Our Little Secret

I am not a fan of cheesy Hallmark holiday movies but last year I gave Lindsay Lohan's holiday film on Netflix a try and did not like it. When this one came a year later at first I was like, "no", but seeing her recent makeover and interviews soon after I changed my mind and decide to watch it.

The first ten minutes are bad due to a cliché and unrealistic script, particularly in a scene where the boyfriend goes off on a childish rant before he and Lindsay's character break up. I almost stopped watching it altogether then but kept watching and in the end I actually enjoyed it.

Lindsay Lohan may have had a lot of labels attached to her past history in Hollywood and her recent ultra makeover might make some people wonder how long that would last. But watching her performance in this movie I must say it's undeniable that she's got a talent for comedy and she does have a charm and special screen presence that made her a star and is still very much with her. Whatever or however her personal life has been like, I enjoy her comedic timings and the way she expresses her character's emotional ebbs and flows.

Maybe I'm a little biased because I've always loved her in Parent Trap and Freaky Friday, and it makes me simply happy to see her comeback on the screen. But the super low ratings and some of the mean-spirited reviews make me scratch my head. I wonder if people removed her public image from her performance in this light-hearted and fun holiday flick that's never meant to be so realistic, thoughtful, or deeply moving... if they would rate it higher? I don't know, but I enjoyed this chaotic but fun holiday flick filled with many interesting characters, decent acting, and the spark of Lindsay Lohan that's still very much alive.

We watched this movie at home, streaming. It is set and was shot in the Atlanta, Georgia areas. Also it is pretty clean, avoiding the filthy language of so many movies of recent years.

We like Lindsay Lohan, now in her late 30s, as Avery. She is ambitious and turns down a marriage proposal from her long-time friend and neighbor Logan so she can go off to a career in London.

This movie uses a unique, and very interesting, way to show the passage of 10 years. Instead of just captioning "10 years later" they show each year and a few flashes of real newsworthy events that defined that year. Aside from just enjoying the story it was nice to see those 10 years encapsulated in a short amount of screen time.

Ian Harding is Logan and during those 10 years has stayed near home and established his own successful career in real estate development. There is a Christmas gathering that Avery travels back for and both she and Logan are totally surprised when each shows up at the same party and each with serious dates.

Kristin Chenoweth is the mother of Logan's girlfriend and the party is at her house. We love Chenoweth, especially her singing, but my wife and I both cringe at her speaking voice, it sounds like she is always on Helium.

The characters are an odd assortment, we can see right away that both Avery and Logan are with partners that they probably shouldn't be with. So that sets the stage to see if the two of them can get back together after all those years.

Linsay's younger sister, Aliana Lohan, is a talented singer and songwriter and contributed to the soundtrack for this movie.

Not a novel concept but we found it entertaining, which is all we were looking for after our weekly steak dinner with wine, and of course chocolate cake.

Good little Christmas movie that deliver on the "rom" but is a bit more sparse on the "com". That was my initial feeling.

The script remind me a bit of Anyone but You with Sydney Sweeney exept this time its Christmas Holliday and the exes don't actually hate each other at the beginning.

Overall the dynamic with the 2 leads is good and the side characters are fine, but at the same time you kinda wish there was a little bit more anemosity to make the situations funnier.

This is my little "issue" with the movie. It does have some chuckles moment but it could had been more funny in my opinion.

That said Lindsay Lohan is lovely, charismatic and fun to watch and i apreciate seeing her do these Netflix movies. It was a decent time but simply not one i will revisit as a classic or anything.

Formulas work. It's why content creation companies, like Netflix, churn out familiar movies starring people on a contract. Sometimes though, the formula breaks down. The script trying too hard for laughs, or an archetypical character, or everyone looking like the movie is an ad for plastic surgery and Botox.

Here we have an awkward situation which just doesn't feel awkward. Add in the evil mother-in-law and cute pets. Shake, don't stir, and you have a mess of a movie which never fits well. Like hammering a jigsaw piece into place.

Not gonna lie, I was hoping the mother in law would turn out to be a vampire. Ageless and all that. But everything about this movie falls flat. I get it, it's hard to show emotion when your face doesn't move.

Our Little Secret movie Non-violent amusing comedy that is fun to watch as all of the characters try so hard not to hurt each other's feelings that it actually fails and backfires in humorous and embarrassing ways and sometimes actually succeeds. If you want to escape for a couple of hours this worked for me.

Mixes business with friendship and family sorting out how to deal with personal history that suddenly without warning resurfaces many years later at the most inconvenient time. Or was it? Is this torture, Karma, or true love? You'll have to watch it to find out.

Best choice so far this year.