Happiest Season

Christmas (and all similarly themed festive seasons by association) should be a time for everybody, but it can tragically be a time that some find incredibly stressful and even exposing. This can be due to financial strives or familial turmoil, but the LGBTQIA+ community in particular can struggle a lot during the holiday/Christmas season, usually stemming from facing family rejection, needing to conform to societal norms, or feeling isolated and othered during a period that is supposed to support togetherness and inclusive empathy. While no story is identical, the experience is sadly all too common and worthy of spotlighting in order to showcase it to a larger audience, and the 2020 LGBTQIA+ Christmas rom-com, Happiest Season, manages to do just that.

Abby Holland (played by Kristen Stewart) has been in a relationship with her girlfriend, Harper (played by Mackenzie Davis) for nearly a year, and despite not having much interest in Christmas since the death of her parents, Harper invites Abby to spend the season with her and her family. Being the first time she’s met her girlfriend’s family and using it as a chance to propose, Abby is hesitantly excited about this getaway, but is hit with a harsh truth when she learns that Harper hasn’t come out to her very conservative family, and has concocted a story that she is bringing her ‘’straight’’ roommate to spend Christmas with them because she has no one else to celebrate with. Begrudgingly going along with this plan, Abby is introduced to Harper’s family, including her highly pedantic mother, Tipper (played by Mary Steenburgen), her governor father, Ted (played by Victor Garber) who’s now attempting to run for mayor, her oddball sister, Jane (played by Mary Holland) and her eldest sister, Sloane (played by Alison Brie), all of whom have no idea about Harper’s sexuality or the true reason why Abby has come, which puts her in an incredibly uncomfortable situation as she’s forced to hide her own sexual identity and romance with Harper in order to keep up appearances. As she learns more about how much Harper has kept hidden from her, the fabric of their relationship starts to unravel, all building up to a fallout that could occur on what should be the happiest time of the year.

Being the first lesbian Christmas rom com produced by a major Hollywood studio, Happiest Season is a very charming feature that is carried by solid direction, a very strong ensemble, and a premise that, while laced with a cheesy outside, holds some truthful weight to it that helps it stand out in the crowd even more. While nothing remarkable, it’s a worthwhile watch that shines a light on a different perspective on such a universal period.

Being a semi-autobiographical account of some awkward holiday experiences that director, Clea DuVall, went through,  Happiest Season has the energy, attitude and frilly demeanor expected of most rom-coms associated with the holidays, but with the added personal touch of conveying someone’s struggle with coming out to their family during an already stressful period, it provides a whole new dimension and makes for a fresh viewing experience. Being able to see any LGBTQIA+-themed feature with any sense of budget or studio backing is nice considering how infrequent it is (with this movie being produced by Sony and TriStar Pictures, backed by Temple Hill Productions and Entertainment One, and released on Hulu during the tail end of 2020), but seeing one centred around Christmas is especially refreshing, and brings a new perspective on a familiar idea, which in turn helps make this relatively small and simple film, feel a bit more memorable. The concept of a significant other being forced to hide their relationship due to their partner not coming out to their family has great potential for comedic situations and awkward interactions, but also a fair amount of drama, and the film is aware of this and tackles both angles, even if the sillier tone does prevent it from diving into the true nitty-gritty of it all.

For only her second feature directorial job, Clea DuVall does quite a nice job directing this film, balancing the tones in a way that doesn’t clash and allows for an atmosphere and mood that feels more believable than most Christmas rom-coms, the personality and pace of the film is peppy and brisk, but is able to sit with itself when it needs to think over a conflict or revelation, the actors are all incredibly well led and really bring their A-game in every scene, and even if some scenes can feel a little repetitive of themselves and the film doesn’t always keep your attention every second, the heartfelt nature and identifiable scenario makes you relate and connect with the characters very nicely and will make you want to stick with it to the end. The script written by DuVall and Mary Holland doesn’t create the most intriguing characters or very hilarious jokes, but has a jovial nature that never feels demeaning, contains enough composure to make the gutting awkwardness of the situation feel equally as painful as it is humorous, and is structured in a concise enough sense that things fall into place very nicely in a final act where everything feels like it clicks very smoothly.

