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Movie Review: Happiest Season
Harper Caldwell (Mackenzie Davis) takes her girlfriend Abigail Holland (Kristen Stewart) to spend the holidays with her family. Abigail is the name of a concept album from King Diamond, which itself inspired the name of a sex-crazed black metal band from Japan. That has nothing to do with the movie, forgive me. Besides, they call her Abby 99% of the time. Tension arises when Harper reveals her family doesn’t know she’s a lesbian and Abby will have to pose as her roommate until Harper feels comfortable coming out.
Hiding their relationship leads to what doesn’t rise to the level of antics, but is still well outside recognizable human behavior. There are the routine misunderstandings, awkward dinners, and close calls. The one interesting detail of the plot is that Harper’s parents aren’t bible-thumpers. Her father (Victor Garber) is running for mayor, and though his speeches include vague references to “family values,” Harper’s reluctance is due to fear of hindering his campaign rather than offending his moral convictions. When everything inevitably comes out, it turns out Harper’s two sisters also feel stifled by their father’s insistence on projecting an image of a perfect family. It’s about overbearing parenting rather than bigotry.
That doesn’t let the movie off the hook. A parent you were justifiably worried about coming out to wouldn’t have a change of heart overnight. The audience for Happiest Season wouldn’t have it another way. They’re the type to make sure romance stories have the HEA tag before jumping in. They want a cozy visit to a world where any relationship can be mended with a heartfelt speech. You may question then why I chose to watch this. I have no one to blame except myself, since the trailer was clear about what was in store. My judgment was clouded by the fact that not only does Kristen Stewart play a lesbian, but so does Aubrey Plaza. There was a chance the movie could save me the trouble of writing a hot fan fiction.
Harper Caldwell (Mackenzie Davis) and Abigail Holland (Kristen Stewart) share a moment.
If you have an interest in the movie as base and particular as mine, don’t bother. Though their scenes are not sexy, Stewart and Plaza deserve a tip of the hat for their chemistry. Plaza plays Riley Johnson, an ex of Harper’s who has a thing for Abby. Abby and Riley’s unfulfilled romance is the most grounded part of the movie. There seems to be a genuine attraction between the two, both portrayed by actresses known for their reserved personae. Stewart gets called a bad actress by people who confuse acting with emoting, who’ve never met a quiet person, who didn’t understand who Twilight appealed to and why.
The cast is filled with actors working harder than the material merits. Alison Brie plays Harper’s sister Sloane with such unblinking severity she’s near unrecognizable. She’s the type of high-strung, uptight mega-mom whose beauty is too regimented to be attractive. Mary Holland plays Harper’s other sister, Jane, a daft wannabe fantasy writer who would be a fun character in a better movie. Dan Levy plays the stock gay friend with prancing flamboyance. He harangues Abby for the first half of the movie, but when given decent material, he delivers the movie’s few funny lines. Mackenzie Davis is tall.
Riley Johnson (Aubrey Plaza)
We’re long past the time when gay movies were issue movies with very important messages. Gays are no longer relegated to indie dramas. It’s full integration. Now they get to make bad movies too. A defense of Happiest Season would be that it’s inoffensive, which is true. Even content-wise this barely earns its PG-13 (they don’t even use their one F-bomb). If you just want a nice time where you can imagine having your own gay bestie who says the right thing when you most need it, then have at it, I guess, but I can’t recommend spending 100 minutes watching Kristen Stewart and Aubrey Plaza not make out.
Published in Entertainment
Ibid re: YouTube.
I suppose that’s more like “Op Cit” though, eh?
And she was good in “The Unusuals” too. But she threw her reputation under the bus as far as I’m concerned, playing Charlie Sheen’s niece (? daughter?) in “2.5 Men.”
I haven’t checked recently, but I think on youtube you can get a “playlist” that has them in order.
What about “Crazy, Stupid, Love?”
Playlist for both seasons on YouTube, in proper order:
I was. Until I looked it up. I forgot that was 22 years ago. I guess I am officially old now.
Blocked in Canada on copyright grounds.
I also liked The Unusuals, I disliked 2.5 men for a decade – but tuned in for a couple of episodes to see Amber… And Yikes… Agreed.
I think it would have been funnier if as the rebellious daughter of a man-whore, she was like a nun, or a church lady cult leader or something…
I didn’t recommend watching the movie. Every reference I made to sex was to note the lack thereof.
