Iain DeMay

I have never written a movie review. I've never felt the need to share my thoughts about a movie online. This is the first exception I've ever come across. When I finished this movie, I felt a bad taste in my mouth, even though I enjoyed many parts of the film. Happiest season doesn't hide or pretend about it's premise, and every viewer can be relatively sure they know what ride they're embarking on. So reflecting on why it didn't sit well with me, I've come to two conclusions. 1. Many of the ideas about how familial and romantic interactions happen are really good. Things in the real world are messy, they aren't perfect, and people make stupid decisions in the moment. We don't always get the opportunity to explain ourselves, and we often do things without fully thinking it through; acting on instinct to guide us. In this way, many of the movie's ideas are well posed. No character is completely honest with themselves or their partners, and as is often the case, this causes a lot of internal strife which has to be reckoned with later. 2. The execution of these interactions does not portray what it needs or wants to. In real life, we have hours of context and breathing room. We get to experience our full emotional processing of events and so are given the time to sort out what is most important to us and what we can forgive. Unfortunately the movie doesn't take enough time to properly deal with all of the consequences of its events. There is so much run time devoted to building the issues, that we're given neither enough time to fully process them, nor any prior context for the commitment between the two main characters. Two big problems stand out for me. The ending feels rushed. We get a very quick resolution to problems that have been festering throughout most of the run time of the movie. Many of the complex emotional issues that are brought up are just brushed aside in a 'love conquers all' kind of deus ex machina. What would have helped with this is if we had seen any of the main relationship before the events of the movie, aside from one brief night where their chemistry is showcased but not really solidified for the audience. Harper's character dramatically changes when she's with her family, which would be a great plot device if we had seen any other side of her. Since we haven't, most of our opinion is formed from her desperately trying to stay in the closet. And since that is where the film's emotional crux arises, this really paints her in a bad light. The fact that the focal character for the most part is Abby only exacerbates this issue as we get no real redeeming moments for Harper as a sympathetic character. I went into this expecting a lgbt romance christmas movie, and that's mostly what I got. I just wish they had taken the time to really flesh out the characters to make us feel like the happy ending was earned and not just tacked on because it needed one. Too much time was spent on the misery Abby had to endure, and not enough was spent in celebration or resolution. That being said, it's always nice to see at least halfway decent representation in a very classic film format. Aubrey Plaza and Dan Levy are great highlights in the film. TLDR: The movie has some good ideas, and it appears to understand that relationships are messy and complicated, but its portrayal of the central romance and the central emotional struggle are poorly executed. Good premise, has some good moments, but resolution leaves a lot to be desired.