Review of Our Little Secret, directed by Stephen Herek

For the past few months, I’ve been a not-so-cute little period called funemployment. I’m typing this out only a few days after this movie released, for those of you reading in the distant future (that’s the beauty of the Internet—I have blog posts from years ago people are still reading now. It’s wild.), and I was promised an opportunity that unfortunately did not work out for me in the long run. I just found out it wasn’t going to work last week.

Anyways, during this time, I saw it as a chance to relax. I was never going to get an opportunity like this again, as I was probably going to sell my soul to the corporate world the first chance I got, so I took it as a chance to catch up on all of the movies I never had the time to watch before.

So if you’re into traveling, movies, books, theater, or television, this might be the blog for you! Clicking around does help me a lot; this blog has kept me afloat financially during my unemployed period due to the ads. Fair warning though, a lot of the movie content tends to go into summary territory, so maybe don’t click on something you want to watch and don’t want to know the entire plot for.

But I had no idea Our Little Secret was coming out into the world until the morning of Thanksgiving 2024. After I helped my parents with our Thanksgiving meal, I turned on our Netflix account and saw this was now the top movie of the day for the United States version.

It was the combo of Lindsey Lohan and Ian Harding that got me interested. She seems to have revived her career, as she recently starred in Irish Wish, and I haven’t seen him since Pretty Little Liars. That was also a pairing I never expected to see together, so I was curious.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction.

Two former lovers reunite by chance, then end up plotting together. That, of course, has interesting consequences.

At the beginning of this movie, we get a kind of introduction through animation to our main characters: Avery and Logan. They knew each other as kids, became friends, and once they hit puberty and learned what attraction was, they became a couple. Ever since then, they couldn’t be separated, but then eighteen years after meeting for the first time, Avery is offered the chance to go to England.

This is the beginning of the end, as she agrees to go. Then, when there’s a surprise party for her right before leaving, Logan decides to try proposing in front of everyone. But Logan only manages to make her really angry after mentioning that her mother would be disappointed in her decision, and Avery tells him that she never ever wants to see him again.

Flash forward ten years. They’re both in different relationships, and the holidays are here. Both Logan and Avery are going to meet their new partners’ families, and it turns out these two are siblings. Avery and Logan pretend that they don’t know each other and are meeting for the first time, and when they’re alone, Avery begs him to act like they don’t know each other and to keep their romantic past under lock and key.

Logan agrees. The next big event is that the family portrait is coming up, and Logan and Avery are sent to collect the tree. While alone again, Logan begs her to ask for her help with a business proposal, as he works in architecture, in exchange for him helping her get on the good side of the Morgan family (their partners’ family). Avery eats an edible she finds in the coat pocket she borrowed from a family member.

Everyone goes to mass that afternoon, and it turns out Avery had volunteered to do it. Logan tries to get the altar boy to tell the priest she can’t, as she’s high, but that message never gets to him. Avery then goes up on the podium and is unable to read anything, so she recites Kool + the Gang's lyrics of Celebration.

This embarrasses the matriarch of the Morgans, Erica, but when everyone starts singing and going along with it, the priest tells them later this is one of the best turnouts and reactions they’ve got in a while. Apparently the kids now think the church is hip.

Avery then eats Erica’s cookie stash while coming down from her high, then lies and says the dog ate. Erica freaks out, as dogs can’t eat chocolate, and they go to the vet together. Avery begs the vet to keep the truth a secret, then foots the expensive bill. Logan confronts her after that, and one of the family members overhears this.

Next up we learn that a real estate agent wants her dad’s key to their house, and Logan helps Avery go there to give up the key. The one family member who overheard them is blackmailing them, and he’s drunk and needs to be picked up. They do that on the way home, and as Logan works into the night, he spots Avery’s boyfriend come home. Turns out he was with his ex!

Christmas Eve is upon us, and at dinner the family learns that Logan and Avery are from the same town. Logan finds an affair going on in the house, but then it’s time to open gifts. Logan’s family randomly shows up, they try to tell them to act like Avery and Logan don’t know each other, but then his grandmother quickly exposes them.

All the affairs and cheating then are outed, and it turns out Erica knew about her husband’s affair. Avery’s dad ends up giving her to key to their home, as Logan told him about how much she wanted it, and then Logan is hired after Avery helps him out with the proposal.

After that, Logan goes to her housewarming and asks if they can start again. They kiss and decide to try it over, and a year later they’re planning their wedding. His boss also starts dating Erica in this time frame apparently, and we end the movie on a happy note.

Overall Thoughts

I mean this is a classic romantic Christmas movie that’s kind of dumb. I’ve been watching a handful of these lately, as Netflix has just been weirdly pumping out a bunch of these kinds of movies that feel low quality, but have distinguishable actors cast in the lead roles. They’re all in the top slots, too.

Anyways, this movie is nowhere near high art, but I found it entertaining to watch on Thanksgiving day. The characters are predictable, the plot is too, but it feels familiar in a way that I found it to be endearing and comforting. It’s no Hot Frosty, which made me roll my eyes so many times, but it’s also not a Tarkovsky.

I’d say go watch it if you’re interested. It might be worth it on a Friday night, especially if you don’t want to think too hard about the movie you’re watching. It’s a mindless film for sure.

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