Review of Will & Harper

Will Ferrell and his friend Harper Steele go on a road trip. Will has questions. Harper has answers.

So I saw "Will & Harper," a Netflix documentary about a road trip across the US that Will Ferrell and his friend, Harper Steele, take shortly after Harper transitions from being a man to being a woman. (full disclosure: the editor, Monique Zavistovski, is a friend from film school) They're old friends; Harper was (is?) a writer on Saturday Night Live. They drive across the country, partially because Harper likes going to places like dive bars in rural areas, like Oklahoma, and wants to see if she can still do that. And they go on this road trip partially because Will Ferrell wants to be supportive of his friend, and partially because he has a lot of questions for his friend who is now a trans woman at the age of 61.

It's exactly what you expect, but in the best possible way. You can expect that watching two old friends with decades-long careers in comedy will have lots of funny moments, and you'd be right. They have lots of famous, funny friends, but most of those only make short cameos, which is actually kind of refreshing. The lack of star power grounds it a bit more.

Ferrell provides a calming and centering presence, but does so almost accidentally. He provides this sense of a calm presence for the audience, but does so as a secondary effect. First and foremost, he's a calming and centering presence for Harper. You have the feeling that, as a man or woman, Harper is a somewhat anxious person, but also fairly adventurous. Having transitioned, a big chunk of that anxiety is gone. She’s now more comfortable with herself than she has ever been, and a lifetime of wondering what is wrong with her, and how to fix what had seemed unfixable, is over. Part of that anxiety stemmed from not really knowing where she fit in, and trying to make herself fit in in places where men are supposed to be comfortable, like sports arenas and steakhouses. So her sense of adventure takes over.

That anxiety, however, has now been replaced by a feeling of not knowing where, as a trans woman, she will be accepted, and where she will be comfortable. Ferrell is the perfect companion for this journey, both literal and metaphorical/psychological/spiritual, because he’s both a famous Hollywood movie star, and the quintessential Everyman. He’s a famous movie star because he comes across, mostly, as an average Joe. He’s not an action star, he’s not a lady’s man, he’s not the kind of actor known for appearing in challenging period dramas. But he’s also a great actor; the same man who played a boring IRS agent in Stranger Than Fiction (one of my all-time favorite movies) also went way over the top in one of the ultimate fish-out-of-water stories, Elf. (more full disclosure: he went to USC, as I did, which almost automatically means he’s a good and well-rounded filmmaker) (even more full disclosure: we have the same first and middle names, John William)

He also seems comfortable with being famous, which turns out to be a great trait to have on this trip. He seems to genuinely enjoy spontaneously standing courtside at an Indiana Pacers basketball game and riling up the crowd. He seems equally comfortable, at the same event, talking to the governor of Indiana. There’s no mention of this in the film, but it probably doesn’t hurt that he’s 6’3”.

Harper enjoys all of this, takes full advantage of it, and enjoys, just as much, the therapeutic effect it has on her. She even likes talking about the therapeutic effect it has on her. She even appreciates it when the therapy is not funny, but brings up old trauma. Because she’s at a place in her life, brought here by her own bravery, where she can deal with that old trauma.

Will Ferrell is the Everyman here because, like most of us, he wants to be supportive of trans people, but he’s also confused by a lot of trans issues, and he doesn’t really know how to ask the questions that he has. A lot of those questions are deeply personal, and unless you have a very strong personal connection with a trans person, they’re just too uncomfortable to ask.

Will and Harper have a very strong personal connection, and they use that connection to set up a situation in which Will can ask those very personal questions, and can even do so in front of a camera.

So he asks those questions. He doesn’t just ask them of Harper; he asks them of at least one other trans woman, of Harper’s sister, of random strangers they meet along the way. Those other people answer the questions. Sometimes the questions and answers are funny; sometimes they are painful. They are always illuminating.

In terms of the movement to advance trans rights, this documentary is both a large step forward and a small step forward. It’s a large step because it’s a comprehensive look at being trans, and it has a very broad appeal. It takes a common-sense, largely uncontroversial approach to a delicate, awkward, often politically polarizing subject. It’s a fun documentary about a subject that doesn’t always present a lot of opportunities for humor. It’s a small step not because of any failure of the filmmaking, but only because there’s only so much one movie can say about such a large and confusing topic. There’s no direct mention of this in the film, but it’s a very powerful statement of what it means for one person to really experience the freedom to be herself.

They don’t address the debates around trans women playing on women’s sports teams; they don’t address whether or not trans women should be admitted to domestic violence shelters or women’s prisons. It would have been a lesser movie if they had addressed those and other issues. They stay in their lane, where they are both comfortable enough to explore areas where Will, at least, is a little uncomfortable, but where he can provide comfort - much needed comfort - to his old friend. And to the audience. And to the world.