If You Watch One Holiday Movie This Weekend: Netflix’s Hot Frosty Is Our Pick

Mandi Bierly

14 November 2024 at 9:30 am·6-min read

With Hallmark Channel’s annual Countdown to Christmas and Lifetime’s It’s a Wonderful Lifetime now in full swing, and Netflix and other networks loading their sleighs, we’re here once again to help you choose between the season’s many offerings. Each Thursday, we’ll spotlight the original holiday romance that should be at the top of your weekend list and preview why other debuts will make you merry.

THE ONE TO WATCH

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Hot Frosty
(Streaming now on Netflix)

Hallmark queen Lacey Chabert’s first holiday movie for Netflix is a sweet PG fairytale, even if it features multiple women lusting after a snowman (Schitt’s Creek’s Dustin Milligan) magically brought to life. Widow Kathy (Chabert, at her best) places a red scarf on a chiseled entry in Hope Springs’ snow sculpture competition that turns it to flesh. Knowing that the overzealous sheriff (Craig Robinson) is hunting for the man who streaked naked across town and broke into a shop to steal clothing, Kathy encourages “Jack” to hide out at her place. But like the mermaid in Splash, he’s a fast learner, and TV tutorials (and Jack repairing Kathy’s roof shirtless) turn him into an in-demand handyman with a job offer at the middle school ahead of its Christmas dance. “I could wake up tomorrow and be a puddle,” Jack tells a concerned Kathy, who’s stuck in survival mode herself. “So, I just want to make the most of the time that I have while I’m here.”

Chabert and Milligan are perfectly cast. Both exude a kindhearted innocence that not only allows you to believe their characters would be quick to trust, but also makes their conversations about Kathy needing to learn how to love and care for herself again (and the emotional risks of their deepening friendship) all the more poignant. There are Mean Girls Easter eggs, a Pretty Woman homage, and an It’s a Wonderful Life-style climax to enjoy. You’ll definitely laugh and, anyone who’s ever teared up during Frosty the Snowman’s greenhouse scene, may cry. Watching through the credits, for bloopers and a musical performance from Robinson and onscreen cohort Joe Lo Truglio, is highly recommended.

Runner-Up: Style Me for Christmas

Our runner-up pick, Style Me for Christmas (streaming now), may be BET+’s best holiday movie to date. Raven Goodwin stars as Tiffany, a fashion designer who’s about to lose the Atlanta boutique she inherited from her mother when the pseudo-momager of playboy R&B singer Tedee Maxwell (frequently bare-chested Mario “Mario” Barrett) decides the best way to boost sales for his holiday album is to have him linked to a nice Mrs. Claus. She hires Tiffany to be Tedee’s seasonal stylist, and the two become friends — and possibly more — much to the annoyance of Tedee’s influencer ex, Nicole (Sincerely Ward). A month into the predictable holiday movie season, it’s so nice to see people enjoy themselves on a party dance floor because the music playing isn’t carols; watch a villain get her comeuppance but not redemption; and howl when someone (scene-stealer Vena “Pretty Vee” Excell as Tiffany’s ride-or-die Ray’ah) does a test-grind on Tedee’s couch. The soundtrack is great. The message — you are enough, and you’re worth it — is real.

The Best of the Rest…

Jingle Bell Run (premieres Saturday, Nov. 16 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel)
Ashley Williams and Andrew W. Walker couldn’t have picked a more fun plot for their first pairing, playing brain-and-brawn strangers partnered for a Christmas-themed competition series reminiscent of The Amazing Race. As contestants on The Great Holiday Dash, bookworm elementary teacher Avery and conceited, retired hockey star Wes slowly learn to value their differences and bring out the best in each other. But what happens when Avery finds out the show’s producer asked Wes to flirt with her for ratings?

Christmas at Plumhill Manor (premieres Saturday, Nov. 16 at 8 pm on Lifetime)
Lifetime’s first original of the season stars Maria Menounos as hot-shot New York architect Margot Stone, who’s forced to spend a week in the English country estate she’s inherited from a relative fond of scavenger hunts before deciding whether to be the Lady of the manor or sell it. A romance with plum-cider brewer Thomas (Kyle Pryor), the handsome son of the longtime groundskeeper, heats up quickly. Come for her ogling him as he chops wood, stay for the rare (off-screen) sex scene!

A Christmas Less Traveled (premieres Saturday, Nov. 16 at 8 pm on Great American Family)
This heartwarming tearjerker will keep you guessing till the end. While preparing to sell her late father’s classic red truck to save her New York state diner, Desi (Candace Cameron Bure) discovers a cassette that sends her on a holiday road trip to meet people from his past who can help her move forward. Uptight stranger Greyson (Eric Johnson) hitches a ride, asking questions about her dad for reasons unknown and doing some growing of his own. Plus, a tiny dog in a sweater!

A Reason for the Season (premieres Thursday, Nov. 14 at 8 pm and repeats Sunday, Nov. 17 at 6 pm on Hallmark Mystery)
Another sentimental goose chase: To earn her trust fund, spoiled daughter of a billionaire Evie (Taylor Cole) must return undercover to the small town where she was born, find the people who helped save her life that fateful Christmas Eve 30+ years ago, and grant them Christmas wishes to repay their kindness. She enlists local attorney/most eligible bachelor Kyle (Kevin McGarry) and finds love along with a new sense of purpose.

Christmas With the Singhs (premieres Friday, Nov. 15 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel)
A year after former high school classmates Jake O’Brien (Ben Hollingsworth), a jock-turned-sports reporter, and Asha Singh (Anuja Joshi), his tutor-turned-nurse practitioner, reconnect in the ER, the newly engaged couple head home for the holidays to meet the parents. The examples of culture clash are trite, but the scenes between Asha and her father (Manoj Sood), her dad and Jake, and her father and Jake’s pop (Greg Rogers) are genuinely touching.

Unwrapping Christmas: Mia’s Prince (streaming now on Hallmark+)
In the second film of the four-part Unwrapping Christmas collection, gift-wrap store accountant Mia (Kathryn Davis) wants to focus on planning the gala and saving up to buy a $6,000 original copy of her favorite holiday romance novel. Meeting smitten heir Beau Cavannagh (Nathan Witte), whose mother is pressuring him to marry someone she deems more suitable, complicates things.

Holiday in Happy Hollow (premieres Sunday, Nov. 17 at 8 pm on Lifetime)
To build the hotel that completes her 10-year plan, real estate developer Gracie (Tamara Almeida) must find the winners of a 1965 raffle that awarded one-foot plots on the Christmas tree farm her company has acquired and convince them to sign over the deeds. The search, aided by local historian Jack (Cody Ray Thompson), unexpectedly involves learning about traditions like Danes throwing cinnamon on single 25-year-olds and Mexico’s Night of the Radishes.

Confessions of a Christmas Letter (premieres Sunday, Nov. 17 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel)
This feels even more far-fetched than Hot Frosty! Obsessed with finally making it on to her town’s holiday letter Hall of Fame wall, matriarch Settie Rose (Angela Kinsey) pays for her favorite young novelist, Juan (Alec Santos), to travel from Puerto Rico to Holly Hills to spend two weeks with her family and ghost-write a winning letter. He also reluctantly agrees to pose as her actress daughter Lily’s (Lillian Doucet- Roche) fiancé after he experiences Settie’s Queen Bee nemesis for himself. Consider this your reminder to appreciate your imperfect, loving family as they are.

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