“Happiest Season” (2020) is a Christmas movie where Harper (Mackenzie Davis) is trying to get her girlfriend, Abby (Kristen Stewart), into the Christmas spirit by inviting her to her family home to meet her parents but waits until the last second to confess that she has not come out to her family. Abby agrees to play along and even pretend that she is not gay but does not realize how challenging it would be. Will their relationship survive the holidays? Not if Abby does what is good for her, but then it would not be a holiday movie.
“Happiest Season” is a deeply conventional movie that deviates in two ways from the usual romantic comedy holiday fare: the couple that we are supposed to be rooting for is lesbian, and the movie is trying to keep them together, not get them together. Stewart does not stray from her usual brand of acting except because she is such a well-known face in the industry, the movie expects no one to remark on what such a smoldering star with plunging necklines, a constant smokey eye and impeccable fashion sense has in common with her “roommate” Harper, who is comparatively mousey and dull. No disrespect intended to Davis, who is more of an unrecognizable character actor in whatever movie she appears in and deserves an award for that lean against the wall so Stewart could take the dominant position in their first onscreen kiss, and they appear level. Subtlety achieved. Even among the fictional toney elite, Stewart stands out. She did not spend the entirety of “Personal Shopper” (2016) putting on clothes for nothing. Abby is a Carnegie Mellon PhD student (in what….shhhhhhh)/ pet sitter who can afford expensive jewelry for her lady love despite her gay best friend, John (standout Dan Levy), begging her to reconsider. John is the voice of reason in the story helping Abby see beyond her rose colored glasses, but he is only as trustworthy as the words put in his mouth so don’t accept all his lessons. In a parallel universe with time travel in fictional worlds, John is teaching Jason Schwartzman’s character in “Queer” (2024) how to have a love life and retain his belongings.
Harper is horrible though “Happiest Season” twists itself into pretzels to explain why she is not. She lies to her girlfriend about coming out and manipulates her by not revealing this little detail until they are too far into the trip for Abby to change her mind. Once Abby meets her deeply passive aggressive, superficial and ambitious family, it is easy to understand that Harper did not fall too far from the tree. Mom Tipper (Mary Steenburgen) is obsessed with her Instagram account and is doing her part in her husband’s mayoral campaign but finds a way to make everyone except her spouse feel as if they fall short. City Councilman Ted Caldwell (the eternally reliable fabulous Victor Garber) puts every daughter in a slot of usefulness to him. Harper is his powerhouse whereas his eldest, Sloane (Alison Brie), is the family woman who looks good in photo ops. Jane (co-writer Mary Holland, who appeared in “Nightbitch” as a stripper turned mother) is glorified tech support but is probably the most genuine person in the clan. Everyone treats Abby like an inconvenient charity case, and Harper does not make it better by prioritizing everyone else except the alleged love of her life. Harper barely treats Abby like a friend and starts behaving like one of her pick me friends who is trying to get the only straight man, Connor (Jake McDorman in a role that seems designed for Justin Hartley). The nastiest moment is when she projects her sinister behavior on Harper by becoming jealous and keeping tabs on her.
Cut to Riley, (Aubrey Plaza), a doctor and potential, suitable upgrade for the faithful Abby, who only has eyes for Harper, but Riley is the only one who keeps Abby company and offers genuine hospitality. Riley’s sauce also matches Abby’s sauce. Plaza is stunning as usual, and if there was justice in the world, Riley and Abby would have forgotten that Harper existed and ended up together. Riley deserves reparations for the way that Harper treated her, and the story will make you hate Harper more. Director and cowriter Clea DuVall, who is best known for playing the Secret Service agent who falls in love with the protagonist’s daughter in “Veep,” will not have it because she confided that the film is autobiographical. Is DuVall’s film surrogate Harper? DuVall stated that she has been both characters. Oh, girl, no.
It is surprising that no pearl clutchers complained about “Happiest Season” promoting the much feared and discussed gay agenda because all the gay characters were smart, hot and authentic. The real agenda is for the audience, regardless of their sexual orientation, to feel compassion for Harper’s reluctance to come out of the closet and separate it from her relationship to Abby, which would be easier to do if Harper lied about their relationship in a way that did not treat Abby as less than a friend. At one point, Harper almost dumps Abby as if she is a stalker, possessive partner. From beginning to end, you will find yourself screaming at Abby to run. If Harper was a man gaslighting his girlfriend or a straight women demeaning a friend, the response would be the same.
At the eleventh hour, there are some false equivalencies about Sloane’s scandals introduced to the plot so the family can have a come to Jesus moment about the toxic family, but “Happiest Season” is at its best when it shows and does not tell. Every character is playing it straight and Brie plays Sloane as so mean and dismissive that she gets bored toying with Abby then just announces that she no longer wants to talk with her, which Abby just accepts. Later Abby bumps into Ted’s campaign manager, Carolyn McCoy (Sarayu Blue), whom Abby met at a party, but Carolyn does not remember and treats with token politeness. This world judges people based on importance, and Abby does not register as a person in a way that Riley does because there is also a class structure. People may disapprove of Riley for being gay, but she belongs in a way that Abby does not because of her status from birth and her current profession just like Sloane gets a demotion when she becomes a mother and joins a serving profession regardless of how she tries to elevate her business using corporate speak.
People were disappointed in President Obama because being Black did not mean he was a leftist radical regardless of what the right-wing supporters said about him or how everyone derives political meaning from skin color. Similarly, if you expect a Christmas movie not to traffic in the seasonal spectacle, the quaint small town and the orgy of taken-for-granted affluence normally on display in such movies, you have conflated sexual orientation with independent film. There are scenes at the ice-skating rink, decorating Christmas cookies in an enormous kitchen, overdecorated towns. The main distinctions are the stop at a local drag bar and John’s story arc involving caring for some pet fish. If you want avant-garde, keep looking because DuVall is very proud to create a commercial hit. It is not selling out if the goal is fitting in. Stop putting your agenda on her. She just wants the mainstream to be a skosh more inclusive.
Even if you hate rom coms or find Christmas movies too saccharine, “Happiest Season” may be for you. It is an entertaining, engrossing, glossy film even if the wrong couple ends up together. There is enough tension to make the stakes seem high even if a happy ending feels inevitable. Incorporate this film into your Christmas tradition.
