Hot Frosty (2024)

December 4, 2024 5:31 PM

Widow Kathy (Lacey Chabert) magically brings a snowman, Jack (Dustin Milligan), to life. His innocence helps her heal and find love again. They bond before the holidays, but he's doomed to melt. Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti and written by Russell Hainline. Streaming on Netflix.
posted by edencosmic (11 comments total)

My friend asked me twice in two weeks if I'd watched this yet and I promised her I would. It's mostly the movie you expect, but it also has a decent amount of weirdness that makes it delightful.

Milligan gives such a loose and fearless performance. He's having fun. Chabert is a sweetheart and I felt weirdly taken in by the emotions of this movie.

It's not a masterpiece of cinema or anything -- it's still a Netflix Christmas movie -- but I liked it much more than I expected. It's now in my Christmas movie rotation. I'm glad my friend convinced me to watch it.
posted by edencosmic at 5:34 PM on December 4 [5 favorites]

The screenwriter wrote a review in Letterboxd and it's delightful.
posted by Omon Ra at 5:53 PM on December 4 [4 favorites]

We enjoyed it just fine. It’s a movie that knows exactly what it is and just goes with it. Good, uncomplicated, seasonal fun.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:17 PM on December 4 [4 favorites]

also on the blue
posted by chavenet at 6:40 AM on December 5

The Pitch Meeting video for this is hilarious.
posted by ceejaytee at 10:43 AM on December 5 [6 favorites]

IMO, the pitch meeting is better than the actual movie. They had an idea but had no idea what to do with it, or how to end it. Whatever. It's a silly holiday movie, and makes about as much sense as the Frosty the Snowman cartoon.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:49 AM on December 6 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed the meta-ness of the 'she looks like a girl I went to high school with' joke and the way that signalled exactly how seriously you are intended to take this movie (in case the title and everything else hadn't already done that).
posted by nangua at 2:25 PM on December 6 [2 favorites]

You know what? I unexpectedly enjoyed it without reservation.

I do think it would be a fun double-feature with Poor Things, just to contrast the two different directions a film can go with basically identical concepts.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 8:30 AM on December 8

So a couple things not mentioned above. Like a lot of these Christmas romances this one is made in Canada but this one in particular is made in the small town of Brockville Ontario (home to Canada's first rail tunnel, sadly not featured in the film) which I don't think any others have been, certainly none that feature the cute downtown as much as this one. This movie is directed by Jerry Ciccoritti, probably better known by normal people for his massive work on many Canadian made shows (Schitts Creek most Americans would know). However... he is also director of one of the great Canadian cult films Psycho Girls and the less perfect Graveyard Shift 1 & 2.

So saying that, I did enjoy this dumb film more than I care to admit (hey my tax dollars funded this so I have to watch it). And we made my kid watch it and they were deeply embarrassed for us, themselves and our fellow Canadians. My only complaint - hardly any Snowman body horror.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:49 PM on December 8

I saw this under possibly the best circumstances: we really wanted to watch a new holiday movie and had just bounced off of both Dear Santa and Nutcrackers.

This was familiar but not crassly rote, and had a silly premise that was presented unironically/cheerfully. It's bad, but in a knowing, harmless way, not a cynical agents-and-algorithms-fucking-hate-you way.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:30 AM on December 11

"How does soup sound?" is now a frequently-reused gag in our house.

Very silly, very enjoyable.
posted by k3ninho at 4:19 PM on December 11