Despite the negative connotations of my headline, I am by no means suggesting that I didn’t like it Wil & Harper. In fact, the opposite is true. A few weeks ago I openly admitted that I cried at the trailer, and I’m convinced it deserves its near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score – at the time of writing it’s at 99% on the ‘Tomatometer’. The Netflix movie is an essential watch, but it can be uncomfortable in places.
That’s not a bad thing. I’m convinced that more Netflix documentaries need to have the confidence to be this raw and vulnerable. While the message of self-acceptance, as well as the acceptance of others is clear, it doesn’t shy away from showing mistakes along the way. It doesn’t feel rehearsed, it feels genuine, and watching two old friends go through a big change was given the honesty it deserved.
The documentary is about the friendship between comedy legend Will Ferrell and his friend Harper Steele. Before we met Saturday evening livewhere Steele was a head writer, Ferrell knew him as Andrew, a cisgender man. Ferrell later received a deep, heartfelt email from Steele in which he shared that he was coming out as transgender and identifying as a woman. He later learned that his friend’s new name was Harper, and this led Ferrell to suggest a road trip where he could get to know his friend again and ask some important questions.
Ferrell immediately supported Steele. He admitted he was shocked, but at no point did he harbor any vitriol toward his friend. This was fun to watch on many levels. For starters, he’s a big public figure that people look up to, so the fact that he was so helpful is positive to see. He took the initiative to educate himself and the world about a social issue, a subject that is not always easy to approach or understand. He tackled it with his characteristic humor and some tenderness, which resulted in a rollercoaster of a documentary.
What exactly went wrong during Will & Harper?
If we are honest, A lot. From some slightly sexist questions, like Ferrell asking Steele if she was a worse driver now, to conversations about new breasts, there’s a lot to make modern audiences cringe. But I think it’s important to explore the topics at the heart of the film; Will Ferrell is a 57-year-old man accustomed to crude humor, and Andrew Steele wrote these types of jokes with him during their respective careers. They’re used to dealing with this kind of humor, at no point did Steele seem uncomfortable and even threw her own jokes right back. The jokes never felt malicious, but were in line with the relationship they always had, and viewers got an intimate look at how these two interact.
It’s impossible for us to fully grasp the extent of their friendship in a two-hour film, and being thrust into this typically male environment of beer jokes, gender jokes and more can be a little jarring at first if you don’t want. am used to. But throughout this process, Ferrell was consistently supportive. He had breakfast with Steele’s children, stayed with her sister and gained some different perspectives. He listened and to his credit, he knew when to stop with the jokes and actually take things seriously.
Ferrell also committed two fouls. The first was at a basketball game where he boldly talked about his transgender friend with Eric Holcomb, a governor who last year signed a bill in Indiana banning gender-affirming care for minors. Not knowing who Holcomb was nor what his recent policies were, Ferrell had not considered that others might not be as supportive of Steele. As hard as this was to watch, I thought it was important because it allows viewers to see two opposing sides of the same issue, and how it makes it very easy for us to bring up topics around people who may have different views .
The second was a restaurant scene where he decided to take on a food challenge at a steakhouse in Texas. While there, his celebrity status attracts attention and he introduces his friend to the audience as “Miss Harper Steele”. The announcer tried to address her properly, and this sparked an onslaught of hate on social media, insulting both Ferrell and Steele, while deliberately mischaracterizing the latter. This is perhaps the most uncomfortable scene of the film.
But it’s crucial that scenes like this are preserved. They are interspersed with other, healthier scenes, such as people in dive bars being friendly to Harper, and encounters with others who have shared similar experiences. As they travel around the country and meet a variety of different people, it is ultimately a hopeful film and it felt important for Harper to visit some of the places she had enjoyed years ago.
Being so vulnerable in front of the camera isn’t easy, but this is one of the most important documentaries you’ll see. I urge you to try this as soon as possible.