Written by: Carley Smale & Ron Oliver
Starring: Alexandra Breckenridge, Ryan Eggold, Madison MacIsaac, Barry Levy, Adam Beauchesne
Rating: [2/5]
Failing to provide your children experiences they desperately seek and earn because of financial strife must be one of the most difficult positions for a parent. It makes the lengths they may go to provide for them know no bounds, whether it appears in the form of picking up an extra job or dressing up as Santa Claus. Not the craziest idea but ultimately what sets off the events in My Secret Santa, which certainly does not ooze quality but proves crazy enough to provide the smallest ounces of entertainment.
Recently unemployed around the holidays, Taylor (Alexandra Breckenridge) hears from her daughter that she has been accepted to an expensive skiing school at the local ski resort. With the expensive tuition bill laid before them, Taylor discovers that she could get 50% off by working at that very ski resort, with the only open position being a Santa. Therefore, she concocts a plan where she could pose as Santa and land the job.
Of the various premises one can find in this particular film genre, one where a woman finds a way to look enough like a plump old man really stands out. In that respect, this film deserves credit but it raises some major questions of how this all works. We receive some explanations, which includes Taylor getting help from her brother on building the padding and mask to wear where she could possibly pass off as Santa. I could not help but think of White Chicks in the technology utilized to make this happen. While this answers the question of how she gets the job, plenty of others arise on the possibility of this situation. This woman is posing as a man called Hugh Mann where a background check never gets run, nor even a form of identification utilized to verify her identity, but then somehow her daughter can attend with that 50% discount. Does the ski resort see her as Hugh Mann’s daughter? Also, is this Santa gig really paying enough to cover their bills and still pay for 50% of this very expensive ski resort? Generally, I do not dive into silly questions like this in reviews, but when the story in question does not have quality, it’s hard not to think about these things.
On the other side of the romance this film inevitably will focus on, we have Matthew Layne (Ryan Eggold), who takes on the typical “son of the owner who does not want to take up the family business” role male character in these types of films. He gets thrust into a position to make the Christmas season dazzle at the resort and therefore works with Hugh Mann but when Taylor’s outside of her costume they share the classic meet cute moments that promises something special. Now we have Taylor juggling her deceit of posing as Santa Claus while also potentially falling in love with this man.
For all the issues this film has, which are plenty, it’s not hard to have some fun with this story and how utterly ridiculous it proves to be. Sure, we can poke holes in the narrative all day, but when you have an obvious woman posing as Santa Claus dispensing life advice instead of just nodding at what the kids ask for Christmas, it’s hard to hate. Taylor as Hugh Mann as Santa Claus evidently becomes this sensation where everyone wants to meet this character and therefore continues to drive more business to the ski resort, which makes everyone happy. I did not realize a rent-a-Santa could possibly garner that much buzz for a place. While all the fun transpires, we have to wait for the proverbial shoe to drop about when this identity gets revealed and how that impacts the dynamic between Taylor and Matthew, but I think anyone can guess exactly how it will all go.
Certainly a premise I would have never thought of, My Secret Santa gets points for being ridiculous and, in moments, generally entertaining. However, it cannot escape its glaring flaws and strange corners it writes itself into. It suffers from what typically plagues these types of films, from the acting and the general substandard filmmaking on display. By no means does this film deserve any sort of pan and I will give Alexandra Breckenridge credit for going in on the complete ridiculousness involved but she really proves as the main highlight here.
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