Will Farrell is a rather divisive figure in entertainment. The mere mention of the man’s name can elicit a pretty powerful reaction, either enthusiastic fandom or deep, deep annoyance.

Myself, I’m a Will Ferrell fan to an extent. I like him in Elf, Step Brothers, and the very offbeat Stranger Than Fiction. Count me in the Pro-Ferrell constituency, and I think if you care about trans issues from one actual trans person’s perspective and how a friend can be an ally, then Will & Harper just might win over even the most ardent Ferrellphobe.

Will & Harper, currently streaming on Netflix, is a documentary featuring longtime Saturday Night Live writer/head writer Harper Steele, and her gender transition. Ferrell and Steele met in the mid-90s at SNL and quickly became close friends. I am a comedy nerd so I knew who Steele was (one of the best head writers in their storied history) but many probably do not. While Ferrell is the most famous of the two, Steele is the star of her own story here.

It’s quite a clever idea for a story. Steele transitioned during the pandemic and sent out emails and other messages to friends, family, etc. to let them know that she is no longer a he, but in fact a she. In one of the many moving scenes in the film, Steele talks about the apprehension she felt letting the world know what had just happened. As you might have noticed, a large portion of our society has declared war on trans folks, and I can only imagine how much it might hurt if a person in your life reacted negatively.

The supporting players in this story are Ferrell and America itself. Ferrell receives the email and instantly reaches out to his friend with support. But he also is unsure how to be a good ally. That is also part of the tale, how a straight white cis person can be an ally, and how an important part is admitting when you are not sure and being open to learning.

America, meanwhile, has a supporting role not just in its usual typecasting as a truly beautiful place to exist (the cinematography is excellent), but also as a decidedly mixed bag when it comes to empathy and true equality. The documentary offers us an idea of what a fully accepting America might look like. More on that in a moment.

Back to Steele being the star of her own story, one big point the documentary gets across is trans people really do not decide to transition on a whim. Her outlining of her story, which I won’t go into much here because it is her story, makes it clear this is not something she took lightly. The tale she tells is no doubt familiar to a lot of trans folks. Feeling like something wasn’t right with her when she was a boy growing up in Iowa, hearing friends say hateful things about LGBTQ+ people, and so on. But what she did to try to feel like her true self in her pre-transition years is striking and might be a bit shocking to non-trans people, along with deeply sad.

But now, Steele feels like she is herself, and part of the road trip story is her hashing out the road to her transition, the transition itself, and how she feels today. Ferrell asks her plenty of questions, including those focused on being a true ally. We see him get to be one when a waitress misgenders Steele, and Ferrell kindly and quietly corrects the waitress. In one scene, in Indiana, the two friends meet another trans person who transitioned later in life, and the woman shared stories of her transition, including how her still “masculine” voice upset her until she accepted that it’s society’s problem for not accepting it, but to her, that’s how she sounds. Ferrell seems to be listening to this conversation intently, and mostly being quiet.

However, allies can make mistakes, and in one particular instance, we see how mistakes can come about when you forget the reality of the nation we live in.

For the first part of the documentary, we witness moving moments in places you might not expect. Steele was a “man’s man” so to speak who loved cheap beer, dive bars, sports, dirt track racing, and working-class rural diners. She wonders if she can still enjoy those things, and we witness the two of them attending an NBA game in Indiana and a dirt track race, plus a visit to a very Trumpy rural dive where Steele insists on visiting by herself with Ferrell waiting outside.

For the most part, these scenes are rather heartwarming and give us a glimpse of what America should and could be. In the dive, while some patrons give her the sideeye, after a while much of the bar is hanging out with them. Two Native Americans even came over to do a traditional song for her (as someone who was on a powwow drum, that the guy drumming did a crowhop beat on an upside-down beer bucket was priceless). At the dirt track, a father with his son tells Steele not to be afraid, she has a right to do what she enjoys.

And then, we get a brutal wake-up call. I should add that the movie is very funny in spots, given it’s two comic minds in a car. But in one case, Ferrell’s dedication to a ridiculous bit ends up backfiring horribly. They visit one of those “eat a giant steak and get it free” joints in Texas, and for no reason other than this is Will Ferrell, he decides to dress up like Sherlock Holmes. This draws a lot of attention to them, and a lot of nasty looks, and we then see all the horribleness on (where else) social media. Ferrell is clearly shaken by this and apologizes to Steele. The lesson here is, to me anyway, mistakes can happen when you forget what kind of society we have.

Fortunately for both Steele and Ferrell, the rest of the comedy doesn’t cause such grave consequences. A running gag where Ferrell pouts about not going to Dunkin Donuts is endearing because it gives us a glimpse of the two’s friendship, but it’s also pretty funny. They decide to go out for a fancy dinner in Las Vegas, and the camera follows Steele to a Goodwill where she looks for a dress and finds a really nice one that she looks great in (looking for clothes and doing makeup and how that can be a challenge for a trans person is side story here as well). Ferrell, meanwhile, goes to a costume store, and no spoilers, you have to watch the doc to see how he looks.

Oh, and there are Pringles. What do Pringles have to do with anything? Sorry, have to watch it to find out.

The butt of the jokes is always Ferrell, and you get a sense that this is how it’s been for these two long-time friends. In the end, that’s part of the power of Will & Harper. Similar to Tim Walz, Ferrell offers an avatar for middle-aged and older men on how being a decent person on LGBTQ+ doesn’t mean you are no longer a “real man,” whatever the hell that means. Steele takes her old friend on a journey to see the world through her eyes; what is the same for her, what is different, and how no matter how hard it was to do and how long and difficult the path, all of it was truly worth it.

And it also makes a very strong point, about what our society could be like in the future if only we lose the ugliness of the present.

That last word goes to ANOHNI and the Johnsons, the trans musician who put out an all-time great album last year, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross.