"Happiest Season" a star-studded holiday comedy that's cozy, inclusive, entertaining, and poignantly wise

Happiest Season (2020)

There are a number of star-studded holiday comedies out there, and not all of them can be good, despite audiences wanting to give them a pass. Just because we like Diane Keaton, John Goodman, Marisa Tomei, and many others didn’t make 2015’s overdone mixed-bag “Love the Coopers” worth your time. “Happiest Season,” on the other hand, has an agreeable (and very stacked) ensemble in a film that’s delightful itself. After making her feature debut with the solid 2016 indie “The Intervention,” actor Clea Duvall follows it up with this immensely sweet and equally bittersweet Christmas-set family comedy with a very welcome LGBTQ angle. Making a wonderful double-bill with an underrated gem like “The Family Stone,” “Happiest Season” is a crowd-pleaser that doesn’t sugarcoat truth nor try too hard to please. The laughs are big and small, and the emotions always ring true.

Pittsburgh grad student Abby (Kristen Stewart) has been dating journalist Harper (Mackenzie Davis) for a year, and they are in love. Having lost both of her parents at 19, Abby is less fond of Christmas, until Harper invites her home for the holidays. Harper becomes a little wishy-washy the next morning, but Abby is all-in, planning to propose and ask Harper’s father for his blessing. On the drive, Harper comes clean about a lie: she never came out to her conservative parents, Ted (Victor Garber) and Tipper (Mary Steenburgen), or her two sisters, Jane (Mary Holland) and Sloane (Alison Brie). When they arrive at the WASPy Caldwell homestead, Abby plays the role of Harper’s orphaned roommate. As Harper’s councilman father is gearing up for his campaign to run for mayor, the couple will have to keep up appearances for the holiday family affairs before Harper is ready to tell her parents the truth—her truth—even though Abby is done being closeted.

Co-written by director Clea Duvall and Mary Holland, “Happiest Season” accomplishes the Herculean task of ticking all the boxes in a charming holiday movie, while also tapping into how it feels to be accepted (or not) into a family, whether it be your significant other's or your own. Everyone in the ensemble is uniformly excellent with writing that’s sharp, observant, and deals more in accurate depictions of real people. Those in the Caldwell family all have joint chemistry, feeling like an actual family and not just actors trying to sell it. Even for those outside of the family, each character is generously written with personality and identifiable qualities that one will recognize in themselves or another person.

Kristen Stewart (2020's "Underwater") is grounded and emotionally true in every way as Abby, who feels forced back into the closet by the one she loves. She also puts her comic timing to use when Abby proves she really is a terrible liar. Stewart and Mackenzie Davis (2020's "The Turning") are lovely together with a total meant-to-be ease. Davis, herself, brings layers and enough relatability to Harper that keep her from being awful and prevent one from passing complete judgment on her; Harper is so happy with Abby, but returning home makes her regress back to her former self with a cruel side that stems from her own fear. Alison Brie (2020's "The Rental") gets to amusingly play Harper's older sister Sloane as cold, perfection-striving and competitive, until her iciness is thawed a bit to reveal insecurities that make complete sense. As intensely touchy-feely sister Jane, who has been writing a fantasy epic full of world-building for ten years and is always the go-to for fixing house appliances, Mary Holland (the same Mary Holland who co-wrote the script) is a lovably quirky standout in a cast of more-familiar faces, and you won’t forget hers. National treasures Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen might come across as politely passive-aggressive caricatures initially, but they, too, are pros at finding humor and non-judgmental compassion in Ted and Tipper Caldwell.

In supporting parts for characters outside the family and batting for the same team as Abby and Harper, Dan Levy and Aubrey Plaza are just as key to the film’s overall success. Not yet typecast by his deadpan, quip-ready David Rose persona from TV’s “Schitt’s Creek,” Levy is never not acerbically funny and wise as Abby’s friend John, who knows how to track down anyone and becomes the worst substitute pet sitter while Abby is gone. Without feeling forced, Levy beautifully delivers a coming-out monologue of compassion and enlightenment that everyone needs to hear. As Harper’s secret high school ex Riley, who keeps bumping into the hush-hush couple at the same social functions as the Caldwell family, the magnetic Plaza makes a lasting impression, particularly following a scene in a drag bar with Abby. It's also refreshing that Riley never becomes a mere plot device or wedge between our leads but a fully formed person. 

What would seem like the setup for a farce, à la “La Cage aux Folles” or "The Birdcage," filled with Christmas schmaltz and wacky comic hijinks is actually far from the reality. Director Clea Duvall can’t resist a few plot expediences and over-the-top big-scene situations—like a knock-down, drag-out cat fight between rivalrous sisters—but she comfortably balances being entertaining, honest, wistful, and touching without any of the screwball elements being too extreme or canceling out the vulnerably human core. Genuinely putting one in the holiday spirit but also making one feel seen for struggling to be his or her authentic self, “Happiest Season” is a cozy, inclusive, poignantly wise hug of a movie.

Grade: B +

Hulu is releasing “Happiest Season” (102 min.) on November 25, 2020 for streaming.