In an exceptional vote of confidence for taste—and progress—in America, the gorgeous, hilarious, and incredibly urgent documentary Will & Harper has been in the Top 10 of Netflix’s most watched movies since it premiered on the platform on Friday.
The road trip film follows Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, one of Ferrell’s closest friends from their time on Saturday Night Live, as they cross the country to reacquaint themselves with one another after Harper transitioned. The raves the film won after its premiere at Sundance in January have been unanimously echoed since it’s been available to stream. Its frank look at how people in different parts of the country feel about the transgender community, and how a transgender person reckons with feeling both finally free and, sometimes, ostracized living out publicly.
Owing to Ferrell and especially Steele’s candor and humor, the film manages to be remarkably accessible and entertaining while educational in a way that, at the risk of sounding trite or hyperbolic, could legitimately save lives. One key to the film’s accessibility is its familiarity. That, of course begins with Ferrell, who proves an exceptional audience surrogate, approaching his questions and conversations with Steele with the empathetic curiosity—and mischievous edge—necessary to open up the astounding dialogue that is the throughline of the film.
But the familiarity doesn’t end with Ferrell. His and Steele’s SNL colleagues appear throughout the film, offering their honest takes on how they responded when Steele told them she was transitioning and displaying an open-hearted and—this is, again, key—humor-filled desire for her to thrive, while being as curious as anyone would be as to how Steele is handling things and what the road trip experience will be like for her. Normalizing curiosity is one of the most striking things that comes out of Will & Harper, and the fact that such recognizable people from an institution like SNL are participants is invaluable.
In this clip from the film, there’s a reunion between Steele and some of the well-known cast members he worked with at SNL. It takes place at 30 Rock at the beginning of the documentary, just before Ferrell and Steele set out on the journey. Tina Fey, Paula Pell, Colin Jost, and Tim Meadows join them to talk about their expectations and fears. It’s so lovely that it becomes emotional to watch, a wonderful, exuberant display of acceptance.
Throughout their road trip, Ferrell and Steele meet up with other SNL alumni. When they reach Santa Fe, they take a hot air balloon ride with Will Forte, who, Steele revealed in a recent episode of the Las Culturistas podcast, took a gauntlet of planes, trains, and automobiles in order to toast her and this experience.
Once they finally reach Los Angeles, the pair get pedicures with Molly Shannon to download about everything that happened on the trip. If you’ve ever watched an interview with Shannon, or been lucky enough to chat with her, you’d understand that there are few people better equipped to reminisce and review every single detail—and, more importantly, emotion—of an experience with.
And if you’ve happened to watch Will & Harper already, you’re fully aware of the surprising musical role Kristen Wiig plays in it, and are patiently waiting for her to get her deserved Oscar for it.
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