Does anyone else have trouble remembering the name of this movie? I keep thinking this is called something like Make the Yuletide Gay, but that’s a 2009 movie about gay dudes. Happiest Season just slips out of my brain every time I look away, and hopefully I’ll remember it better after writing this post. Oh, right, it’s December so I’m gonna review a bunch of Christmas movies, and we’re starting with a good and gay one.
We follow the lovely life of Abby (Ms. Kristen Stewart, last seen here in Underwater) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis, last seen here in The Turning), a lesbian couple preparing to spend Christmas with Harper’s rich family. The only problem? Harper has never come out to her parents! Whoopsiedoodle! Harper’s parents are prim and proper while her sisters are… a lot. Slone (Alison Brie) resents Harper because being the family favorite, and Jane (Mary Holland) is supposed to be the weird one, but she’s the absolute best. Creative, goofy, and completely happy with who she is. Turns out that’s one thing no one else in the family can say… Anyway, the romcom formula also throws in Connor, Harper’s ex-boyfriend from when she was first realizing she was gay, and Riley (Aubrey Plaza), Harper’s actually important ex who serves as a shoulder for a frustrated Abby to cry on. Will Harper pull her head out of her ass and realize Abby’s miserable for being forced back into the closet? Will Abby give in and choose Riley, the pairing my Twitter feed was VERY vocally rooting for? Will the Shadow Dreamers make it out of floam territory with their Krindoll intact? I’m not going to tell! Go see this for yourself!
I think the selections on this blog so far demonstrate that I’m not used to romcoms. I skew more towards horror and the macabre, not movies where everything would be solved if the main characters sat down and fucking actually talked with one another. I started getting more and more anxious as Harper stayed in the closet and refused to come out. I’ve absolutely been introduced as “a friend” in past relationships, and it’s a bad feeling. Abby’s mounting frustrations are absolutely valid and it was heartbreaking to see her questioning their entire relationship because of it all. It’s weird to get more nervous during this than literally any horror movie I’ve seen!
But it’s just so nice to see an authentic queer movie. The director, Clea Duvall, is a lesbian! The film has a number of queer actors beyond Kristen Stewart, including Victor Garber and Dan Levy! Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme have a cameo as drag queens Em K. Ultra and Miss L’Teau, respectively! It has a Tegan and Sara song written specifically for the film! And minor spoiler, but no one dies! I could get used to watching movies like this, assuming I don’t have another anxiety episode when the romcom miscommunication gets to absurd levels.
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