Hot Frosty & Our Little Secret - Netflix Christmas 2024

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[00:00:42] Welcome to the Lorehounds Christmas 2024 Spectacular,

[00:00:46] where the Lorehounds your guides to Netflix's wackiest Christmas ever.

[00:00:50] I'm John.

[00:00:51] I'm Alicia.

[00:00:51] I'm David.

[00:00:52] I'm Maya.

[00:00:53] And I'm Anna.

[00:00:54] In this podcast, we're going to be breaking down two new additions to the Netflix Christmas universe, Hot Frosty and Our Little Secret.

[00:01:02] Send your feedback to Lorehounds at thelorehounds.com because we know you have thoughts.

[00:01:08] Yes, these movies are.

[00:01:09] I don't know.

[00:01:10] But send your thoughts in.

[00:01:12] And send your thoughts about our thoughts.

[00:01:14] That's right.

[00:01:15] And if you want to talk about it in real time, which is probably where you'll have most of your conversation since this is our last show of the season,

[00:01:21] you can go to our Discord server.

[00:01:22] You can find that in the link tree in the show notes.

[00:01:26] And if you subscribe on Supercast or Patreon, then you get more fun Christmas coverage.

[00:01:32] We are covering the entire Christmas Prince trilogy.

[00:01:36] That's out actually now, right?

[00:01:37] It's out.

[00:01:37] Yeah.

[00:01:38] And the Princess Switch trilogy and The Night Before Christmas because it's the best one.

[00:01:43] And, of course, lots of other extras like bonus monthly episodes, movie reviews, lots of other fun stuff.

[00:01:52] Absolutely.

[00:01:53] Great times to be had by all this merry season.

[00:01:56] Now, we've got a lot of folks here tonight.

[00:01:58] This might be one of the bigger podcasts we've done.

[00:02:00] I think Agatha tops it, but...

[00:02:04] That's why it's taking so long.

[00:02:05] There you go.

[00:02:07] There you go.

[00:02:08] My goal is to not do that because we have a time sensitive thing here.

[00:02:12] We got the holidays coming up.

[00:02:13] Mm-hmm.

[00:02:14] So, as Alicia alluded to, we've already covered A Christmas Prince.

[00:02:17] You've already heard The Princess Switch if you're on our Supercast or Patreon.

[00:02:22] But here, we're talking about the two newest, weirdest additions to the Netflix Christmas universe

[00:02:28] that is Hot Frosty and Our Little Secret.

[00:02:31] So, I want to go around and introduce everyone here starting with our newest addition for the season.

[00:02:36] That's Anna Claus.

[00:02:38] You may have heard her last year, but she's back.

[00:02:40] Do you want to introduce yourself, Anna?

[00:02:42] Yes.

[00:02:43] I am Anna Claus.

[00:02:45] I watch and review Christmas rom-coms for absolutely no good reason.

[00:02:51] It's not fun.

[00:02:52] It's not profit.

[00:02:53] It's just a thing I do every year.

[00:02:56] And I have thoughts which I will share with you.

[00:03:00] And you have a Substack, right, Anna?

[00:03:03] I do.

[00:03:03] It is anaclaus.substack.com.

[00:03:06] It is janky and lo-fi.

[00:03:08] So, if you like janky, lo-fi, and snarky, you might enjoy it.

[00:03:12] I think the snark is the thing.

[00:03:14] It is the thing.

[00:03:15] Actually, I thought it looked really nice.

[00:03:17] David shared the one that you wrote about our little secrets.

[00:03:20] And I thought the layout was nice, but also I laughed.

[00:03:23] So, thank you for that.

[00:03:24] Oh, well, thank you.

[00:03:26] We'll include that link in the show notes as well in case people want to go check that out.

[00:03:31] Maya, you've been here a couple episodes now for Christmas, but only on the subscriber feed.

[00:03:35] So, you want to introduce yourself quickly.

[00:03:37] Who are you?

[00:03:38] Yeah.

[00:03:39] So, I'm Maya.

[00:03:40] I am John Lorhound's wife.

[00:03:43] And every once in a while, we watch terrible Christmas movies and we talk about it.

[00:03:47] So, we thought, hey, this would be a great idea for a podcast.

[00:03:50] I don't think I could ever get my spouse to A, watch one of these movies or B, talk about it on a podcast with me.

[00:03:56] So, you guys are winning there.

[00:03:58] Have you tried eggnog?

[00:04:02] You can bribe people with eggnog.

[00:04:04] Now, is it regular or hard eggnog?

[00:04:07] Like really spiked.

[00:04:08] Like intensely spiked eggnog.

[00:04:10] You can't even want to talk about Christmas rom-coms if you spike the eggnog.

[00:04:14] I think that might actually be the secret sauce.

[00:04:17] I think that might actually do something.

[00:04:18] Pro tips, exactly.

[00:04:20] Very nice.

[00:04:21] Very nice.

[00:04:22] David, you've not been on any of the podcasts this season for Christmas yet.

[00:04:26] So, everybody knows who you are, but what's your experience with Christmas rom-coms?

[00:04:31] Next to nil.

[00:04:33] Did I even watch?

[00:04:34] Didn't I watch a Christmas rom-com last year?

[00:04:38] Yeah, we did Falling for Christmas.

[00:04:39] Oh, that's right.

[00:04:40] The other Lindsay Lohan one.

[00:04:42] Oh my God.

[00:04:43] Yeah, that was my introduction to the world.

[00:04:46] Really?

[00:04:46] This extended universe, this extended IP story universe.

[00:04:51] And yeah, it scarred me pretty badly, but I'm back for more.

[00:04:56] So, I don't know what to say.

[00:05:00] There's, that one is, I think that one's like tremendously bad even compared to the rest.

[00:05:05] It was egregious.

[00:05:06] Yeah.

[00:05:07] It was definitely egregious.

[00:05:08] The thing is, I can only judge it as a remake of Overboard, which is a movie that I love with Goldie Hawn.

[00:05:17] And it's that, you know, it's a fun little nostalgia trip that was, yes, very, very bad.

[00:05:22] Okay.

[00:05:22] And it is part of the comeback journey of Lindsay Lohan.

[00:05:25] So, we appreciate that.

[00:05:26] Right.

[00:05:26] And of course, we get her this year, of course, in Our Little Secret.

[00:05:29] She's in a couple of things though, isn't she?

[00:05:30] She is.

[00:05:31] She's really getting Christmas back here.

[00:05:34] Plug in.

[00:05:34] Yeah, she is.

[00:05:35] Christmas is back, baby.

[00:05:36] She's our Christmas queen now.

[00:05:37] She's supplanting Mariah Carey.

[00:05:40] Or the Hudgenses.

[00:05:42] The two Hudgens for you.

[00:05:43] That's what I named the second episode we did.

[00:05:46] Okay.

[00:05:48] So, Alicia, you've been on our holiday coverage.

[00:05:51] What have you been doing?

[00:05:53] What's your Christmas backstory?

[00:05:56] Yeah.

[00:05:56] So, I guess I grew up in a household where my mom especially, she really loves Christmas.

[00:06:01] So, we always go all out on Christmas stuff, cookies and decorations and Christmas markets and all that stuff.

[00:06:10] So, obviously, these cheesy holiday movies are part of it.

[00:06:13] I have a real soft spot for them.

[00:06:16] That's great stuff.

[00:06:18] Yeah.

[00:06:18] They are certainly, I think we discussed in our Christmas Prince episode, like the jankiness and just laugh at it and with it nature of these things are very close to how we consume horror movies.

[00:06:32] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:33] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:33] And so, that's how Maya sort of got me into this is she's like, she just had it on one day when I was coming home from work and she goes, just sit down, just watch this.

[00:06:41] And it's just fun, you know?

[00:06:43] She just trapped me in this.

[00:06:44] It's the same way she got me to watch 90 Day Fiance.

[00:06:47] I didn't get you to watch anything.

[00:06:50] You just squished it out of the corner of your eye and you're like, did he just run into the rainforest?

