The Doc. WILL and HARPER-Buddy Road Trip to Navigate Friendship's Alterations

The seriously funny and revelatory raw feelings expressed between two friends on a cross country buddy trip revealed altered curves and adaptations wrought with new bends in their relationship. Will refers to SNL legend and movie star, Will Ferrell. Harper is Harper Steele, an SNL Emmy winning head-writer. The two met at SNL and became decades long friends and writing partners. Since their SNL days they maintained a friendship now undergoing growing pains after Harper informs Will in a letter of a major life-change. Harper, formerly Andrew Harper, recently transitioned to living as a woman and changed her name to Harper. Will reads the letter verbatim from Harper, registering a stunned and perplexed reaction despite having read it previously. The jest of the letter, and the purported goal for the film is to monitor how the two can or WILL maintain the friendship they heretofore entrusted. As in all documentaries the slant is skewed and should be viewed as seen through a certain lens. Still, all in all, WILL and HARPER is a heartwarming film about friendship and a unique first hand account by Harper of her inner turmoil, what led her to transition and her fulfillment with her decision. The affection and awkwardness between the two as they head from NY to CA with numerous stops at roadside flops along the way, a visit with her sis in IA and some staged stops for entertaining scenarios, shows an abating timidity along with a flourishing bond that is stretched and strengthened, Both Will and Harper are professional comics so their lively banter is clever, credible and enlightening, Harper encourages Will to ask anything of her and she will happily answer him truthfully. She hopes the film will serve helpful to people who are trans, considering becoming trans and for everyone else who know or will meet trans individuals. The doc. aims to spotlight how trans people are perceived in different walks of life, in different locals across the country. However, Will Farrell is a recognizable celebrity (although he's not known at one hilarious pitstop) so he is a buffer to hostile reactions to Harper. There are burning questions that were left unasked that many would want answered. What surgeries have you undergone or plan to have? How did you feel married to a woman and having a family together? What occurred when confronting your wife with your decision? We did see Harper and Will enjoying a meal together with Harper's kids early in their road trip. Overall, I was enchanted and diverted riding along on their journey. In a recent interview Will was asked what his main take away was from their time together. Will said, "I didn't appreciate how much pain and turmoil a person endures who feels they've been misaligned with their sexual identity at birth." This is a thoughtful and uplifting film attesting to empathy and kinship.