“I need holiday spirit, not silent night of the living dead.”

Drake’s rating: Man, she has one impressive beard

Drake’s review: In all fairness, I thought I should review a Christmas flick that wasn’t also either a slasher or a disaster movie. After all, those stretch the intention of the holiday just a tad, and I thought I should really squeeze in a movie that followed more traditional lines.

Like, say, one about a woman cross-dressing as Santa Claus. That’s pretty standard fare, right?

OK, maybe not, but that is the basic gist of My Secret Santa, a harmless little Christmas confection that sees Taylor involuntarily joining the ranks of the unemployed just weeks before Christmas. Behind on rent, and with her daughter wanting to attend an expensive snowboarding class, Taylor starts looking for ways to make some cash. Selling her old vinyl records only brings in $150, but she does meet a nice guy who is immediately given a name (Matthew) and is thereby ordained by the Spirit of Christmas Movies to become the love interest.

But if those two crazy kids are going to get together, they’ll have to overcome a few obstacles first. Matthew, for example, is going to have to impress his father, the owner of the lodge, and show some grit and work ethic and personal fortitude instead of living the wild child lifestyle he’s evidently been enjoying all these years. Which is weird, because nothing about Matthew screams wild child. Middle management, yes. Wild child, no.

But Matthew’s not going to have an easy time of it, since the current manager is not exactly stoked that he’s cutting in on her gig, and she’s ready to undermine the nepo baby any way she can.

Taylor has even bigger problems, since she doesn’t have a rich father and thus can’t rely on getting a job out of thin air. She does have a brother, however, who points out the fact that lodge employees get a 50% discount on snowboarding classes. Which is good. But there aren’t really any openings outside of nepo-manager available, and Matthew’s already got that one filled. So that’s bad.

BUT! There is an opening for their seasonal Santa! That’s good! But, oops, Taylor is a female woman-type person and Santa Claus may be mythical, but he’s also male. That’s pretty bad. However, Taylor’s brother and his partner just so happen to be brilliant makeup artists!* That’s good, because Taylor decides that she’s going to get that Santa gig, even if she has to wear a fat suit, latex prosthetics, and a false wig and beard.

Which is, of course, exactly what she does.

Needless to say, Taylor gets the job, which puts her in close proximity with love interest Matthew and the two develop a workcute as he tries to manage the lodge and she works through some early rough spots as a Santa before settling into the job and becoming a favorite with kids and their parents alike.

My Secret Santa is a surprisingly not bad Christmas flick. It has a pair of likable leads who have good charisma onscreen and stays fairly light and bouncy the whole way through. It’s predictable, of course, but that’s par for the course in these Christmas rom-coms. You know the two leads are going to get together and live happily ever after, but a few monkey wrenches get thrown in along the way to keep everyone on their toes. It’s not rocket science, just holiday movie-making.

Still, My Secret Santa works well enough due to a likable cast and a decently fun little plot that leans into sentimentality without ever doing a belly flop into over the top mawkishness. It might not be Tootsie or Just One of the Guys, but it takes the same premise and hangs some tinsel on it. We’re not talking a Christmas classic here, but it is a pleasant little stocking stuffer that makes for a diverting watch over the holiday season.

Still, I have to admit that I really wish Ed Wood was still around. I’m genuinely curious how he would have approached this one.

*And who are living in this small ski town for reasons unknown.

Intermission!

• “Wait, are you firing me?” Taylor’s not so swift.
• Do snowboard academies really exist?
• Screaming Kittens is not the worst punk band name I’ve ever heard.
• Two grand a week to play Santa? Only in the movies.
• Taylor’s all Santa’d up and in the men’s locker room. Jinkies!
• Santa’s leaking beans!
• Mean girl snowboarders are evidently a thing that exists.
• Beard fire!
• Are we heading towards a happy ending? All signs point to yes.