Directed by Clea Duvall
Written by Clea Duvall and Mary Holland
Starring Mackenzie Davis, Kristen Stewart, Aubrey Plaza, Mary Holland, Dan Levy, Alison Brie, Mary Steenburgen and Victor Garber
Running time: 1 hour and 22 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13 because two girls kiss in this

by Jaime Davis, The Fixer

With Thanksgiving on the horizon in the US, there’s a lot to be thankful for. I’m grateful to be back with my wife in Canada after being apart for two months, grateful my family and friends are healthy, grateful to have a roof over my head and food in the fridge. I’m also somewhat thankful for Clea Duvall’s Happiest Season, even though it isn’t exactly what I was hoping for.

My disappointment is partially my fault - upon hearing that there was finally, finallyyyy a holiday rom-com focused on a queer relationship, I was ecstatic to say the least. As a queer woman, I excitedly warned my wife of the film’s existence, texted multiple friends and eagerly awaited the release of what was sure to become my new favorite holiday classic. I came into Happiest Season with exalted expectations when I really should of kept them in check.

I should be happy that Happiest Season was even produced, and I am, don’t get me wrong. I’m a big ‘ol sucker for any and all holiday romances. Remember 2019’s Last Christmas? Universally panned, yet I’ve watched it like 368 times already. And I’m a bit of a Hallmark Countdown to Christmas movie nut - now, I’m no scholar like my father and grandma (seriously those two could write a 1,500 page dissertation) but I’ve watched enough to know and begrudgingly love the formula. But what’s typically not mixed into the special sauce? Anything remotely gay. After last year’s debacle when Hallmark pulled a Zola ad featuring a same-sex couple kissing after getting married, I lost faith in Hallmark, watching very little of their holiday programming. Until this year, however, when they turned things around a bit, featuring a number of side plots involving same-sex couples and relationships (not to mention many more films with people of color at the center, finally). There’s been quite a bit of buzz surrounding recent release The Christmas House, featuring a male-male married couple. While this is leaps and bounds beyond anything I’ve ever expected from the faith-based network, I still don’t feel it’s enough. The LGBTQ+ couple in The Christmas House isn’t the main couple, nor does the film follow them as they fall in love. Steps in the right direction, but still not enough, if you ask me. I want to see holiday movies with gay couples meet cute-ing and making out or drinking hot cocoa or watching a tree lighting in their town or decorating a tree or finding the perfect gifts for each other or wearing matching flannel plaid pajamas or getting caught in a snowstorm in a cabin in the woods. Being gay or queer is certainly not the same as being straight, but I want more people to see that our relationships are still real and deserve the same recognition as our heterosexual counterparts, even in a silly Hallmark-style movie.

So I kinda messed up. I piled all my hopes and dreams of a perfect LGBTQ+ holiday rom-com into this one little movie, especially with it featuring more than one out actor and an openly gay director. It was wrong of me to put that kind of pressure on one film, to make it THE poster child for achieving LGBTQ+ equality in mainstream holiday movies. While Happiest Season surely takes steps forward, the story almost sets it back a bit.

Lemme break down this thing. Happiest Season stars Mackenzie Davis and Kristen Stewart as cutie cute couple Harper and Abby, who recently moved in together in cutie cute bliss. We know this because in the screener we watched, the opening credits feature an almost (unintentionally) comical set of illustrations of Harper and Abby’s relationship so far. Abby, whose parents passed away about a decade prior, isn’t much of a holiday enthusiast, but with Harper, she’s looking forward to Christmas for the first time in a long while. Near the beginning of the film, armed with her bestie, John (Dan Levy as a slightly more clued-in version of his iconic Schitt’s Creek character), Abby picks up a stunning engagement ring - she’s confident Harper is her person and can’t wait to propose. Harper, meanwhile, in a holiday haze, invites Abby home with her to finally meet her family. But. We learn on the drive to her family home that she is anything but out to her loved ones. Ughhhh. Not only that, but Harper’s father is running for mayor and she doesn’t want to disrupt his chances of getting elected. So Harper enlists Abby in a ruse to stay in the closet, just for a bit longer. She swears to come out at the end of their visit, honest!! Sigh.

