Let It Snow (2019) Movie Review

Netflix’s Let It Snow (2019) follows a cast of characters as they navigate relationship problems in a snowy Christmas Eve. It stars several actors you might have seen before, like Shameik Moore from Spider-man Into the Spider Verse, Jacob Batalon from Spider-Man: Far From Home, Kiernan Shipka from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Isabela Merced (no longer Moner, apparently) from Dora and The Lost City and Joan Cusack from, well, anything in the 90s or more notably Toy Story 2, 3 & 4. This movie is the equivalent of Love Actually (2003), Valentine’s Day (2010) and New Years Eve (2011) in that an ensemble cast of characters and storylines are brought together by a single event—except, Let It Snow is about teens.

It's Cute...

The nicest thing I can say about this film is that it’s cute, on a surface level. The snowy scenery is nice to look at, it’s nice to see this cast of young actors working together, and some of the romantic tropes are always fun. Jacob Batalon in particular is a stand-out due to his natural comedic timing breathing some personality into this film. However, regardless of its “looks”, this movie was boring and plain.

The Problems With This Film

Watching this movie felt like a waste of time and it made me seriously question if paying 13 dollars per month for Netflix was still a viable investment given the quality of movie productions they put out each month.

I get that I may not be this movie’s target demographic; I’m in my late 20s and this movie is aimed for teens and younger adults. I recognize that perhaps it’s not going to impress me the way that it would a younger audience. However, I don’t believe that this is an excuse for lazy filmmaking. This movie lacks originality, personality and charm.

Nothing New

This movie is ultimately a bunch of recycled stories and movies in one, just rebooted for Gen-Zers. The romantic storylines in this film are tropey, and can be found in the movies it’s modeled after, but that’s usually okay. The problem is that this film doesn’t even attempt to do something new with them. We have:

The hetero-white couple that are friends, but one of them is secretly in love with the other and when he wants to confess his feelings, she’s already getting close to some other guy.
The lesbian couple, but one of them is still in the closet so things get awkward when the other tries to romance her in front of her friends.
A regular girl runs into a famous guy, but she’s not impressed by him because she’s “not like other girls”. He’s the celebrity trying to escape his hectic and lonely life and she’s the smart girl with really big life problems. She shows him the ways of down-to-earth living and subsequently fall in love.
Then there’s the girl who is so insecure she spends most of the film tracking down her boyfriend who she suspects is cheating on her.
And finally, our last trope is the token PoC best-friend who the white characters come to for romantic advice, but he himself has no romantic storyline or interest in one.

None of these tropes were turn on their heads to generate something unique, which ultimately made this movie boring.

Rushed Pace and Flat Characters

This movie felt rushed which is due to them trying to juggle four or five storylines at once. They manage to hit the key plot points in each archetypal storyline, but they’re almost never built up, which ends up being surface level entertainment while leaving you with the feeling that nothing happened. Not to mention, the characters felt like cardboard because they were never on screen long enough to have a personality.

I think maybe this could have been more entertaining if each of these storylines were made into individual films. Give us time to care about these characters, to see them struggle and to see them triumph or fail.

Overall

This movie is cute and will probably appeal to younger audiences. However, it’s not doing anything new and is ultimately just a watered down version of any other romantic ensemble cast movie that centers around one single event. I personally wouldn’t recommend you spend any of your time watching this film—even if you’re a lover of romance films.

Did you watch Let It Snow? Tell me what you thought about it in the comments!

Hi! Shantal here. I’m a writer and a storyteller. I created Shantal Writes to share my experiences with writing fiction. I also provide new writers with tips, tools, and writing advice. I hope you find something helpful while you’re here!