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The 5 Year Christmas Party · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

0:02
Speaker 1: This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
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Speaker 1: a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
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Speaker 1: Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater. Today
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Speaker 1: we're discussing the five Year Christmas Party, which originally premiered
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Speaker 1: on the Hallmark Channel on Sunday, October twenty seventh. When
0:37
Speaker 1: the podcast is over, you can still find us. We
0:40
Speaker 1: are on Instagram. We have you know what it is,
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Speaker 1: tul accounts. They are say it with me now, Girls
0:47
Speaker 1: Gone Hallmark and Megan and Wendy and yeah, I need
0:52
Speaker 1: to be following in our Instagram because we're leaving for
0:56
Speaker 1: the Hallmark Cruise in just a matter of days. If
1:00
Speaker 1: you want like a sneak peek of like what's happening,
1:03
Speaker 1: We're Mike, Megan's looking at me right now. But we're
1:05
Speaker 1: gonna be showing all that, so I'm right, okay, yeah,
1:08
Speaker 1: but we're not fangirling out right. No, that's not what
1:11
Speaker 1: I'm on this cruise for. No, Okay, the stars do
1:13
Speaker 1: not need to be afraid of us. No, it is
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Speaker 1: actually my biggest fear to meet any one of them.
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Speaker 1: So uh yeah, I'm just going to have a good time.
1:22
Speaker 1: Have you started packing? I have l Oh. Yeah, you
1:26
Speaker 1: saw the picture I posted in the cruise Facebook group
1:29
Speaker 1: and you said I spy a shirt I've never seen before. No,
1:32
Speaker 1: and now I'm upset because you have official Hallmark where
1:35
Speaker 1: it's not. No, I bought it from Etsy. It's not official.
1:38
Speaker 1: I just mean you have Hallmark where, yeah, it says
1:41
Speaker 1: something about it says something about Hallmark on it. I
1:44
Speaker 1: have two shirts I say something about Hallmark on it.
1:46
Speaker 1: You do, but I'll think I'm like where. Actually, I
1:49
Speaker 1: don't know where I'm gonna wear these. I imagine I'll wear
1:52
Speaker 1: them with like pajamas, Okay, but I don't know. Okay,
1:56
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know. We'll see, are you
1:59
Speaker 1: Is your plan to sh show me up at all
2:00
Speaker 1: of the theme parties? No, I think I'm going to
2:03
Speaker 1: be severely underdressed for theme parties. I'm yeah, there are
2:10
Speaker 1: people who are definitely going to be taking the theme
2:14
Speaker 1: further than we are. I'm not doing that. I don't
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Speaker 1: dress up for Halloween exactly. I certainly won't be dressing
2:19
Speaker 1: up for like and not that I think I'm above
2:21
Speaker 1: it by any means. Like I'm still there to have fun,
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Speaker 1: but I want to also be comfortable and what I
2:28
Speaker 1: have on and if I'm not, then then that becomes
2:31
Speaker 1: my whole personality, you know, Like that's all I'm thinking about,
2:35
Speaker 1: and I yes, I don't want to be like are
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Speaker 1: people looking at my office? Is it too weird? Is
2:39
Speaker 1: it too Yes? Exactly, but I imagine it's going to
2:42
Speaker 1: be a great time. You do want to be following
2:44
Speaker 1: us in all of the places, yes, And if you
2:49
Speaker 1: are in our Facebook group Girls Gone Hallmark, we have
2:53
Speaker 1: created a cruise chat in there, so if you are
2:58
Speaker 1: going to be on sale, which is the one that
3:01
Speaker 1: we are going to be on, and you want to
3:04
Speaker 1: meet up like with us, I feel like I need
3:08
Speaker 1: to say people have requested this, even like we're like
3:11
Speaker 1: I am who wants to eat us? Multiple people came
3:14
Speaker 1: to us saying can we do a meetup? Yeah? And
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Speaker 1: I feel all very kind of like uncomfortable with all
3:21
Speaker 1: of that in terms of like just loving people want
3:25
Speaker 1: to meet us, yeah, or like let's do something official.
