If you scroll through any of the major streaming services, trans stories are not the easiest to find. Coming across films about trans joy is even harder. The upcoming Netflix documentary Will & Harper stands out as a rare exception.
At first glance, it is easy to see the film as just another celebrity documentary. The film follows Will Ferrell and his friend of 30 years, Harper Steele, on a road trip across America. Ferrell proposed the trip to help them reconnect after Steele came out as a trans woman, something Ferrell is honest about not knowing much about. The pair chat about their relationship and being trans while making several stops across the country, many in states that are often dangerous for trans people. While it doesn’t shy away from some harsh realities, the film ends up capturing a nuanced story of friendship, trans joy, and allyship, unlike anything released by a major streamer this year.
The fatal flaw in most documentaries that follow celebrities is an over-reliance on that celebrity to be interesting enough to have a documentary about them–most aren’t. While audiences might come for Ferrell and his goofy antics, which are certainly delightful, it is Steele who has us glued to the screen. It’s her openness and vulnerability, mixed with a good amount of dry humor, that audiences can’t help but fall in love with.
This documentary doesn’t try to be anything that it’s not. Even Steele herself admits that this is not the experience of most trans women and that not every trans woman gets to travel alongside Will Ferrell and a camera crew, insulating them from violence and the worst of the transphobic vitriol. Yet, that doesn’t detract from how audiences feel at moments of pure joy experienced by Steele as she rediscovers the thrill of traveling as an out trans woman.
The film also serves as an excellent guide for allyship. Ferrell’s long-standing reputation as a funnyman does little to get in the way of raw moments of discovery and kinship, ones that are extremely hard to find on screen. Rarely do audiences witness such honest conversations seeing the evolution of a relationship after someone comes out as trans in real time. As one X user put it, “In a world full of J.K. Rowlings, be a Will Ferrell.”
Too often, stories of joy and kinship are lost in media about trans people, which frequently boil down narratives to ones focused on trauma, activism, or discrimination. While telling stories of fighting hate is vital, Will & Harper does the equally vital work of normalizing difficult conversations between loved ones. I hope this film will be one families will be talking about at Thanksgiving and beyond.
Will & Harper will have its streaming debut on September 27th.