Lindsay Lohan’s holiday Netflix rom-coms are becoming a great new tradition. His 2022 effort, Fall on Christmasit was the fast paced classics and romances of this year’s St. Patrick’s Fantasy The Irish Wish it was funny and entertaining in equal measure. Lohan is an excellent performer in the sweet genre that doesn’t focus too much on imagination and is especially good at portraying troubled, annoying women who become kind over the course of the story. So it’s disappointing to admit that Our Little SecretLohan’s latest holiday film, doesn’t give the actress her due.
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OUR LITTLE SECRET ★★ (2/4 stars) |
Lohan plays Avery, a beautiful girl with clean hair and no defining features. Avery grows up with Logan (a well-done Ian Harding), her best friend and boyfriend who eventually ends their relationship when she decides to move to London after her mother’s death. Ten years go by without any contact between the two—until they accidentally end up spending Christmas in the same house. Logan is now dating the vapid, similarly nondescript Cassie (Katie Baker) and Avery is paired with Cameron (Jon Rudnitsky), a decent guy who continues to fan his childhood flame Sophie (Ash Santos). Cassie and Cameron end up being siblings, but instead of acknowledging their past Avery and Logan act like they just met. And what could go wrong?
Answer: a few things, but not enough to make a compelling rom-com. In another version of this movie, there are hijinks that are much funnier than they appear Our Little Secret. Avery is up against Cameron’s overbearing mother Erica (Kristin Chenoweth, also fulfilling her Netflix contract) and her small, annoying dog. This leads to several conflicts, including Avery accidentally anointing himself with pot bellies before a church service, but these scenes don’t live up to the plastic baby Jesus in the church manger. Later, while stoned, Avery eats a bunch of chocolate chip cookies that Erica kept and blames the dog, who has to be rushed to the vet despite being fine. The result is more depressing than silly, even when Lohan and Chenoweth are playing together.
There’s a subplot about family friend Stan (Tim Meadows) who needs help with a development project, so Logan spends most of the film working on the proposal at the kitchen counter. He and Avery bond over this proposal, not the stuff of romantic love or holiday fun, and those scenes drag without interest. There’s another episode involving Erica’s husband Leonard (Dan Bucatinsky) and Stan’s wife Margaret (Judy Reyes) that isn’t related to the story, but seems to hold the keys to expanding the cast. As did the inclusion of Henry Czerny as Avery’s father in several scenes. The screenplay, from Hailey DeDominicis, doesn’t have the jolts you’d expect from a light-hearted holiday movie. Sure, there are a few genuinely emotional moments and Lohan gives Avery as much dimension as possible, but there’s only so much she and Chenoweth can do to make things right.
At the core of the film, there’s a sweetness in the relationship between Avery and Logan, enhanced by director Stephen Herek’s clever bookkeeping choices in animated interpretation. He’s fighting for a couple from the get-go and Harding, which he’s known for Pretty Little Liarshe is the best man in love. He backs Avery up with his accidental superiority, but the film could have benefited from more of their history. It’s an odd choice of narrative to think that anyone would care if they admitted that they were once partners. Making that a big secret kills the story’s tension, especially since some of the characters are keeping real, revealing secrets. Next Christmas, Lohan should push for something like that Hot Frostyacknowledging its silliness without sacrificing the warm, cozy feelings of the holidays.
