Happiest Season

Last year, I made a list of some holiday-themed WLW films. On that list I mentioned Happiest Season. Well, a year later and it’s here! The second best WLW Christmas movie I’ve ever seen (after Carol, of course).

Happiest Season stars Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis as couple Abby and Harper. Abby’s parents are dead and as such, she doesn’t care much for the Christmas season. However, Harper loves it and in a moment of Christmas cheer, she invites Abby to spend Christmas with her family. Abby agrees. There’s only one problem; Harper isn’t out to her parents yet. So, what Abby thought would be a wholesome family Christmas where she can propose to her girlfriend turns into a disaster. Harper’s family is passive aggressive, conservative and full of entirely conditional love. Not only does Harper retreat into the closest for the duration but she asks that Abby also conceal not only their relationship but her sexuality.

At this point, I have seen so many WLW movies that I can’t help to compare them. There’s another movie about a comedy of errors involving coming out during a family holiday (this time, Thanksgiving) I saw earlier this year, Lez Bomb. And if nothing else, Happiest Season is better than Lez Bomb. The jokes had better timing and the characters had more depth. Also, I don’t see it as a negative that two such similar movies exist. I fully support all the major streaming services going to battle to create the best and most popular lesbian-themed holiday coming out story.

Some criticism I’ve seen of Happiest Season is that the film is heavier than expected. The film does have its share of emotional lows and has more weight than being just queer, Christmas fluff. While I understand the critique, I suggest you watch Lez Bomb and then compare. I liked the heavier aspects of Happiest Season. It helped round out the characters and give some weight to not only the story but the humour. The film is really good at punctuating a more serious moment with a well-timed, silly joke. This is in contrast to Lez Bomb which is much lighter to the point where characters really only feel like walking punchlines. I much prefer Happiest Season where the characters feel like flawed individuals who happen to have a lot of comic moments.

I do think that especially in regards to the comedy, Happiest Season tries a little too hard to colour inside the lines. The first act especially is full of a lot of set-up and introductions to characters you’ve probably seen before in other family comedy movies. But while in this respect the film doesn’t break new ground, it is a pretty solid execution of its common ideas. The comedic timing is good. I’m becoming a fan of when passive aggression is used as comedy and Happiest Season is really great at that. It’s also good at the more over the top, ridiculous comedic moments. Basically, most of the jokes land in Happiest Season and that’s really what I look for in a comedy.

My main issue with the movie is that it does wrap up pretty abruptly. Harper doesn’t succeed in coming out until very near the end which means the film scrambles to give itself the happy ending its audience deserves. As such, the conservative parents and Harper’s not-so-loving siblings come around to supporting her completely within the span of about twelve hours. I would have liked to see a bit more journey to acceptance and mine some comedy from that. But whatever, while the ending is rushed, it is ultimately satisfying and above all, happy.

Happiest Season is overall, a charming holiday comedy that uses familiar comedic beats to tell a queer story. The film surprised me with its emotional depth and good characters. As I said in my opening paragraph, this is the second best WLW Christmas movie I’ve ever seen.

Overall rating: 6.8/10

Other WLW films in similar genres