Rating: R | Runtime: 114 minutes
Release Date: September 27th, 2024 (USA)
Studio: Netflix
Director(s): Josh Greenbaum

Where do we go from here?

This was very sweet. Kind of a vanity project for Will Ferrell—depending on how cynical you want to be—but really just a great document on friendship, acceptance, and America’s ability to be both better than and worse than you can imagine.

Yes, Will is getting used to his friend becoming a woman, but it’s really centered on Harper Steele re-entering the public sphere as a woman while using Will as a buffer. They go to the places she used to go without a second thought that now threaten her safety while working to unpack the stigma of those locations and dismantle the psychology of othering herself inside of them. Having a celebrity as recognizable as Will to diffuse tensions provides a nice testing of the waters experience before jumping into the deep end alone later.

And it’s also a necessary bid for open and honest dialogue to help trans people realize love and community exists while also helping to normalize their existence for those who have only been fed a mainline dose of fear and lies by conservative media. As such, those Texas moments really don’t go down any easier post 2024 election since few of us have a pop culture icon bodyguard (and camera crew) to hold violence at bay. Thankfully, Will and Harper acknowledge that too.

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(L to R) Harper Steele and Will Ferrell in WILL & HARPER; courtesy of Netflix.