Fix: Holiday Rom-Com, Lindsay Lohanissance, You’ve Run Out of Hallmark Movies to Watch, SNL Alums
Platform: Netflix
Netflix Summary:
Ten years after a botched proposal, two star-crossed exes must spend Christmas together after discovering their partners are siblings. Awkward much?
FYA Summary:
Avery (Lindsay Lohan) and Logan (Ezra Fitz Ian Harding) used to date 10 years ago. They haven’t spoken since Logan tried to keep Avery from moving to London by proposing, but they’ve found themselves together again for the Christmas holidays, thanks to the fact that the new people they’re dating are siblings. They make a pact to pretend like they don’t know each other, but as Christmas Day gets closer, everything seems to be bringing them together again.
Familiar Faces:
Lindsay Lohan as Avery
Although this isn’t her first foray back into the limelight, I am glad that Lohan is continuing her Lohannaissance with another holiday film. I didn’t find her particularly great in the role of Avery—she’s not a super likable character even though she’s supposed to be?—and there was a severe lack of chemistry with Harding. I like her more when she’s acting as a spoiled socialite with amnesia. She looks fantastic, though!
Ian Harding as Logan
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Harding in anything else—sorry Pretty Little Liars fans—but he played the generically hot, charmingly sweet Logan to a T.
Kristin Chenoweth as Erica
Even when playing a terrible stereotype of an overbearing mother-in-law, Chenoweth can do no wrong. Although I kind of hated Erica, Chenoweth was perfection in the role. (And by far the best gimmick in the movie involved her and some uncanny portraits.)
Chris Parnell and Tim Meadows also had bit parts in the movie—do you think former SNL actors have contractual obligations to be hired in multiples?
Couch-Sharing Capability: No Awkward-Avoiders Allowed
This movie gets awkward in ways that would make even the most stoic of individuals flinch. My husband had to leave the room more than once while we were watching. (I owe him for watching this movie with me, for sure.) So be sure to warn anyone you might be watching that this film isn’t a feel-good holiday romp. It’s an uncomfortable one.
Recommended Level of Inebriation: Bring the Screw-Top Wine
I could have suggested egg nog or mulled cider to keep with the holiday theme, but there’s a funny moment in the film that involves a bottle of screw-top wine. So unscrew those babies and enjoy.
Use of Your Streaming Subscription: Dregs
I was hoping Our Little Secret would be a fun time at the movies on the couch, but I was sorely disappointed. The movie could have been set at any other time of the year; Christmas was just a vehicle for the meet (again) cute and barely factored into the film. The characters were flat and lacked any chemistry, and even the divine Ms. Chenoweth couldn’t save it from itself. If you’re really in need of one more holiday film, you could give this one a go, but I wouldn’t recommend putting it high on your Christmas list.
I wish I had been able to read this before I watched this two weeks ago, lol. It was as bad as you said; the chemistry was nonexistent and the “reason” they had to pretend to not know each other was so flimsy, and by the time they had to reveal it, it was SO AWKWARD. I cannot believe how long she committed to the dog eating the cookies incident! Kristen was definitely my favorite part of the movie, but even then, yes, her character sucked too. I should’ve turned it off when they started the incredibly long “here’s what happened in the ten years since they hung out” montage of real-life events. That was so random!
The montage! I completely forgot to mention that in this post. Whose job was it to choose those events?!?