Will & Harper is a documentary about friendship. It is also about belonging, identity, understanding and acceptance. Often, this is as much about the person one might think least needs to consider these themes. But that is the lesson of the film. There are things in society and culture which so indoctrinate people against themselves that they struggle to be even a little of who they truly are, let alone to ever learn to love or accept themselves. While some of the sequences feel staged, the sentiment is real and that is the power that drives the film from coast to coast and, hopefully, into the heart of the viewer.
Courtesy Netflix
Andrew Steele, now known as Harper, is an old friend of comedian Will Ferrell, who met while they both worked on Saturday Night Live, with Steele, a writer, eventually rising to a lead position on the staff, and Ferrell slowly becoming one of the modern stars of comedy. Yet, Steele never confided in his friend the feelings of being a woman which had plagued her for so long, and Will had questions to ask of himself. The film tastefully navigates the nerves which take place during the duo’s many conversations.
Indeed, the best part of the film are the sequences where the two are not having an “event” along the road trip from the east coast to the west coast, to “reintroduce” Harper to the world, but rather when the friends are simply being friends. These are the moments where truth and reality seem most likely observed. As such, does the film accomplish its mandate? Do we get to see Harper re-introduced to this world she knew and who knew her, when she lived as a man?
Courtesy Netflix
We do get to see Harper and Will interact with others. Yet there is often a disconnect, which is possibly part of the point. The film is rife with bifurcations, of meaning, of existence and of intent. There is a lovely moment at a dive bar in Oklahoma, where some Native Americans play a song for Harper, and she says she did not feel unsafe in that moment, but that her greatest fear came from herself. This is a lovely scene, but you cannot help wondering how much of the scene was staged or re-staged, in order to become a part of the film. This happens frequently with the “event” pieces.
That is why, for this reviewer, the smaller interactions feel more genuine and thankfully, most of the film is just a pair of people, maybe one or two more, talking. Yes, there are the expected speeches, but the purpose of this documentary is the “reintroduce” Harper to the world and in that, the film accomplishes its remit, because you, the viewer, will get to know her better and to know her as Harper, by the time the credits roll. The question is, did it take the road trip?
The trip is both metaphor and MacGuffin. Symbolizing the journey to understanding and self-expression, the trip also exists as a means by which we get to see two friends come to terms with one another in a new way. There is hope and love and acceptance. There is humor and surprise. One gets the sense you could have seen some of this just following the two spending a week at a cabin, but it was more fun and meaningful watching them drive coast to coast.
Courtesy Netflix
Ultimately, this is a good documentary which fails to become a great one because it cannot shake a veneer of being staged. Regardless of how much was staged and how much was not, the feeling of gentle manipulation permeates the proceedings. It is not dishonest, but it feels like enhanced reality as opposed to capturing entirely genuine moments. The most important thing, though, and which is wildly succeeds at, is its earnestness, its empathy and making you care about and understand these two friends.
Will & Harper is now streaming on Netflix.
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