I Watched This Buzzy New Netflix Documentary with My Parents & We All Cried Like Babies

Last Friday, I took the train to Connecticut to spend the weekend with my parents. After catching up, watching Jeopardy! (a weekday must-see in the Stiefvater house) and deciding what to order for dinner, we started searching for something to queue up on the TV. Would we start Nicole Kidman's popular new series, The Perfect Couple, or would we revisit a family favorite like The Parent Trap or Matilda? So many streaming services, so little time... We were stumped, but then I remembered that Will & Harper, a new documentary starring Will Ferrell and comedy writer Harper Steele, had just been released on Netflix. 

"I watched the trailer when it came out and it made me cry," I told my parents as I found the preview on YouTube. Reader, we watched the trailer, watched the movie and each cried multiple times. By the time the credits rolled, my parents went so far as to thank me for suggesting we watch it. Here's my honest review.

Ferrell narrates in the trailer, “A long time ago, back when I was at Saturday Night Live, I met a guy who was hired as a writer on the same week I was hired...He wrote a bunch of sketches for me and eventually became the head writer of SNL and, over the years, he became one of my closest friends.” During the pandemic, Steele emailed Ferrell to tell him that she was transitioning. Ferrell was not just supportive of Steele, he invited her on a road trip to get to know her as Harper and to figure out what her transition meant for their friendship.

In an old Grand Wagoneer with wood paneling, the two drive across the country, making stops in New York City, the Grand Canyon, Indiana, Las Vegas and more. These detours are sometimes light and fun and other times somber and upsetting. There's a scene at a Texas restaurant that had tears streaming down our cheeks, and another during which Ferrell and Steele meet the Governor of Indiana at a Pacers game, only to find out after a quick Google search that he's signed several anti-trans bills into law.

That's not to say there aren't moments of levity—considering these are two seasoned comedians, there are many. Of how her pre-transition, rough-around-the-edges persona has—or hasn't—evolved, Steele quips, “Instead of an asshole, I’ll be a bitch.” There are also cute cameos by SNL legends like Tina Fey, Kristen Wiig and Lorne Michaels, and a fantastic soundtrack that includes what might be my favorite cover of all time: First Aid Kit's take on Simon & Garfunkel's "America."