Hot Frosty is a classic in the making, playing the traditional audience of the Hallmark style film and turning it on its head with one simple addition… an attractive Frosty the Snowman. You’d hope that a film with a title like “Hot Frosty” would understand what it is… and it surely does. It’s cheesy, charming and way too funny for its own good. 

 

Lacey Chabert is no stranger to the holiday film made for television, in fact she has become a household name for many that are into those ritualistic films throughout the entire year. Myself, I purely know Lacey as Gretchen Wieners from the absolute classic - Mean Girls. Lacey is completely fine in her role here as Kathy, herself playing her role incredibly straight amongst a storyline about a snowman coming to life. Her straightforward nature mixes well with the over the top delivery of many within the town of Hope Springs. 

 

Every holiday fairytale has to have a Grinch and in this instance it’s played by Craig Robinson, the local Sheriff with something to prove. Accompanied by his less serious, but equally absurd Deputy played by Joe Lo Truglio. Robinson and Truglio, having spent nearly 8 years annually filming an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Doug Judy and Charles Boyle, assists enormously with their purposefully awkward chemistry. 

 

Now onto the “being” of the hour, Jack the Snowman who magically came to life with the help of a scarf gifted to Kathy one fateful afternoon. Dustin Milligan plays Frosty with a sense of humor and pure wonder, coming off entirely goofy and off-putting. So when the town as a whole becomes obsessed with Jack and his attractiveness, it’s almost puzzling. Not to rag on Milligan’s facial features but beyond his insane stomach region ridged with abs galore, he’s not the most conventionally attractive man. 

 

Nonetheless, personal opinions aside, Lacey and Dustin share an unbelievable amount of connection together and although way too rapid - pulls it off in a satisfactory fashion by the end. There are the predictable and typical hand touches hand moments and the small town girl not looking for love when fate sends her someone anyway. These aspects are played so intentionally corny and in the credits bloopers, it’s clear how they intended this whole story to play out - as a mixture of parody and traditional fare - riding the line incredibly well.

 

As an example on Thanksgiving, my grandma informed me she had seen Hot Frosty and she thought it was pretty good. She adores the traditional holiday films placed throughout the year and this one was beyond passable and “pretty good”. That’s high praise. 

 

Some side characters are a little too goofy and a little too understanding that Jack is in fact a snowman come to life. The reaction to him being not a human is indefinitely delayed and instead immediately passed over to, “How can I help?”. While Robinson and Truglio are great in their scenes together, for those getting sucked into the familiar love story these instances will automatically draw you out with their silly (almost certainly) improv humor. 

 

Hot Frosty truly is something else, unlike any other holiday film so far this year —- I’ve seen this one twice and have shared it with family. It’s difficult to say how long it’ll stay within the mindset of viewers past this upcoming season, but here’s hoping that it’ll be triggered again for another rewatch the following year and year.