Our Little Secret is the third movie from Lindsay Lohan’s partnership with Netflix. Her Christmas movies have been doing a little bit better than her non-Christmas movies so I guess we have some hope here.

Avery (Lohan) and Logan (Ian Harding) have known each other forever. They were childhood friends who eventually became a couple. But when Avery took a job in England, Logan freaked out a little bit and proposed to her at her surprise going away party. Avery declined and broke up with him. Ten years later, Avery is going to spend Christmas at her boyfriend, Cameron’s (Jon Rudnitsky), family home. Little does she know that Logan is dating Cam’s sister, Cassie (Katie Baker), and will also be spending Christmas at their family home. Avery and Logan decide not to tell anyone that they know each other. How long can that be kept secret though?

On the plus side, Our Little Secret is a pretty decent movie. The plot is kinda terrible but, otherwise, I found the movie fairly enjoyable. Kristin Chenoweth is awesome as the evil Erica, mother to Cam, Cassie, and Callum. Lohan and Harding have this nice chemistry where you can see that they don’t really hate each other but they don’t want to like each other either. That can be difficult to pull off.

However, on the negative side, I don’t understand why they felt the need to keep their previous relationship secret. Even if they didn’t want to say that they dated, they could have said they were childhood friends. I can’t believe that anyone in that family would have been upset to find out that people they are dating know each other. The whole plot of the movie should have been about them trying to get Erica to accept them. Sure, part of the plot was trying to get Erica to accept Avery but there’s no reason that couldn’t have been the main plot. There are plenty of movies about trying to impress the in-laws and comedically failing. Here, the big secret feels unnecessary.

Thankfully, the terrible plot doesn’t keep the movie from being watchable. There is still enough to enjoy that you can kinda overlook the big secret. Oh, and the dog should have totally been named Cookie.

Rating: Celebrate good time. Come on!

Every year, we get at least one take on the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. This year, Hallmark gives us Ghosts of Christmas Always. Let’s hope it’s better than some of their other versions of the story.

Arlene (Lori Tan Chinn), Katherine (Kim Matula), and Roy (Reginald VelJohnson) are the ghosts of Past, Present, and Future, respectively. They get assigned to help Peter (Ian Harding) recover his Christmas spirit. After the trio finishes their task, they realize there was a mistake. Peter is not the one that needed their help. It turns out the one needing their help is a little closer to home.

Usually, these remakes of A Christmas Carol are terrible. They are uninspired and boring. Not this time around. Ghosts of Christmas Always is entertaining and somehow manages to keep the audience guessing about what will happen next, even though everyone knows the classic story. Chinn as Arlene is magic to watch. She may not be the main character but I would watch a million movies featuring Arlene and Roy traveling around time helping people. As for Katherine and Peter, it was really refreshing to see the two leads honestly have a will-they/won’t-they relationship where you know they will because it’s a Hallmark movie but HOW will they? They had the right amount of flirting and the right amount of “we shouldn’t do this” overtones without being creepy.

But I think my favorite part of the movie is how humble the writers made Peter. He is a wealthy man who has grown up in a wealthy family. Yet every step he takes, without his father’s condescending looks, is to try to make other people’s lives better. Even when Arlene takes him in the past, he responds with “I should have given away more of my presents” instead of any sentiment that should have landed him the Scrooge role. Again, it is a very nice twist on Dickens.

If you are still asking me if you should watch this, yes, absolutely, definitely. It is still early in the Christmas movie season but I can see this making this year’s top Christmas movie list. This may actually be a movie I actually watch again at some point. And that almost never happens!