Stream It or Skip It: ‘Let It Snow’ on Netflix Is Like ‘Love Actually’ with Teens

Netflix’s monthlong celebration of all things Christmas continues with the release of Let It Snow, an atypical holiday movie starring Isabela Moner, Shameik Moore, Kiernan Shipka, and Joan Cusack that has a lot of heart and a bit of a naughty streak. 

LET IT SNOW: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: A bunch of high school seniors deal with major life moments (breakups! makeups! make-outs!), all set against the backdrop of a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. The film also has legit YA cred, as it’s based on the 2008 novel Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The structure, which hops around from one romcom plot to another, is exactly the kind pioneered by Love Actually. So if you take the teen vibe of Love Simon, drop them into Love Actually, and you get Let It Snow (a.k.a. Actually Love Simon?).

Performance Worth Watching: The young cast is full of standouts, including an effortlessly cool performance from Shameik Moore as a lonely pop star and Spider-Man’s best bud Jacob Batalon as a wannabe DJ. But I gotta give the MVP award to the adult in the room, Joan Cusack, who plays a tinfoil-wearing tow truck driver that doles out good advice and off-kilter glares in equal measure.

Memorable Dialogue: It’s a tie between Kiernan Shipka ditching her Sabrina persona and grunting “Imma get my face in that cheese!” with frat boy-esque gusto, and Isabela Moner (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) saying, “Snow hides a lot. It’s like the Spanx of weather.”

Sex and Skin: You’re not getting either in this movie, but that doesn’t mean these teens are chaste. There are way more make-out moments in this ensemble film than in any of the typical, comparatively puritanical Hallmark and Netflix romcoms.

Our Take: There is a tried-and-true formula to pretty much every made-for-TV/streaming holiday movie, and it’s one that can work well if the talent adds some zest to the predictable plot. Let It Snow, to my delight, does not follow that formula. Instead, with it’s large ensemble and vignette-style format, it feels way more in line with Love Actually and The Family Stone, and even has shades of classics like A Christmas Story and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. For example, Tobin, a 21st century skater teen played with good guy sincerity by Mitchell Hope, actually drives a beat-up station wagon that’s almost identical to the Griswold family car. As a Christmas movie fanatic, I appreciate that detail (and will continue under the assumption that it was intentional).

The film also refreshingly bucks the holiday movie trend of having all white and all straight protagonists, which makes total sense for a 2019 Christmas romcom, especially one with a Generation Z cast. That cast is rock solid, and the first half hour zips along with the pace of a tightly-written sitcom, packed with solid jokes (that bleeding nipple) and great chemistry (all the friendships feel lived-in). The movie is also decidedly not family-friendly in a squeaky-clean Hallmark way. Clutch your pearls, traditionalists, because these teens drink!

The only problem with a structure like this, with numerous plots marching in step, is that they all hit the “oh no a crisis” moment at the exact same time. That deviates from the holiday romcom formula, because typical holiday romcoms love avoiding conflict! I appreciate that Let It Snow goes there and gives their storylines actual stakes (like a legit movie!), but it comes at the sacrifice of momentum and makes a chunk of the movie kind of a downer.

But Let It Snow’s plot doesn’t stay stuck in a snowbank for long. The film goes out on a high note of melodramatic moments that make me remember what it was like to, like, feel everything as a teen. There’s even a real Empire Records moment at the end, which–again–was probably unintentional but it made my heart grow three sizes.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Let It Snow is not even close to typical TV holiday movie fare, and a charming cast helps the movie dash through its drearier moments.

Stream Let It Snow on Netflix