[00:06:55] And I said, yes.

[00:06:56] And then you were hooked.

[00:06:59] Yeah.

[00:06:59] Paul running into the rainforest.

[00:07:01] That was a good one.

[00:07:01] Anyway, this is not a 90 Day Fiance cast.

[00:07:04] This is about Hot Frosty and Our Little Secret.

[00:07:06] Now, I was going to have us do hot takes up front.

[00:07:08] I think it actually makes more sense to do it for each movie.

[00:07:12] So, why don't we just get right into the movies?

[00:07:16] Starting with Hot Frosty.

[00:07:17] I'm going to read the synopsis then I'll go around for hot takes.

[00:07:20] Kathy Barrett is a recently widowed owner of a small town diner who refuses to fix her heat.

[00:07:26] When the elderly owners of the town's clothing boutique give her a scarf, she gifts it to a disturbingly detailed snowman in the town square.

[00:07:34] The snowman comes to life as Jack who streaks through the town, steals some clothes and is found by Kathy.

[00:07:39] Kathy spends the rest of the movie trying to keep Jack out of trouble until Sheriff Nathaniel Hunter arrest Jack and locks him up causing him to melt.

[00:07:48] Kathy kisses the unconscious Jack and he arises, now a real boy.

[00:07:52] The couple heads to Hawaii.

[00:07:58] It's truly absurd.

[00:07:59] I'll go in reverse order this time.

[00:08:01] Alicia, what'd you think?

[00:08:03] Well, first of all, I want to say that the disturbingly detailed thing.

[00:08:07] Have you guys ever seen sand sculpture competitions?

[00:08:11] Yeah.

[00:08:12] Yeah.

[00:08:12] It's a big thing like when I, in like Delaware and Jersey and stuff, when I go to the beach and those would be, that's what it reminded me of his, you know, as you put it, disturbingly detailed sculpt.

[00:08:22] Uh, anyway, yeah, I thought that this was like such a dumb movie, but I loved it anyway.

[00:08:29] I really, it made me smile like the whole way I, I watched it in one sitting, which is rare for me these days.

[00:08:36] I usually like divvy it up, you know, and work breaks and stuff.

[00:08:39] Um, I think Dustin Mulligan, he is what made it work.

[00:08:43] He just really sold it.

[00:08:45] Yeah, he did.

[00:08:46] Yeah.

[00:08:46] And I love the, the dialogue was so bad.

[00:08:50] Like at one point she's like, so, so you just all buy that.

[00:08:54] He's a snowman.

[00:08:55] And someone responds it's Christmas as if that makes sense.

[00:09:00] But that's, that's the whole thing with these movies, right?

[00:09:03] It's just like, you have to hand wave everything.

[00:09:07] It's great.

[00:09:08] It's great.

[00:09:09] David, what did you think of this movie?

[00:09:12] I kind of agree with Alicia on a couple of points here.

[00:09:16] The, the nipples for days was, was amazing in the snow sculpture.

[00:09:20] Uh, Dustin Milligan absolutely made this movie work.

[00:09:24] He's so committed to the bit.

[00:09:26] I'm not, I don't think I've seen Lacey Chabert.

[00:09:31] Is that her, how do I pronounce her last name?

[00:09:33] Chabert, Chabert, something like that?

[00:09:34] Chabert?

[00:09:35] Chabert.

[00:09:36] Chabert, that's it.

[00:09:36] We'll never know.

[00:09:37] I have never, I don't think I've seen her in anything before.

[00:09:40] And it felt like she kind of phoned it in a little bit, but it was fine.

[00:09:43] You never saw Mean Girls?

[00:09:45] No.

[00:09:46] Whoa!

[00:09:47] Wow!

[00:09:47] That's going on a list for 11 years.

[00:09:49] Yeah, going on a list.

[00:09:50] That's an iconic movie.

[00:09:52] The, um, and I think as like Alicia mentioned, the Christmas magic is great.

[00:09:58] Right.

[00:09:58] And I think, uh, I remember talking, was it Anna Claus mentioned that you mentioned this,

[00:10:02] or maybe it was one of your, uh, newsletters that there's this thing called Christmas magic,

[00:10:07] which defies all logic.

[00:10:09] And it makes these things just the impossible possible.

[00:10:13] And the, when he, spoilers, when he wakes up from being melted and he's a real boy, it was just like, oh man, it's, it's even better than turning him in from a snowman into a, you know, a living snowman.

[00:10:26] So I thought, uh, I don't know.

[00:10:29] The, the movie kind of had, it was really tongue in cheek.

[00:10:33] It kind of knew what it was and it played with that.

[00:10:37] And, uh, I don't know.

[00:10:38] I kind of got a little bit of respect for the movie because they were like, this is a dumb ass movie.

[00:10:42] So we're just going for it.

[00:10:44] And I think that that's what made it work.

[00:10:47] Yeah.

[00:10:47] I like what you said there about the, the spirit of Christmas hand waving, like spirit of Christmas could have saved her dying husband, but instead it just gave her a hot man baby.

[00:10:58] Absolutely.

[00:10:59] Uh, and are, are we going to talk about more details or should these are just hot takes?

[00:11:03] Well, we're just giving hot takes right up front.

[00:11:05] Right.

[00:11:05] Next up is Maya.

[00:11:08] Um, yeah, I feel bad because I totally disagree with both.

[00:11:15] I, this was just so hard to get through for me.

[00:11:18] I tried three separate times and I just could not focus on it.

[00:11:22] I thought, um, the Jack character was like way over the top.

[00:11:27] I, I just, I don't know.

[00:11:28] I didn't like it.

[00:11:31] I didn't want it.

[00:11:32] I don't like it.

[00:11:33] That's okay.

[00:11:34] I think, I think we're going to disagree the other way when it comes to our little secret.

[00:11:38] So yeah, you can definitely have that take now.

[00:11:41] Um, and you're a big Schitt's Creek fan.

[00:11:43] Maya, I know that.

[00:11:44] And you, so you, you liked Ted from there.

[00:11:47] Yeah, he was great in that.

[00:11:48] I don't know what this, he was just very like put on.

[00:11:52] Like, I think they were going for the golden retriever boyfriend kind of vibe, but I think

[00:11:58] they overshot it.

[00:11:59] And I think it was more like sexy born yesterday kind of archetype.

[00:12:05] And I just don't like that.

[00:12:07] I hear you.

[00:12:08] I hear you.

[00:12:08] Anna, what are your thoughts on this one?

[00:12:10] Um, my thoughts are complicated.

[00:12:13] Um, you know, I think it's a great concept.

[00:12:16] Um, uh, you know, I thought, uh, Dustin Milligan's abs were a plus spectacular stole the show.

[00:12:25] And I think that was sort of part of the point.

[00:12:28] Um, I, I don't, I didn't find his lack of personality fun to watch necessarily because he was, you know, so vapid and, you know, and the whole situation, like nobody had any agency in this situation.

[00:12:45] You know, like the snowman just came to life.

[00:12:48] We don't know who created the snowman.

[00:12:51] We don't know any of the mechanics of the magic that brought him to life or really how the like snowman come to life magic works, which, you know, you can wave a wand and say Christmas magic, but I would have liked to go a little bit deeper.

[00:13:05] But I thought the concept of, you know, it's just a hot himbo.

[00:13:11] Like he doesn't need any personality.

[00:13:14] He doesn't need a character.

[00:13:15] He's just there to help the female protagonist get over her shit, um, and get on with her life was like a nice little flip, um, on gender roles because so many movies tell the reverse story.

[00:13:27] So complicated feelings.

[00:13:30] I laughed.

[00:13:31] I fell asleep.

[00:13:32] I maybe cried a little at the end because it's a cheesy Christmas movie.

[00:13:36] Um, you know, I think I maybe gave it three Christmas trees on my rating scale of one to five Christmas trees.

[00:13:44] Okay.

[00:13:44] We can't remember.

[00:13:46] I feel like it also really stole the merry gentleman's thunder.

