Sundance 2024 Review: WILL & HARPER, Road Trip Doc Engages, Enlightens, Educates

When comedian and actor Will Farrell learned that his longtime friend and onetime Saturday Night Live (SNL) head writer Harper Steele had come out as a trans woman at the age of 61, he, like most of us on the outside looking in, had questions.

As a close, dedicated friend, however, Farrell wanted to be as respectful as possible, putting compassion and empathy first and his own, possibly unresolved feelings second (or last). To that end, Farrell suggested a 17-day, coast-to-coast road trip documented by Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Becoming Bond, The Short Game).

The perfectly titled result, Will & Harper, follows Farrell and Steele from the first, meaningful days when Farrell received a life- and friendship-changing email where Steele revealed her true, authentic self to Farrell to the proposed road trip, prep for the road trip (what to bring clothes-wise becomes a moment rife with anxiety for Steele), and finally to the trip itself, beginning in upstate New York with Steele picking up Farrell at the airport, lunch with old SNL friends and familiar associates, and the road trip proper to planned stops across the United States, some more (or less) hospitable to trans people than others.

Tightly edited to focus on Farrell and Steele’s interplay — both are, to no one’s surprise, incredibly funny — Will & Harper has a breezy, likable charm all its own. Under Greenbaum’s steady, unforced hand, we feel less like voyeurs than willing, if silent, participants on their road trip.

A stop at a big-box store yields a shocking amount of humor from a variety pack of Pringles potato chips. Another stop takes Farrell and Steele to the latter’s hometown and his older sister. Her touching response to Steele’s news about her trans identity -- “Now I have another sister” --  beautifully expresses the unconditional acceptance so many trans people want from their friends, families, and acquaintances.

Not all encounters, of course, will be anywhere near as accepting or welcoming. Both Farrell and Steele repeatedly recognize that the former’s celebrity status, not to mention the film crew following them on their journey, gives the latter an invisible protective shield, potentially safeguarding Steele from bigotry, ignorance, and hatred trans people regularly face when they don’t have a famous friend or a camera crew around.

Openly acknowledging as much goes a long way toward reinforcing the often harsh, uncharitable reality outside the camera’s viewfinder or Farrell’s protective shield.

A planned stop for an NBA Pacers game in Indiana, a deep red state whose GOP-controlled legislature and GOP governor have passed anti-trans legislation as part of their culture war efforts, goes better than anticipated. Once again, however, Farrell’s celebrity helps to smooth down any rough edges or potential conflicts.

It’s only when Steele, recognizing that the average trans person doesn’t have a Farrell in their lives and enters a biker bar by herself, that Will & Harper truly surprises: despite a plethora of pro-GOP signs and flags, the bar’s clientele proves to be far more tolerant and accepting than expected.

That all-too-brief, flickering sign of hope, however, doesn’t last, as a stop at a Texas restaurant goes sideways quickly. Here, finally, Farrell’s celebrity proves no match for the contempt and hatred some feel toward trans people.

It serves as a reminder of how far trans people have come and how far others still have to go before trans people can be fully accepted as their true, authentic selves without judgment, qualification, or reservation.

Will & Harper premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Netflix will release the film later this year on its streaming service.