Happiest Season commercializes marginalization. There's obvious exposition, contrivances, predictability, broad comedy, unearned arcs, derivative beats, and a saccharine ending. Characters are cliche, inconsistent, superfluous, and dislikable. It superficially introduces significant themes of unconditional love but doesn't actually analyze them. The underdeveloped core relationship is forced into the formulaic plot to the point of alienation. The acting adds some surprising vulnerability, but chemistry is weak and tones are erratic. Overall, Happiest Season brings sappy and routine tropes to a new community, but is still clumsy, insincere, perfunctory, and trivializing.
Technically, Happiest Season is overly conventional. Its direction is cheesy, uneven, transparent, and stale. The flat cinematography has minimal movement, focus, and framing. Its editing offers boring transitions, clunky pacing, apathetic momentum, and an unnecessary epilogue. The sound is a complete nonfactor, the music painfully generic, and the production design is reminiscent of a Hallmark movie. Its effects add a couple of minor stunts. Only the casting is notable because of its depth, skill, and fame (though Stewart feels too legitimate for this farcical tone). Ultimately, Happiest Season shows that representation without authentic insight is only half the battle.
Writing: 4/10
Direction: 3/10
Cinematography: 5/10
Acting: 6/10
Editing: 4/10
Sound: 4/10
Score/Soundtrack: 4/10
Production Design: 4/10
Casting: 8/10
Effects: 5/10
Overall Score: 4.7/10
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