T&K's XMas (2020) Advent Calendar: Day 4 - Let It Snow

OK, I should have pre-ambled in the last post, that not every Xmas movie I watch for this year's Advent Calendar will be part of the Toast to Hallmarkent. Some will just be straight up Xmas Movies. Or even just movies traditionally watched around Xmas time. And some will just be classics that I likely have not written about.

2019, Luke Snellin (Temple) -- Netflix 

Kent was right; this was a pretty good movie, not a Hallmark romcom in the least, but a classic teen romantic comedy, where we wander briefly through the lives of a number of teens, in a small rural town, just before Xmas. This movie was just full to the brim with familiar young faces, including Isabella Moner (Dora and the Lost City of Gold), Shameik Moore (technically, familiar voice, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse), Liv Hewson (Dramaworld), Odeya Rish (Lady Bird), Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: Far From Home), and Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) as well as a small host of others. 

In a small town, most teen lives intersect or at least pass by each other. In the smallest, one event might bring them together, such as the party being arranged by Keon (Batalon). Julie (Moner) is heading back to town, from the Big City, when she bumps into teen singing star Stuart (Moore), literally, when the train is halted. They both jump off and end up at _Affle Town, the local divey waffle joint. Keon and Dorrie (Hewson) work there, and Dorrie has just had another row with her best friend Addie (Rush), which has left Addie walking around upset she cannot find her latest boyfriend. Meanwhile Angie "The Duke" (Shipka) and her best bud Tobin end up playing broomball with pretty, and pretty nice, college boy JP. Tobin is obviously in love with Angie, but they are best friends.

All typical teen dramedy stories, but the movie does them with a great amount of charm and sincerity. I don't often find myself chuckling out loud at these kind of movies, as they often just degrade into the lowest common denominator, but this one had heart. Each of the three love stories, as it is primarily a romantic comedy, is given enough focus while letting the other minor stories play out satisfactorily. I just liked these kids and cared about how these stories played out. The only weird bit, was the paranoid Xmas Angel character, tinfoil wearing, tow truck driver Joan Cusack. She was also the opening & closing narrator, but her role was kind of extraneous, if a little fun. 

Now, while this was billed as a holiday movie (in 2019) the Xmas season plays as much a role as it did it Die Hard. BUT being shot in actual winter rural Ontario lent such a great feel of authenticity that few of these holiday movies have. When Julie and Stuart jump off the train into the snow banks, they have to wade through cold blowing snow. When The Duke and Tobin flee the tough broom ball twins, and slamming his stationwagon into a snowbank, I recalled my mom's spinout. They are small things, but I like real snow in snow filled movies.