By: Morgan

I felt the movie was fine, but I increasingly dislike it as I think about it. Saccharine, sparkly and somewhat hollow like most holiday movies, but gay!

Character and relationship development were surprisingly weak—I never felt like I believed the Abby/Harper relationship, or at least that they were at the point where Abby was planning to propose. Their careers were mentioned in such offhand ways and otherwise largely unreferenced in a way that felt... weird? Like I’m really supposed to believe that Abby is... an art historian? And that Harper is an important journalist?

And we’re supposed to believe that Harper’s rich family (with the exception of one sister) didn’t notice 1. that their successful daughter has a roommate or 2. has a roommate in her 1 bedroom apartment? Riley’s character was the best part of the movie — the character development of Riley was frankly an anomaly compared to the others, and Aubrey Plaza is a great actor who brought a lot to the table.

Considering the “orphan” thing was a sizable plot point, it felt weird and incomplete. So much of the “comedy” around her treatment from Abby’s family just doesn’t make a lot of sense for a seemingly wealthy/financially stable adult who lost her parents as an adult. As someone who has been the “orphan” friend brought home by well-meaning friends to their WASPy families, and has been treated like Abby was (accused of stealing, openly pitied, showcased as proof of goodness, etc) it felt a bit like punching down. I might have felt differently if there was any kind of meaningful dialogue about it between Abby and Harper (or even Harper and her family) as salve to the additional trauma of the particular cruelty Abby is being put through, but it wasn’t there. Personally, the whole orphan thing felt like jokes about people like me for everyone (but people like me) to laugh at.

I got the impression that the plot point about always wanting the sister’s husband and kids included in photos was a similar “joke”—intended for an audience of people who don’t personally relate to being the subject to find funny rather than any kind of meaningful inclusion for the people who would actually relate.

To me, there really wasn’t enough to redeem Harper’s character within her arc—she invited Abby to Christmas on a whim and then didn’t have the wherewithal to make up an excuse to cancel, waited until the very last minute to tell Abby she hadn’t come out, didn’t adequately prepare Abby for the scale and intensity of the holiday, introduced and perpetuated the “orphan friend” thing to her family, didn’t defend Abby to her family, didn’t support her emotionally even in private, repeatedly ignored and abandoned Abby over the holiday, etc all while knowing that Abby has avoided Christmas because she finds it traumatizing... but the ending message felt like “Sure, Harper’s behavior was cruel, but it’s just so hard! To have so much pressure! From such a rich and ambitious family! And after horribly hurting and embarrassing Abby she DID apologize! So everything’s great! Heartwarming! Christmas is saved! Daddy won his election, Mom loves Instagram, and the neglected sister gets a book deal!” Abby deserved better.

I really like Clea Duvall as an actor and wanted this to be better than it was. I will temper any remaining faith I have in her gaze as a writer/filmmaker, but hope that whatever success her work has opens doors for people who are going to tell better, more diverse queer stories.