When we meet widow Kathy (Lacey Chabert), she is struggling to stay warm in her apartment, switching quickly from blanket to coat on her way to the diner she owns. A note reminding her to call the repairman to fix the heating goes ignored yet again. While taking a stroll outside that evening, Kathy sees some snowmen amongst outdoor Christmas lights. One of them is sculpted into a man, who Kathy wraps around a magical scarf she was given earlier that day. She takes a photo of him and smiles, before seeing a twinkle in the figure’s eye. The following morning, Kathy is shocked to see that the snowman has come to life. He’s veiny and muscular to an unnerving degree and has the personality of a naïve but loving child.
The snowman goes by Jack (Dustin Milligan), thanks to the nametag on the outfit he stole. He was born into nudity, after all. Kathy brings him inside the diner for some food. “I’ve never had food before. Is that okay?” he asks. While cautious and slightly annoyed, Kathy cannot help her kind-hearted nature. Jack wants to stay with her because, technically, he’s known her his entire life. Since losing her husband to cancer two years prior, Kathy schools Jack on how serious it is to say you “love” a person, instead of just leaving him to his whimsy.
A group of older women soon have Jack doing stereotypical manly tasks around the house while they ogle him, such as fixing lights, which he somehow knows how to do. The juxtaposition of Jack’s innocence mixed with sexual themes and innuendos can feel bizarre, but female characters are historically subjected to this. Also in juxtaposition is Jack’s temperature. While he’s hot, Jack is literally ice cold and has to eat ice to survive. “Why is there no beverage for that ice, Jack?” Sheriff Hunter (Craig Robinson) asks suspiciously, which should give you further insight into the film’s humour. The Sheriff will stop at nothing to catch the mysterious streaker and thief, while Deputy Sheriff Schatz (Joe Lo Truglio) is way more easy going. They’ve got the bad cop, good cop thing down, which lazily makes up the rest of the film’s plot.
Directed by Jerry Ciccoritti, whose other work contains low budget genre films, and written by Russell Hainline, who has written nothing but Hallmark-esque Christmas films bar one thriller, Hot Frosty is, unsurprisingly, not that good. But it’s perfectly fine for what it is. The directing is decent and the cinematography is vibrant, if not a little blue-tinted to capture the snowy town. It’s clear that Milligan had fun playing Jack. He has a lot of upbeat personality which contrasts Kathy’s more melancholy vibe from being a widow. Hainline’s screenplay makes a few attempts at subversion, but ultimately plays it too safe. There are too many sex jokes for the film to contain so little passion from its stars. It appears that Chabert forgot she’s supposed to find Milligan attractive. Unfortunately, Kathy’s character doesn’t seem very interesting or fleshed-out, but Chabert still manages to be enjoyable to watch on-screen.
Christmas films of this calibre require suspension of disbelief, but you can’t help but wonder what it would be like to spend the rest of your life with a man who came to life from snow and doesn’t have a past to inform his current views, opinions, or patterns of behaviour. Hot Frosty, however, knows what it’s doing. It’s perhaps obvious to anyone with eyes that this film isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. It’s supposed to be a silly romp that you can switch your brain off to. You grow used to Jack and his optimism becomes contagious. He comes across as a genuinely nice and likeable guy who I wouldn’t mind hanging out with. He’s a breath of fresh air. Hainline said that three years ago he “dreamed up” the title “Hot Frosty” and “giggled like a madman.” I would have, too, to be fair. He calls it a “very silly, very sweet, very heartfelt movie,” and despite its flaws, it is those things. I have to respect a guy who comes up with a silly film plot and gets it made to the point of keeping its goofy title. I mean, why are we taking life so seriously all the time anyway?
Hot Frosty is available to watch on Netflix.
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