Movie Review - Happiest Season

Produced by Sony Pictures, one of the major movie studios, this film is being described as the first, Christmas film from a major movie studio to feature a same-sex couple in the lead. This precedes the Lifetime and Hallmark channels finally producing Christmas films with same-sex couples in the forefront, after both received criticism in years past to do so. The last possible comparison was The Family Stone (2005), which was a Christmas film that had a same-sex couple as part of the ensemble. That couple wasn't the lead or in the forefront though. The film wasn't about that couple. There have been films where a gay couple has been in the forefront but those films have only had short scenes or sequences set during Christmas, films like The Perfect Wedding (2013), Carol (2015), Love, Simon (2018), 1985 (2018) and The Family Tree (2020).

There has been at least one independent film that was a Christmas film that was about a same-sex couple. It was Rob Williams' Make the Yuletide Gay (2009). Williams' film involved a gay male couple named Olaf and Nathan where Nathan was going to visit Olaf's family. However, Nathan surprises Olaf with his visit only to realize that Olaf has been hiding his homosexuality. In a panic, Olaf gets Nathan to hide their relationship and pretend they're not gay. Actress-turned-filmmaker Clea DuVall in her second feature as writer-director has taken that same idea but gender-swapped it. Instead of a gay male couple, it's a gay female couple or two lesbians.

Kristen Stewart (Charlie's Angels and Clouds of Sils Maria) stars as Abby Holland, a young woman who lives in Pittsburgh with her girlfriend. Other than loving her girlfriend and wanting to marry her, there are only three other things we learn about Abby. One is that she loves taking care of pets. The second is that she doesn't like Christmas. The third is that her parents died when she was 19 but she's following in their footsteps by attending Carnegie Mellon. It's not clear how long Abby has been dating her girlfriend, but, apparently, she wants to marry her without having met her family first.

Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate and Black Mirror) co-stars as Harper Caldwell, a writer and reporter for a Pittsburgh newspaper. She's basically the Olaf of this situation. However, she makes the mistake of inviting Abby to her family's Christmas, despite keeping the fact that she's closeted a secret from Abby. The majority of the film just becomes Harper lying to her family in one scene after another where they are trying to reinforce a perfect, heterosexual family for what are ultimately political reasons.

It is funny watching Abby bite her tongue and navigate through it. It works mainly because Stewart is so charming and compassionate. The conflict comes in how long Abby will tolerate the deception and how long Harper will submit to it. Williams' film was conceived and possibly produced before President Obama took office and started implementing LGBTQ-friendly policies and certainly before the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015. In those five years, the culture has moved significantly. It's not to say that this scenario is completely implausible, but it would be less likely. Perhaps, if DuVall had set the film in the past, even just ten years ago, it would feel more plausible.

Even though the stakes were more likely in Williams' film, there was still an air of implausibility. As such, Williams didn't lean on it too much in a serious way. Instead, he leaned more on making the whole thing more ridiculous and more of a farce. Williams' supporting characters were therefore sillier and cartoon-like. It made the whole thing more fun. He never separated the characters either. He kept them together as to show the strength in their relationship. DuVall rather does the opposite, meaning she never wants to firmly plant her film in the strictly comedy realm.

Mary Steenburgen (Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and The Last Man on Earth) also co-stars as Tipper Caldwell, the mother to Harper. She perhaps walks that line. She leans a little to the ridiculous, as an overwhelmingly cheerful mother who goes out of her way to make things look perfect and happy, if perhaps only in a superficial way. She's not as cheerful as Olaf's mother in Make the Yuletide Gay, but she's practically cut from the same cloth, but Steenburgen walks that line as to where she does seem like she's giving an authentic performance or one that's more grounded.

The same could be said for pretty much all of the other actors, including Alison Brie (GLOW and Community) who plays Sloane, the sister to Harper. Some might argue though her ice queen persona might be too much of an affectation. The one exception would be Mary Holland (Veep and Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) who plays Jane, the other sister to Harper. Jane is the more wacky and more contrived caricature.

Daniel Levy (Schitt's Creek) plays John, the best friend to Abby. Coming off an impressive showing at this year's Emmy Awards where he broke all kinds of records, Levy is very much in full form here. He's by far the funniest thing with almost every line he delivers being hilarious. He's probably in the film as much as any man needs to be in a film about lesbians, but, more of him would have been delightful.

The same could be said of Aubrey Plaza (Legion and Parks and Recreation) who plays Riley, an ex-girlfriend of Harper. However, there's a suggestion that a love triangle could form between Abby, Harper and Riley. It's a possibility only because DuVall's film separates Abby and Harper so much. However, it's through Riley that we see how homophobia, particularly internalized homophobia, can have harmful effects on not only one's self but also those about whom one cares.

Rated PG-13 for some language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 42 mins.

Available on Hulu.