Despite a star cast, the film has received mixed reviews with some hailing it as ‘one of the freshest holiday movies’ but others declaring it to be ‘appallingly bad’

A festive film starring Kirsten Stewart, Mackenzie Davis and Dan Levy is airing on Film 4 tonight, and it’s one ‘for people who hate Christmas movies.’

Happiest Season is a holiday romantic comedy about Abby (Kristen Stewart) who plans to propose to her girlfriend Harper (Mackenzie Davis) at her family’s Christmas gathering, only to discover Harper hasn’t come out to her conservative parents and asks Abby to pretend to be her straight, orphaned roommate, leading to awkwardness, family drama, and the struggle to be authentic during the holidays. The film was released in late November 2020, before premiering in the U.S. and later in the UK and Canada. Despite a star cast, the film has received mixed reviews with some hailing it as ‘one of the freshest holiday movies’ but others declaring it to be ‘appallingly bad.’

On film ratings website Rotten Tomatoes, one fan of the film wrote: “It is a refreshing holiday movie: funny and heartwarming.” Another shared: “Happiest Season is one of the best Christmas I have seen in a while. It’s constantly funny throughout and has some heartwarming moments. There are a few little things that hold it back from being great.”

A third posted: “Funny and heartfelt. Great themes around the dangers of maintaining a perfect persona.” “Loved this movie! one of the freshest holiday movie I’ve seen in years. and once the best cast,” said another.

Another said: “Absolutely one of my favourites! Love the whole movie. The characters, decorations, music and quite a few laughs. Makes me feel good and festive.” “It’s a special feeling to watch a movie and instantly know you’ll be watching it every holiday season from now on… this is an instant classic!!” said another fan.

However not everyone rated it as a top festive movie, with some giving it just half a star on the film ratings website. One person wrote: “This is an appallingly bad movie, completely unoriginal and full of cliche. They were making movies with the same plot back in the 80s and even then they were awful.

“The moment I realised it was going to be terrible was in the very first scene when the two main characters were up on the roof of a house and one of them slipped off the roof while the other wasn’t looking; the other, who’s taller and was standing uproof, turned back and started looking straight out and turning her head searching for the first – a stupid gag that was even ridiculously corny when Laurel and Hardy were doing it 90 years ago.

“The director of this movie should consider changing career and never be allowed to inflict this sort of tripe on us again. And the actors should take a great deal more care choosing their next ‘project’.” Another felt similar as they wrote: “Depressing. Not a light hearted Queer Christmas movie like it was advertised. The ending didn’t feel genuine and there was nothing beyond the first 20% that made me feel like these two belonged together at all.”

Another damning review slammed the film as it said: “If I could give this movie zero stars, I would. The movie was great, if the message they were trying to convey was that no matter what, you should always stay with your lying, extremely manipulative significant other just because you spent a long time making the mistake of dating her! The single redeeming part of this movie is Jane, who was funny and also the only character that wasn’t absolutely terrible. There is a reason that Hulu originals aren’t that popular, and its this movie.”

Happiest Season airs on Monday 22 December at 9pm on Film 4.