‘Hot Frosty’ is the best Netflix holiday movie: It’s worth your time

Like everyone else, when I first saw the trailer for Netflix’s “Hot Frosty” — about a snowman who comes to life charming a single woman in a small town – I groaned and giggled at the same time. It felt like a parody of the cheesy Christmas TV movie genre, the kind of simplistic, home-for-the-holiday fun that Hallmark has long championed and that Netflix has successfully showcased to younger audiences over the past handful of years. I figured I’d half-watch at some point, while also taking in a little holiday cheer when doom-scrolling got a little too bleak.

Well.

I finally watched the 90-minute smash starring Dustin Milligan as the titular Frosty and Lacey Chabert, and while it won’t win any Emmys, it’s a sweet, surprisingly charming outing that should be able to entertain both your parents and all the teenagers in your life this holiday season. (I suppose this is the part where I tell you that I’ve watched nearly every Netflix Christmas movie since the streamer first dipped its toe in the viral waters with “The Christmas Prince” back in 2017; I find “Princess Switch” -the films starring Vanessa Hudgens are particularly lovely.)

Briefly: Chabert plays Kathy, a widow who lives in Hope Springs (perfect) and is upset this holiday season because she is all alone. As she wanders past all the snowmen on display for a competition in the town square, she wraps a red scarf that a busy neighbor gave her around one of the snow statues. Smash cut to the next morning and that snowman is a very alive, very warm… man. Hijinks – and a whole lot of sexual tension – ensue.

Sure, it’s silly, and if you hate fun, this one definitely won’t be for you. But it’s not that much weirder than the log line for any beloved holiday classic, whether it’s an elf from the North Pole heading to NYC or a distraught mother who forgets one of her children at home before a long trip. I won’t spoil how this one ends, but like those favorites, it also has a timely, sweet message; this one about welcoming love into your life, no matter how long or inconvenient.

One of my favorite things about this movie (besides the higher-than-expected production values, thanks to director Jerry Ciccoritti and team), is how deeply committed everyone is to the silly premise, especially Chabert as a woman open to starting over with love again and never expected it to be with a man like Jack, who claims to be a snowman and can’t be indoors for too long – because he might start to meltduh. She’s a woman on the verge… of wanting to fuck a snowman, a fact she plays with matter-of-fact sincerity and exactly zero winks to the camera. (Well, maybe just the one.) Another delight is Craig Robinson as the antagonist/police chief, a law-and-order tyrant who wants to catch Jack for stealing some clothes when he first came to life one day.

A purposefully ridiculous plot is not an easy thing to do; Netflix’s other big offering this year, “The Merry Gentlemen” — about putting on a strip show to save the town’s music hall — is particularly cruel. “Hot Frosty’s” screenplay by Russell Hainline doesn’t get bogged down in any kind of detailed explanations or world-building: Jack used to be made of snow, he’s incredibly attractive, and everyone in this small town is fine (and weirdly horny) about it. How did it happen? Don’t worry! How did he learn to speak? Don’t know! Isn’t the power dynamic between a literally brand new human male and a grown female a little troubling? I swear to God I don’t care!!

“Hot Frosty” substitutes subplots for joy; focus on tentative romance instead of something flashier. But by the end of its run, I was really pulling for Kathy and Jack to make it work. After all, they may not share the same body temperature(!), but if holiday TV movies have taught me anything, it’s that love, with the help of some hand-waving holiday spirit, can overcome almost anything.

That’s what I call Christmas magic.

“Hot Frosty” is now streaming on Netflix.