[00:13:51] Um, and I felt that the merry gentleman was a far superior hot dude Christmas movie made for Netflix in 2024.

[00:13:58] Um, so I'm, I'm a little salty that this one dude's one set of abs is getting more attention than those five dudes, five sets of abs and they were dancing.

[00:14:12] Oh, I feel like I've been cheated now.

[00:14:15] Everybody should watch the merry gentleman.

[00:14:17] Well, we're not here to talk about that.

[00:14:20] Sorry.

[00:14:21] That's all right.

[00:14:22] That's all right.

[00:14:23] Go out to the merry gentleman.

[00:14:24] But for now, hot frosty, I want to ask, can someone share their favorite scene?

[00:14:29] I think that's, that's a good place to go down.

[00:14:31] I don't want to keep just going in order.

[00:14:33] Go ahead, Alicia.

[00:14:34] Okay.

[00:14:34] I just, can I ask a question to all of you that may shape like how we're interpreting this?

[00:14:40] Can I, how many, were you guys fans of that 1969 frosty, the snowman short growing up?

[00:14:47] Yep.

[00:14:48] Absolutely.

[00:14:49] Okay.

[00:14:49] How do you, what do you think of this as an adaptation of that in its loose adaptation?

[00:14:55] But for me, like a lot of the shallowness, you know, I was reading, you know, just blankedly hopeful.

[00:15:03] I was reading as an interpretation of that story.

[00:15:07] Um, I just think it was like such a far cry from the cartoon.

[00:15:11] I don't really see much similarities, especially because with the cartoon, it was a magic hat, but with this, it's a magic scarf.

[00:15:19] And it just, it's just kind of seemed like it was more of a play on words rather than like an homage to the original frosty, the snowman.

[00:15:27] Okay.

[00:15:27] Yeah.

[00:15:28] For me, I did, I saw like winks and nods here and there.

[00:15:31] So that helped me get more enjoyment out of it perhaps, but.

[00:15:35] Okay.

[00:15:36] I, I see the reference to the frosty, the snowman story.

[00:15:40] And I was actually listening to the song right before we started recording this.

[00:15:43] And I just feel like a story about a snowman who comes to life for a few hours and entertains children is so sweet and wholesome.

[00:15:53] And a story about a snowman who comes to life and eventually marries an adult woman is creepy and disturbing.

[00:16:01] That's fair.

[00:16:03] Yeah.

[00:16:03] Yeah.

[00:16:04] I hear what you're saying there.

[00:16:05] David, did you have a thought on the, on the classic frosty?

[00:16:09] No.

[00:16:09] And I was just trying to remember, I mean, I know I've seen the cartoon multiple times, but I just don't have a memory of it to actually.

[00:16:19] Okay.

[00:16:20] Pick out any parallels between, I mean, it's embedded culturally.

[00:16:25] So like, you know, that made sense.

[00:16:27] Uh, and it's interesting listening to some of the takes and analysis.

[00:16:32] Cause, cause to me the whole, yeah, it was just a ridiculous movie.

[00:16:36] And so I just went with the ridiculousness of it.

[00:16:40] And, and I just, you know, I was like, uh, okay, this is what they made.

[00:16:45] This is the movie that they made.

[00:16:47] I don't know how else to take it except on face value.

[00:16:50] David, if I could go back to our, you know, our classic phrase, you need a Costco bucket of cereal here.

[00:16:57] Yeah, exactly.

[00:16:58] And I do much cereal and, and blue milk to get through this.

[00:17:04] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:17:05] But I, in my defense for being a defender of this movie, um, I had a VHS tape growing up where we had like five Christmas specials on it.

[00:17:14] So those were the Christians Christmas specials.

[00:17:16] I watched every single year and this was one of them.

[00:17:18] Nice.

[00:17:20] Get out the VCR.

[00:17:22] Yeah.

[00:17:23] Yep.

[00:17:24] Yep.

[00:17:24] I actually watched a lot of the more of the, the animated or the, the, oh, who were the guys?

[00:17:31] Yeah.

[00:17:31] The stop motion ones.

[00:17:32] Yeah.

[00:17:32] Yeah.

[00:17:33] Those two.

[00:17:33] Yeah.

[00:17:34] Like Rudolph.

[00:17:35] Yep.

[00:17:36] Yeah.

[00:17:36] And Santa Claus is coming to town.

[00:17:38] That's a, that's a real good one.

[00:17:41] And the, the one with the, the Island of misfit toys.

[00:17:44] Yeah.

[00:17:44] Was that the Rudolph one?

[00:17:45] That that's a nice route.

[00:17:46] I think that's a sequel to the Rudolph one.

[00:17:48] Yeah, it is.

[00:17:49] Yeah.

[00:17:49] I remember now.

[00:17:51] Well, yeah, I mean, there's, there's plenty of references in all of this other Christmas stuff.

[00:17:56] There's also references to the internal Netflix Christmas universe.

[00:17:59] There was a line that made me laugh.

[00:18:01] Uh, what am I?

[00:18:02] The queen of Eldovia.

[00:18:04] Yeah.

[00:18:05] That is the kingdom in a Christmas Prince.

[00:18:08] I even, did I even catch that?

[00:18:10] I think I caught that.

[00:18:11] I think you said something about it, David.

[00:18:12] Yeah.

[00:18:12] Yeah.

[00:18:13] On the discord.

[00:18:13] I was like, Oh, I did a Leo meaning, uh, pointing meme.

[00:18:16] I was like, I know reference.

[00:18:19] And then we had a nice mean girls reference where, uh, Lindsay Lohan's falling for Christmas

[00:18:24] is on screen, uh, on her TV.

[00:18:26] And, and, uh, Kathy goes, that looks like someone I went to high school with because

[00:18:31] they were both, you know, part of the plastics and mean girls.

[00:18:34] And that's the thing that Netflix does in all their Christmas movies.

[00:18:37] Like there, there's always a shot of somebody watching TV and there's a Netflix movie in

[00:18:44] the Netflix Christmas movie.

[00:18:46] But you know what?

[00:18:47] They do that with their horror stuff too.

[00:18:49] You know, like they'll have someone in black mirror watching another horror movie.

[00:18:54] I like it.

[00:18:55] I think it's cool.

[00:18:57] All right.

[00:18:57] Something we haven't really talked about yet is the whole cop storyline.

[00:19:01] Like what's going on there?

[00:19:03] What's everyone thinking about that part of the movie?

[00:19:05] Oh, I hated that part actually.

[00:19:07] I know.

[00:19:10] It's IRL from The Office.

[00:19:13] Craig Robinson and Joe LaTriglio from, uh, I remember him from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

[00:19:18] Yeah.

[00:19:18] That was it.

[00:19:19] Yeah.

[00:19:19] I like him.

[00:19:20] I just, I found the character annoying and like shooting himself in the foot.

[00:19:25] And I was just like, I was so annoyed with him.

[00:19:28] He was the villain of the movie basically.

[00:19:30] Have you ever met someone like that?

[00:19:32] Of course I have.

[00:19:33] I just, that's what I'm saying.

[00:19:34] Like I was like, yeah, he's annoying, but it's not unbelievable.

[00:19:37] Yeah.

[00:19:38] It's certainly more believable.

[00:19:39] He takes it too far though.

[00:19:40] But of course that's the whole thing is yeah.

[00:19:42] Right.

[00:19:43] Ridiculous.

[00:19:43] Right.

[00:19:44] So I went, I went with it.

[00:19:46] Yeah.

[00:19:46] Yeah.

[00:19:47] Um, did everyone, did anyone catch that tick tock somebody made where they zoom in on

[00:19:51] the extra right behind, uh, Kathy when she's in the diner trying to rally people to get

[00:19:56] a Jack out of jail.

[00:19:58] And there's this extra who's like giving it a thousand percent.

[00:20:01] He's like cheering for everything.

[00:20:03] He's like, you go get them.

[00:20:04] And it's just a whole thing.

[00:20:06] There's, there's so many like silly details like that in this crafted with love.

