Happiest Season Review: It Is A Treat For Kisten Stewart Fans

 Happiest Season(Hulu)

Starring  Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Dan Levy, Mary Holland, Victor Garber and Mary Steenburgen

Directed by  Clea DuVall

Rating: ** ½ 

No matter how  big  a fan of  the Twilight Zone  star Kirstin Stewart  you are,  there is no way you can avoid feeling disappointed by this over-sweetened  Christmas confection about  an orphaned lesbian Abby who decides to accompany her  lover Harper to visit her conservative family  for Christmas.

The  key word here is  ‘conservative’. The fact that  Harper’s father is an ambitious politician  and her mother a fastidious prude are  plot points to pad  up the sympathy-quotient in Abby’s favour . The  premise is  wafer-thin, and the sweet  even-tempered  tone relentlessly suggests there is  nothing more complicated in  life than keeping secrets from  your loved ones,  when that is actually not the case in real  life.

Still, despite the  simplistic  tone   and naïve assumptions Happiest Season does have its share  of  agreeable  occurrences. The   environment is  plum-pudding  comforting, the  film is shot in  red-wine colours,  and the tone is festive and mellow. If  you are  not  looking for  deep  social comments  on  the  hardships of  a same-sex relationship this one with its quaint hide’n’ seek formula(at a certain point Abby  is  actually seen hiding in a  closet) will  keep you  smiling till the end.No profound revelations on  life love and commitment. But  nothing absurd  or offensiveeither.

 The  performances are  surprisingly modest. Kristen  Stewart looks  a  little distracted, maybe the Christmas  cooking after  pack-up is on her mind. Mackenzie Davis as her lover seem more involved if  not exactly amply evolved.My favourite  character and performance  is by Dan levy as Abby’s best friend. Levy has  the  best  lines  and  most amusing  retorts in a film that  seems to  not want to  offend anyone in this season of  bonhomie.

 The  veteran    Mary Steenburgen as MacKenzie’s mother is hyper and  hammy, as if trying to compensate for  the  lack of vivacity  in the  proceedings.   Happiest Season may not be the happiest film you will see this season. But it’s still leaps and  bounds ahead  of  our Indian same-sex  films like Shubh Mangal Phir Saavdhan.