All hail our new rom-com queen, Lindsay Lohan! In case you missed it, the former Disney teen superstar and “Mean Girls” veteran has quietly come into her own playing grown-ass women forced to run the gauntlet that is romance in the 21st century these past few years. Thanks to her roles in the Netflix-released “Falling for Christmas” and “Irish Wish,” Lohan is quickly starting to corner the market on this particular brand of zany streaming comedy too (see also: Vanessa Hudgens and the works of pure cinema that are the “Princess Switch” films).
Lohan’s latest, “Our Little Secret,” looks to only further solidify her status as one of our current experts in playing ladies whose luckless attempts at finding love tend to give rise to all manner of shenanigans, especially around the winter holidays. Directed by Stephen Herek (who, as the man who helmed “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead,” “The Mighty Ducks,” and 1996’s live-action “101 Dalmatians,” was almost single-handedly responsible for shaping the childhoods of many a ’90s kid), the film sees Lohan playing Avery, a woman who’s eager to spend her first Christmas with her boyfriend Cam/Cameron (Jon Rudnitsky) and his family. Luckily, everything goes as expected and Avery gets to enjoy a relaxing, untaxing holiday with her potential future in-laws.
Oh wait, did I neglect to mention that Cam’s sister Cassie (Katie Baker) is also dating Logan (Ian Harding), the guy that Avery came dangerously close to marrying before breaking up a decade ago? And that Avery convinces Logan to keep their romantic history a secret because that’s obviously the only definite, surefire way to avoid any awkwardness? Miraculously, though, their plan doesn’t work. Indeed, the only thing more predictable than the hijinks that ensue in “Our Little Secret” is the fact that the movie has already jumped to the tops of the daily streaming charts on Netflix. (Because really, with a synopsis like that, you can’t blame people for tuning into “Our Little Secret” for a harmless distraction from our not-so-jolly situation in the real world.)
Linday Lohan’s Our Little Secret is decking the halls at Netflix
‘Tis the season to stream Christmas movies, whether that means watching “Christmas Vacation” for the umpteenth time on Max (and only just realizing that’s future “The Big Bang Theory” star Johnny Galecki playing Clark W. Griswold’s long-suffering son Russell aka Rusty) or checking out the latest Netflix-Lindsay Lohan joint. Thanks to the handy dandy streaming viewership and data aggregator FlixPatrol, we now know that “Our Little Secret” has shot to the top of Netflix’s daily streaming charts in the U.S. a mere five days after its premiere on November 27, 2024. Elsewhere, “Hot Frosty” is still holding strong at the number seven spot as Netflix subscribers continue to flock to the attractive magic living snowman movie. (It truly is a time to be alive, my friends.)
The actual critical reception for “Our Little Secret” is more or less what you would anticipate, with the film landing a “rotten” 40 percent score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 20 reviews) and a somewhat kinder “fresh” score of 64 percent from the website’s users. Lohan and her costar Harding are faring better by comparison, with Benjamin Lee writing for The Guardian that the twof them are “decent enough at the bantering” and that Harding specifically “has a Seth MacFarlane-esque elasticity that really works here.” Elsewhere, Marya E. Gates heralds Lohan in her review for RogerEbert.com, calling her “a sharp screwball comedienne who has decided to forge her own path in the new studio system as an actress-producer in the mode of some of Old Hollywood’s most savvy stars.”
No disagreements here. Between the ongoing success of her collaborations with Netflix and her impending return to the big screen with 2025’s “Freakier Friday” (a long-awaited Disney legacy sequel that will once again pair Lohan opposite Jamie Lee Curtis as a body-swapping daughter and mother), Lohan clearly understands what it takes to not just survive but also truly thrive in this brave new world of ours.
“Our Little Secret” is now streaming on Netflix.