Will & Harper

by Julian Spivey

Photo: Netflix

Director: Josh Greenbaum
Rated: R (language) 
Runtime: 1 hour & 54 minutes

 
The best documentaries inform and entertain while potentially changing the world. I think that’s what “Will & Harper,” directed by Josh Greenbaum, has done.  
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The film, which is streaming on Netflix, features the friendship of modern comedy acting legend Will Ferrell and comedy writer Harper Steele. The relationship developed at “Saturday Night Live” in the mid-‘90s when the two worked on the long-running NBC sketch comedy show.

The film begins with Ferrell receiving an email from his old friend Andrew Steele, a writer at ‘SNL’ from 1995-2008, explaining how they’d always felt different and how they were transitioning and hoped this transition wouldn’t affect the relationship between the two (Steele sent the email to many friends).
Ferrell envisioned a road trip across the country with Harper. He wanted to spend time with an old friend he hadn’t seen in a while and learn more about their transition.

The two began a 17-day cross-country journey from Harper’s home in New York to California. Harper had always enjoyed making cross-country trips before transitioning but didn’t know if it would be safe now. One of the many purposes of the trip was to sort of feel out how the country felt about her now with one of her best friends at her side.

Because of how funny both Ferrell and Steele are, it’s a journey filled with laughter but there are also tear-jerking moments throughout, some of the pleasant variety like when Harper befriends folks at a bar and dirt track in Oklahoma, showcasing how Middle America might not necessarily be as anti-trans as one would assume but also of the harmful variety like at a steakhouse in Amarillo, Texas where it felt like she was on parade, unfortunately helped along by her friend’s outlandish outfit and celebrity.

Along the way, we see familiar faces that Ferrell, Steele, or both worked with at ‘SNL’, like Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon, Kristen Wiig and Will Forte. As a big ‘SNL’ buff, these were among my favorite scenes in the film, but the meat and potatoes is the Steele/Ferrell friendship and just how hard it is for one to make such a big change in one's life.

I can’t commend Steele enough for being so brave to not only go on this trip but also film it and show it to the entire world.

Some have criticized how this film could only come to fruition because of Ferrell’s celebrity and how if Steele makes such a trip on her own without a film crew, it might not be safe or come out the same way. The criticisms are valid, but how else does a film like this get made?

If the film can help change the minds and hearts of viewers, getting the people who need to see it would be the main challenge (though hopefully, Ferrell’s involvement helps), then it would have been worth it all.

“Will & Harper” is a moving film about a couple of generally good people learning about life in a world new to them.