Yahoo Movies Which new Netflix Christmas movies are worth watching?
The streaming platform has quickly become the place for Christmas movies, and 2024 was no exception with five original films including one with Lindsay Lohan.
Netflix has become the place to go for your new favourite Christmas movie, and the streaming platform has even built its own universe for that very purpose.
2024 is no exception, with Netflix releasing five new original films —including the streamer's third collaboration with Lindsay Lohan— over the course of the holiday season. Some are fun, some are cheesy and not in a good way, and some just aren't as magical as they seem on paper.
Yahoo has done the research by watching every one to determine which new Netflix Christmas movies are worth you sitting down on the sofa with a cup of hot chocolate for. Read on to learn more.
Our Little Secret
🤫 What is it about?
Lindsay Lohan reunites with Netflix for another festive treat that is different to her 2023 movie Falling for Christmas, in this film she plays Avery whose life was changed ten years earlier when her childhood sweetheart Logan proposed at her leaving party before she moved to London for work. When she refuses him and he says some harsh words the pair split, never to see each other again.
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Until ten years later they bump into each other at their respective new partners' family gathering, turns out their other halves are brother and sister. Avery's new boyfriend is a mummy's boy whose matriarch (Kristen Chenoweth) has it in for her before they've even entered the house, and desperate to win her approval she asks Logan not to reveal the truth of their past which he agrees to... if she helps him in turn.
🔥 Is it worth watching?
100%, yes. Our Little Secret is probably the best of the 2024 Netflix releases, its easy-to-watch, fun and just the perfect amount of cheesy.
True, Logan is a walking red flag most of the time but Ian Harding has good chemistry with Lohan, who is in her element as Avery and gives her an easy charm. The bonus is Kristen Chenoweth, who is delightfully camp as Erica.
The Merry Gentlemen
🕺 What is it about?
The Merry Gentlemen follows Broadway dancer Ashley (Britt Robertson) who returns home after being fired from her festive show in favour of younger talent. When she arrives she learns her parents' bar is under threat of foreclosure so she decides to... oh who am I kidding, anyone watching this film is not doing it for the plot it's to see Chad Michael Murray take his shirt off — and Netflix know that too.
🤔 Is it worth watching?
For all the shirtless scenes and gyrating dance moves Murray pulls out of the bag this is not nearly as good a film as viewers might be hoping for.
The Merry Gentlemen is fine, it'll be an easy way to pass an hour and a half while putting the decorations up or to just turn your brain off, but it isn't that interesting. Ashley and Murray's Luke have some chemistry, but the plot around them falling in love is lacklustre at best, and as for the dancing, well, it's no Magic Mike.
That Christmas
🎄What is it about?
Netflix's 2024 family film is That Christmas, an animated movie co-written by Richard Curtis that follows a group of kids who must save the festive holiday in their seaside town when their parents are kept away by a snow storm. It has everything from climate change jokes to debates on veganism, and it also presents different family dynamics like the relationship between a newly single mother and her son.
👧 Is it worth watching?
That Christmas is a good film to park your kids in front of for a while, but it's unlikely to be one that they want to return to again and again like Moana or How to Train Your Dragon (which, ironically, director Simon Otto worked on as Head of character animation).
Don't be fooled by the involvement of Curtis, this isn't an instant classic like Love Actually it's an average Christmas movie with good heart and a strong moral message but not much else that makes it memorable.
Hot Frosty
☃️ What is it about?
When widow Kathy Barrett (Lacey Chabert) is gifted a scarf (one could say a magical scarf) she decides to give it to a well sculpted snowman only for it to bring him to life. Jack Snowman (Dustin Milligan) is so grateful to Kathy he immediately falls in love, and as he tries to win her over she has to find a way to assimilate him into normal life all while avoiding the local police who begin to find him suspicious.
🔥 Is it worth watching?
Much like The Merry Gentlemen viewers will be not be coming here for the plot but for the basic premise that it's about a hot snowman coming to life. Milligan fulfils that duty tenfold with a plethora of shirtless scenes and amusing sexual innuendos, but the good news is there's more to Hot Frosty than just that.
It is incredibly fun because everyone in the cast is committed to the bit, they know the movie is ridiculous and they're ready to act the heck out of the script anyway which just makes it even funnier. If you pick one "hot" Christmas movie this year, make it this one.
Meet Me Next Christmas
🎵 What is it about?
Every year Layla (Christina Milian) spends Christmas Eve watching her favourite pop group perform, and when she meets a charming man at the airport whilst waiting for a snow storm to die down they agree to meet each other the next year at the concert should they both be single. When she breaks up with her cheating boyfriend right before Christmas a year later she suddenly remembers the promise, and tries desperately to get a ticket last minute to the sold out show.
👎 Is it worth watching?
In short, no. Meet Me Next Christmas is cheesy in a bad way, it is full of stilted performances and awkward dialogue that the cast seemingly struggle to make sound realistic. There's a love triangle brewing between Layla, her mystery airport meet-cute James (Kofi Siriboe) and the man hired to help her get a ticket to the concert, Teddy (Devale Ellis), but it's all rather dull.
To complain about predictability in a Christmas movie seems disingenuous, but films can be predictable whilst also being entertaining and sadly Meet Me Next Christmas is not that, despite its best efforts.
Our Little Secret, Hot Frosty, The Merry Gentlemen, Meet Me Next Christmas are all available to watch now on Netflix, That Christmas will be released on Wednesday, 4 December.
