Netflix released its holiday movie “Let It Snow” on Nov. 8. The movie, based on the 2008 book called “Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances” by Maureen Johnson, John Green and Lauren Myracle, offers a refreshing take on the holiday genre, introducing multidimensional characters who go through a variety of funny and unpredictable scenarios. 

Similar to the book, the movie follows three different storylines. Each plotline is set during Christmas Eve festivities, each spotlighting teenagers and the problems that may appear during this period of their life. The first storyline that is presented to the audience is the story of Julie (Isabela Merced). She is looking for a specific miniature of a special holiday collection elf to make her mother’s Christmas perfect. Once she becomes frustrated from a fruitless search, she departs from the train station. However an out-of-service train allowed her to meet a famous singer named Stuart (Shameik Moore). Together, they both ditch the train and go to the Waffle Town nearby. 

The audience then meets Angie “The Duke” (Kiernan Shipka) and her best friend Tobin (Mitchell Hope). The two have known each other since they were little, but Angie does not know that Tobin is secretly in love with her. They go through some very funny situations, such as stealing a keg of beer from a party thrown by two teenage brothers who were in jail. It’s that cliché love story of best friends falling in love with just enough twists to make it feel free and interesting. 

The final story follows the love life of two friends, Addie (Odeya Rush) and Dorrie (Liv Hewson), who have both been obsessed with pigs since they were little. Addie’s boyfriend is not answering her messages or calls, so she goes looking for him. Dorrie is falling in love with a girl named Kerry (Anna Akana), who she met only a couple days prior. 

Kerry and Dorrie end up meeting again at Dorrie’s job, which is coincidentally at Waffle Town. However, Kerry is with her friends so she pretends not to know who Dorrie is. The queer storyline was not in the book, but the authors already expressed how much they loved this change. John Green, the author of this story, even said to Buzzfeed News that “I hope more young people feel supported coming out and being who they are.”

This movie has it all: friendship, self discovery and even a musical piece. The soundtrack itself is also very diverse. While the film featured a few modern songs, the majority of the movie’s score were throwbacks such as “Rock the Casbah” from The Clash and “100 Years Ago” by The Rolling Stones. It was a very nice surprise and it made the movie feel more authentic than other holiday specials. 

The humor was pointed and well-directed, particularly within Angie and Tobin’s storyline, the latter being the origin of most of the jokes. In one of their earlier scenes, Tobin is about to shave a hair on his nipple when Angie enters unannounced in his bedroom. He ends up cutting himself, a development which is addressed throughout the entire movie, for his nipple keeps bleeding and staining his shirt at the funniest, most inconvenient times. 

The dialogue could have been a lot better. There were a couple of scenes, especially in the beginning, that were a bit difficult to watch. One in particular came when Julie and Stuart shared their first ‘real’ conversation. It was very awkward and the dialogue was subpar. Perhaps the blame should be attributed to the actors; however, there is an abrupt change in the quality of the dialogue throughout the rest of the movie. 

All the characters end up meeting at the end of the movie at Waffle Town. It’s a very wholesome scene where the viewer ends up seeing everyone together having fun during a last-minute party. It’s a very nice way to end and connect the storylines, affording the viewer the heartfelt feeling of Christmas. 

“Let it Snow” is a good holiday movie if you want a bit of change. The reliability of characters is accompanied by great storylines and the discussion of important subject matters. A funny movie to watch with the whole family to get into the holiday mood.