Netflix is debuting four new holiday rom-coms, adding to an ever-growing collection of original Christmas movies. This year’s slate is truly a gift for anyone who is still obsessed with the pop culture of the early aughts. These festive films feature a couple of Mean Girls in Lindsay Lohan and Lacey Chabert, as well as One Tree Hill favorite Chad Michael Murray doing his best Magic Mike impression. Adding to the nostalgia factor? These merry little Christmas movies also happen to be chock full of clichés that tend to pop up in holiday flicks—but more on that in a second.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]With so many holiday movies to watch and so little time to do so before December 25, how do you choose which one (or maybe two) makes your Christmas watchlist? That’s where we come in. We’ve put together a guide to Netflix’s 2024 holiday rom-coms, ranked from least enjoyable to most, which lays out some of the holiday movie tropes you will encounter should you press play on any of these.
Think of us as your personal elf, here to help you choose which Netflix holiday film isn’t naughty, but nice. Well, maybe just a little naughty since this year’s movies are a whole lot steamier than year’s past. This is thanks in large part to Murray and Schitt’s Creek’s Dustin Milligan, who offers a hot new twist on Frosty the Snowman. ’Tis the season for giving after all.
For fans of: Jack Frost, A Very Nutty Christmas, Elf, The Knight Before Christmas
What’s it about? Kathy, a recently widowed diner owner played by Lacey Chabert, finds herself aiding and abetting Luke (Dustin Milligan), a six-packed snowman who comes to life only to teach her and the lovable eccentrics in her small town how to spread a little joy this holiday season.
Holiday movie tropes:
*Lacey Chabert: Move over Vanessa Hudgens, this Mean Girl is coming for your Netflix holiday crown. Chabert has become one of the true Queens of Christmas, having appeared in more than 30 Hallmark Christmas movies since 2012. Hot Frosty marks her Netflix Original holiday debut—but let’s assume it won’t be her last.
*Deceased family member: Kathy’s handyman husband died from cancer a year ago, and she has been unable to move on. She can’t bring herself to fix their old house, which is in complete shambles, or come up with any new recipes for her restaurant. That is until she meets a very good looking man who thinks he may be a snowman. Always the way, right?
*Christmas magic is real: After Kathy puts a scarf on a very fit snowman, he magically comes to life sans clothes, which results in a very funny streaking scene complete with a well placed, giant scarf that would make Lenny Kravitz jealous. While Kathy isn’t immediately sold on the fact that Luke is a real snowman, her doctor friend (Eastbound & Down’s Katy Mixon) and others have no problem accepting that snow can take on a corporeal form around the holidays. This is all to say, if you are hoping for a more scientific explanation for Luke’s transformation, you’ll be left grasping for candy canes.
*Holiday dance: Luke gets a job helping the local middle school decorate their auditorium for their annual winter ball. In between putting up streamers and balloons, he somehow manages to learn a fully choreographed dance. But the logic here isn’t the real problem, it’s the fact that Luke breaks into a sweat mid-dance. This is a normal occurrence for professional dancers, but it’s no good when you’re a man who was once made entirely of snow.
*Original Christmas song: The Office’s Craig Robinson plays an overly committed sheriff who, during his off hours manages to compose a delightful theme song of sorts for his town, Hope Falls. (To be fair, when you’re in a jurisdiction that hasn’t had a murder in 100 years, you probably have a lot of down time.) If you stay until the credits, you’ll hear a longer version of the track that features Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Joe Lo Truglio, who plays the sheriff’s kind deputy, on backup vocals.
Final verdict: Despite the rom-com’s title, Hot Frosty is a little lukewarm in the romance and comedy department. (Some believe the snowman would have been much hotter if he had a bit more peach fuzz. We’ll let you be the judge of that.) Milligan is a charming fish out of water. Especially, when he’s able to channel his inner Buddy the Elf for some comedy bits that really pay off. (His reaction to Kathy taking the head off a snowman cookie is priceless.) But if you’re looking for a magical holiday film also starring Chabert, you might want to watch Matchmaker Santa instead.
For fans of: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Anyone But You, Four Christmases, Happiest Season
What’s it about? Two longtime friends-turned-exes, played by Lindsay Lohan and Pretty Little Liars’ Ian Harding, show up to the holiday festivities only to discover that their new partners are siblings. The two decide it’s best that they keep their past relationship a secret from everyone. Hilarious holiday high jinks ensue.
Holiday movie tropes:
*Deceased family member: Avery (Lohan) lost her mother when she was on the brink of adulthood, and her childhood best friend Logan (Harding) is convinced that this has led her to run away from her past and, more specifically, from him. He invokes Avery’s late mom a lot throughout the film to play armchair psychologist and judge her decisions. Most notably, he does this in what might be the most cringeworthy going away speech ever. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
*Dysfunctional family gathering: Avery’s boyfriend Cameron (Set It Up’s Jon Rudnitsky) brings her home to meet his picture perfect family, only for it to become very clear very quickly that they are not as normal as they’d like to think they are. (Honestly, the wall lined with their yearly oil painted family portraits would definitely give me pause.) Let’s start with Erica, the bossy blonde matriarch played by Kristin Chenoweth at her most wonderfully unhinged. From the moment Avery arrives, Erica seems to have it out for her. (This whole movie is very Meet the Parents coded.) Erica hates that Avery is dating her favorite child, brought wine with a twist-off cap, and wore jeans to her upscale holiday party. But somehow, it’s Erica’s immature weed gummy-eating youngest son, Callum (Jake Brennan), who becomes Avery’s real enemy. Who doesn’t love a Christmas twist?
