‘My Secret Santa’ Review: ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ Gets an Unimaginative Netflix Holiday Ripoff With ‘Virgin River’ and ‘Blacklist’ Stars

There’s something to be said for media that puts a spin on an existing story: movies from Ran to The Lion King made the works of Shakespeare their own; The Hunger Games (despite the protests of its author) is basically Battle Royale for kids; Last House on the Left took an Ingmar Bergman film in an exploitation direction. All of these movies, in some way or other, managed to transform existing material in ways that felt fresh and somehow unpredictable. However, sometimes the source is so widely known, and the work it inspires sticks so closely to it, that it fails to deliver anything worthy of your attention. Unfortunately, My Secret Santa is one such movie, which, despite the talented names behind it, doesn’t manage to do anything new with an old idea.

What Is ‘My Secret Santa’ About?

Taylor (Alexandra Breckenridge) is a single mom to a teenage daughter who is destined to be a future snowboarding champ if she can get the right training, and it just so happens that the best snowboarding academy in the country is within a commutable distance of their pokey little apartment building. However, Taylor loses her job in the opening scene thanks to the old “company restructuring” chestnut, and she has no idea how to make ends meet, let alone give her daughter access to the opportunity she needs to make the best of her own life. The ski resort that is home to the snowboarding academy offers a 50% discount on lessons to employees, so Taylor resolves to get a job there.

But wouldn’t you know it? The only position they have going is for a resident Santa Claus, so Taylor recruits the help of her brother and his boyfriend (who are never established as makeup artists, costumers, or any other profession that could pull off the elaborate disguise that they do) to transform her into a jolly old man worthy of the job. Meanwhile, she has to hope that in the overly bureaucratic world of modern employment, nobody bothers asking for ID, runs a background check, or cares to establish the validity of any details she offers them. Of course, she manages to get away with it.

‘My Secret Santa’ Takes A Page Out of ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’s Book

Yes — it’s basically Mrs. Doubtfire, even down to the finer details, like the protagonist’s gay brother who facilitates the transformation, and the set piece in which both characters have to be in the same place at once, for which Taylor has to keep darting in and out of the bathroom. Once this setup makes itself known, you get a clear picture of exactly what lies ahead for the next hour of your life. I could detail the entire plot here, and none of it could be considered a spoiler because… well, what else was going to happen?! Sure, Mrs. Doubtfire itself was often cited as Tootsie for kids, but it undeniably had its own spirit and journey, and offered a very poignant and valuable insight into the dynamics of broken families and how they can heal. It transformed the material to make it something unique.

My Secret Santa deviates somewhat with the inclusion of a love interest for the main character, but this is just standard Christmas rom-com stuff. Played by Ryan Eggold, he is the tearaway son of the resort owner (naturally), tasked with knuckling down and actually learning how to be a worthy heir to a massive business, under the scornfully watchful eye of Natasha (Tia Mowry). Buried among it all is Taylor’s past as a rock musician who had to give up on her dreams because she got pregnant at a young age, and that, too, signals a very predictable turn in the final act. Between the clichés of the genre and how heavily it borrows from other movies, it fails to form much of its own identity.

Ultimately, My Secret Santa feels like one of the more forgettable Christmas movies of the year. It is not funny or wacky enough to appeal to kids the way Doubtfire does, and it isn’t charming or thoughtful enough to appeal to adults. By all means, have it on in the background while you make a gingerbread house or something, but don’t bother giving it your full attention, because it isn’t giving you its own. The performances are fine, the look of the movie serviceable, and the ski resort a nice enough setting, but there isn’t much to get your teeth into, narratively or aesthetically. There’s nothing that will leap out at you that defines it as a bad movie; it’s just unremarkable.

My Secret Santa is now streaming on Netflix in the U.S.

Release Date

December 3, 2025

Runtime

89 minutes

Director

Mike Rohl

Writers

Ron Oliver, Carley Smale

Producers

Howard Braunstein, Alexander Braunstein

Pros & Cons

• The movie is technically solid with some decent names working on it.

• It is so heavily influenced by other movies that it fails to form its own identity.
• The plot is predictable.