Movie Review: Happiest Season

Movie: Happiest Season

Stars: 4

I'm not the best when it comes to Christmas.  It's not my favourite time of year. I'm not a complete grinch. I don't stop other people from going mad over Christmas. I participate on a level which means I'm there and quietly having a good time, then I'll go and read a book with the cat. Which is about as good as it gets for my Christmas (unless there are prawns. I like prawns. I really like prawns. Best thing about Christmas at home is seafiood.

But as my Christmas anxiety is starting to creep in, I too myself off to the movies to sort of give myself a break from anything and everything. And from the limited fodder at the cinema, I chose Happiest Season. 

A Christmas movie. Okay, I was up for a bit of schmaltz  - and this delivered. (If anybody asks, my favourite Christmas Film is Die Hard).

I did choose this deliberately. Daniel Levy of Schitt's Creek fame is in it. The rest of the cast is great. And it looked, and was, light - just what was needed. It was also a touch deeper than I was expecting - and that was okay too. 

The premise is quite simple. Loved up couple, Abby (Kristin Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) make the trek back to Harper's family for Christmas. One small issue - Harper hasn't come out of her parents. 

And hilarity ensues. 

As with any family, there are all the underlying tensions which come bubbling to the surface. Harper's uptight older sister (Alison Brie) is on the point of hostile towards he sister. Her parents are so far up their own arses with her father (Victor Garber) running for town mayor and her mother (Mary Steenburgen tyring to keep everything perfect. And there is the flaky younger sister (Mary Holland) and Harper's ex-girlfriend (Aubrey Plaza) thrown into the mix for good measure. Daniel Levy is cast to type as Abby's close friend, who comes to her rescue from Harper's near Stepford family. 

But for a Christmas movie, which has the regulation amount of schmaltz and twee about it, Happiest Season is laugh out loud funny in places and very touching in others, as Harper, Abby and the rest of their family find their tribe and face some uncomfortable truths. The sibling rivalry between the sisters was played perfectly - something I could relate to - along with the rest of the movie. 

Maybe it's because it's Friday night, or maybe I just needed something light, but I really enjoyed this. To laugh at some universal truths was just what the doctor ordered. 

Today's Song: