“Happiest Season” Review
“Happiest Season” is the latest holiday film released this year. This film, originally attended to hit theaters, released on Hulu during Thanksgiving.
This movie follows Abby (Kristen Stewart) who is meeting her girlfriend Harper’s (Mackenzie Davis) parents for the first time. However, not everything goes as plan, once Abby discovers Harper’s parents don’t know that she is gay.
This is a delightful holiday movie, but at the same time it is very forgettable and at times kind of infuriating. I enjoyed the plot of this film; however, it was filled with a ton of romantic comedy tropes, and other than the unique plot, everything else seems very derivative.
There are a lot of great performances in this movie. In fact, the characters are the best part of the film. Kristen Stewart does an excellent job.
This is one of her best performances and she truly shines as the lead. Other standouts were Dan Levy, Aubrey Plaza, and Mary Holland.
Levy and Holland are the comedic reliefs in this film, and they are both outrageously funny. They steal each scene that they are in, and add to the light-hearted atmosphere of the film.
Plaza on the other hand plays one of her most serious characters to date, and she is incredible in the role. It is hard not to root for her, and feel bad for her and what she has gone through.
The worst character in this film is Harper. Although Mackenzie Davis does a good job in the role, it is hard to root for her.
Her character does not have many redeemable traits and the audience is left wondering why Abby is staying with her and not finding a partner who truly loves her. Her character is very annoying, which leads to an unsatisfying ending.
The writing in this movie is not fantastic. The story follows the very basic rom com formula, and doesn’t steer away from it. The movie is very predictable, which isn’t a bad thing at all times, however this causes the movie to have zero stakes.
It is hard to be invested in these characters' stories, when the writing is very bland.
Overall, this is a pretty standard holiday film. It is a short, feel good movie that will leave the audience's mind a few minutes after the credits. The characters in this movie are written well, however some characters are not fleshed out enough, and others do not have enough redeemable personality traits.
The acting in this movie is great and the supporting cast is very funny. However this movie is just fine.
Nothing remarkable, but nothing outrageously bad either. Thus the movie will be perfect for any lover of holiday romantic comedies, and for anyone else, they can skip it.
Rating: 3/5
Jack Freiser is a freshman majoring in either media studies or telecommunications. To contact him, email jef5614@psu.edu.
