Based on the young adult novel of the same name, 'Let It Snow' has strong 'Love Actually' vibes from the get-go. Its various storylines follow high school students who are interconnected by love, as friends or as co-workers. A snowstorm ends up impacting all their lives when it hits their small mid-western town.
While 'Let it Snow' is technically not the first Christmas movie to arrive on Netflix - that honour goes to *groans* 'A Bad Moms Christmas' - it is the first Netflix original Christmas movie. This year that is. Last year saw the likes of 'The Christmas Chronicles' with Kurt Russell, 'The Princess Switch' with Vanessa Hudgens, 'The Christmas Prince' and 'The Holiday Calendar' hit the service. This year we can look forward to such titles as 'Klaus' and 'The Knight Before Christmas' (also starring Hudgens).
Here are some storylines from 'Let It Snow' to give you an idea of what we're dealing with. Jubilee (Isabela Merced - 'Instant Family', 'Dora and the Lost City of Gold') has been accepted into Columbia University; however her mother is very sick and she isn't allowed to defer. She runs into Stuart (Shameik Moore - 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'), a bestselling singer who's a bit like Justin Bieber before he hated his fans. Jubilee despises Stuart initially, in spite of him seeming like a lovely young man. Eventually the two end up bob sledding and he meets her parents.
Elsewhere there's Dorrie (Liv Hewson - 'Santa Clarita Diet'), who works in a Waffle House and the girl she spent the best night of her life with has just walked in with her cheerleading squad. Dorrie's co-worker, Keon, hopes to throw a party in their workplace during the snowstorm. He's also pushing his mate Tobin (Mitchell Hope from 'The Descendants') to admit his feelings for The Duke (Kiernan Shipka of 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' fame). So he's basically playing the same character he did in 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' and 'Far From Home'.
You've also got Addie (Odeya Rush - 'Dumplin', 'Goosebumps'), who's fighting with Liv and paranoid her boyfriend is going to cheat on her. She ends up running into Joan Cusack's character, a lady who wears a tinfoil hat and jacket for reasons that are never explained, which admittedly is kind of brilliant.
There's a singsong in a church, someone ends up in weird clothes; the bullies get their keg stolen; the waffle house where the characters work has lost it's 'w', inspiring its employees to call it the 'awful house'. In the end, there's resolution to all the conflicts and a lot of kissing.
Generally, it's predictable, formulaic, lame and cheesy - containing all the ingredients of your typical Christmas film. You have to admit, we usually let bad holiday movies off the hook because they're full of seasonal spirit. And who wants to be accused of being a Grinch? For what it's worth, thanks to a proficient director in Luke Snellin (he's directed episodes of 'Wanderlust' with Toni Collette and 'Temple' with Mark Strong) and a talented young cast, 'Let It Snow' ends up being A-OK. Let's just say it's far from the worst Netflix has produced. Here's hoping its other Christmas productions are as enjoyable or, dare one hope it, really good.
