I’ve fallen like snow for ‘Hot Frosty’ and this snowman’s love story

Of all the men I’ve given my heart to (regretfully), the one made of snow is the least of my concerns. With the new ho-ho-holiday rom-com “Hot Frosty,” Netflix has gifted me my latest love. And no matter how ridiculous you think the plot is, there’s absolutely no reason to give this movie the cold shoulder.
Walk with me, will you, in this whimsical winter wonderland where Lacey Chabert (the most “fetch” cast member of “Mean Girls”) plays diner owner Kathy. Now, Kathy has had a rough go of it: She lost her husband to cancer and has refrained from romance since, and her house is kind of falling apart because her husband had handled home repairs. When Kathy is gifted a magical scarf by a friend who owns a thrift store, she places it on a very realistic-looking snow sculpture of a man. And just like in the song “Frosty the Snowman,” this figure became “alive as he could be.” But instead of “two eyes made out of coal,” Dustin Milligan’s “Hot Frosty” has eight abs made of steel.
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The snowman, dubbed Jack, is an endearing combination of the titular character in “Meet Joe Black” and the mermaid from “Splash.” He’s delighted to experience every aspect of life for the first time and learns how to be a Mr. Fix It from watching TV.
This premise might give you pause. Even Chabert had concerns initially. “I loved the concept,” she says in an interview. “But I thought at first, ‘Oh, goodness, is this just going to be really silly?’ ” Merely a few pages into the script she found it “full of heart.”
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When I learned the plot of “Hot Frosty,” I didn’t bat a Cindy-Lou Who eyelash. Why? Because as Kate McCallister taught me in my all-time favorite holiday movie, “Home Alone,” Christmas is “the season of perpetual hope!” Anything is possible at Christmas! Like an 8-year-old defending his family’s “silver tuna” mansion against a pair of robbers with Micro Machines and a tarantula. Or the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future softening the heart of a Scrooge (“A Christmas Carol”). Or a guardian angel helping a man see the beauty of his own existence (“It’s a Wonderful Life”).
Just think of the origins of the holiday. Kids are told Santa, in a sleigh toted by flying reindeer, can bring toys to children all across the globe in a single night. As a Christian, I’m asked to believe a virgin miraculously had a baby who would save the world.
Christmas is simply a time to believe, and I have fully bought into all of it. I believe that Christmas is a special time of year that brings out the best in everyone, and I believe in the upcoming year’s infinite possibilities. I can certainly entertain the thought of a woman falling head over flake for a snowman for 92 minutes.
Kathy’s friend Dottie (Katy Mixon Greer), a doctor, sums it up perfectly in “Hot Frosty.”
“Look, everything about Christmas − Santa, elves, flying reindeer − the scientist in me knows they shouldn’t exist,” Dottie says. “But wouldn’t the world be a little bit better if they did?”
And Jack, despite his sensitivity to heat, is quite easy to love. Sure, he’s handsome. He’s also helpful, kind and inclined to seize the day. “I don’t know what’s happening any more than you do,” Jack tells Kathy. “I could wake up tomorrow and be a puddle. So, I just want to make the most of the time that I have while I’m here.” Shouldn’t we all?
“He might be a snowman and not a human − you have to find out throughout the movie,” Chabert teases. “But the connection that they share ends up being something that serves as a great source of healing for my character.”
For Milligan’s part, “What I find so appealing about the genre of Christmas movies is that it is immediately just saying, ‘Look, why don’t you just put the real world aside for a second here and just let the magic wash over you, and the warmth and the love and the togetherness and the community? What if we just let a little bit of magic into our lives? Would that be so bad?’ ”
Taking inspiration from Regina George, I urge you to get in, lords a-leaping! We’re riding “Hot Frosty” in a one-horse open sleigh all the way to Netflix’s top spot.