Love Teen Actually
With Christmas fast approaching and adverts already on TV (in November!), it comes as no surprise that the streaming giant has begun its yearly slew of holiday movies. Let It Snow is one of Netflix’s latest Christmas additions, trying its best to stand out among the myriad of different titles available to get you in the holiday spirit. Loosely based on the novel with the same name, Let It Snow offers up three different, intertwining stories. It’s a clever idea that has worked before, especially when you look at films like Love Actually. While the different plots and characters hit the right Christmas-themed spot, it fails to really offer anything original and ultimately becomes all too predictable at times.
The story revolves around 3 teenagers as they deal with a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. Tobin is struggling to tell his childhood friend “The Duke” how he feels. Dorrie is trying to deal with her girl crush while juggling her best friend’s drama while Julie has a hard life decision to make after meeting famous singer Stuart on the train. All three stories cross paths, leading to the expected happy ending often found in Christmas movies.
Taking a leaf out of Love Actually’s book, Let It Snow does its best to recreate some of its magic, with all of our stories and characters converging at different points in the film. One in particular feels quite similar, as the ordinary girl meets and falls for someone famous just like in Love Actually with Natalie and the Prime Minister. However, it doesn’t quite reach the same memorable heights as that Christmas classic thanks to the lack of originality and multiple clichéd tropes.
Being a Christmas movie, Let It Snow does have a lot of charming moments but also some witty dialogue too. The cast includes quite a lot of familiar faces when it comes to the teens and while some do a decent job with their characters, others are quite bland and fail to impress. Joan Cusack, the crazy tin lady driving the snow-plough, is a fun addition though but it would have been even better to know what her back story is despite being hinted at during the movie.
There are some very formulaic themes touched on here too; the two childhood best friends falling in love is one such example. Those plots feel very predictable and while it might appeal more to the young adult demographic, Let It Snow will probably not become a memorable movie for most of its general audience.
Let It Snow is not a bad Christmas movie; it has some charming and amusing moments and the characters are quite likable. However, with the ever-growing holiday movie library, including Home Alone, Jingle All The Way and even The Polar Express, it was always going to be a difficult task to make waves and stand out. Let It Snow tries to be a teenage Love Actually but doesn’t quite achieve this feat. Still, for people looking for an easy-to-watch young adult Christmas movie, Let It Snow is worth a watch but it’s unlikely to melt as many hearts as it perhaps should.
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