2020 will be remembered for two catastrophes: COVID-19 and the deluge of films intent on making the Yuletide gay. These queer Christmas capers include cowboy romance Dashing in December, Netflix’s It’s A Wonderful Life-esque New York Christmas Wedding and Lifetime’s The Christmas Set-Up, featuring real-life married actors Blake Lee and Ben Lewis.
Nestled atop this pile of turkeys is Happiest Season, the first-ever studio-backed holiday film centered around a queer love story. While director/co-writer Clea DuVall’s (The Intervention) queer take on the coming-home-for-the-holidays trope boasts great performances and some cheeky gags, the film’s decidedly light on happiness.
2020 will be remembered for two catastrophes: COVID-19 and the deluge of Christmas films intent on making the Yuletide gay.
Kristen Stewart is at her most gay and affable as Abby, a hapless romantic forced to parade as her girlfriend’s “orphan friend” after finding out she’s not out to her conservative family en route to their holiday festivities. Mackenzie Davis plays said girlfriend Harper, journalist and golden child of the white-bread Caldwells, comprising aspiring mayor Ted (Victor Garber), cookie-cutter politician’s wife Tipper (Mary Steenburgen), family black sheep Jane (co-writer Mary Holland) and the ice-queen eldest sister Sloane (Alison Brie). While we all loved Davis in Black Mirror‘s ‘San Junipero’, here she unfortunately brings to mind Katherine Heigl in the god-awful Jenny’s Wedding.
Lez be honest: we were all hoping Abby and Riley would ditch this shitshow and and fingerbang under the mistletoe.
Slapstick abounds as sibling rivalries are resurrected, Harper’s exes appear like ghosts of Christmas pasts and Abby struggles to deal with unceremoniously being thrust back into the closet. As Harper’s behaviour grows worse and the indignities against Abby pile on, the humour starts to chafe.
The only thing gayer than Christmas is Kristen Stewart sporting a blazer-over-half-buttoned-white-shirt-and-undone-tie combo at the Christmas Eve party.
Abby’s Gay Best Friend, John (Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy), is thankfully on hand to dispense emotional support and comic relief. Aubrey Plaza also makes a welcome appearance as Riley—Harper’s sardonic secret high school-ex—who, in true dyke fashion, befriends Abby (lez be honest: we were all hoping these two would ditch this shitshow and and fingerbang under the mistletoe). It’s little surprise that the queer characters provide the majority of Happiest Season’s cheer; the film is at its best when it embraces the inherent campness of the holidays, such as the gay bar carol sing-along led by Drag Race alumnas BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon.
Despite its shortcomings, there’s one major reason to celebrate Happiest Season: Abby’s outfits. Because, really, the only thing gayer than Christmas is Kristen Stewart sporting a blazer-over-half-buttoned-white-shirt-and-undone-tie combo at the Christmas Eve party.
2020 will be remembered for two catastrophes: COVID-19 and the deluge of films intent on making the Yuletide gay. These queer Christmas capers include cowboy romance Dashing in December, Netflix’s It’s A Wonderful Life-esque New York Christmas Wedding and Lifetime’s The Christmas Set-Up, featuring real-life married actors Blake Lee and Ben Lewis.
Nestled atop this pile of turkeys is Happiest Season, the first-ever studio-backed holiday film centered around a queer love story. While director/co-writer Clea DuVall’s (The Intervention) queer take on the coming-home-for-the-holidays trope boasts great performances and some cheeky gags, the film’s decidedly light on happiness.
2020 will be remembered for two catastrophes: COVID-19 and the deluge of Christmas films intent on making the Yuletide gay.
Kristen Stewart is at her most gay and affable as Abby, a hapless romantic forced to parade as her girlfriend’s “orphan friend” after finding out she’s not out to her conservative family en route to their holiday festivities. Mackenzie Davis plays said girlfriend Harper, journalist and golden child of the white-bread Caldwells, comprising aspiring mayor Ted (Victor Garber), cookie-cutter politician’s wife Tipper (Mary Steenburgen), family black sheep Jane (co-writer Mary Holland) and the ice-queen eldest sister Sloane (Alison Brie). While we all loved Davis in Black Mirror‘s ‘San Junipero’, here she unfortunately brings to mind Katherine Heigl in the god-awful Jenny’s Wedding.
Lez be honest: we were all hoping Abby and Riley would ditch this shitshow and and fingerbang under the mistletoe.
Slapstick abounds as sibling rivalries are resurrected, Harper’s exes appear like ghosts of Christmas pasts and Abby struggles to deal with unceremoniously being thrust back into the closet. As Harper’s behaviour grows worse and the indignities against Abby pile on, the humour starts to chafe.
The only thing gayer than Christmas is Kristen Stewart sporting a blazer-over-half-buttoned-white-shirt-and-undone-tie combo at the Christmas Eve party.
Abby’s Gay Best Friend, John (Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy), is thankfully on hand to dispense emotional support and comic relief. Aubrey Plaza also makes a welcome appearance as Riley—Harper’s sardonic secret high school-ex—who, in true dyke fashion, befriends Abby (lez be honest: we were all hoping these two would ditch this shitshow and and fingerbang under the mistletoe). It’s little surprise that the queer characters provide the majority of Happiest Season’s cheer; the film is at its best when it embraces the inherent campness of the holidays, such as the gay bar carol sing-along led by Drag Race alumnas BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon.
Despite its shortcomings, there’s one major reason to celebrate Happiest Season: Abby’s outfits. Because, really, the only thing gayer than Christmas is Kristen Stewart sporting a blazer-over-half-buttoned-white-shirt-and-undone-tie combo at the Christmas Eve party.