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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
Only tangentially related to the movie at hand, but I just found out Aubrey Plaza co-wrote a children’s book called The Legend of the Christmas Witch:
I like the cover illustration.
Not to mention all the shootings, explosions and mayhem, kinda puts away the peace on earth, goodwill to all mankind messages that would normally be associated with a Christmas movie.
Yes but, as I believe movie reviewer/critic Sonny Bunch and others have noted, it’s still a “Christmas Movie” in that what other occasion would there be for that many people to be gathered at the office, after hours, for a party?
Someone – it may have been George Will, boo hiss! – noted in the past that progress in race relations wasn’t when the first black coach was hired for pro football or something, it was when the first black coach was FIRED from pro football or something.
Yes totally agree. Its one of my favorite Christmas movies, but for a lot of people, its a hard sell.
Oh right. I’m not so precious about ordinary films. Just don’t mess with Christmas ones.
Is Aubrey related to Nakatomi?
Abigail is a song performed by Kim Bendix Petersen better known by his stage name King Diamond, who is not apart of a band form “Japan” but a Danish rock musician.
I have first hand knowledge of this band as I was up close in a mosh pit while they were playing that very song, among others.
Holding the less tasteful aspects, I find moshing to them quite enjoyable. Furthermore, if you pause moshing or prefer to rock out without moshing, they put on one of the better shows. The whole thing is somewhat of a opera, there is a whole story playing out on stage during the show. Very entertaining. He is also able to hit some pretty rad notes unlike anyone else I’ve seen live.
I’d give King Diamond a 9.8/10
I expect full retraction and published apology for the Japan thing.
Also if you are into Japanese music, they have the best “baby metal” artists. Definitely worth taking a look at. In my opinion they are more talented and clothed than their Jpop counterparts.
Is that a Christmas movie?
You misread my passage. I attributed the album Abigail to the Danish band King Diamond, and also explained that the album inspired the name for the band Abigail who are from Japan. Here’s a link to their NSFW page on Encyclopedia Metallum (offensive album/song titles and explicit album covers).
No offense, but I hate those bands with the exception of Necronomidol who I give a pass for having Maruo Suehiro do their cover art. I love Japanese rock and metal. My favorite band, Sabbat, is Japanese (I have over 40 hours of their music on my laptop). I could name dozens of others, including plenty with female members, but I prefer they stay miles away from J-pop.
Ah, I didn’t get that you ware talking about Abigail the band and not Abigail the song. On a second read it appears you were indeed talking about a different band. lol
On the subject of oriental metal, thoughts on Mongolian folk metal like the Hu?
No worries.
Don’t listen to much folk metal. Will have to give The Hu a listen and get back to you. Thanks for the recommendation.
Altan Urag.
Gesundheit.
Yes. They did music for the Netflix mini-series on Marco Polo some time ago.
I watched the first episode of that, but never finished it. Guess I have another band to listen to.