This romcom delivers festive cheer with its premise alone: Kristen Stewart is brought home for the holidays to meet her girlfriend’s shrill, overbearing family. But Harper (Mackenzie Davis) is not out, and so Abby (Stewart) is amusingly deemed her “orphan friend” and shoved, quite literally, back into the closet. Directed by Clea DuVall, who starred in the 1999 queer classic But I’m a Cheerleader, the film cannily features a Drag Race cameo, an end-credits song by Tegan and Sara and Stewart in a fantastic velvet tie.
With the exception of Harper’s wacky sister, Jane (co-writer Mary Holland), the film mostly shies away from camp, playing out in a more grounded register. Stewart is low key and likable, creating real emotional stakes and strategically using her signature shoulders-down shuffle. A pity, then, that she and Davis don’t quite have the romcom chemistry needed to secure the film’s place in the Christmas movie canon.
Happiest Season is available on VOD platforms
