Two polar-opposite characters from totally different social lessons bond over a shared enthusiasm for punk rock and basic vinyl information in Netflix’s newest festive comedy, My Secret Santa, which is barely a lower above its friends on the streamer. My Secret Santa operates on a morally ambiguous tone, like Michael Fimognari’s crime caper, Jingle Bell Heist. It spotlights the struggles of single parenting and motherhood, elevating its unoriginal matchmaking with poignant developments.
Directed by Mike Rohl, auteur of Netflix’s The Princess Swap Christmas trilogy, Rohl has the perfect credentials to create one other yuletide hit, however barely hits the distinctive mark with My Secret Santa. Starring versatile actors like Virgin River’s Alexandra Breckenridge and Ryan Eggold, the movie’s leads are a captivating couple with plain on-screen chemistry. Nevertheless, regardless of Rohl’s oeuvre of Christmas-themed options and the leads’ charisma, the movie struggles to rise above its predictable script.
My Secret Santa Replays the Wealthy Hero, Poor Heroine Dynamic in a Considerably Cliched Method
In Netflix’s newest vacation flick, Christmas satirically unwraps monetary tragedy for the lead protagonist, Taylor Jacobson (Alexandra Breckenridge), ex-lead singer of Screaming Kittens, who’s pressured to sacrifice her rockstar profession for her daughter. She has simply misplaced her job as a supervisor at Clotz Cookies; lease is 4 months due; and the charges for Solar Peaks Snowboard Academy, which accepted her daughter as an ice-skating trainee, are exorbitant. Regardless of the monetary odds, Taylor determines to enrol her daughter in Solar Peaks Academy, and is ready to do something for it, even when it means masquerading as an aged Father Christmas on the Solar Peaks ski resort.
Taking part in Father Christmas comes with irresistible perks for Taylor: a 50% low cost on Solar Peaks Snowboard Academy charges — a bonus for Solar Peaks staff — and rewarding pay. For that purpose, Taylor adopts the alias “Hugh Mann” and adjustments her look and mannerisms to work as Father Christmas on the Solar Peaks. Nevertheless, the ski resort is owned by the ultrawealthy Laynes, and billionaire enterprise inheritor Matthew Layne (Ryan Eggold) — the movie’s beau — is Taylor’s supervisor. Eggold performs the function of Matthew fairly charmingly, dramatizing a spot-on depiction of an irresponsible inheritor on the trail of redemption. He first crosses paths with Taylor at a vinyl retailer. And, coincidentally, Matthew is an uber-fan of the Screaming Kittens and acknowledges Taylor igniting sparks between the 2 lovebirds.
My Secret Santa clings firmly to the rich-hero, poor-heroine dynamic, with an honest twist in that Mathew by no means really is aware of about Taylor’s monetary state of affairs. The movie connects each lovers by means of Santa, with Taylor secretly unmasking Matthew’s real emotions, whereas she stays emotionally guarded for worry of being damage.
Breckenridge Shines as an Emotionally Clever Santa
My Secret Santa makes use of Santa Claus figuratively as each an introspective instrument for Taylor and as emotional symbolism that underpins the considerably private that means of Christmas; nonetheless, it takes a linear method to its writing. Co-writers Carley Smale (Snowed Inn Christmas) and Ron Oliver craft a prosaic dialogue with occasional witty banter between the movie’s romantic duo. Primarily, it matches a prodigal inheritor from the upper-class milieu with a hardworking single mother who ekes out a residing paycheck to paycheck. Though the movie refrains from bringing monetary struggles into the combo between the duo, it doesn’t stray from its cliched proclivities.
What works effectively for the vacation movie is its emotional qualities. Hugh Mann could be too sensible for the Santa job that requires a fragile balancing of wish-granting and grownup steering. Therefore, Taylor can’t assist however venture her parental logic onto the kids’s needs, forgetting that for many, Santa is an escapist idea. Finally, she channels her emotional intelligence into her function as a jolly Santa who connects to the kids on a deeper stage. These encounters are among the many movie’s most evocative scenes, with youngsters leaving Santa with higher confidence and a more durable mindset.
Natasha (Tia Mowry) shines because the movie’s saboteur, envious of privileged Mathew, who obtained the Common Supervisor function regardless of missing the required expertise or expertise. Nevertheless, the very best forged efficiency is undoubtedly Breckenridge, whose shenanigans as Hugh Mann benefit from the film’s comedic parts. The chemistry in My Secret Santa is seen on-screen and takes some time to actually blossom.
To deepen its romance, the movie repeatedly weaves melancholy into its comedic backdrop, constructing towards a tragicomic revelation that in the end brings the leads collectively. Although rooted in acquainted territory, it lands on an unexpectedly resonant be aware, mixing humor, heartache, and hard-won connection right into a conclusion that works marginally higher than its components suggests.
- Launch Date
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December 3, 2025
- Runtime
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89 minutes
- Director
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Mike Rohl
- Writers
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Ron Oliver, Carley Smale
- Producers
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Howard Braunstein, Alexander Braunstein
Solid
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Alexandra Breckenridge
Taylor
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