February 15, 2025

FILMHOUNDS Magazine

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Joyful and Moving – Will & Harper (Film Review)

Will & Harper Netflix

Image: © Netflix

begins with a simple proclamation; “I am Will Ferrell, the greatest actor of all time”. It's a simple moment, but one that encapsulates Ferrell's facility for deadpan comedy. Very quickly Ferrell informs us that since his debut at Saturday Night Live (SNL), he has worked with a man called Andrew Steele, who wrote his most iconic sketches including the Cowbell sketch, convinced him to do a film entirely in Spanish, a Lifetime movie, and a film about the Eurovision Song Contest.

What we then learn is that Steele, after years of therapy, transitions following the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-transition Steele would drive across the country, drink cheap beer in dive bars, and see the country in all its glory. Following her transition however, no longer feels she is safe doing so. Ferrell, wanting to reignite their friendship, suggests they take the trip together and move into the new phase of their relationship.

Director Josh Greenbaum's last film, Strays (2023), was also a comedy road trip. Will & Harper is (perhaps unsurprisingly) a massive step up. It helps that there are no jokes about dog penises, or crass humour. Instead, Will & Harper is a portrait of two people reconnecting and exploring the new avenue their relationship has taken. It would be impossible not to be in the presence of two SNL alumni and not laugh at their conversations about the wide range of Pringles flavours, breaking down the very concept of a joke about breasts, and arguing over Dunkin' Donuts. But beyond that the two allow their time to shed their natural inclination for jokes and to talk about a very serious subject.

Steele is terrific company, perfectly willing to explore the more serious moments of her life before her transition. We hear passages from her journals, her isolation from her children and loved ones, and her fears about taking her own life. While we learn of this darkness, we see levity in her from simple things like showing off her unicycle skills or going to a charity shop to buy a dress.

While it is a terrifically funny film, Greenbaum doesn't shy away from the darkness that can encroach on any conversation regarding the trans community but does so in a way that wrong-foots the viewer. The duo go to a dive bar, letting Steele enter alone. From the outset, we expect the fact that there is a Confederate Flag proudly displayed and signs saying “Fuck Biden” that a trans woman is not going to be embraced here, but the patrons are more than welcoming. We also see Ferrell reconcile with his own desire to make a scene. He takes Steele to a family steak house dressed as Sherlock Holmes, but the crowd don't take kindly and Twitter is even less kind.

What the film shows is that there is no easy street for the trans community, particularly in the age of Twitter. People just want to live their lives, and when you put a single human face to this mythical boogeyman of ‘trans women,' what you realise is people are more accepting. It's when they can hide behind a keyboard they turn nasty. While the film deals with these heavy themes, and Steele herself talks of her struggles with suicidal thoughts to an often deeply moved Ferrell, we the audience get to see that this is just one example of several people across the world who don't want anything more than to exist. As Steele puts it “I'm not scared of them, I'm scared of hating myself.” Will & Harper, with its warmth of heart, might just help to shed some misconceptions if we're willing to listen and go on the same journey as these two.

Will & Harper is on from 27th September.