Happiest Season

 

Director: Clea DuVall
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Dan Levy, Mary Holland, Victor Garber, Mary Steenburgen, Ana Gasteyer, Jake McDorman, Sarayu Blue, Timothy Simons, Lauren Lapkus
Running Time: 102 min.
Rating: PG-13 

★★★ (out of ★★★★) 

Going strictly by appearances, Hulu's original holiday feature, Happiest Season, would seem to be the fluffiest of romantic comedies, going down fairly easily while providing little in the way of sustaining value. But what's most surprising about director/co-writer Clea DuVall's semi-autobiographical effort is how in taking what could have easily been a one-joke premise stretched very thin, it actively exposes itself as a smart human drama.With its fair share of laughs sandwiched in between some cringy moments, it tackles a scenario you'd figure happens a lot, though not as deliberately kooky as we see here. How such a dream team of a cast was assembled for this starts to become less of a question the longer it runs, with the material conveying a certain level of self-awareness we're unsure it possesses at the start.

It's easy to initially be taken aback by a premise that takes elements that are questionably funny on paper and blends them together to make a point in a way that is. And it cleverly does so with good writing and worthwhile characters, enabling us to laugh without guilt at how terribly most of them behave. Snickering, eye-rolling and face palms are more common than laugh-out loud moments, but it just keeps picking up steam. And then there's that cast, comprised of fan favorites few expected to be sharing screen time together, much less in a Christmas comedy that appropriately showcases all of their strengths.

Lesbian couple Abby Holland (Kristen Stewart) and Harper Caldwell (Mackenzie Davis) have been dating almost a year when Harper invites her to spend the holidays with her family in their hometown. Still harboring a dislike for Christmas stemming from her parents' deaths, Abby reluctantly agrees to the trip, even planning a marriage proposal on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, Harper failed to clue her in on the detail that she not only hasn't told her image-conscious family about their relationship, but hasn't come out to her parents. 

At Harper's insistence, Abby pretends to be her straight roommate, at least until her father Ted's (Victor Garber) mayoral campaign is over and the holidays pass. But they'll also have to pull one over on Harper's perfectionist mother, Tipper (Mary Steenburgen), eccentric sister Jane (co-writer Mary Holland) and uppity older sister Sloane (Alison Brie). If that's not already an extremely uncomfortable situation, Abby must also contend with the surprise returns of Harper's high school exes Connor (Jake McDorman) and Riley (Aubrey Plaza). Relying on best friend John (Dan Levy) for emotional support, Abby's doubtful she and Harper's relationship can survive this visit, unless the latter decides to tell her family the truth.

This has all the makings of a dumb screwball farce, and while some of that's definitely present, what stands out most is just how terribly the protagonist is treated early on. Abby takes a lot of abuse from Harper and her family, to the point where you really start to question what the movie's up to or how could it possibly land in a place that's comedically satisfying given the assumptions we're left to make about these people. Aside from being labeled an "orphan" (in an admittedly funny bit), framed for shoplifting and facing other humiliating indignities for going along with her girlfriend's charade, Abby's sidelined as Harper spends most of this time with her ex-boyfriend.  

The Caldwells are so hung up on their public image that the characters threaten to veer into outright parody, if not for Garber and Steenburgen's game performances preventing the portrayals from going off the deep end. And that's a very good thing considering it's tough to name a more discomforting set-up right now than wealthy, conservative parents potentially shunning their adult gay daughter. But by honestly owning that premise rather than backing away from it with the low-brow humor expected from such a set-up, we're invested. DuVall and Holland's script is actually interested in the "why?" attached to this idea and from that spawns most of the picture's biggest laughs.          

Stewart seems so much more comfortable and relaxed on screen lately that it's hard to even remember the time when "awkward" was the most popular adjective the media ascribed to her acting style and entire persona. Here, she's actually called upon to deliberately channel that quality in a situation where she's playing the aggrieved party, unintentionally victimized by her girlfriend's inability to break free from her parents' shackles. Stewart has a lot to do, but she's more than up for it, and has a great screen partner in Mackenzie Davis, with their chemistry together providing all the explanation necessary as to why her character's willing to put up with this. 

Davis, who had "future star" written all over when she played rebellious computer programmer Cameron Howe on AMC's criminally underrated Halt and Catch Fire, now gets a somewhat larger platform to impress. Despite some big screen starts and stops since, watching her in this only reaffirms the possibility of her really breaking through is still very much on the table. Harper's treatment of Abby is basically borderline-awful, but Davis still finds a way to find truth in the character, subtly conveying that most of her behavior stems from an almost understandable level of fear and insecurity given the dysfunctional family environment in which she was raised. That they've gone so far out of their way to appear perfectly functional seems to be at the root of Harper's issues, with us rooting for her to literally come out from under them before Abby becomes another romantic casualty. 

Aubrey Plaza fans have good reason to celebrate her smallish, but pivotal role as Harper's ex Riley, as her cool, sarcastic wit is used to maximum effect in a surprisingly compelling sub-plot with Abby that doesn't exactly play out as you'd expect. Anyone checking this out for the actress alone won't be dissappointed as she casually comes in and hits all her marks in that distinctive Aubrey Plaza way, making everything weirder and better. 

While it's also great to see Alison Brie back playing elitist snobs since few do it better, recent Schitt's Creek Emmy winner Dan Levy is cast exactly as you'd hope as Abby's practical and brutally honest friend John, giving Plaza some legitimate competition in the sarcasm department. His part only increases in entertainment value the more immersed he finds himself in this crazy situation, which delightfully flies even further off the rails in the last act. 

If the very release of this has garnered praise for being the rare mainstream Hollywood romantic comedy centered around a same sex couple featuring major stars, DuVall sort of flips that script by incorporating that long-standing institutional prejudice into the story itself in the form of these wealthy, perfectionist parents and adult children too obsessed with image to realize that obsession is the worst look of all. Many might find that the ending wraps things up too tidily, but for a comedy, it's kind of refreshingly messy, getting where it needs to go by taking a circuitous route that works for the story. 

Enjoyable not because of its topic, but how it's handled, we're invited to spend over an hour and half with people who feel authentic, brought to life by actors who make us appreciate their quirks. DuVall juggles a lot of balls in the air as the humorous hijinks and misunderstandings pile up, but most of that pales in comparison to the well-developed characters we begrudgingly grow to care about in wildly different ways. Headlined by two actresses completely at ease in their roles, Happiest Season avoids insulting our intelligence, likely pleasing even those turned off by the very idea of another holiday rom-com.