While I try to go into everything with an open mind, I will admit I was fully prepared for My Secret Santa to be completely insufferable. Netflix pumps out hundreds of these cheap, formula-driven, rom-coms throughout the year, even more so during the holiday season. It’s basically impossible not to end up putting out at least a few duds under such a “quantity first” production cycle.

But while My Secret Santa isn’t exactly a game-changer, it’s also far from terrible. There’s a solid, if still trope-driven, premise at its core, and the actors bring enough charm to their performances to make the 90-minute runtime a mostly pleasant experience. If anything, the film feels too preoccupied with being “good enough” to realize that if it were more fleshed out, it could be great.

What is My Secret Santa about?

Desperate to give her daughter the best Christmas possible, down-on-her-luck single mom Taylor, played by Alexandra Breckenridge, comes up with a plan so crazy it just might work: disguise herself as an old man to get a job playing Santa Claus at a ski resort so she can afford snowboarding lessons for her daughter from said resort. This miraculously works, but things get complicated when she starts developing feelings for the resort’s hotel manager, Matthew, played by Ryan Eggold, who has no idea that she and Santa are the same person. Only time will tell if this hair-brained scheme ends well for Taylor, at least depending on how you define “ending well.”

My Secret Santa Review

If you asked me to describe My Secret Santa in one word, it would be “inoffensive,” for better or for worse. On the one hand, the film not wanting to make anyone uncomfortable prevents the gender dynamics of Taylor disguising herself as a man from devolving into transphobic dreck about her being “confused” or “not a real man” or even particularly deceptive even though she’s literally being deceptive. On the other hand, aside from a handful of surface-level gags and the gendered nature of Santa Claus necessitating a disguise in the first place, the gender angle barely comes into play, and that feels like a missed opportunity.

At no point does any character, even in passing, suggest that this scenario could be viewed from a trans perspective even though it obviously can. The film barely covers how the requirements and pressures of being Santa make Taylor feel, let alone needing to present as a man when she’s spent her whole life presenting as a woman. This doesn’t need to be a specifically trans story, but you’d think Taylor would develop some greater understanding of masculine performance and how that can be challenging for cis men, trans men, or anyone else who occupies that role whether they want it or not, yet it never comes up.

Perhaps asking for a nuanced discussion of gender and sexuality from a direct-to-streaming holiday rom-com predominantly aimed at straight suburban white women was asking for too much, but even Mrs. Doubtfire had more substantive things to say on those subjects than this does and that came out over thirty years ago. But the issue of the film being held back by a need to be palatable doesn’t stop at the trans lens.

For instance, the closest thing the film has to a central antagonist is Tia Mowry as Natasha: a marketing executive vying for the male love interest’s position as hotel manager. Obviously, she tries to sabotage our protagonists’ efforts and has to learn a lesson about her general attitude and treatment of others by the end, but she never does anything especially heinous and almost always comes off as a better fit for the manager position than said male love interest does.

It feels like she came this close to being the kind of campy fun villain that can make films like this worth watching but was forced to pull back because the filmmakers thought casting one of the only two Black main characters in that role might come off as racist. This is an understandable and well-meaning concern, and the lack of anyone discrediting Natasha based on her race is welcome. But Tia Mowry has obvious comedic chops dating all the way back to Sister, Sister, and her character is so flat here that she’s not allowed to be funny.

Given all that, what exactly elevates My Secret Santa to being decent as opposed to mediocre or bad? Honestly, a lot of it comes down to just how good Alexandra Breckenridge is as Santa Claus. Not only did the makeup team, both in and out of universe, perfectly nail the traditional Santa look, the warmth and joy we’ve all come to associate with jolly old Kris Kringle shines throughout Breckenridge’s performance. The gags of her not quite nailing Santa’s usual attitude due to her own middle-class life experience are genuinely hysterical, and when she finally starts connecting with the kids as Santa, it’s legitimately heartwarming.

That middle to lower-class relatability is another one of the film’s biggest strengths. I grew up as the child of a single mother who dealt with very similar financial struggles to Taylor, so I have first-hand experience with how hard the holidays can be for working-class people and their families. And as a working adult, the struggle of trying to find a job around this time of year when most businesses don’t start hiring again until January felt painfully real. It helps add sincerity to what is otherwise a very “written-to-formula” story.

Is My Secret Santa worth watching?

My Secret Santa suffers from many of the same issues as other Netflix rom coms. Most of the characters are stock archetypes; you’ve seen many of these jokes told before and better; and you can see the entire plot coming from 5,000 miles away. But the short runtime, working-class authenticity, and a genuinely great performance from Alexandra Breckenridge as Santa help elevate the material if only slightly. If you’re hosting holiday gatherings, something like this is probably bound to get put on as background noise eventually, and while it’s not exactly great, you could certainly do a lot worse.

My Secret Santa is now streaming on Netflix.

My Secret Santa Review — Holiday Rom-Com is Surprisingly Decent

My Secret Santa shares many tired and overused storylines and tropes with other Netflix rom-coms, but a dash of holiday spirit and a strong lead performance manage to make it better than most, if not by much.