Happiest Season is a hidden gem on the long list of Christmas movies. Released during the holiday season in 2020, director Clea Duvall gives audiences a little bit of everything neatly packed into one Christmas romantic comedy. Kristen Stewart and MacKenzie Davis lead an ensemble of hilarious actors that bring to live a touching story of acceptance, forgiveness, and undivided love. Here is why Happiest Season is the perfect Christmas movie.
Realistic Portrayal of Family Expectations
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Happiest Season shows a raw side to family expectations. Harper’s parents, specifically her father, have stringent expectations towards their children–they must behave a certain way at all times to maintain their community image. As a result, Harper has kept her sexual identity a secret from her parents. Her older sister, Sloane, maintains the semblance of a happy marriage despite being in the process of a divorce. Her middle sister, Jane, is a cheery artist who often feels rejected for being so extroverted compared to the rest of the family. All three daughters go above and beyond to secure their parents’ approval. Even so, Ted and Tipper make recurring commentaries on their children’s room for improvement while having them altogether for Christmas–a disheartening portrayal considering its relevance to real-life families.
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Shows Different Types of Family Structures
Happiest Season showcases all types of families, whether onscreen, or through a character’s expository monologue. Harper’s family is the traditional version seen in Classic Hollywood films: community-oriented, politically conservative, and narrow-minded. Contrastingly, Abby’s family was liberal and accepted Abby’s sexuality as part of who she was, and loved her no less, until the day they passed away. John’s father rejects him when John reveals his sexual orientation, going thirteen years without speaking to his son. By its finale, Happiest Season shows a new family structure consisting of acceptance, different personality types, and most importantly, love for every one of its members.
Genuinely Funny
Despite the overall heavy subject of the movie, Happiest Season is nevertheless a truly hilarious romantic comedy. From Jane’s extroverted nature, John’s combativeness towards anyone looking to degrade him or Abby, and Sloane’s tactless children, every character’s personality comes together to create a spectacle out of their shared Christmas holiday. Even something as serious as the family’s climatic outpouring of secrets has its comedic relief when Jane comes out dramatically… as being unproblematic. Only great cinema can create a comedic nuance of this caliber.
Believable Relationships
One of Happiest Season’s strongest elements is its depiction of tumultuous relationships and partners’ different personalities. Abby is complex; she is loving and outgoing towards Harper and her best friend, John, but resents the holiday season for reminding her of her deceased parents. Harper is the exuberant personality between her and Abby’s relationship, seemingly the more confident partner, but this is only one side of Harper. Harper reveals she hasn’t been entirely transparent to Abby during the drive to meet her family; they are unaware of her sexuality and believe Abby to be her orphaned roommate with nowhere to go for the holidays.
From this point forward, it’s an entire personality switch for both characters; Abby pretends to love the holiday season and follows through with Harper’s lie: Harper portrays a polar opposite to her usual self; emotionally contained, critical of her every move, and borderline paranoid of Abby’s budding friendship with her ex-girlfriend, Riley. While Abby and Harper’s relationship takes the spotlight as the film’s titular characters, the other relationships are equally engaging. Sloane and her husband, Eric, are in the process of a divorce, but instead pretend to be happily married when the entire family’s together. These four characters show two very different sides to relationships; those filled with love but faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and those falling apart despite them maintaining a guise to the public.
Family Matters Most
Happiest Season reiterates to audiences that above any argument, separation, or secret, family matters most. Ted’s journey towards becoming a better-equipped father is long and heartbreaking. He has held his three daughters to unrealistic standards their whole lives, which translates in their adult decisions. Sloane is terrified of revealing her divorce to Ted, and Harper has led a double life her entire life, simply for fear of her father rejecting her for who she is. Ted’s overbearing personality reaches its peak when he runs for mayor, relegating all his children to fixtures to better his political image. In the film’s climatic scene between the three sisters, Tipper finally confronts her husband over his destructive treatment towards their daughters, which is slowly leading to their family’s collapse.
To everyone’s surprise, Ted comes around quickly and apologizes to his daughters on Christmas morning, reassuring them that they matter more than any inflated expectations he’s imposed upon them. Notably, Ted rejects an endorsement by a bigoted politician who persuades him to keep Harper’s sexual identity a secret. Ted, in his unbending standards and coarse personality, loves his family first and foremost.
The Holiday Spirit
Above all, Happiest Season embodies the holiday spirit. The film starts off with a disjointed family filled with secrets, and ends with a new family that welcomes everyone regardless of their differences. It’s filled with laughs, gasps, teary-eyed embraces, and finally, smiles as love prevails above all. Happiest Season is a must-watch for any fans of feel-good Christmas movies.
