Sensational seasonal fare
Happiest Season (M, 102 mins) Directed by Clea Duvall Reviewed by
Hollywood has not been kind to Christmas in the past two decades. Whereas 20th-century flicks like It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, Gremlins and The Nightmare Before Christmas have stood the festive test of time, pretty much only Elf and Love Actually ( and maybe The Holiday), bear multiple repeats.
If cinematic outings like The Family Stone, Christmas with the Kranks, Deck the Halls and Love the Coopers weren’t bad enough, there’s been an explosion in
‘‘holiday movies’’ on streaming services in the past couple of years.
It’s wall-to-wall saccharine, slapstick, schmaltz and fantasy seasonal romance.
Thank goodness then for and The Handmaid’s Tale actor-turned-writer-director Clea DuVall, whose Happiest Season has come to save Christmas 2020 from that tidal wave of second-rate festive fare.
Smart, sassy, sensitive and sensationally good, it combines a light touch with some weighty dramedy and what feels like a realistic look at modern relationships (even if it is essentially a wintery update of The Birdcage for the Insta-generation).
Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and Abby (Kristen Stewart) are a Pittsburgh couple very much in lurve. While on a night out carousing and Christmas lights viewing, Harper boldly asserts that she’d like to wake up at her parents’ place with Abby on Christmas morning.
Although Harper attempts to back down the next morning, orphaned Abby decides to take her up on her offer, even arming herself with a ring.
However, her plans are potentially derailed even before they reach their destination, when Harper reveals that she hasn’t actually told her parents that she’s gay. With her father (Victor Garber) running for Mayor on a platform of family, tradition and faith, she wants to wait until after the election to ‘‘have the talk’’.
Despite having to play things straight and be separated by two floors from her beloved, Abby reluctantly agrees to toe the line. After all, it’s only for five days, how bad can it be?
Cue the appearance exboyfriends (and girlfriends), a passiveaggressive older sister and two devilish twins determined to get this new arrival in trouble and you have a recipe for plenty of humour and dramatic tension, as our pair’s love for one another is sorely tested.
Even as they mine the situation for laughs, DuVall and co-writer Mary Holland (best known as an actress on
Blunt Talk and Veep) don’t sugarcoat just how unhappy going home for the holidays can be, for the family member and their significant other.
Part of Season’s appeal lies in those real-feeling domestic strains it portrays. Even characters who first seem one-dimensional take surprising and, in some cases, complex journeys.
Of course, it also helps that the ensemble is so good. Stewart ( Personal Shopper, Twilight) has never been more charismatic, and Davis builds on her brilliant turns in Tully and Irresistible. Meanwhile, Aubrey Plaza ( Parks and Recreation), Holland and Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy battle it out for the title of scene-stealing MVP.
Delightful and deceptively deep, Happiest Season seems destined to be a future Christmas favourite.