Let It Snow is a 2019 holiday film about a group of young people in a small town on Christmas Eve during a snowstorm.
In the small American town of Laurel, Illinois, a group of high schoolers are facing another Christmas Eve. Julie (Isabela Merced), looking for a last minute ornament, is stuck on a train with pop star Stuart (Shameik Moore), trying to keep lowkey. Elsewhere, Tobin (Mitchell Hope) is with his best friend, Angie “The Duke” (Kiernan Shipka), though he’s having trouble telling her he’s in love with her while jealous of her friend JP (Matthew Noszka). Then there’s besties Dorrie (Liv Hewson) and Addie (Odeya Rush), who slip into a fight over Addie’s complex relationship as Dorrie runs into a girl she still has feelings for, the confused Kerry (Anna Akana), who’s giving Dorrie mixed signals. Meanwhile, Addie is struggling to find her boyfriend, eventually getting a ride from Tin Foil Woman (Joan Cusack), the town’s off beat adventurer.And at the heart of it Keon (Jacob Batalon) is trying to arrange the biggest party of the year.
Streaming on Netflix, this latest teen romcom tackles the old standards with a few modern flares mixed in, keeping pretty tight to the tropes of the holiday genre. Directed by Luke Snellin, the spinning plates approach to Christmas movies is held tried and true with a young and talented cast of actors who do just as they need in delivering the Ho-Ho-Hos with their hearts in the right place. Let it Snow is a harmless, innocuous little update that is sure to please its target audience but is probably not going to become a seasonal go-to.
The thing is, even with all is stories happening at once, none of them are all that defining, each run of the mill tales of transparent encounters that don’t push any envelopes. I guess that’s the point, a film like this forced to kind of fit the mold with boys and girls in boys and girls (and girls) mix ups that hit all the 1, 2, 3’s we’ve long seen before. Fortunately, its well-directed and well-intended, the moments strung between these people at least feeling somewhat authentic even if they are protracted to a degree in getting us to the big finale.
There’s nothing to think about while watching Let it Snow, the whole thing as fluffy as the snow surrounding it, littered with light pop songs and even lighter dilemmas. Every sweet moment ends in a bump that eventually brings couples closer together. Bullies are cardboard cutouts and hurdles are about ankle high. At least it doesn’t betray its characters and remains sweet enough to stay interesting. It’s an earnest effort, even if it doesn’t aim high, and for what it wants to be, works well enough. And any film that makes The Waterboys The Whole of the Moon a thing automatically earns an extra star.