Happiest Season 2020 Movie Review

『The Weight of Hidden Love and Identity in Front of Family』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: Happiest Season (2020)
🌍 Country: 🇺🇸 USA
🎞️ Genre: Romantic Comedy / Queer Film
🗓️ Production & Release: TriStar Pictures
⏳ Runtime: 102 minutes
📢 Director: Clea DuVall
🖋️ Screenplay: Clea DuVall, Mary Holland
📺 Platforms: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix (varies by region)

👩‍💼 Cast: Kristen Stewart – Abby
Mackenzie Davis – Harper
Aubrey Plaza – Riley

🧩 Deep Dive into the Story (Spoilers)

💬 The Illusion of Perfection and the Weight of Coming Out

《Happiest Season》 drew significant attention upon its release in 2020. As one of the few Christmas romantic comedies produced by a mainstream Hollywood studio starring a lesbian couple, the film carries symbolic importance. However, it goes beyond being just a cheerful holiday movie. It deeply addresses family-driven perfectionism and the complex psychological burden of coming out, leaving behind points of contention and debate.

🕊️ Genre Subversion: The Birth of a Queer Christmas Rom-Com

The greatest significance of 《Happiest Season》 is that it places a queer couple (Abby and Harper) at the center of the traditionally heteronormative Christmas romantic comedy genre.

• Subverting the cliché: While maintaining the classic formula of “Nick and Holly fall in love in a snowy town,” the film replaces the leads with a same-sex couple, showing that queer narratives can occupy a 'normal' place within mainstream culture.

• A new 'Meet the Parents' trope: The familiar rom-com structure of “the awkwardness of introducing your partner to family” is replaced with “having to pretend your partner is just a friend because you haven’t come out yet.” This allows the story to capture both genre fun and the complexities of identity issues.

The casting of Kristen Stewart (Abby) and Mackenzie Davis (Harper) largely contributed to the film’s popularity. In particular, Stewart’s portrayal of awkwardness and frustration effectively conveys the mindset of an outsider caught in such a situation.

🎨 Core Theme: The Illusion of 'Perfection' and Its Price

The film explores the emotional violence of perfectionism within families through Harper’s family, the Caldwells.

• Obsession with a 'perfect image': Led by the father (Ted), who is running for city council, the Caldwell family is obsessed with maintaining the appearance of being a flawless family. The mother (Tipper) tries to control her daughters’ lives, while the sisters compete endlessly for parental approval.

The repressed lives of the three sisters:

• Harper: Obsessed with playing the role of the “perfect and capable daughter,” while hiding the fact that she is a lesbian.

• Sloane: Hides her marital problems and failures behind the mask of a “supermom.”

• Jane: The eccentric youngest daughter, ignored by her parents, whose academic achievement (writing a fantasy novel) goes unrecognized.

The root of coming out struggles: Harper’s fear of coming out is not simply rooted in homophobia, but in a fundamental fear of losing her parents’ conditional love (“We love you only if you are perfect”). The film highlights how the difficulty of coming out stems not only from social pressures but also from conditional family affection.

🎭 Core Debate: Harper’s 'Toxicity' and Abby’s Storyline

Despite breaking new ground as a queer Christmas movie, 《Happiest Season》 faced criticism and debate due to Harper’s actions.

• Harper’s toxic behavior: She dismisses Abby, publicly humiliates her in front of family, and is revealed to have once outed her ex-girlfriend Riley against her will to protect her own secret. Such actions paint Harper not merely as a frightened victim, but as an egocentric figure who harms her relationships.

Critics argued that even though Harper consistently disregarded Abby’s dignity and emotions, the film rushed to forgiveness and a happy ending following Christmas rom-com conventions. This, they argued, risked romanticizing a co-dependent, unhealthy relationship.

🔍 The Roles of Riley and John:

• Riley: Harper’s ex-girlfriend, who stays by Abby’s side and provides testimony of Harper’s past toxic behavior. With Abby, she forms a bond of honest queer solidarity. Many viewers saw more potential for a healthier relationship between Abby and Riley and hoped the two would end up together.

• John: Abby’s gay best friend, who delivers the film’s most important message: “Every queer person’s coming out experience is different, and its weight should never be judged.” He serves as the narrative’s 'mouthpiece' for this theme.

🎞️ The Magic of Christmas

Happiest Season successfully placed a queer couple at the center of a mainstream comedy, marking it as a historic film. This was a significant step forward in representation, offering LGBTQ+ audiences the liberating sense that “I too can have a warm, ordinary Christmas movie.”

However, critics pointed out that due to the genre’s demand for “Christmas magic”, the film tied up Harper’s complex psychological struggles and the family’s dysfunction too neatly. Even so, the film’s significance lies in bringing discussions of modern perfectionism, the personal weight of coming out, and conditional family love into the mainstream cultural sphere.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Rating: ★★★