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A few weeks ago, I saw a hilarious tweet* that went, “When I’m feeling old, I like to visit my parents so they can push all my buttons until I lose my shit, and just like that, I’m 16 again,” and shared it with a bunch of close friends. One of them promptly responded, saying, “Oh, once bitten, twice shy.” See, the thing is, while having a family is amazing, sometimes families can bring out the worst in people, and the 2020 Christmas film “Happiest Season” is essentially about how some folks tend to regress to their teenage selves around their parents.
Directed by Clea DuVall, who co-wrote the story with Mary Holland, “Happiest Season” follows the trials of the young couple Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) when they decide to spend five days, including Christmas, with Harper’s family. The only problem? Harper invited Abby on a romantic whim, not expecting her to accept the offer, and reveals at the last minute that Abby will have to pretend to be her roommate because she is still not out to her family. At home, Harper herself transforms into a completely different person, further putting Abby ill at ease. So, the couple’s efforts to put up a successful charade for the holidays gets tougher by the day.
Except for a sweet romantic opening scene, for most of “Happiest Season,” you feel bad for Kristen Stewart’s character, Abby. Not only does Harper push Abby back into the closet for five days, but she practically ignores her during the duration of the stay. To make things worse, Harper’s family is unbearably snooty and mean, referring to Abby as “Harper’s orphan friend.” Kristen’s earnest portrayal of an awkward girlfriend surrounded by strangers just makes the characters seem doubly reprehensible. Abby’s only ally during the stay turns out to be Harper’s ex-girlfriend Riley (Aubrey Plaza), who figures out their relationship due to an overheard conversation.
Dan Levy is hilariously sassy in his cameo as Abby’s close friend John, who agrees to cover for Abby’s pet-sitting jobs while she is away for Christmas and is brutally honest in his opinions and amusingly sarcastic. “Ask her dad for his blessing? Way to stick it to the patriarchy,” John tells Abby when she reveals she is going to ask Harper’s dad for permission before proposing to her. Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen play Harper’s upper-class stiff parents, who have unrealistic expectations from their children. Due to this, Harper has an unhealthy competitive relationship with her sister Sloane (Alison Brie) and a non-existent one with her other sister Jane (Mary Holland) because nobody takes her seriously anyway. Mary Holland is subtly comical in her wallflower-like role, and as a viewer, you seriously begin to wonder if she is adopted or from a different family until someone explicitly mentions that she is indeed from the same family.
“Happiest Season” isn’t really a romantic-comedy, because it doesn’t deliver a lot of laughs or romance, but it does have heart and tells a slightly fresh tale about how “coming out” to one’s family is rarely easy and just how suffocating putting up a facade can be. Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis make an interesting onscreen pair, they look like a very in-love couple when they are first introduced in the film and then slowly a distance creeps in between the too due to familial circumstances. Despite the cheery Christmas colors, decorations and parties, this isn’t a “feel-good” movie, instead, it’s a semi-serious look at the struggles of a gay couple to survive Christmas with family, complicated by the mother’s effort to revive her daughter’s relationship with an ex-boyfriend. It’s definitely worth a one-time watch.
Rating: 6.5 on 10. You can stream “Happiest Season” on Netflix.
*The tweet was from a handle called @IHideFromMyKids
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