Hulu's 'Happiest Season' Shines, Even If The Main Couple Doesn't
Starring Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Alison Brie, Dan Levy, Aubrey Plaza, Sarayu Blue, Ana Gasteyer
PG-13
Comedy, Romance
Run time: 1 hr, 42 min
Directed and written by Clea DuVall
On Hulu November 25, 2020
It’s Christmastime, everyone! And that means one thing: it’s time for all the Christmas media! Tis the season of Michael Bublé, Mariah Carey, Peanuts Christmas and an insane amount of mediocre-but-entertaining holiday films. Good news: Happiest Season is far from being mediocre. I’ve been looking forward to this holiday movie since I saw the preview a couple weeks ago, and was thrilled to not be disappointed. It has all the best romantic comedy bits: a sassy but brilliant best friend, family drama, an appearance by one or more exes and a small town. However, there’s immediately something that makes it stand out from other holiday romcoms: the main couple is gay.
Happiest Season tells the story of Abby (Kristen Stewart) and her girlfriend Harper (Mackenzie Davis) spending a holiday weekend with Harper’s family. Sounds adorable and cozy, right? There’s a catch: Harper’s family thinks Abby is just her roommate and has no idea that Harper is gay. Unsurprisingly, this throws a big wrench into things. The couple have to try to survive five days with the family and not give away Harper’s secret until she feels ready. Enter two of Harper’s exes, including Riley (Aubrey Plaza), the first girl that Harper dated - but also kept a secret. Naturally, antics abound, mistakes are made and an intense emotional roller coaster takes over.
From the preview alone, I had high hopes that this wouldn’t be on par with every other Hallmark holiday film. And while it does have so many of those elements, it manages to come off as infinitely less cliche, and the majority of that is thanks to this insanely fantastic cast. Stewart does a great job as a young woman forced back into being uncomfortable with herself and her sexuality while trying to hard to support the woman she loves. However, the standouts of this movie are scene-stealing side characters: Riley and John (Dan Levy). Levy brings the same impeccable comic timing we know from Schitt’s Creek while adding a level of heart and caring that makes him the friend everyone wishes they had. Aubrey Plaza helps turn the “ex” stereotype from the person who shows up determined to sabotage the main relationship to a well-rounded character who has clearly moved on from the past.
Mentioning Riley brings me to the one (pretty large) thing that does keep me from rating this film higher: throughout this film, I struggled a great deal in rooting for the main couple. Three minutes scrolling twitter confirmed I’m far from the only person who thinks Abby and Harper are far from meant to be and the real couple should be Abby and Riley. The chemistry between Plaza and Stewart is truly phenomenal and unexpected, which made me all but shout, “You’re too good for Harper, Abby!!” In a truly great romantic comedy, you should be desperate to see the main couple work things out. Instead, I came away wanting more interactions between Riley and Abby. Maybe that can be the sequel in 2021. Despite that, I was utterly charmed by almost every single second of this movie. Happiest Season managed to set an extremely high bar for holiday films early on and I’m curious to see if any others can best it this year.