So, dear reader, take a seat and get ready for the story. The story of a lonely, passionate, and grieving young widow who finds a pudgy snow statue with six-pack abs in the town square. She senses something is missing from this snowman and wraps a scarf around its carved neck.
Well, there must have been some kind of magic in that scarf. Because…well, you get the idea. hot frosty It’s exactly what the title says. It’s a Christmas romantic comedy about a beautiful widow, Cathy (Lacey Chabert), and a torn hembo snowman named Jack (Dustin Milligan) who, of course, comes back to life. If that is the premise, hot frosty It sounds like a joke movie you’d see in another movie, but it’s not that far off.
hot frosty It started as a joke. Screenwriter Russell Hainlein talked about how he wrote down the title and couldn’t stop laughing at its ridiculousness. But the pandemic is over, and like all of us, he is also struggling with various issues, and the thought cannot leave him alone. therefore, hot frosty It snowballed into a goofy comedy about a small town rediscovering the magic of the holidays and a healthy thirst.
The director is Jerry Cicorritti, who is a veteran of the genre. hot frosty I never take myself seriously. It’s a Christmas movie on Netflix, after all. But beneath all the naughty silliness, innuendo, and blushing older women, there’s heart. what makes it so hot frosty What’s so fun is how Chicoritti and Heinlein lean into the absurd while letting Chabert and Milligan play their actual characters.
hot frosty When? The town discovers that Jack is actually a snowman that has come to life. Someone raises their hand and says, “It’s Christmas!” to explain it. It’s a refreshing attitude for modern cinema. I’m sure the plotters would wring their hands, but they were never going to enjoy a movie about magic, Christmas, etc.
Most of the movie is an excuse to wander around the small New England town of Hope Springs. Kathy, the widowed owner of a local diner, is depressed. Her house is in ruins. One of her steps has a hole, her thermostat is broken, and her roof is leaking. But other than that, it’s a very nice house. But this is about a metaphor for how Cassie is broken and needs to be fixed.
What better way to get lonely Lacey Chabert back on her feet than by having a naked Dustin Milligan dance in the town square? hot frosty There are plenty of images of women in need of a couch gasping, wincing, and swooning at the sight of a naked or shirtless Milligan. That’s the kind of rough humor we’re about to get into. grumpy old people. This is the only place where the characters haven’t aged that much.
The scene where Jack comes back to life is full of visual allusions. My favorite part is when the camera starts at the bottom of the sculpture and the ice block slowly makes its way towards the finely carved torso. The camera almost winks at us, hinting that it knows what’s inside that solid block. Interestingly, no one seems to be all that interested in who made the snowman or why they made it an icy snowball instead of three giant snowballs.
Anyway, once alive, he dances around the town square wearing nothing but a magical scarf. That scarf is certainly magical, as it somehow always seems to dangle over Jack’s frosty parts. I think it’s more CGI than practical, but to Chicoritti’s credit, he does try to make Milligan look as good as good taste allows.
There’s a moment when Lauren Holly, who plays one of the locals, spies a shirtless Milligan and crashes her car. Jack is a kind-hearted sex symbol who offers to help the woman he has a crush on. In scenes like this, Eric Kayla’s camera emphasizes the cartoonish aspect of the film. hot frosty. Shots of the interior of the car perfectly capture Milligan’s abs, with Cicolitti, Kayla, and editor Julia Bloor passing between Milligan and Holly as Milligan tries to shake the car off the snow embankment. It captures the coming and going. Heinlein’s script is full of suggestive dialogue and feels like it was ripped from a romance novel. It’s not a bug. That is its characteristic.
But Hot Frosty isn’t just worried about Chabert gasping in shock and awe every time he sees Jack topless. There’s a subplot about the town’s overzealous sheriff, played by Craig Robinson, and his goofy Barney Fife sidekick, played by Joe Lo Truglio. Jack causes endless chaos and destruction, and the two men become obsessed with tracking down the mysterious stranger.
Although it is not a serial crime, Sheriff Robinson is still in charge of the case. The residents of Hope Springs find him more of a nuisance than anything else. At one point, he boasted that there had been no murders during his term. “There hasn’t been a murder in Hope Springs in 100 years,” someone shouts. “You’re welcome,” Robinson shouted back.
hot frosty It has an atmosphere similar to Frank Tashlin. For example, how Jack, who is always cold, toys with the idea of making all the women around him uncomfortably warm. But despite the cartoonish elements, Chabert gives a textured performance. Her Cassie is struggling with a lot of things, and in this film, which is essentially Lacey Chabert, she’s very charming in bringing the pudgy snowman to life. She found a way to create real humans in a world where none were supposed to exist.
Chabert is no stranger to these films, as are Heinlein, Cicoritti, Milligan, and even Greer. Heinlein’s script is littered with references to other films, some obvious, some not. I usually resent the concept of an expanded universe, but this made me laugh. hot frosty I followed it.
Milligan, like Jack, plays too easily and childishly at times. But it could also be Heinlein’s script trying to find a balance between naivety and manhood. Yet, even with his Joker grin, he has a wonderfully sexy Tasmanian devil energy about him. It’s easy to see why Chabert’s character, Cassie, is drawn to him and confused by him.
Jack spreads good cheer and eye candy while trying to teach Cassie to love life and herself again. hot frosty This is a Christmas fairy tale that understands that no problem is too big that true love’s kiss can’t solve, even if it’s between a shapely widow and a burly snowman..
Image provided by: Netflix
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