| My Secret Santa plays up the finding love at a Christmas ski resort by combining it with a She’s the Man type of gender swap. The plot of a single mom pretending to be a man to get a job as Santa Claus may sound implausible or even stupid, and yet there’s a genuineness to Alexandra Breckenridge’s performance and the heart shining beneath all of it that makes this silly movie utterly charming. | | 2025
Directed by: Mike Rohl
Screenplay by: Ron Oliver, Carly Smale
Starring: Alexandra Breckenridge, Ryan Eggold
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The charm starts early and often. Taylor (Alexandra Breckenridge) meets Matthew (Ryan Eggold) in a used record store where she’s trying to sell old vinyls to make a quick buck, but he eventually recognizes her as the lead singer of a short-lived local band from decades ago. There’s a sharp wit to the dialogue, a sign of the better romantic comedies that can connect the audience to the lead couple right away. When both of the romance and the comedy get off on the right foot, it’s easier to follow the movie anywhere – even if it’s to a ski resort with bullying teenagers and a parade of Santas.
The privileged, incompetent son of a rich hotel magnate who spends his days getting in trouble around the world is not an uncommon character for romantic comedies; however, they are usually guys in their twenties or early-thirties, the 40-something Ryan Eggold doesn’t exactly suit this character. He has a maturity to him that the irresponsible Matthew Layne isn’t supposed to have until the end of the movie, but Alexandra Breckenridge’s duality as Santa Claus and single mom Taylor works for the both of them.
Part of the charm of the movie is that Taylor as Santa Claus is not perfect right away, you can see her trying to be Santa Claus but failing in ways that outsiders can see. So Matthew, as the good boss he is, gives her feedback and an opportunity to improve as Santa Claus. And she does. I completely believe her as the type of Santa Claus that parents want to take their kids to go see.
Now let’s get to the elephant in the room, or the fat suit and a fake beard in the room. You may be asking yourself, why does she have to dress up as an old fat man to then dress up as Santa? Why can’t she just get the job and then dress up as Santa? Well, hiring managers have biases too, and wouldn’t necessarily be able to see that a woman could play Santa as well as men do. Also, the would-be general manager, Natasha (Tia Mowry), who is hiring Santa is the villain of the movie, and villains in Christmas rom-coms are generally not very good characters.
The silly plot does give way to an ending that could have been formulated better, but by then most audiences will have been won over by the irresistible charm and good heart that My Secret Santa has.
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