A concept is only as good as its execution, and these two components can only succeed if acted out by good people, and this film has a surprisingly high number of talented people who either are big names or were steadily growing their careers, and each of them are used beautifully in this. Whether because they were directed in a fantastic fashion or were able to connect with the material in such a believable fashion, all the actors in this are very strong, make for a great ensemble, and elevate characters that might be seen as pretty one note thanks to how they portray them. Kristen Stewart hasn’t had the easier career due to her start with the profitable but hated Twilight film franchise, but has proven herself multiple times over in future films, and she does a great job as the lead in this, effectively portraying the stress and frustration of having to hide her relationship and sexual orientation while watching the girlfriend she seemingly fully knew, show shades of herself that make her question her feelings for her. Stewart captures this very nicely through subtle yet communicative expressions and very genuine responses, and she provides a sense of stoic normalcy when paired against the chaotically chipper energy everybody else in the family gives off.

Mackenzie Davis is also a very talented actress who has demonstrated her capabilities in the past, and while her character does some pretty questionable things that makes her a little too easy to dislike, Davis does make the character more than just face value and explores the perspective of someone who feels terrified to come out to their very traditional family in fear of what could happen after the fact. She also does a great job working off Stewart and she gets some great moments in the final act, so it evens out thanks to her performance. Mary Steenburgen and Victor Garber make for very eccentric parents yet still feel like the kind of authority figures their children would be intimidated to inconvenience with a big revelation, Alison Brie and Mary Holland give off a lot of personality and portray seemingly stock roles with enough life to be memorable, Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy provide for some memorable supporting characters who tie into the lead’s stories very nicely, and others like Ana Gasteyer, Jake McDorman, Burl Moseley and Sarayu Blue have the potential to be over-the-top cartoons usually associated with backgrounds roles for a Christmas rom-com, yet are just stable enough that they feel mostly believable and don’t break the tone.

While this film clearly had some financial backing behind it given the amount of production companies involved with its creation, it doesn’t look like a very expensive film, which makes a lot of sense given it was made with a mostly digital/streaming release in mind, is set in a genre that has never required that much money in the first place, and was filmed and released during the pandemic (most of the cast even got the virus during filming). While not looking like it had a huge budget, it doesn’t really suffer from this problem and still manages to be a pleasant looking feature that’s dripping in the festive spirit. The camera work by John Guleserian is pretty tight and doesn’t always allow for the most expansive views of the sets, but can get a fun angle and frame every once and a while and never looks sloppily executed, the environments feel more like staged locations than real places, but are constructed with enough authenticity that it’s not distracting, and with the vibrant colors, soft lighting, snowy exterior and plentiful amount of decorations, lights and festivities, the overall production design by Theresa Guleserian gives off a nice vibe.

Since the film is more of a modern Christmas flick that’s exploring more mainstream contemporary elements, the soundtrack should match that updated element and the artists who helped provide music for this film are very fitting as it’s full of queer talent like Sia, Anne-Marie, Bebe Rexha, Shea Diamond, Brandy Clark, Tegan and Sara, and even drag performers, Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme, all of whom provide a nice, energized and modern sound to this flick.

Happiest Season provides a new viewpoints on a time period most people are familiar with, and while it doesn’t portray any of its pretty dramatic and heavy topics in a way that’s as aggressive or unpleasant as they could be portrayed in, it’s nice that this very real struggle an entire community may have to deal with is spotlighted in a very simple but charming flick. It isn’t anything phenomenal and even for its short running time, does feel like it’s trying to extend scenes to make the expected length, but with good direction and scripting, nice visuals and production, and a very strong cast, this festive flick with a twist will hopefully help spawn more movies that showcase other experiences around the season, and therefore make this wonderful time of year even more inclusive.