[00:20:10] Yeah.

[00:20:11] Everyone else, anyone else have a favorite scene in here?

[00:20:14] Well, a couple of, uh, scenes.

[00:20:16] I actually have a kind of a small series of questions.

[00:20:19] Okay.

[00:20:20] Okay.

[00:20:21] Practical real life one.

[00:20:22] Um, who leaves their space heaters plugged in all day while they're gone?

[00:20:26] That's a fire hazard.

[00:20:28] That's just madness.

[00:20:29] Why were they driving?

[00:20:30] All of them were driving old cars.

[00:20:33] Is that just like a Christmas vibe thing?

[00:20:35] Like, yeah, that's a Christmas movie thing.

[00:20:37] Okay.

[00:20:38] The older the car, the quainter the town, the quainter the town, the better the Christmas

[00:20:42] movie.

[00:20:43] That makes sense.

[00:20:43] Okay.

[00:20:44] It like feeds into the whole like Christmas through nostalgia trip.

[00:20:48] Right.

[00:20:49] Christmas core sort of norm core stuff.

[00:20:51] Yeah.

[00:20:51] Got it.

[00:20:52] Um, I did, I was trying to understand what was going on with dude's veins because it did,

[00:20:57] did he like work out before every shot?

[00:21:00] Cause he was like, I think sometimes people dehydrate themselves to look like that.

[00:21:05] It was a little gross.

[00:21:06] I think he might've been made up to some extent.

[00:21:10] Like there was definitely like contouring happening there.

[00:21:14] Nobody's abs actually look like that.

[00:21:16] Okay.

[00:21:18] Uh, the car stuck scene was pretty hilarious.

[00:21:22] That was my favorite scene.

[00:21:23] Okay.

[00:21:24] I thought, you know, I was like, all right, well let's take this as far as we can, you

[00:21:28] know, push it.

[00:21:29] And so that was funny.

[00:21:30] But then I was really struck by the, it's a wonderful life sort of ending where they

[00:21:35] all have to like pool of their money to like save the, you know, save the day guys.

[00:21:40] It's the Christmas spirit, which I guess invokes the magic, right?

[00:21:44] Which is what turns them into a real boy.

[00:21:46] So no, it's kissing on conscious people is what saves people.

[00:21:49] Okay.

[00:21:52] It's unconsensually kissing them.

[00:21:53] Yes, exactly.

[00:21:54] Exactly.

[00:21:55] Uh, don't do that kids.

[00:21:57] Don't do it.

[00:21:59] My question is like, what was the job description for the job that he ended up taking at the

[00:22:06] middle school?

[00:22:07] Because like, it seems like his job is helping them decorate for a dance, which is not like

[00:22:14] usually something that's like in the budget for a public middle schools, like full time

[00:22:19] position.

[00:22:20] Hmm.

[00:22:21] He probably charged it to her credit card.

[00:22:25] But also why was he allowed in a school without any kind of background check?

[00:22:29] Like that was a little nerve wracking.

[00:22:31] Yeah, exactly.

[00:22:32] And like what background is there to check on this guy?

[00:22:35] Exactly.

[00:22:36] Just give us your social.

[00:22:38] And why were all the middle schoolers like 18?

[00:22:42] Well, casting.

[00:22:43] Yeah, exactly.

[00:22:44] They didn't want to pay.

[00:22:45] Work contracts.

[00:22:46] Yeah, exactly.

[00:22:47] Yep.

[00:22:48] They were like, we have to shoot this thing in two weeks.

[00:22:50] No kids.

[00:22:51] That's right.

[00:22:52] I did like the fact though that, that his job at the middle school created that folksy

[00:22:58] endearing quality.

[00:23:00] That makes him a good catch.

[00:23:01] He's good with kids.

[00:23:02] He cares about the community, right?

[00:23:04] He wants to be a kind and generous person.

[00:23:07] And so I think that by putting him in the middle school that that certainly beefed up

[00:23:12] his bona fides if I can phrase it that way.

[00:23:14] Yeah.

[00:23:15] Just to go into Kathy's year ago, what's cancer?

[00:23:21] I was getting into all the little backstories like like the son of the annoying sheriff guy

[00:23:28] and his, you know, being right into that girl and like the nervous asking her and the holding

[00:23:34] hands and right in the, the, the, it was the whole thing was the, the, the inspiration.

[00:23:42] Like, look, if I can do it, you can do it too.

[00:23:44] And they are together.

[00:23:45] Yeah.

[00:23:45] It was all very Christmassy.

[00:23:46] Yeah.

[00:23:47] But it was nice.

[00:23:47] Like just like random background characters had their own little stories playing out as

[00:23:52] well.

[00:23:53] Or the, that and the, um, the couple that ran the clothing store.

[00:23:58] Mm.

[00:23:59] Right.

[00:23:59] Yeah.

[00:23:59] Like a little mini arc as well.

[00:24:03] They had a fun time and they, of course, I don't know.

[00:24:07] Have you, have you met many, many people who are elderly and, and have been watching

[00:24:13] a lot of, a lot of certain kinds of news and they hear, they find the person that broke

[00:24:16] into their place and they're like, Oh, don't sweat it.

[00:24:18] You're fine.

[00:24:20] I don't know.

[00:24:21] I didn't buy it.

[00:24:21] I think, I think there was going to be some, uh, some call on the cops right there.

[00:24:26] Well, didn't they even place a glass?

[00:24:28] Yeah.

[00:24:29] I don't think they cared in real life.

[00:24:32] They wouldn't care.

[00:24:32] They'd be like, okay, we'll go, we'll go, go to the sheriff.

[00:24:35] Well, no, she gave Kathy the scarf.

[00:24:38] And then I think she knew that, you know, it resurrected this snowman person who basically

[00:24:47] just vandalized their whole shop.

[00:24:48] So she was like, all right.

[00:24:50] I forgot that she went to the school of magic knitting.

[00:24:55] Yeah.

[00:24:55] Do you think she was aware of the scarf's full potential when she gave it to Kathy?

[00:25:01] Was her husband a snowman?

[00:25:03] So my theory, wait, oh yeah, that's true.

[00:25:05] I wonder, huh?

[00:25:07] Um, my theory with it is that the old woman is actually the old crone in A Night for Christmas

[00:25:14] and also the witch in A Christmas Prince who like curses the baby.

[00:25:20] I think it's all connected.

[00:25:22] I like this theory that she just goes around randomly at Christmas times and like alters

[00:25:26] people, the trajectory of people's lives.

[00:25:28] She's a menace.

[00:25:29] Yeah.

[00:25:30] I like it.

[00:25:31] Well, she must be related to there.

[00:25:34] There's like a dude in a lot of.

[00:25:35] Oh, that's right.

[00:25:36] Hallmark Christmas movies.

[00:25:37] That's right.

[00:25:38] Like low key Santa.

[00:25:40] Yeah.

[00:25:40] So maybe she's related to like low key Santa who can kind of like twinkle at you and make

[00:25:45] magic happen.

[00:25:46] Low key Mrs. Claus kind of thing.

[00:25:48] Yeah.

[00:25:49] Sometimes it's an elf.

[00:25:50] I would just watch one the other day where it was like a, a young elf girl who made Santa

[00:25:55] magic happen.

[00:25:57] Like they change it up, but I think they're part of, they're all part of the same, like

[00:26:01] North Pole Cabal.

[00:26:04] I love this.

[00:26:07] And, and of course you have in like, I remember in falling for Christmas, you have a guy that's

[00:26:10] like might be Santa and then he's not.

[00:26:13] And then maybe he is.

[00:26:14] And then, and same.

[00:26:15] Yeah, you're right.

[00:26:16] You're right.

[00:26:16] Anna, even in the Netflix movies, it's all this kind of.

[00:26:19] Princess Switch too.

[00:26:20] Oh yeah.

[00:26:20] Yeah.

[00:26:20] You're right.

[00:26:21] In the first one.

[00:26:23] Yeah.

[00:26:24] It's bizarre.

