Letting you in on a secret, can skip it

It’s the season of love alright, but with a twist. ‘Our Little Secret’ has Avery (Lindsay Lohan) returning to her childhood sweetheart, but the situation is such that it has to be kept a ‘secret’.

Ten years back, Avery made a big move to London from the suburb that she had spent all her life in for the sake of her career. Having turned down Logan’s (Ian Harding) proposal at her farewell party, the duo meet again after 10 years. Only now, it’s their first Christmas with their current spouses, who happen to be siblings.

For some reason, Avery decides to keep this fact a secret, forcing Logan to play along. But their little game has skeletons tumbling out of the family closet!

A dud younger brother and a mean mum, a nice dog turning nasty, Avery’s current partner Cam (Jon Rudnitsky)’s house is not so welcoming. That he still has hots for his ex, Sophie (Ash Santos), is another standard device employed in romcoms. It’s saddled with all the usual props for a Christmas film, only it never makes your heart skip a beat!

It’s Lindsay Lohan’s third outing with Netflix, after ‘Falling for Christmas’ (2022) and ‘Irish Wish’ (2024). It is far from the ‘Mean Girls’ act, but this Stephen Herek directorial sure packs in some witty writing and funny sequences.

Yet, from the children’s mass to the visit to the vet, it falls short on many counts. Sadly, the couple’s chemistry isn’t the strong suit either. Neither is Cam the right fit for Avery, nor Logan.

If Cam’s family is too pish posh, Logan is lackadaisical even though he makes the final push to better his career. The good part — at least Logan has his values in the right place. Poor Cassie (Katie Baker) is the collateral damage in this one. Sure she has her nose up in most of the scenes, but wishes well for her boyfriend Logan. It’s the character of Erica (Kristin Chenoweth) that stands out in the motley crowd gathered at her house for Christmas.

The film is all glitz and gloss, and you can’t find fault with cinematographer Graham Robbins, who brings out Hailey DeDominicis’s writing on screen.

Herek has done a fine job, with mediocre writing and average actors making the film mechanically tick the boxes of a romcom. The music that could have kindled the holiday spirit is lacklustre.

Though the plot of the holiday romance has remained unchanged over the decades, the characters have grown progressive. Men are now matching women’s career drives. As Avery’s dad (Henry Czerny) mouths, “A man’s gotta eat.” The gender bender is increasingly becoming the norm, and that’s a huge positive.

When there have been such fine holiday movies that one could re-watch, Lohan’s ‘Parent Trap’ or the mean mother-in-law in ‘Monster-in-Law’, or simply ‘The Holiday’, the new offering, ‘Our Little Secret’, is one passable outing.