Happiest Season

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Alison Brie, Mary Holland, Dan Levy, Aubrey Plaza, Burl Moseley, Ana Gasterer
Directed by: Clea DuVall
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
2020

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Kristen Stewart) plans to propose to her girlfriend (Mackenzie Davis) when she meets her family over the holidays, but is forced to pretend to be her roommate when she learns her girlfriend hasn't come out to her family.

Review:

Tim: Man, I wanted to like Happiest Season so badly. I recently got Hulu for the first time and was eager to see it's unique offerings. This was one of the first movies I'd seen and it had a killer cast. A lot of my disappointment is directed at writer/director Clea DuVall. She's a better actress than a writer. They assembled an incredible cast for this move, and DuVall gives them a bland, mess of a movie to work with. The cast give an incredible effort, but even their combined talent can't make up for a head-scratching story and one of the most unsatisfying conclusions I've seen in many years. This movie had some good elements going for it, but it ultimately never lives up to its promise. More than anything, I felt frustration at how bad this movie was, given all it had going for it.

Now, I recognize that maybe I just didn't like the story DuVall wanted to tell. Maybe she was passionate about telling this story this way. That's fine, but it results in a frustrating and unsatisfying experience for viewers. It felt like the story was missing nuance. It follows a tried-and-true romantic drama formula, when there was every opportunity to subvert the expected path and do something different. I didn't believe the actions of many of the characters. DuVall does a great job of creating relatable characters and the wonderful cast brings them to life. The problem is that their actions, especially towards the end, don't make sense from a character standpoint. DuVall forces the characters to say and do what she wants to get them to the resolution she desires. If the characters could make choices that felt authentic to their characters, you would have gotten a very different ending. That's what made me so frustrated with this movie- I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how DuVall was concluding her story. There is an obvious, better result that would have felt more faithful to the characters. DuVall instead chooses the forced, Hollywood ending. The whole movie suffers as a result.

I tried not to reveal too much there, but it's difficult to talk about the frustrations without revealing spoilers. Instead, I'll switch focus to the cast. Kristen Stewart was really good in the lead role. She's been giving consistently strong performances in recent years that showcases the range of talent she has. Compare her performance here to the one in Underwater and you start to realize she's an underrated talent. She plays the romantic lead well- we identify with her, care about her, and are in her corner. Her performance is occasionally a little rough and feels forced, but for the most part, Stewart is effective in the lead role. Mackenzie Davis was good, too. I disliked her character strongly, which is mostly due to the writing, but Davis creates those emotions in us as well. She worked well opposite Stewart. I always enjoy seeing Mary Steenburgen and that remained true here. She's just "the mother", but she elevates that role beyond what it could have been. Victor Garber gave a really strong performance as well. It feels like it's been a while since I saw him, so it was a delight to spend some time with him here. I'll always be a huge Alison Brie fan and I enjoyed her performance here. I wish her character wasn't so awful, but Brie does good work. I know Dan Levy has been getting a ton of acclaim for his television series, but this is the first time I've really had exposure to him. I enjoyed his performance. The problem with his character is that it felt forced into the story. It was almost like Levy's star was rising, so his part was written to be bigger, just to feature him more. Levy is good and utilizes that extra time, but I'm not sure the story warranted it. I really loved Aubrey Plaza's performance here. She gave the best performance of the film. She felt so authentic in this role. You just really loved her character and wish she had significantly more screen time. It almost felt like DuVall had no idea Plaza was going to be this good, and it hurts the story DuVall is trying to tell. Plaza shined in this film and was perhaps the biggest highlight for me. I just wish we had more time with her.

Happiest Season isn't a good movie. It has some wonderful elements but DuVall can't bring them together. Maybe she was pleased that she brought her vision to life, but this isn't a trip I was pleased with taking. She has some talent, because these characters became real during the course of the film. I just wish she gave them a more authentic ending. The other issue I had with the overall film is that It dragged on too long. Too many scenes (like the shoplifting one) just felt disjointed with the rest of the movie. It feels like this story was cobbled together, verses delivering on a true vision. I wanted to like this movie a great deal, but I simply couldn't. Thankfully, the cast is so good that it saves this movie from a worse fate.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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