Hot Frosty

• Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti
• November 13, 2024
• Netflix

A lonely young widow that has shut herself off from love encounters a magical snowman come to life.

With a name like Hot Frosty you know what you’re going to get. And if a movie starts out with opening narration that says something like “but you’ve never heard a story like this” or something along those lines you definitely know what you’re going to get. Those bits in the beginning caused me to brace for the worst.

Hot Frosty is comfort food and does not pretend it is anything else. This movie is surprisingly cute. It’s certainly never gonna be a Christmas classic but it’s silly and manages some moments of genuine humor. You will not only smile but laugh.

The snowman in question who comes to life-referred to as ‘Jack’ (Dustin Milligan) because of a name on some clothes he finds-is supposed to be attractive to the point that women automatically swoon over him. “I have the vapors!” Maybe it’s that I’m a straight male, but he doesn’t strike me as the type to make women melt. Then again this is an isolated mountain town and maybe their options are few and far between.

They really go all in on the whole snowman thing. Jack sweats in any kind of warmth wearing no jackets and going shirtless outside sometimes. Jack eats ice all the time. Much like the famous Frosty, he is in danger from or uncomfortable by warmth. This plays into the climax obviously.

The object of his affections eventually is young widower Kathy Barrett (Lacey Chabert) that has shut herself off from love. Her late husband died from a tragic case of movie cancer. To fill the void and drown out the pain she does for others to the point she crowds out her own life. The two actors play well together which sells the often contrived nature of this like a candy coating on medicine.

Craig Robinson is the overly intense Sheriff Nathaniel Hunter and Joe Lo Truglio as Deputy Sheriff Ed Schatz is basically Charles Boyle from Brooklyn Nine-Nine but in a small town called Hope Springs. Now the actors, at least the ones you recognize, do not step outside their comfort zone. Then again this is not anything complex. It’s a Hallmark movie on Netflix. When do they get edgy?

Of course the pure hearted Jack makes life better for the town through his good deeds as well as by merely existing. In either an effort to cut down run time or to drive home that the town certainly has the Christmas spirit everybody just kind of accepts that Jack really is a snowman come to life around Christmas time when it is announced.

The climax is pretty much what you would expect, and that’s the thing. They don’t try to reinvent the wheel or subvert expectations. As I said this is comfort food. I would’ve been okay if he had been some amnesiac who is confused and happened to look like the snow sculpture. That would’ve worked too and helped explain how he would be able to function in the real world.

Hot Frosty is an awful title with some bad opening narration that redeemed itself by the end. It’s cute with some funny moments and enough heart. As Christmas romantic films go this one’s actually quite good. It’s certainly no classic but it’s not a waste of your time.