[00:26:25] This whole, this whole universe of things is bizarre.

[00:26:29] Any other thoughts on hot frosty before we go on to our little secret?

[00:26:35] I thought it was fun.

[00:26:36] Just turn your brain off.

[00:26:38] Fun.

[00:26:40] Agreed.

[00:26:41] Agreed.

[00:26:42] Well, why don't we take a quick break?

[00:26:44] When we get back, we will move on to our little secret.

[00:26:53] We are Teresa and Nemo.

[00:26:56] And that's why we switched to Shopify.

[00:26:57] The platform, which we used before Shopify, has used regularly updates, which have led to

[00:27:02] some of the way that the shop didn't work.

[00:27:05] Finally, our Nemo Boards shop makes a good figure on mobile devices.

[00:27:09] And the illustrations on the boards come now much clearer, what is also important

[00:27:13] and what our brand also does.

[00:27:16] Start your test today for 1€ per month on Shopify.

[00:27:20] That's on Spotify.de.

[00:27:30] And we're back.

[00:27:31] Here to talk about Our Little Secret, another Netflix 2024 Christmas movie.

[00:27:36] Avery and Logan have a rough breakup on the eve of her move to a job in London.

[00:27:40] Ten years later, they're both dating other people and have moved on with their lives.

[00:27:44] That is until they both go to stay with their respective partners families for the holidays,

[00:27:48] only to discover that their partners are siblings.

[00:27:51] Their prospective mother-in-law, Erica, terrorizes Avery while being swooned by Logan.

[00:27:56] The couple gets caught in a web of lies as they try to conceal their past and end up blowing up every secret in the family.

[00:28:04] In the end, Avery buys her childhood home, Logan succeeds in business, and the couple ends up together.

[00:28:12] All right, let's go hot takes.

[00:28:15] Anna, would you like to go first this time?

[00:28:17] I sure would.

[00:28:18] Thank you so much for asking.

[00:28:20] So my hot take on this is that Christmas is already awkward.

[00:28:27] Like, you know, you're spending time with family, you're trying to purchase the right gifts, you're trying to bake all the things.

[00:28:35] And there's a lot of potential for sort of awkwardness and cringe and running into and spending time with people you don't really want to spend time with just baked right into the holiday season.

[00:28:48] We watch Christmas movies to escape that.

[00:28:52] We watch Christmas movies to go to a world where chiseled snowmen are real and magic happens and some dude may or may not be Santa Claus and everybody's family is beautiful and there's a wreath in every shot.

[00:29:04] And Our Little Secret just takes all of the cringe that you watch Christmas movies to escape from and puts it in front of your eyeballs and makes you watch it.

[00:29:17] So I spent a lot of the movie cringing and biting my nails and wanting it to be funny and watching it like almost get there and almost get fun.

[00:29:27] And then it got really cringy again.

[00:29:30] Um, and it was a big disappointment for me.

[00:29:34] Wow.

[00:29:35] Wow.

[00:29:36] That's how I really feel.

[00:29:37] Wow.

[00:29:39] How do you guys really feel?

[00:29:40] I gotta be honest.

[00:29:42] I couldn't disagree more.

[00:29:43] What?

[00:29:44] I love, love a good cringe humor.

[00:29:48] Oh yeah.

[00:29:49] John is notoriously, yeah, notoriously cringe lover.

[00:29:52] Oh, this is, this is something David and I have identified as a generational divide between us, which is that, you know, I grew up with the office.

[00:30:01] So did Maya, you know, we were, we bonded often early in our relationship because we loved the office and we've followed that train of mockumentaries and all that.

[00:30:09] Uh, I, I love, love a good cringe, uh, show.

[00:30:14] I, I love, you know, British TV for that kind of thing too.

[00:30:17] And so I, this was my favorite Netflix Christmas movie ever.

[00:30:21] Wow.

[00:30:22] Hands down.

[00:30:23] This was, I thought it was wonderfully awkward the entire time.

[00:30:27] And I want more, more like this because if it's happening to someone else, it doesn't stress me out.

[00:30:33] That's wild.

[00:30:35] I was like, Anna, uh, just like going, uh, gross, uh, awkward, weird, just sort of squirming the entire way through the movie.

[00:30:45] Although.

[00:30:45] Give us your full hot take then, David.

[00:30:47] Yeah.

[00:30:47] Yeah.

[00:30:48] Yeah.

[00:30:48] I thought it was a pretty good comedy ruined by modern sensibilities.

[00:30:52] I think that's my, my, uh, take at times it was almost a screw.

[00:30:57] I thought it was going to be a screwball comedy, but it's not clearly.

[00:31:01] Uh, it, it breaks certain forms that screwballs are supposed to have, but, but it has other ones that are very strong.

[00:31:07] So I was like, I was really confused by it.

[00:31:10] And I thought that the, the, even though there was no chemistry between Logan and Avery, like it was just absolutely like, why, why, why are these people interested in each other?

[00:31:20] The, the, the one thing that was kind of a fun part of the whole movie was the, um, the setup of the reveal, the way that they kept sort of bringing it close and then teasing it.

[00:31:34] And then the way that it all unfolded, uh, I, I thought they handled that well from a sort of a comedy standpoint.

[00:31:41] Uh, but otherwise, yeah, I was, I was confused by this movie cause it wasn't like a Christmas magic.

[00:31:50] There was no low key Santa magic happening.

[00:31:52] And it was just like a kind of a straight, almost drama.

[00:31:56] It was a kind of a dramedy in some ways, wasn't it?

[00:31:58] I don't know.

[00:31:59] I'm confused by this movie.

[00:32:00] That's, that's my hot take.

[00:32:02] I'm confused.

[00:32:02] See, I think you don't need to feel bad about the movie at the end because everybody ends up with someone else.

[00:32:08] Right.

[00:32:08] Which was very like, I was like, huh?

[00:32:12] I was like, when, um, the business guy drives off with, uh, Kristen Chenoweth, he was like.

[00:32:17] Yeah.

[00:32:18] Well, good for them.

[00:32:19] Yeah.

[00:32:21] Nevermind the ruin and, uh, emotional damage that they have inflicted on all the other people, but hey, you know.

[00:32:26] Well, they were the ones who, it was inflicted on them.

[00:32:30] But well, she, she didn't really like that.

[00:32:32] Well, she, yeah, yeah.

[00:32:34] That's true.

[00:32:34] I mean, she was a pretty piece of work.

[00:32:37] That's true.

[00:32:37] Well, I've lost my order, but Maya, do you want to go next?

[00:32:41] Um, yeah.

[00:32:42] So as far as Christmas movies go, this is not much of a Christmas movie.

[00:32:47] Um, that being said, I really loved this movie.

[00:32:51] I thought it was so fun.

[00:32:52] I thought the casting was just like on point and like, I knew where it was going the whole time, but I still enjoyed the ride.

[00:33:01] I really liked it.

[00:33:02] And Alicia?

[00:33:05] Yeah, I'm more on the, uh, on David's side.

[00:33:09] I'm not, I thought that it was, I think that it is, it is qualitatively better than Hot Frosty, but I enjoyed it less.

[00:33:20] And I think it's just because for me, it was in between, like I do like something like the holdovers or there's, um, Christmas Eve at Miller's Point coming out this year.

[00:33:30] Something like that, where it is really like about the angst of Christmas.

[00:33:34] This was kind of maybe in between, and I guess what really didn't work for me was the central romance.

[00:33:40] Like I didn't buy into them having a history together and I didn't really like feel the chemistry between them.

[00:33:47] Although I think that he was, did a very good job.

[00:33:51] I just didn't feel the spark between them.

[00:33:52] So that's probably why it, yeah, fell a little flat for me.

[00:33:58] Hmm.

[00:33:59] I don't, I thought he was hilarious.

[00:34:01] Yeah.

[00:34:01] I don't think I've ever seen Lindsay Lohan have chemistry with anybody to be fair.

[00:34:07] So I think that's just her, honestly.

[00:34:09] Yeah, no, that's fair.

