happy ending of her own at the end of the film, you’ll be happy for her character,
Happiest Season is a level above your typical Christmas romantic comedy thanks to the acting of its excellent cast. If you are looking for a film to watch this holiday season, you can do worse than this one.
Have you found a film on streaming that you’d like us to look at? Leave it in the comments and it might appear in a future installment of this feature.
