hi sweet friends,
i’ve done exactly what the world has been terrified i would do… i’ve chosen to comment on happiest season.
my only defense is that it was specifically requested.
ohhhh lord. to be given license to talk about this movie in this way… you’ve realllly opened pandora’s box here, teresa.
so let’s start by saying that i didn’t love this movie. i expected to love it, or at least to have my fun with it. i love an ensemble piece and individually i love a lot of the actors in this movie. even after seeing early criticism about it on twitter i was like, “oh everyone’s just being overdramatic.” i was wrong!
i think that this movie’s original sin is its deceptive trailer, a trailer that allowed me to believe that it would be much more hijinks forward. of course i knew that it was going to be driven by abby (kristen stewart) and harper (mackenzie davis) having to lie about their relationship, which would be hard to watch, but i thought that the two of them would have this fun, loving relationship that would provide levity. i never had the sense that they do!
to me, it seemed like at every possible turn, harper chose selfishly — staying at a bar with her ex-boyfriend when she and abby were supposed to spend time together, for instance — until, at the tail end of the movie, she decides to come out to her parents (basically just a confirmation of Alison Brie’s outing her). this doesn’t seem like enough to make up for the routine exhibition of harper’s selfishness, especially without any communication about said selfishness. not coming out because of a shitty family situation is real and forgivable, but i don’t think it excuses how inconsiderate harper was throughout, especially not for a movie that, in closing, wants us to Feel Good.
a lot of the defence for harper and abby’s staying together (even from clea duvall herself) emphasizes that “people go through shit when they’re in long term relationships” but abby and harper had only been dating for a year. in a movie that defends itself by claiming it’s “a story about forgiveness,” is harper really worth forgiving?
ultimately, i have gotten over love interests being shitty in other movies, but even outside of the romantic realm, it felt like this movie was doing almost everything to disappoint abby. for instance, when she’s left in the mall with alison brie’s kids and they frame her for shoplifting. for the next 30 minutes minimum harper’s entire family believes abby to be a thief. i didn’t expect abby to be added to the family’s will within the first 30 minutes, but i also didn’t expect that everyone was going to be treating her like an actual troll for 90% of the movie’s runtime.
in considering rom-coms about doormats that i do like, i couldn’t help but think of 27 dresses. the movie produces the same kind of emotional confusion. in both movies, the main character and her love interest are total opposites (opinions on weddings in 27 vs. opinions on christmas in season), yet they end up together in both. much like in season, 27’s jane is treated kindly by very few people and her love interest, the one person who seems to really see her, ends up publicly humiliating her for his own gain.
there’s a lot that separates these two movies, it’s certainly not a perfect comparison, but within the doormat canon, i think that 27 dresses is more satisfying because of its excess of hijinks. what would 27 dresses even be without its central image of katherine heigl using all of her weight to close the double door closet stuffed with bridesmaids getups? i can understand happiest season’s interest in wanting to address the real pain of having to hide your true identity, but i don’t know that it needed to come at the expense of the fun tropes of its genre.
finally, i have to say that i resent the insistence that abby end up with aubrey plaza’s character (riley, for the record, though i don’t think i’ve seen one person on the internet reference her as such). riley was the only person who was consistently nice to abby, and yes it would have been nice if they kissed, but it might also have been fun to do a little chosen family spin with dan levy when he showed up. simply a thought!
okay, two good things: i thought dan levy was funny. and i was happy to see that aubrey plaza ended up with clea duvall in the flash forward. i’ll save you all from everything else i have to say!