Hot Frosty is one of those movies where you can’t fathom if it’s intended to be taken seriously or meant as a parody of the Hallmark Christmas holiday movie genre. It’s set in one of those towns that really look densely populated but have enough of an infrastructure to have a lot of amenities. They even filmed it in Ottawa and surrounding areas.
Lacey Chabert, who actually has appeared in about three dozen Hallmark Channel movies, plays Kathy Barrett who owns and operates Kathy Kafe in the fictional town of Hope Springs, N.Y. Obviously, you can tell that director Jerry Ciccoritti and writer Russell Hainline either are unfamiliar with running a restaurant or this intended. It appears that Kathy has a lot of downtime on her hands that she spends most of the movie away from the restaurant. It’s mainly just used as a place for everyone in the cast to congregate whenever it’s convenient for the plot.
Kathy’s husband passed away from cancer and was a handyman. Therefore, Kathy, who owns a business, has no way to do the necessary repairs nor who to call, even though her late hubs’ would’ve had a lot of contacts. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because a new handyman is coming to her life in the form of Jack (Dustin Milligan), a snowman who comes to life when Kathy puts a scarf around the snowman that was given to her by some fellow business owners.
Anyway, the scarf is somehow magical and Jack needs to keep it on or else he’ll revert back to a snowman. Also, Jack is constantly cold, which is ironic because he is also melting. At the same time, the local sheriff Nathaniel Hunter (Craig Robinson), who along with his son seemed to be the token black people among the “Live Laugh Love” whiteness of Hope Springs, is going after Jack because he correctly believes Jack broke into a clothing department store.
But it’s ok, because Jack has the mind of a child and is unaware of things, including how to eat but after watching TV shows becomes The Bear. And he learns how to do maintenance and home repair after watching TV, which leads to him working outside in the winter with his shirt off because he’s naturally cold. This leads to Jack making a GMIlF Jane Miller (Lauren Holly). Apparently, Jack didn’t watch that one Picket Fences episode because he doesn’t seem to realize that Jane is almost halfway to the doctor to have ovaries put back in because she wants to have Jack’s baby.
I’m not even sure if the movie is trying to be a mockery because someone actually made a chiseled buff snowman and the scarf conveniently covers his twig and berries. That’s if the snowman has them. I’m reminded of the scene in My Best Friend’s Wedding where a woman ends up recreating the pole scene in A Christmas Story by going down on an ice sculpture of Michelango’s David. The sheriff should be investigating why someone built a snowman with a package.
But considering the name of the movie is Hot Frosty which just sounds dirty. I mean, I think of what happened in Zack and Miri Make a Porno where Jeff Anderson’s cameraman character found himself making a boy/girl version of Two Girls/One Cup. It seems basically this is a movie that may be trolling people who like Hallmark holiday movies. Yet, it seems to have enough love for them that it’s premise is in the right place.
Netflix has made some good movies and some very, very bad ones. Two years ago, Lindsay Lohan made Falling Into Christmas on Netflix and I stopped watching after 15-20 minutes because I couldn’t get into it. I really have no desire to watch Hot Frosty again anytime soon. But I’m sure those who enjoy Hallmark movies will love it.
Along with Robinson, actors such as Joe Le Truglio and Katy Mixon Greer appear and seem to be in on the joke. A decade ago, Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig made a Lifetime thriller A Deadly Adoption which has a black comedy tongue-in-cheek vibe to it. It wasn’t great. But it wasn’t meant to be great.
Movies like this seem to exist along with Mommie Dearest, Showgirls, Stephen King’s Silver Bullet and Starship Troopers where if you take it too seriously, you’re going to hate it. Besides it’s a Christmas movie about a snowman that comes to life and wants to bone Lacey Chabert. I’m sure she saw this as a great way to have a little fun in her career. We seem to forget she originally voiced Meg Griffin in the first season of Family Guy and appeared as a parody of her Party of Five co-star Jennifer Love Hewitt in the underrated Not Another Teen Movie.
She obviously understood the assignment.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 