Happiest Season. Quick Review

This LGBTQ Christmas movie directed by actress Clea DvVall has won a surprising amount of acclaim since it debuted on Hulu in the US last month. Having seen it it’s not hard to see why. Kristen Stuart agrees to spend the Holidays with the parents of partner Mackenzie Davis not realizing that Davis has not come out to her very conservative parents. The two simply have to pretend that their friends over the holidays. The film is distinctly formulaic but generally pretty pleasant viewing. Stewart and Davis are a strong double act and there’s a solid film in here that is simply the two of them bouncing off each other. They get very strong support from a murderers row of recognisable comedy faces (Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Dan Leavy and Mary Steenburgen among others .) The real surprise for this critic was co-writer Mary Holland who had not made an impression with any of her previous performances but steals every scene she is in here. The cast across the board do a solid job with the material they are given. This does bring up the films first major problem. There are so many strong comedic actors on show throughout the running time that are not utilised to the extent they could be. The film may provide a string of consistent amusement but does not transcend its formula in any way at all. For a light and breezy Christmas offering, this is perfectly fine but it does mean the film can’t take advantage of it’s a very strong comedic and performance-based foundation. That said if viewers are looking for a solid slice of contemporary Christmas entertainment that is not the sort endlessly turned out by the Hallmark Channel this could fit the bill nicely. That said it’s far from the potential modern Christmas classic that some viewers will have you believe it is.
7/10