Year of Release: 2020
Director: Clea DuVall
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Daniel Levy, Mary Holland, Sarayu Blue, Caroline Harris, Jenny Gulley, Jake McDorman, Ana Gasteyer, Burl Moseley, Dominique Allen Lawson
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3
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Synopsis and Review:
Actress/Writer/Producer/Director Clea DuVall sophomore directorial effort "Happiest Season", following her well received debut "The Intervention", is a take on the romantic comedy, but this time around centered on a lesbian couple. The film follows the story of Abby and Harper, a couple who has been together for some time, but who for the first time since living together, decide to go to Harper's family house for the Holidays (Abby's parents are both deceased). The glitch revolves around the fact that the family is unaware that Harper is gay and think Abby is her straight roommate. They decide to embark on the adventure of maintaining that lie, at least until after the holidays when Harper can come out to her parents (her father is intent on running for Mayor). Things however start taking some detours, as Harper's parents and sisters, throw a series of unexpected events in their direction, including ex-boyfriends, trips to the mall that result in shoplifting and even ex-girlfriends. It all comes to a climax during the family's Holiday party, where some not so well hidden lies pop out, threatening to shatter not just Abby and Harper's relationship, but Harper's family itself.
"Happiest Season" has some dashes/sprinkles of Jodie Foster's "Home for the Holidays" and even Richard Curtis's "Love Actually", but it decides to juggle the tropes of the romantic comedy, by centering its focus on a same sex couple. Whereas the introduction to the couple and their dynamics goes smoothly, as the supporting characters come into play, the darkness of some situations come into play, but are never given enough room to create an engaging scenario, one that can precipitate the inevitable epiphany that comes at the end of the arc/narrative. Some scenarios are indeed deftly played upon, such as Jane's quirkiness, however and for the most part, a large percentage of them are left unattended or lightly touched upon, such as Harper's character foibles of the past, or for that matter, Tipper's overbearing personality or Sloane's lingering darkness. Another issue of course is the fact that the supposedly comedic aspect of the film, provided in this case by Mary Holland's Jane and Dan Levy's John, aren't given much screen time, or much opportunity to actually be funny (though Dan Levy makes the most of what he can with his limited screen time). What's indeed left is a somewhat dour film, one that can't really make up its mind where it wants to be, one that almost plays out as a pilot for a TV show, where its leads are indeed compelling even (or possibly because of) with their flaws, but that don't get to show much dimension to their characters, or for that matter, the humor that is needed in a romantic comedy. The cast is populated with great actors, including Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, but they end up playing their characters always in the same register. It's not a terrible film, but ultimately it's not a very memorable one either.
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