Review: Happiest Season

This was originally published on November 25th, 2020.

Christmas is a time for love, family, warmth… and this Letterboxd list of Christmas films featuring heterosexual couples wearing red and green. While the list plays for laughs, it highlights how manufactured straight Christmas films are and how inundated audiences have become with them. LGBTQ+ stories that take place over the holidays are few and far between, even though we’re in dire need of comforting seasonal films because it’s arguably one of the most difficult times of year for those who were rejected by their families. Luckily, Clea DuVall’s Happiest Season (co-written with supporting actor Mary Holland) is a lovely Christmas present. It’s the perfect film to help kick-start what will hopefully become a new trend of lesbian yuletide rom-coms for years to come.

Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and Abby (Kristen Stewart) are a lesbian couple who will be spending Christmas with Harper’s conservative, middle class family. Abby reveals to her gay best friend, John (Dan Levy), that she plans to propose to Harper on Christmas Day after asking for Harper’s father’s blessing. “Way to stick it to the patriarchy,” John jokes, but Abby loves love and loves marriage — which actually reflects Stewart’s real life views. In a 2019 interview with Howard Stern, Stewart revealed that she “can’t fucking wait” to propose to her girlfriend and she knows exactly how she’s going to do it.

Abby soon finds her big romantic plans disrupted when Harper reveals that she hasn’t come out to her family yet. This results in Abby having to spend the whole time pretending to be Harper’s straight, orphaned roommate, which becomes more difficult as time goes on. Harper’s parents, perfectionist Tipper (Mary Steenburgen) and mayoral candidate Ted (Victor Gaber), are concerned with status and reputation, which Harper doesn’t want to jeopardize. She also has two sisters: the competitive, golden child Sloane (Alison Brie) and the sweet, overlooked Jane (Holland). Jane is the most authentic and free spirited of the three sisters. She gets to be herself because her parents “gave up” on her early on, leaving Sloane and Harper to fight amongst themselves for their parents’ approval.

In addition to Harper’s family, Abby also gets to meet her ex-boyfriend Connor (Jake McDorman) and ex-girlfriend Riley (Aubrey Plaza), both relationships from Harper’s youth. Abby hits it off with Riley, and their chemistry is so strong that I almost wanted them to run away together. Plaza’s character is funny yet vulnerable, but has an air of mystery about her. She’s one of those women you meet at a bar and become unquestionably obsessed with because of her magnetic charm.

Harper sidelines Abby a lot during family festivities, which means that we don’t get to see many moments of Harper and Abby being a proper couple. While there are a few moments of them sneaking around, it wasn’t enough to satiate my appetite. It seems like a minor step back to have a lesbian rom-com where the lesbians hardly get to spend any quality time together being lesbians. Something else that irked me was how much Abby complained about the time Harper spent talking to Connor, as though she was didn’t believe Harper was a lesbian, or was perpetuating the false idea that bisexual people are cheaters who can’t make up their minds. Connor’s character is used to create underdeveloped conflict, and Abby’s contempt seems misplaced. She isn’t worried about the fact Riley hangs around, too, but maybe that’s just because Abby is the one spending time with her instead.

Using a coming out story to create conflict in an LGBTQ+ film feels somewhat outdated, especially when the conflict could have come from so many other places, but fortunately Happiest Season is a film that handles this topic with care and authenticity, all thanks to the script being co-written by DuVall, a lesbian. She reminds us why coming out can still be an immensely difficult experience, even in 2020, as the film explores the complexities of the situation Harper and Abby find themselves in. Abby is allowed to be hurt from feeling hidden, and Harper is allowed to be scared about her family rejecting her, even though it’s hurting Abby.

Levy delivers a fantastic speech towards the end of the film where his character reminds Abby that not everyone has an easy coming out story like she did. Her parents accepted her, but his dad didn’t. Harper is in limbo — that scary place all LGBTQ+ people can relate to when they’re not sure how their friends and family will react. Even if you think you’ll be accepted, it can still feel absolutely terrifying. Although Harper can come across as unlikeable, the film doesn’t make her out to be a villain. Harper grew up in an environment where love has to be earned and competed for. When it comes down to it, coming out isn’t the main focus of the film — it’s more about toxic family dynamics, particularly how we choose to hide parts of ourselves so we can be loved, when we should be focusing on the people who love our truest selves with no strings attached.

Happiest Season doesn’t explore the alternative reality John reminds us of — in which not all families are accepting. It would have been an unconventional and unexpected path for a Christmas rom-com to go down, but it’s a shame that Harper’s coming out story didn’t carry as much emotional depth as it could have. It’s still enough to make you teary eyed, but the ending is unfortunately quite rushed. It’s the idealised version of acceptance that you would expect to find in a Christmas film, but those in John’s position wouldn’t expect to find as easily in real life.

While Happiest Season isn’t perfect, it doesn’t have to be. It’s supposed to be a generic Christmas rom-com for lesbians and that’s exactly what it is (albeit an above average one). It’s enjoyable, witty, and lighthearted despite some deeper themes. The cast are an entertaining ensemble who all get to showcase their talent through DuVall and Holland’s fun, fast-paced script, and DuVall’s confident direction. All of the familiar and beloved rom-com tropes are played around with and made gay, including the “will they or won’t they stay together” trope, but of course they will — it’s a heartwarming Christmas film and lesbians do deserve happy endings.

Happiest Season is available on Hulu on November 25th.