[00:34:10] That's fair.

[00:34:11] It wasn't him.

[00:34:12] Definitely wasn't on him.

[00:34:13] Right.

[00:34:14] He was, he did some of the best acting I've seen in any of these movies.

[00:34:17] Like he was actually, he felt natural most of the time in a way that I do.

[00:34:20] I think that most of the time they feel like they are stop motion figurines being moved around.

[00:34:25] Hmm.

[00:34:27] So I don't know, but I don't know.

[00:34:28] I don't, I don't understand how anyone could watch this movie and not be dying laughing at like the dog scene in the vet.

[00:34:34] I was just.

[00:34:35] Oh no, I hated that whole thing.

[00:34:37] First of all, because I'm a pet person, you know?

[00:34:39] So as soon as she put those cookies on the ground, I was like, oh my God.

[00:34:44] Um, yeah, that whole.

[00:34:45] We can laugh about it.

[00:34:47] Yeah.

[00:34:48] I just, I feel like it had so much potential to be really genuinely funny.

[00:34:54] Like, you know, if, if the sort of rivalry between Lindsay Lohan and Kristen Chenoweth had continued, like, that's a great concept.

[00:35:03] Like just watching the two of them go at each other.

[00:35:06] I, I, you know, I could watch that for 90 minutes, but.

[00:35:09] You know, it, it sort of went from being like this cringe fast to sort of trying to be like a real heartfelt Christmas movie with like actual love and character development.

[00:35:22] But it had already set itself up for this.

[00:35:25] Cringe fast where everybody's a jerk.

[00:35:28] And.

[00:35:29] You know, it just.

[00:35:31] It, it, it had so much potential to be funny and it wasn't.

[00:35:36] I think the setup of the two.

[00:35:39] Um, childhood sweethearts.

[00:35:42] And then they're now girlfriend, you know, they're, they're, they're romantic interests.

[00:35:46] Be they, um, uh, uh, what do you call it?

[00:35:50] Engaged or not or whatever.

[00:35:51] Right.

[00:35:51] The, the, the whole thing.

[00:35:53] I thought that that was like a fun setup and then having Kristen Chenoweth's character also provided for a lot of potential comedy.

[00:36:02] That's it's her comeback year, isn't it?

[00:36:03] You know, she's wicked in this.

[00:36:06] I mean, she's all around.

[00:36:07] Yeah.

[00:36:08] So, yeah, I think I agree with Anna that there is a huge amount of potential, but then I got confused because where's the Christmas message in it?

[00:36:17] It's okay to be in a loveless marriage.

[00:36:19] It's okay to, you know, uh, uh, cheat on your vows.

[00:36:24] It's okay to lie to people.

[00:36:26] And it all works out in the end.

[00:36:27] I'm like, that's where I go for the, the modern sensibility of this movie is not, there was not a redeeming Christmas message to it.

[00:36:35] David, what did you learn from Hot Frosty?

[00:36:36] Even though there was a ton of comedic potential.

[00:36:38] David, what did you learn from Hot Frosty?

[00:36:41] I mean, the Hot Frosty message is like, if you believe in love and goodness and happiness and humanity and Christmas.

[00:36:48] You'll get a hot baby.

[00:36:50] Yeah.

[00:36:51] Yeah.

[00:36:51] Like every, everybody will live happily ever after.

[00:36:53] She suffered a tragedy that wasn't her fault.

[00:36:55] Her part, her partner died of cancer, right?

[00:36:58] Like, and she was broken hearted.

[00:36:59] And then this goofus of a guy, you know, thaws her heart, right?

[00:37:05] Like, oh, because she's, she's trying to be good.

[00:37:07] She's trying to be in the community and, you know, just be a good person and all that kind of stuff.

[00:37:11] Where this is just like a, uh, largely a den of thieves at, at, uh, the Chenoweth household.

[00:37:17] I mean, I also like, I love an everyone is an asshole movie.

[00:37:21] Like, I, I can get into that, but here it's like, we're supposed to have sympathy for these people who are not good to each other or themselves and are not particularly interesting.

[00:37:38] And, you know, like she gets a free pass for, um, you know, for leaving her significant other and getting back together with her ex because he's clearly a dirt bag from like the moment you look at his face.

[00:37:51] You're like, oh, this character is a dirt bag.

[00:37:53] And, you know, and then he like stays out all night and lies about it.

[00:37:58] So you're like, okay, well, she gets the free pass.

[00:38:00] We don't have to have any sympathy for him.

[00:38:02] But the sister was awful too.

[00:38:06] But, like she was, you know, sort of an insufferable person, but like she didn't deserve what happened to her.

[00:38:15] Like she didn't deserve to have her significant other who she thought was going to propose just dump her and get back together with his ex.

[00:38:23] And she didn't end up with anyone.

[00:38:25] She was just alone at the end.

[00:38:27] And that's never addressed.

[00:38:29] And we're just supposed to be okay with it because, you know, she has a sort of shitty personality.

[00:38:36] And again, like I love an Everyone's an Asshole movie, but this was trying not to be that.

[00:38:45] And like, you know, wasn't real funny.

[00:38:53] Well, may I get everybody's take on the church scene?

[00:38:57] Because that was the other thing that made me laugh quite a lot.

[00:39:01] I just hit too close to home, man.

[00:39:03] Like who hasn't accidentally been too high at a place where you shouldn't be too high with a bunch of people around that you don't want to be too high in front of?

[00:39:14] Like it was funny.

[00:39:15] It's so uncomfortable.

[00:39:17] Terrible.

[00:39:17] Yeah.

[00:39:18] But it's not happening.

[00:39:18] No, in church with my boyfriend's family.

[00:39:20] Like that is like really close to home.

[00:39:23] At least I didn't have to give a speech.

[00:39:25] Yeah.

[00:39:26] I mean, look, I think this is just, again, going to be the divide of do you like cringe humor or do you not like cringe humor?

[00:39:30] Right.

[00:39:31] If you like cringe humor, I think this movie is for you.

[00:39:32] If you don't, then it's not.

[00:39:34] Can I compliment something I did like, though?

[00:39:36] I really liked that opening animation montage.

[00:39:39] Cute.

[00:39:40] Yeah.

[00:39:40] Yeah, that was cute.

[00:39:41] Their whole backstory.

[00:39:42] Is her dad Santa?

[00:39:45] Like what do we think?

[00:39:47] Why?

[00:39:48] He's an old man with the white beard and he's giving a very Christmassy speech and I just feel like he might be Santa.

[00:39:55] Santa stand-in?

[00:39:57] He might be a Santa stand-in.

[00:39:58] But there was no low-key magic, so.

[00:40:02] Yeah.

[00:40:03] I mean, unless you count the edibles, but yeah.

[00:40:06] That's true.

[00:40:06] Yeah.

[00:40:07] Also, how did she not know that that's what those were?

[00:40:11] Like, first of all, there's really strict regulations for like THC gummies that have to be labeled.

[00:40:18] And those were.

[00:40:18] And how do you look at that package of gummies with the unicorn and not be like, well, clearly there is weed in these.

[00:40:23] Right.

[00:40:24] Or that it's in Callum's jacket.

[00:40:27] Right.

[00:40:28] That dude is sus.

[00:40:29] Right.

[00:40:29] And Callum was hilarious.

[00:40:31] The way he goes, everyone knows I'm going to degenerate anyway.

[00:40:34] I'm going to blow this up.

[00:40:36] And then he does.

[00:40:37] I thought that was a great way to do that.

[00:40:39] That's true.

[00:40:40] I like that.

[00:40:41] Yeah.

[00:40:42] He was the one.

[00:40:42] He played it straight.

[00:40:44] He was who he was, like, the whole time.

[00:40:46] He did not have a secret identity.

[00:40:47] He did not have ulterior motives other than having ulterior motives.

[00:40:51] And that's a kind of honesty that you could, you know, take to the back.

[00:40:54] Yeah.

[00:40:55] I feel like if everybody had sort of, like, been that sort of over-the-top villain, like the way he was and the way Kenneweth was, then it would have been really funny.

