{"id":15451,"date":"2020-11-25T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=15451"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:17:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:17:30","slug":"review-happiest-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-happiest-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Happiest Season<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christmas-set romantic comedies typically adhere to a pretty strict formula, one you can see displayed from Hallmark to Lifetime to Netflix to studio releases. There\u2019s family, a culture clash of some kind, dramatic misunderstandings, a requisite amount of coffee\/cocoa\/eggnog, and some form of high-profile disaster involving the holiday itself. Clea DuVall\u2019s Happiest Season<\/em>, out this week on Hulu, fits this profile to a candy cane-striped, tinsel-draped tee; the main difference is that the central couple is gay. While that provides some timely and moving thematic opportunities, Happiest Season<\/em> also brings up questions about what we actually want from a holiday movie, particularly one with inclusive leanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abby (Kristen Stewart) is happily in love with her girlfriend Harper (Mackenzie Davis), and planning to propose. Harper takes Abby home with her to meet her family, but on the way discloses a major issue: she hasn\u2019t told her parents she\u2019s gay. Harper\u2019s dad, Ted (Victor Garber) is currently in the middle of a mayoral campaign, and her mom Tipper (Mary Steenburgen) is obsessed with keeping up appearances for the sake of good press. Over the holiday, Abby and Harper\u2019s relationship has to be forced back into the closet, with Abby posing as Harper\u2019s sad orphaned roommate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Complications ensue, of course, when Harper\u2019s competitive, high-maintenance sister Sloane (Alison Brie) and her picture-perfect family show up and immediately suspect something\u2019s up between her and Abby. Harper\u2019s high school ex Riley (Aubrey Plaza) also thinks there\u2019s more to Harper and Abby\u2019s connection than they\u2019re telling, and becomes an ally. Abby\u2019s best friend John (Dan Levy) also provides Abby with emotional support as she starts to worry if Harper\u2019s refusal to come out means their relationship is doomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happiest Season<\/em> features some fun supporting performances (Levy and Mary Holland as Harper\u2019s odd duck sister Jane are particular standouts), and the pairing of Stewart and Davis as the central couple feels like an inspired choice. Stewart in particular is a little outside of her usual wheelhouse in a lighter comic role that results in a game performance, even if it doesn\u2019t always work. If anything, it might make more sense for her and Davis\u2019 roles to be reversed, with Stewart playing the more reserved Harper and Davis getting to exude likeable awkwardness as Abby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film is hindered, however, by a Hallmark-y squeaky clean sense that makes it feel toothless. There are some legitimately touching moments related to identity, community, and coming out, but those moments are surrounded by schmaltz that threatens to make the whole enterprise feel like unimportant fluff. DuVall\u2019s film could have some actual edge if it wanted to, but instead suffers from a cliche plot, uninspiring aesthetics, and a tooth achingly-sweet soundtrack of bad Christmas pop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happiest Season<\/em> feels like a slightly nicer version of a basic cable Christmas movie, which dims its effect somewhat. However, everybody deserves to have a cheesy holiday romantic comedy that reflects their experience, and DuVall\u2019s movie certainly does a solid job of exploring the difficulties and joys of LGBTQ relationships. If nothing else, it\u2019s nice to have a mildly entertaining Christmas movie that injects some diversity into the genre, even if it\u2019s not especially profound. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Happiest Season” is streaming today on Hulu<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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