When tuning into a cozy Christmas rom-com, you can expect a few things. Lots of snow. A quaint little town that seems to be unsafe from time to time. A brave heroine who owns a small business but, for some reason, is alone this holiday season. And a hunky man who is the magical answer to her loneliness. The new Netflix movie “Hot Frosty,” starring Lacey Chabert and Dustin Milligan, has all of the above and a much deeper understanding of how mutual respect and personal growth can be just as hot as lustful love at first sight.

Set in the impossibly small town of Hope Springs, the film opens with a narrator from the beginning letting us know we’re in a “Christmas Fairytale” as a magical burgundy scarf blows across the snowy square. We then meet Kathy (Chabert), who lives alone in a slightly dilapidated Victorian home. A photo of a couple on the mantle and Kathy’s sad demeanor suggest that she has recently loved and lost. Kathy owns a restaurant, Kathy’s Kafe, which serves as a social hub for the community. She seems to feed everyone in town, including Mel (Sherry Miller) and Theo (Dan Lett), who owns the vintage shop across the square. Mel bequeaths the magic scarf to Kathy, telling her it’s time to go back out into the cold to find some warmth.

What Kathy finds instead is a chiseled snowman among the snow sculpture competition in the square. The longing Kathy brings in this snowman Adonis, the only Christmas creation without a scarf around his neck. Always one to give to others, Kathy puts the scarf around her neck. After she leaves a blizzard and CGI brings the sculpted snowman, completely naked except for the tastefully oversized scarf, to life. That night, Jack (Milligan) names himself after the name tag on a pair of overalls he steals from the vintage shop. The next morning, he is taken in by Kathy, who hides him from the town’s sheriff (Craig Robinson) and his deputy (Joe Lo Truglio), who are looking for the streaker who broke the store’s window. You might think you can guess where the movie goes from here.

And you would be partially right. While the two form a bond as Jack tries to stay low from the law, none of their interactions feel forced for the sake of shoehorn romance, instead the film largely focuses on the strength that can be found in a meaningful friendship. Milligan plays Jack with the same wide-eyed, big-hearted puppy energy he brought to Ted, the vet with a heart of gold on “Schitt’s CreekWhile he could have gone big with this magical character in the vein of Will Ferrell in “Elf”, Milligan opts for a more relaxed sweetness, reminiscent of Brendan Fraser in “George of the Jungle” or Jeff Goldblum in “Earth girls are easy.” Although his ridiculous good looks become something of a joke when the town’s older women, among them Lauren Holly, lust after his physique, they are not really a factor in the budding relationship between Jack and Kathy.

When Jack first comes to life, it seems the only word he knows is “love.” He loves the snow. He loves soup. He loves her. Kathy pushes back, insisting that when you say you love someone, it means something much more. Jack listens intently and takes it all in. As he slowly learns how Kathy lost her husband, the gravity of what she said sinks in, and he truly learns what it means to love someone. For her part, Chabert plays Kathy understated, a woman with a big heart heavy with grief—someone who carries on for the sake of others but has practically given up on herself. Meeting someone like Jack, whose entire existence is to fill the world with joy and lend a helping hand where he can, gives her a ray of hope once again. Together they grow as people first and a couple second.

That’s because romantic love isn’t the only kind of love in this movie. It knows that love for its community, its neighbor and most importantly for itself is important and satisfying. As Jack learns more about the world, he begins to use his skills to help others. Cooking dinner for Kathy escalates to learning how to fix her leaky roof to slowly becoming the town handyman. Inspired by Kathy’s own altruism, Jack decides that helping others is worth the risk of being caught by the sheriff. Despite his mysterious origins, the town itself only accepts him, snowman or not, to keep him safe. As one woman puts it, “A man so sweet must be magical.”

A classy holiday movie in its own right, the film has the requisite nods to past films in the Netflix Holiday Movie Universe, including a mention of Aldovia from the “Christmas Prince” movies and a tongue-in-cheek moment where Kathy watches “Falling For Christmas” and notes that the star (Lindsay Lohan) looks “just like a girl she went to high school with.” In terms of its themes and overall quality, it reminded me of the excellent and underrated time travel romance “The Knight Before Christmas. “

Like the previous film, “Hot Frosty” is silly and sweet and magical. It knows exactly who its audience is and presents them with a perfectly cozy Capra-esque fantasy where romance is founded in friendship and respect, communities rally around their most vulnerable, people are willing to call the police on their abuse of power and mutual aid is just a way of life . Sounds like happiness to me.