There’s a new Queen of Christmas, and her name is Lindsay Lohan!

Netflix may not be able to beat Hallmark in terms of how many Christmas movies they produce a year, but the streaming service did pull out all the stops this year in getting some familiar faces to lead their handful of flicks. Hallmark’s Queen of Christmas, Lacey Chabert, made her streaming debut, Christina Milian returned, and even Chad Michael Murray graced fans with his face and shirtless body in The Merry Gentlemen. As a massive fan of Christmas movies, I tuned in to all of these, but it was Lindsay Lohan’s latest holiday film, Our Little Secret, that topped them all, earning the title of Netflix’s best holiday movie of 2024 — at least according to me.

A true second-chance romance film, Our Little Secret finds childhood best friends-turned-exes Avery (Lindsay Lohan) and Logan (Ian Harding) stuck celebrating Christmas together after discovering their significant others are siblings. The original plan to pretend they don’t know each other becomes complicated when Logan decides to help Avery win over the family’s stubborn matriarch, Erica (Kristin Chenoweth), in exchange for Avery’s help with a huge construction business proposal.

Now, I know you’re probably thinking that doesn’t sound very Christmas-y, but I promise you the film is full of holiday moments. I wouldn’t declare it Netflix’s best holiday movie of 2024 if it weren’t; after all, I hate when films don’t feel like Christmas movies.

Out of the four Netflix holiday movies released so far this year, Our Little Secret is the most Christmas-infused. Not only does the entire plot take place over the holiday, but it includes several holiday-themed activities, like Logan and Avery heading out to a Christmas tree farm to pick the family tree, a hilarious Church reading of the Christmas Story, and a disastrous Secret Santa gift exchange.

But it’s not just the film’s affinity for the holiday that makes it my favorite release this year. There’s also the cast’s incredible performances and the emotional arc of the story. It’s no secret that Lohan is an incredible comedic actor, and her talents really shined in Our Little Secret. From the charade of lying about her relationship to convincing the local vet to lie about treating Erica’s dog after blaming it for eating all the cookies in the house, you’ll be laughing almost non-stop.

I say almost because, during the halfway point of the film, things take an emotional turn when Avery briefly leaves Erica’s house to retrieve keys to her childhood home for a realtor tasked with selling the place for her father over the holiday. Of course, Logan accompanies her, and while stepping into the empty living room of the place where his marriage proposal was rejected is a fraught memory for him, he still manages to support Avery as she breaks down over the loss of her mother a decade ago and how the wound feels fresh again now that her dad is selling the house.

I don’t usually cry while watching Christmas romance movies, but the tears were definitely falling. Thankfully, the emotional beat didn’t last long and I was quickly thrust back into the chaos when a series of lies everyone in the family had been keeping were exposed during the annual Secret Santa tradition.

Is the movie perfect? Of course not. I can admit that the inclusion of the weird oil painting family portraits was an interesting subplot that didn’t quite fit the tone of the movie. I also definitely wanted more one-on-one scenes with the powerful duo that is Lohan and Chenoweth. However, compared to Netflix’s other three Christmas romance films released this year, Our Little Secret is the clear winner.

Critics may not have taken a liking to Lohan’s latest partnership with Netflix, but I certainly did. And as a self-proclaimed connoisseur of made-for-TV Christmas movies, I think my opinion holds more weight. You can stream Our Little Secret now with a Netflix subscription, and don’t forget to check our 2024 Christmas movie schedule so you don’t miss out!