One of America’s favorite ways to reign in the holiday season is to watch sub-par cheesy rom-coms. Let It Snow is a continuation of that beloved tradition. It is a great movie for those who are fans of the holiday Hallmark collection, and it is a great movie to mindlessly watch while baking cookies or wrapping presents. However, it is not a great movie. Based off the novel Let It Snow written by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Mycrale, it follows several teens in their small town on an eventful Christmas Eve. In true holiday rom-com fashion, it is driven by absurd coincidences, best-friends that are hesitant to reveal their true feelings, and a lot of snow.
Let It Snow tries to pull off one of the classic tropes of rom-coms: multiple intertwined storylines. However, their attempt hurts the film far more than it helps. The result of of their attempt is what causes the movie to be disorganized because each storyline isn’t given the opportunity to resonate with the audience. There are three main subplots and they all feel shallow. Let It Snow would have been much better off with a narrower, less distracting focus. The lack of it leads to a lost central message of the movie. It is so busy establishing each story that is has a hurried and unimpressive resolution. The plot is over complex and yet the characters are written without complexity. The characters feel inorganic and their actions lack any motivation besides desperately moving the plot along. Overall, the screenplay was poorly written; the jokes fall flat and its attempts at comedy cause a reaction more on par with cringe than laughter.
What Let It Snow did do right was the casting of Shameik Moore. With Shameik’s stellar performance in Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse, there is no question Shameik has talent. This talent easily makes Shameik’s character, Stuart, the most outstanding character in the movie. Stuart is a pop-star who takes a detour in an unassuming small town in the film. His run in with with Julie (Isabela Merced), is largely what drives his storyline in the film. In addition to Shameik, the only other substantial performance in the film is from Liv Hewson and her character, Dorrie. In her storyline, Dorrie handles solving her issues with her best friend and her crush on a cheerleader. What makes Dorrie’s character stand out is that she is level headed and thoughtful, in contrast to the otherwise emotional and irrational characters in this film.
Let It Snow evokes an excitement for the holidays, but unfortunately, nothing more. The coherency of Let It Snow is missing, but the holiday cheer is not. For those who are just looking for a movie to usher them into the season, this is the movie for you. However, don’t expect it to be the next Love, Actually.
2/5 STARS