*Impossibly upscale kitchen: Erica’s Nancy Meyersesque kitchen is the setting for more than a few great scenes. The best one being when Avery uses Erica’s precious pup as an alibi for her midnight snacking that results in a memorable cameo from Dr. Spaceman himself, Chris Parnell.
*Sassy Grandma: Logan’s grandma (Melinda Tanner) seems to be struggling with her memory, which leads to her making an uncomfortable and unfortunately timed reveal in the final act of the film. What might be more uncomfortable and unfortunate though is the film’s decision to use her dementia as a source of comic relief.
*Secret Santa chaos: Anonymous holiday gift giving lends itself to comedy. The Office proved this with their season 2 episode “Christmas Party.” And Our Little Secret finds a way to squeeze a bit more juice out of a secret present swap gone hilariously wrong.
Final verdict: While there are some comedy set pieces in Our Little Secret that will make you LOL—in particular a church reading gone wrong that allows Lohan to show off why she has always been such a comic dynamo—the film puts so much of its focus on the comedy that it short shrifts the love story. This friends to lovers to enemies back to friends again romance ends up feeling a bit too generic—even for a holiday film.
For fans of: The Full Monty, A Christmas Love Story, The Best Man Holiday, A Christmas Melody
What’s it about? To help save her family’s failing music venue, former dancer Ashley (Britt Robertson) puts together an all male holiday revue led by the small town’s local handyman (Chad Michael Murray).
Holiday movie tropes:
*Fired for Christmas: Ashley may only be 30, but she’s deemed a bit too old for the Jingle Belles, a Rockettes-like dance troupe that performs in New York City throughout the holiday season. Their loss is Sycamore Creek’s gain, since Ashley’s unceremonious canning lands her back in her itty-bitty hometown where she discovers her parents, played by Beth Broderick (Sabrina the Teenage Witch) and Michael Gross (Family Ties), desperately need her help.
*Small town bias: Small town guy Luke (Murray) is not so sure about Ashley, who has spent most of her adult life living in the Big Apple. For those looking for a fun drinking game: take a shot of hot chocolate, spiked with booze or mini-marshmallows, every time he refers to her as a “city girl.”
*Accidental intimacy: Ashley and Luke are just two co-workers until they share a slow dance that would definitely need to be disclosed to HR. This spicy interaction even leads to another holiday romance trope, the interrupted kiss.
*Choreographed dance numbers: From a Chippendales-inspired striptease to a sultry breakdance battle set to a hip-hop remix of “Carol of the Bells,” the Merry Gentlemen—played by Murray, General Hospital’s Marc Anthony Samuel, Power Rangers’ Hector David Jr., dancer Colt Prattes, and Grease 2’s Maxwell Caulfield—get to show off their moves and their abs throughout the film. Let’s guess, you won’t be disappointed.
Final verdict: The Merry Gentlemen is a bit more raunchy than the rest of the movie’s on this list, thanks to all the shirtless pelvic thrusting. But it’s full of both muscles and heart, which makes it a titillating Christmas spectacular for those who are looking to spice things up a little this holiday season.
For fans of: Serendipity, Christmas With You, Love Hard, Something From Tiffany’s
What’s it about? On Christmas Eve, while stuck in an airport lounge, Layla (Christina Milian) believes she has met the man of her dreams (Kofi Siriboe). When she finds herself suddenly single a year later, she attempts to make good on the plan they had to reconnect at a Pentatonix concert in New York City. With help from Teddy (Devale Ellis), a kind Pentatonix-loving personal concierge—think a real life Santa’s elf—she embarks on a wild holiday goosechase to find a last-minute ticket and prove to herself that fate really does exist.
Holiday movie tropes:
*Meet-cute moment: An airport lounge on Christmas Eve is where Layla first meets Siriboe’s James, a caring uncle who loves It’s a Wonderful Life, which is just basic enough to make him adorable. But it might be another guy, the one who Srirachas her quiche (not a euphemism!), that she should be paying closer attention to.
*The wrong one: Layla struggles to see that her ex-boyfriend, who fed her peanuts despite an allergy and most likely killed her pet fish, is no good until she catches him cheating with another woman in the house she owns. Better late than never, right? Unfortunately, this won’t be the last time she puts her focus on the wrong guy.
*Celebrity cameo: All five members of the acapella group Pentatonix—Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Matt Sallee, and Kevin Olusola—play an important role in Meet Me Next Christmas. They are the Greek chorus of the rom-com, giving their take on Layla’s love story. They also don’t mind poking a little fun at self-obsessed pop stars in between musical numbers. The best of which is their new original Christmas song inspired by the film’s title.
*Impromptu holiday performance: In this case, it’s a Christmas-themed lip-sync battle in which the prize is two tickets to the Pentatonix concert. How convenient! While this may feel a little too on the nose for some, it does allow the audience to meet Jordy, Teddy’s cousin and the film’s MVP. Jordy, played by Kalen Allen, has been “Snow Ball blackballed” and is hell bent on helping Layla and Teddy take the top spot by any means necessary. But Jordy has his work cut out for him. As he makes clear, in a hilarious training montage, this competition is not “the Housewives of Canarsie. These are understudies from Dear Evan Hansen and runners up from RuPaul’s Drag Race.” In the end, all you’ll want for Christmas is for Jordy to get his own holiday movie.
Final verdict: Of this year’s holiday slate, Meet Me Next Christmas is the star at the top of the tree. The chemistry between Milian and Ellis is palpable and will have you cheering for them to find their happily ever after. You might also find yourself listening to Pentatonix on repeat this Christmas and every one after.