Yes, but that’s not what people watched 2.5 Men for. They would have had to replace pretty much their entire audience, and it was kinda late for that.
The only good thing Amber did for the show was bring in Aly Michalka for a few scenes.
I guess it’s DailyMotion for you, then. Sadly, because DM has a lot more ads and usually no option to skip. I find they also often have the same ad two or three times in a row, again with no option to skip.
A Canuck! Don’t know if you’re aware but your country is home to such bands as Razor, Exciter, Sacrifice, Slaughter, Gorguts, Blasphemy, Revenge, and Conqueror.
Ad block plus takes care of that… No ads on DM or YouTube either.
Then you only have to deal with how often stuff on DM is sped up, or slowed down, or cropped, or reversed…
No, I was unaware of any of these… It sounds like an extended lunch break…
OR chipmunked to avoid the AI copyright police… Dirty Harry is less impactful if the dialogue is voiced by Alvin on helium.
Yes, that’s what I meant by “sped up.” Although it doesn’t usually seem to be done to that extent.
Oh ok. Sometimes they push the audio track up. Its still moving at the right speed – so there are no lip sync issues.
Someone had posted “Firefly” like this…
Yes they speed up the video and sound so that sync remains. I’d think if it was sped up enough for people to sound like “Chipmunks” the video effect would be quite noticable.
That hasn’t been true for at least two decades, probably longer. Every TV show and most movies have to have the “cool” homosexual in it.
I haven’t seen it and wasn’t aware there was anything Christmassy about it. I do remember an irritating trailer for it that put me off it, Emma Stone and one of the Ryans isn’t it?
The bar is set pretty low when it’s worth remarking that there’s no sex in a Christmas movie. And see my comment above why I’m not giving a millisecond of my viewing time to Christmas subversion.
Movies that feature lesbianism don’t bother me unless it’s gratuitous. In other words, the gentle and honest portrayal of a same-sex couple is fine, but not an in-your-face, love-us-or-else approach . . .
I wasn’t referring to Christmassy, I was thinking about whether you thought another movie with a somewhat-similar title also had “subversion.” Or “perversion.” I don’t recall any homosexual characters in it, but it might be seen as playing a bit fast and loose with marriage. Although as I recall, things turned out well in the end.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. The consistency is in plot, pacing, and believability, not that they follow a consistent formula (boy meets girls boy looses girl, boy gets girl back again).
Love that movie! We never saw the plot twist coming . . .
So, the wife and I watched thisnlast night and it was a fun movie. Not great, but the pain that people feel in coming out was wrapped up with the pain of trying to please one’s parents that everyone can relate to. The lesson that John teaches Abigail about how everyone comes out differently was well done, even if it was a bit tropey. Likely won’t watch it again, but it was decent enough. Worth seeing for certain.
It’s true as far as movies specifically about gays and gay issues, not movies that happen to feature a gay supporting character. As far as most movies featuring a gay character, I saw twelve new releases this year, and two of them featured gay characters. Two, and I don’t try to avoid movies with LGBT references.
Considering the percentage of gays in the overall population, that shouldn’t be surprising. The issue seems to be that when gay characters do appear, they generally qualify for sainthood. The flap over Silence of the Lambs still resonates today.
I was pointing out that if you’d bothered to read my review you’d have known the movie wasn’t filled with sex.
As far as sexual references in Christmas movies:
A Christmas Story – “Only one thing in the world could’ve dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window.”
Home Alone – Buzz asks about nude beaches. Kevin finds a Playboy hidden in Buzz’s room.
The Santa Clause – At the office party, Tim Allen makes a joke about a co-worker cheating on his wife with his secretary.
Die Hard – A couple fools around during the office party. Several shots of topless women.
Seems like it’s not all that remarkable to reference sex in Christmas movies. They’ve been doing it for decades. Also, of note is that three of the above are family movies. Happiest Season is at least rated PG-13.
I’m not saying there should (or shouldn’t) be more representation. I’m disputing that it’s ubiquitous. As far as making gay characters too good, it’s a matter of the quality of writing. Well written gay characters will have flaws, and can even be evil like anyone else. Noam Blum tweeted this video awhile ago that offered an interesting perspective from a transwoman that agrees a lot of media representation is too afraid to portray trans (you can switch that out for gay) characters in anything but the best light. I haven’t watched the entire video, but agree that that’s boring, unrealistic and patronizing. The video is notable in that the creator is a left winger and not a Blaire White.