This for me, is problem number one. The closeted, coming out angle feels old. Have we not moved past this already? I’ve been watching coming out sagas for what feels like forever - I clearly remember me and my mom watching Jack come out on Dawson’s Creek in the late 90’s. That was 20 years ago. I’m tired, y’all! When I initially learned the main plot point hinged on a coming out reveal in Happiest Season, I admit I was disappointed, but in my excitement I quickly let it go. The upbeat, quirky trailer painting a picture of fun, comedic hi-jinks would surely make up for the outdated plot, right? Alas the movie my wife and I watched feels anything but easy breezy.

And this brings us to problem number two. Once we settle into Harper’s upscale family enclave, we get a glimpse of the psychology behind why Harper hides her personal life from her parents. Harper and her twin sister Sloane (a perky Alison Brie) are on an annoying, incessant forever quest to one-up each other for the approval of their parents. The Other Sister, Jane, played by the amazingly bananas Mary Holland (also the script’s co-writer), is left out of everything, and just wants to be accepted. Harper, ruled by fear, lets her parents dictate her entire schedule, saying nothing when they invite her old high school boyfriend to literally every family function. Abby is blindly thrown into a variety of awkward family dynamics and scenarios while being virtually shut out by Harper. Later we learn from Harper’s secret high school girlfriend, Riley (Aubrey Plaza, a relief in every scene), that Harper did some super shady things in the past to conceal their relationship. Seriously, the mess Abby endures during a difficult time of year for her - false arrest at the hands of Sloane’s punk-ass kids, Harper hanging out alone with her high school boyfriend until 2:00 am, her general abandonment of Abby at literally every moment - feels like cruel and unusual punishment. This is who you want to give that stunningly clear and classically elegant ring to? Harper comes across as just plain horrible, not worthy of Abby in any way. Harper’s family? Equally shitty. Run, Abby, run!

But she doesn’t do that. John comes to her rescue just as Abby has had enough and things come to a head. Harper eventually reveals all to her family but only when her hand is forced by her ice queen of a sister. What’s worse, the utter likeability of Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen as the parents is not nearly enough to offer a dose of humanity to this family. I found it so hard to like them, even at the end when we get a solid two minutes of acceptance from the clan. The only worthy member of the family appears to be outcast Jane, who you root for at every turn. She’s truly the standout in this, and the character you come to love most.

By the end, everyone comes around just in the (St.) nick of time, but too fast for the audience to perform the mental gymnastics required to feel like Abby is in good hands with Harper and her family. It feels like the bow wrapped around Happiest Season is a little too tight, a little too forced. Bummer.

Fear makes people do terrible things. I get it. And fear is what rules every member of Harper’s family to the point of near breakage. I’m not perfect, and I’m afraid to even think back on how horrible I probably was in the past. I’m sure once I’ve watched Happiest Season 368 times, I will forgive Harper her transgressions and care a bit more for her and her crap family. But until then, I’m happy. I’m happy that the script didn’t have Abby and Riley hooking up, as many other gay characters have been written in the past (Oh, they’re gay! Gay people cheat on their partners all the time! There’s no such thing as a monogamous gay relationship!) It was nice to just see two gay women written as friends. I’m happy that this film was set and shot in Pittsburgh, where I recently spent two months living with family. Pittsburgh is a really great city, for those who don’t know! I’m happy that Dan Levy is in this, and I don’t care if he plays the same character forever - he makes me smile. I’m happy that Kristen Stewart had another opportunity to show her funnier, softer side outside of Charlie’s Angels. I’m happy that Clea Duvall, a queer woman, is making things. Please Hollywood, let her keep making things. And I’m happy that Happiest Season exists. I am, I swear! We’re getting a little bit closer to where LGBTQ+ relationships should be in mainstream film and I’m definitely thankful for that.

Catch Happiest Season streaming on Hulu starting November 25th.

Read more from Jaime Davis in our Fall 2020 PRINT issue - order a copy here. — *Read more from Jaime Davis in our Fall 2020 PRINT issue - order a copy* *here*.