[00:41:06] Like, if we're not supposed to have sympathy for them, then you can really have a lot of fun.

[00:41:10] But it's a Christmas movie, so it has to be nice.

[00:41:13] So I think it just had an open crisis.

[00:41:17] Yeah.

[00:41:17] Because then you could be in kind of a knives-out type of scenario where, yeah, what's all the different people cross-cutting each other?

[00:41:24] Yeah.

[00:41:25] That would be entertaining.

[00:41:26] Yeah.

[00:41:27] Yeah.

[00:41:28] We did have another Mean Girls poll here.

[00:41:32] We had Tim Meadows, who was the principal in Mean Girls.

[00:41:36] He was – what was his name in this?

[00:41:38] I'm trying to figure it out.

[00:41:39] But Stan, he was the guy who Logan was trying to pitch the investment to.

[00:41:47] Anyway, it's fun to get another Mean Girls poll in a Lindsay Lohan movie.

[00:41:51] They had a few different, like, SNL comedy actors in this, actually.

[00:41:56] Yeah.

[00:41:56] They had Chris Parnell.

[00:41:58] He played the veterinarian, and he did a lot of SNL.

[00:42:02] He did 30 Rock.

[00:42:04] He was the doctor in 30 Rock, the, like, incompetent doctor.

[00:42:07] So, it was really funny to see him kind of reprising that role.

[00:42:09] Hey, he's a pretty good dentist.

[00:42:12] Yeah.

[00:42:13] I would have taken so much more of him in this movie.

[00:42:16] Like, his little cameo was so lovely and refreshing.

[00:42:21] Yeah.

[00:42:21] And then he was gone.

[00:42:22] I thought that he was going to end up with Kristen at the end of it.

[00:42:28] The veterinarian doctor?

[00:42:30] Yeah.

[00:42:30] Oh, that would have been funny.

[00:42:32] That would have been good.

[00:42:33] Yeah.

[00:42:34] That would have been a nice little twist that you wouldn't have seen coming necessarily.

[00:42:38] Yeah.

[00:42:39] That would have been good.

[00:42:40] Yeah.

[00:42:41] Who else has favorite moments or thoughts about this movie?

[00:42:44] Again, you know, it's funny.

[00:42:46] Maya goes to me beforehand.

[00:42:47] You know, we're all tired because our kids are sick right now.

[00:42:49] And I was like, don't worry.

[00:42:51] I think this will be a quick one.

[00:42:52] She goes, oh, no.

[00:42:52] Well, and I was like, there's no substance to these.

[00:42:55] We don't have to go on and on about these.

[00:42:58] We don't have to dissect it so much.

[00:43:01] But anyone else have some thoughts on this?

[00:43:03] Watch Hot Frosty.

[00:43:07] I have a final question I want to ask everyone when we're done talking about this movie.

[00:43:12] Okay.

[00:43:14] Oh, wait.

[00:43:14] I have one question about this movie.

[00:43:17] Did he ever apologize for saying all that crazy shit about her dead mom?

[00:43:23] No.

[00:43:25] What the heck?

[00:43:26] No.

[00:43:27] Yeah, that was really bad.

[00:43:28] That was insane to me.

[00:43:29] Like, what was the basis of their, I guess, just their friendship?

[00:43:34] I mean, their, yeah, I don't know.

[00:43:36] They never really sold it to me that they were star-crossed lovers or, you know, meant to be together sort of.

[00:43:43] It just never clicked for me that that was it.

[00:43:46] No.

[00:43:46] Or that they're comfortable together.

[00:43:47] They seem like buddies.

[00:43:48] Yeah.

[00:43:49] Yeah.

[00:43:50] Yeah.

[00:43:51] And how many relationships go on out of comfort, right?

[00:43:54] Like, that's just, that is a thing that people do.

[00:43:59] Well, that's a lovely Christmas message.

[00:44:00] So, Alicia, ask us your bonus question.

[00:44:03] All right.

[00:44:04] I want everyone to say, what is your Netflix Christmas movie pitch?

[00:44:10] Like, what would you call it?

[00:44:11] And what's the premise?

[00:44:15] Like, you, like, come up with a pitch for a movie.

[00:44:19] Like, if we're doing.

[00:44:20] I have one, but I don't have a title.

[00:44:23] Okay.

[00:44:23] So, you have to help me title it.

[00:44:25] So, it's Hot Frosty, but a reverse storyline.

[00:44:29] So, the female protagonist, like, really, really wants a boyfriend so badly that she builds one out of snow and then he comes to life.

[00:44:38] And she spends the whole movie, like, pursuing this hot snowman only to realize that it's not healthy to date a snowman.

[00:44:47] And the love of her life is actually, like, you know, the nice guy next door who's been there all along.

[00:44:54] Right.

[00:44:55] Oh, yeah.

[00:44:55] You don't want to risk Frosty all over.

[00:44:56] It's a Pygmalion story.

[00:44:57] Yeah.

[00:44:57] Oh, my God.

[00:44:58] Yeah.

[00:45:01] But I don't know what it's called.

[00:45:03] Hmm.

[00:45:04] Hot Frosty 2.

[00:45:08] It's Frosty Pygmalion.

[00:45:11] It's the play that's about a guy loving his statute of life anyway.

[00:45:15] I don't know this.

[00:45:16] A deep cut, Alicia.

[00:45:18] All right.

[00:45:19] All right.

[00:45:19] Who else has got a pitch?

[00:45:20] Is Pygmalion also the play that My Fair Lady is based on?

[00:45:23] Yes.

[00:45:23] All right.

[00:45:24] Who else has got a pitch?

[00:45:25] All right.

[00:45:26] Well, I'll do mine.

[00:45:27] Mine is, so it's actually a trilogy.

[00:45:31] It's called The Last Mermaid Christmas.

[00:45:34] Okay.

[00:45:36] And it's about, it's like a take on The Little Mermaid where she wants to be part of that world.

[00:45:43] But actually, in the end, he ends up becoming part of her world.

[00:45:48] And the next one in a trilogy is actually a pre, oh, yeah.

[00:45:52] And I forgot that there's also a witch's curse involved and stuff.

[00:45:54] And the next one, the first one, sorry, the next one is a prequel that's called The First Mermaid Christmas.

[00:46:01] And it's about how this curse originated and everything.

[00:46:04] And then, yeah, there'll be a third.

[00:46:06] There's a sequel.

[00:46:07] And so I'm going to appeal to Netflix by telling them you can watch the movies after they come out in any order.

[00:46:14] You know?

[00:46:15] Okay.

[00:46:16] Like Kaleidoscope, but actually good.

[00:46:19] There are not enough mermaid Christmas movies out there.

[00:46:23] Right?

[00:46:23] I think this has legs.

[00:46:26] But I'm...

[00:46:28] All right.

[00:46:29] That's fun.

[00:46:31] I guess my fantasy Christmas movie would just be the cast of Arrested Development having a Christmas movie and doing an Arrested Development Christmas because I would watch them do anything.

[00:46:43] That or a real adaptation of Hogfather that was a high-budget, nice, high-quality movie.

[00:46:51] I want it.

[00:46:54] David, do you have a fantasy?

[00:46:56] I think it would just be more in genre.

[00:46:59] I didn't...

[00:47:00] I'm not good on the spot of creating a movie like that, so I didn't really think about it.

[00:47:06] But I...

[00:47:07] Watching...

[00:47:08] Having watched this movie, it reminded me of how good the screwball comedy genre is.

[00:47:14] How would you define that?

[00:47:15] I want to get my head around that.

[00:47:17] Screwball comedy is like a very specific thing.

[00:47:20] It was like a post-depression era rom-com...

[00:47:26] A romantic comedy sub-genre of it where a lot of times there's different social classes involved.

[00:47:35] Where a lot of times one character dominates the relationship with the other, typically the female character dominating the male character.

[00:47:43] And so it's kind of a battle of the sexes thing.

