The happiest season was directed by claire Duvall and co-written by her and mary holland who also stars in the film it's currently on Hulu and it's my first Christmas movie this year I always try to wait a little bit after Halloween because I love Halloween so much that I have to like come off of it you know what I mean I get so excited about Halloween and then once it's over I get kind of depressed for a second and I'm like all right Halloween's officially over let's move on there's other stuff in the world god damn it this film stars Kristen Stewart and MacKenzie Davis as Abby and harper they're a couple that's going home to meet harper's parents for the first time along the way Abby realizes that harper has not come out to her parents and so they have to pretend like they're just roommates until she feels she's ready to come out to her parents who she's afraid will not be very acceptive of this when it comes to a Christmas romantic comedy.
I have to really be in the mood there's tons of hallmark movies or lifetime channel movies that are just kind of embarrassing and there are some that are actually not too terrible but they all follow a very similar formula and i have to really feel like watching them where i can watch a movie that takes place on halloween all year i have to be in the mood for a christmas movie and especially a christmas rom-com when it comes to happiest season i wanted to see it mostly because i love kristen stewart and because i've always really liked claire duvall and i wanted to see what she did behind the camera this is not her first film this is her second and she understood something that i think is extremely important when it comes to this movie and she pulled it off so well that i feel like the majority of people aren't even going to notice when a director or writer an actor anybody really of talent is able to make something look really easy it probably wasn't and what she did so well is make this movie fun why is that so amazing well it's because this could have been a very depressing raw and real movie about a family that's not accepting about a daughter that's telling them that she's gay this movie could easily have gone in a different direction one that would feel very important and would feel very relevant and extremely emotional and while the movie certainly has its moments that are emotional in that way this film retains its fun feeling it retains a welcoming feeling it's a movie that really anybody can watch and enjoy and have a good time and not feel sad when it's over because i think we've all seen movies about people who haven't been able to express to their family or friends their real selves because they're afraid what would happen if they did that and sometimes although it can be really empowering to watch a movie like that it's really depressing happiest season is a blast all the way through it's really funny and it's a really enjoyable movie and that in itself is a feat to be praised because the subject matter could potentially be extremely serious and heavy-handed but they found a great way to honor that subject matter while also just being a fun christmas movie.
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That you can enjoy year after year it's well acted across the board kristen stewart and mackenzie davis are super charming in the movie daniel levy is goddamn hilarious in the movie and easily a standout i laughed at just about everything he says he's got this hilarious bit throughout the movie where he just says he's tracking everyone on his cell phone like he's got some kind of app and he's got all of his friends hooked into it and he's just he's always tracking them he knows where they are and he really can't take care of fish and he just has a great comedic presence throughout the entire film that really really gave the movie a lot of levity but the film is very formulaic you can basically predict how things will go there's some not so subtle imagery like kristen stewart's character literally hiding in a closet at one point the film has quite a bit of cliches and tropes of the genre like characters just meeting on the street constantly or outside of a party that need to talk who just so happen to be in the same place at the same time.
It's a bit of movie logic if someone is carrying something large heavy possibly expensive or very valuable or personal odds are it's probably going to be broken in the next scene and it's going to be very embarrassing films like guess who's coming to dinner or meet the parents i think probably had some inspiration here meet the parents being very similar in its beat by beat execution it's not a copy of that film by any means it's just that if you've seen that movie you can probably see where things are going it's somebody who would really like to get engaged to their significant other and they have to meet a family that ends up being kind of weird and they're keeping a lot of secrets as well and it's a long series of embarrassing comedy and hilarity that ensues it's just that this one has a twist that these two characters are in a relationship and they're hiding that so that gives the movie a considerable emotional weight that meet the parents just doesn't have so if you know what you're getting into with a movie like happiest season you're probably going to enjoy it if you already wanted to see this movie you're probably going to enjoy it nothing i'm going to say is going to deter you from that it's a perfectly enjoyable christmas movie that has i think an important spin on things that could inspire a lot of people and that's awesome also there's one thing about this film that i found extremely funny and it's only going to be funny to you if you know about claire duvall's filmography and her role in the movie.
The faculty in which she starred opposite josh hartnett because one of the characters has a picture of josh hartnett in their room and they just sort of gawk at the poster and talk about how hot he is and i was like faculty love yes that's what i needed thank you claire duval so even though the film is very formulaic and you can basically see where it's going everyone wears green and yellow and red and it's perfect christmas color scheme and it all feels like everything's in the right place it's something you've seen before it's all done extremely well and i've said this many times in my videos you can have a film that's filled with cliches or tropes or feels very familiar if it's done well those things are almost always going to work if you have the right talent assembled in your movie and that comes down to casting it's going to work and this movie is cast wonderfully all the actors are really good in the movie especially mary holland as the sister in this family that is least appreciated she gets a few really great scenes and she co-wrote the movie as well which is really impressive i had a good time with this film and i think that a lot of people are gonna really love it i'm gonna give happy a season a b-plus it was exactly what i wanted it to be and nothing more it gave me what i wanted it was funny it was light-hearted and i must reiterate that despite its serious subject matter and how important and relevant this story is it was able to be breezy and enjoyable to watch it reminded me of the movie love simon which also was a very important movie kind of groundbreaking actually that was very fun to watch and extremely accessible nobody talks about love simon anymore for some reason it was really good if you haven't seen it check it out also happiest season it's on hulu check that one out too it's good guys thank you so much as always for reading.
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