'My Secret Santa' is the perfect blend of cosy vibes and familiar holiday tropes

“My Secret Santa” is peak festive behaviour. It’s awkward, it’s forced fun, and it only exists because Christmas tells us to participate.

So yes, from the title alone, Netflix understood the assignment. 

The film feels warm and safe in the way only a Christmas romcom can. It made me crave a white Christmas I have never experienced, complete with ice-skating rinks, fireplaces, eggnog and those checked pyjamas people only wear in December and nowhere else.

The aesthetic is doing most of the emotional labour here, and I respect that. Even vinyl records make an appearance, because nostalgia is a paid actor in these films. Visually, it works.

From the very start, we’re dropped into a classic festive meet-cute. Two strangers meet unexpectedly, exchange cheeky remarks, and you already know how this ends. The chemistry is soft, flirty and very much “I will tolerate you for now but absolutely imagine kissing you later”. Nothing creepy, just holiday-coded romance doing what it does best.

The story follows Taylor Jacobsen, played by Alexandra Breckenridge, a tired single mother, broke and doing her absolute best. Her teenage daughter Zoey (Madison MacIsaac) applies to a prestigious snowboarding academy without consulting anyone and somehow gets accepted. The price tag is brutal.

Taylor is already behind on rent, and suddenly, we’re reminded why holiday films hit harder than they should. There’s always a sprinkle of reality tucked inside the tinsel. That’s the hook. Hope arrives right when the year is ending, and everyone needs it most.

Taylor discovers she can get a massive tuition discount if she works at the ski resort attached to the academy. The job available just happens to be Santa Claus, paying a very suspicious $2,000 a week, but we don't talk about that.

Christmas miracle secured. Cue the gender-swapping storyline that feels straight out of early-2000s cinema. With the help of her brother, a costume creator and make-up artist, Taylor transforms into Santa.

With a fake name, her real social security number, and a Santa suit that does most of the heavy lifting, Taylor lands the job, enrols Zoey, and keeps the lie alive. Complications arrive, as they always do, in the form of Matthew (Ryan Eggold). 

Matthew is the charming bloke from the record store she politely rejected because dating is not on the vision board. He also happens to be the son of the resort owner and her new boss. Subtlety is not part of the holiday genre.

Tia Mowry appears as Natasha, watching Matthew closely as he attempts to prove he’s worthy of inheriting the family business. Seeing her in a proper acting role instead of questionable TikTok dance moments feels like a small Christmas gift.

Comparisons to "Mrs Doubtfire" are unavoidable, from the helpful gay brother to the frantic costume changes and bathroom dashes, but the film doesn’t quite land that level of brilliance, and it definitely borrows more than it reinvents.

Still, “My Secret Santa” knows what it is. It’s cosy, predictable, slightly ridiculous and emotionally harmless. 

Rating: *** solid and enjoyable, though not groundbreaking.