[00:47:46] And obviously when you had a more traditional gender roles in the earlier movies, that was a woman dominating a man more often.

[00:47:54] And then there's just a lot of really fast-paced repartee dialogue, battle of the sexes, maybe a little bit of slapstick, comedy type of stuff.

[00:48:08] And I think when they're really sharp-witted, I think that they would...

[00:48:13] I would like to see a sharp-witted Christmas movie that is a battle of the sexes.

[00:48:19] Or not a battle of the sexes in a way, but a relationship thing.

[00:48:23] Battle of the Mermaids.

[00:48:23] Battle of the Mermaids, there you go.

[00:48:25] We're back, we're back.

[00:48:26] That's good.

[00:48:28] So, yeah.

[00:48:29] I think something in that really sharp dialogue thing that really plays with it.

[00:48:35] As opposed to, that can really be a little bit more timeless.

[00:48:39] Because this is very...

[00:48:41] Our Little Secret is very contemporary.

[00:48:43] Very sort of nouveau riche sensibilities.

[00:48:45] And it was just kind of like pablum in some ways.

[00:48:49] The characters weren't interesting.

[00:48:51] Even though there's the talent there to play it.

[00:48:53] Like if the script was...

[00:48:54] And in certain points, the comedy was kind of good.

[00:48:58] And it could have been better.

[00:48:59] So just say a really punched-up witty script, I think would be great.

[00:49:03] Yes.

[00:49:04] All right.

[00:49:05] Maya, do you have a pitch for us?

[00:49:07] Yes.

[00:49:08] And it's a very loose pitch.

[00:49:10] So I'm sorry if it doesn't make too much sense.

[00:49:12] But I think it would be great if there was a man and a woman who have like two separate stories.

[00:49:20] And it's kind of like a fourth wall kind of situation.

[00:49:24] Where they're like going through their lives.

[00:49:27] And they're experiencing like all the cheesy Christmas tropes.

[00:49:31] And all like the loose magic system.

[00:49:33] And they're like, what the heck?

[00:49:34] This doesn't make any sense.

[00:49:35] And they're kind of like straight manning through the whole thing.

[00:49:38] And then at some point in the story, they cross paths.

[00:49:41] They fall in love.

[00:49:42] And then they themselves become part of the Christmas trope.

[00:49:46] Yeah.

[00:49:46] Yeah.

[00:49:47] That's great.

[00:49:47] I like that.

[00:49:48] So a Wes Anderson movie in the Christmas universe.

[00:49:51] Is that what you're telling me, Maya?

[00:49:53] I would love for him.

[00:49:53] I would love for him.

[00:49:53] We could have that production design.

[00:49:55] Yeah.

[00:49:55] Yeah.

[00:49:56] That'd be great.

[00:49:56] I can recommend some good self-aware Christmas rom-coms if you want that.

[00:50:02] Like where the trope is the movie.

[00:50:06] Like the plot is like, oh no, I've landed in a Christmas movie.

[00:50:11] Yeah, that'd be great.

[00:50:12] There is one called A Christmas Movie Christmas.

[00:50:16] That is excellent.

[00:50:18] There is another called Waking Up to Christmas.

[00:50:21] That's the same idea.

[00:50:23] Like, you know, Cynic waking up in a Christmas movie and being like, oh no, I'm in a Christmas movie.

[00:50:28] And they are both excellent.

[00:50:31] Very cool.

[00:50:32] Check them out.

[00:50:33] Do you have entries on your blog for it?

[00:50:36] Yes, I have entries for both of those.

[00:50:38] Very nice.

[00:50:39] Very nice.

[00:50:40] Yeah.

[00:50:40] All right.

[00:50:41] Well, everyone be sure to click on Anna Claus's sub stack in the show notes.

[00:50:44] If you want to hear more from her.

[00:50:46] Anybody else have closing thoughts for this Christmas season?

[00:50:49] I would like to, I think, take up Anna Claus's idea here and maybe into our rotation for next year.

[00:51:00] That we do pull a gem or two.

[00:51:02] Not just the fun, oh, isn't it, you know, a hot frosty.

[00:51:05] But like, let's talk about one of these films that she thinks is actually good, as it were.

[00:51:12] I mean, it is good the way hot frosty is good.

[00:51:15] Like, they're goofy, self-aware Christmas movies.

[00:51:18] They're not like a film.

[00:51:19] Right, right.

[00:51:21] But, you know, I like them.

[00:51:25] That's fair enough.

[00:51:26] You're the professional here.

[00:51:29] Well, now we're all Christmas professionals because we've recorded our public Christmas special.

[00:51:35] Don't forget, you can find more Christmas specials over on the Patreon and Supercast on A Christmas Prince and the Princess Switch.

[00:51:44] Let's just talk quickly about what we have coming.

[00:51:46] This is going to be coming out the week of Christmas.

[00:51:49] So, we've got our top 10 TV of 2024, which is going to be a lot of fun.

[00:51:56] We're going to have community rankings.

[00:51:57] We're going to have our triarchies rankings.

[00:52:01] And we are going to be able to discuss everything in retrospective for the year.

[00:52:08] So, that'll be on the public feed.

[00:52:09] That's our annual Christmas gift to the public that we give a second breakfast out for subscribers and the public.

[00:52:17] Then, we also have a lot else coming.

[00:52:20] I know there's going to be a Silmarillion story this week with Marilyn Arbukila, our favorite Tolkien scholar.

[00:52:25] I'm not sure what is coming on the affiliates because we're a little bit far out from that.

[00:52:30] But go check out all the affiliates.

[00:52:32] Never mind the music, radioactive ramblings, wool shift dust.

[00:52:35] I know there's going to be a silo episode.

[00:52:38] Well, yes.

[00:52:38] There'll be a silo, but I also, it being Christmas, need to shout out that Luke and I are doing a full series on a Christmas carol.

[00:52:48] Oh.

[00:52:48] A whole bunch of adaptations of a Christmas carol.

[00:52:51] So, you can find that on the wool shift dust feed.

[00:52:53] Very cool.

[00:52:55] And Anthony and Steve are back on Properly Howard 2.

[00:52:58] So, check out everything.

[00:52:59] Go to all the links in the link tree.

[00:53:02] And for now, I think we've just got to give a nice thank you.

[00:53:05] And I'll put in some generic Christmas music under this.

[00:53:08] But for now, you're going to do it acapella.

[00:53:10] David, hit me with them.

[00:53:11] To our Discord server boosters, Aaron K., Tiller the Thriller, Dork of the Ninjas, Doove71, Athena Adjalea, Tinak, Lestu, Nancy M., Ghost of Perdition, and Richard W.

[00:53:25] Thanks for donating your Nitro Bits to the community server to make our Discord server a more fun place.

[00:53:33] To our Loremaster top tier subscribers, we always like to give a quick shout out.

[00:53:38] So, Samartian, Michael G., Michelle E., Dave...

[00:53:41] God.

[00:53:42] I haven't done this in a while.

[00:53:45] To our Loremaster subscribers, thank you all so very much for your ongoing and continued support.

[00:53:51] Samartian, Michael G., Michelle E., Brian P., SC, Peter O.H., Bettina W., Adam S., Nancy M., Doove71, Brian8063, Frederick H., Sarah L., Garrett C., Eric F., Matthew M., Sarah M., DJ Miwa, Andra B., Kwong Yu, Dead Eye Jedi Bob, Nathan T., Alex V., Aaron T., Sub Zero, Aaron K., Dally V., Mothership61, Gnarls.

[00:54:21] Kathy W., Lestu, Jeffrey B., Elisa Yu, Neil F., Ben B., Scott F., Stephen N., and forever last but never least, Adrian.

[00:54:32] Thank you all so very much.

[00:54:34] Thank you to everyone who listens.

[00:54:35] Thank you to everyone who subscribes.

[00:54:38] And we will see you on the next podcast.

[00:54:42] Merry Christmas from Hot Frosty.

[00:54:45] The Lorehounds Podcast is produced and published by The Lorehounds.

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