3:28
Speaker 1: Everybody come into the Ohshay's Bar at four o'clock and
3:33
Speaker 1: let's all meet and greed. I don't want to Hey,
3:35
Speaker 1: if you see us, say Hi, please say hi. Yeah,
3:39
Speaker 1: Like Megan's got long hair, I got short hair. Like
3:42
Speaker 1: the red hair stands out. It's easy to find us,
3:44
Speaker 1: the long red hair, short blonde hair. We do have
3:46
Speaker 1: some girls gone hamewark. It's very subtle though. Yeah, but
3:50
Speaker 1: I'm bringing mine to wear. So if you see it's
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Speaker 1: one of my themed outfits. Okay, if you see one
3:55
Speaker 1: of us wearing a girl's gone homework sweatshirt, that's us.
3:58
Speaker 1: That's us. And we do have a little thing we're bringing.
4:02
Speaker 1: We do have a fun little giveaway. It's not it's
4:04
Speaker 1: very little. It's very little. Some of the groups I
4:07
Speaker 1: saw something today like they were I think there were straws,
4:11
Speaker 1: like custom made straws, but like all this Hallmark stuff
4:14
Speaker 1: on it, and I was like, yeah, I'm not doing it.
4:16
Speaker 1: I've seen people are making custom ornaments, people are making bracelets.
4:20
Speaker 1: They have a whole like exchange situation. It's kind of
4:23
Speaker 1: they likened it to like trick or treating, And every
4:26
Speaker 1: time I see what people are bringing them like, oh,
4:27
Speaker 1: I kind of wish we had participated, but there wasn't
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Speaker 1: room on the plate, no, or in our suitcase. No. Anyway,
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Speaker 1: we will be doing a full Cruise podcast episode as well.
4:38
Speaker 1: But today we are here to talk about the Five
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Speaker 1: Year Christmas Party, So why don't we start with us?
4:44
Speaker 1: In opsis? Okay, told over the course of five years,
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Speaker 1: two recent college grads find themselves drawn together year after
4:53
Speaker 1: year while working for a catering company that specializes in
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Speaker 1: holiday parties. The Five Year Christmas Party was by Peter Benson.
5:01
Speaker 1: Peter is both an actor and director. As an actor,
5:04
Speaker 1: we last saw him briefly in the cases of Mystery Lane,
5:06
Speaker 1: Death Is Listening, and he will also appear in the
5:10
Speaker 1: upcoming debbiemccumber Joyful Missus Miracle. As for directing, this is
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Speaker 1: Peter's nineteenth directorial project. He recently directed Love on the Danube,
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Speaker 1: Kissing Stars on Hallmark Plus, and Blind Day book Club.
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Speaker 1: He also directed the previously mentioned Debbie mccumber's Joyful Missus
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Speaker 1: Miracle as well as Leah's Perfect Gift, both coming later
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Speaker 1: this year. I have a question, since we were just
5:31
Speaker 1: talking about Cruise is Danube Kissing Stars movie that featured
5:36
Speaker 1: Brendan Penny as a reluctant I did not want to
5:40
Speaker 1: meet and you said yesterday when all requike was it offline? Yes? Oh? Okay,
5:47
Speaker 1: never mind. Well, let's say it. Allegedly, Allegedly, Brandon Penny
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Speaker 1: is replacing Kevin McGarry on Sale one, and I know
5:56
Speaker 1: the Heartys are heartbroken about that. I like Kevin Gary too.
5:59
Speaker 1: I'm sad about it too, But I'm not like, oh, man,
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Speaker 1: cruise ruined. Like some people, it's fine, y'all have a
6:06
Speaker 1: good time, make your own fun. But to me, I
6:08
Speaker 1: was like, yay, Brendon Penny. But then I saw some
6:12
Speaker 1: chatter that maybe he doesn't like this sort of thing.
6:16
Speaker 1: But I refuse to believe that the Brendon Penny I've
6:18
Speaker 1: built up in my mind is anything but lovely, and
6:20
Speaker 1: so the exact opposite of the character he played on
6:23
Speaker 1: Love on the Dan You'd kissing stars? Yeah, what's the same?
6:25
Speaker 1: Life imitates art? Here does art imitate life? Art imitate life?
6:31
Speaker 1: I can't imagine he would say yes to doing the
6:33
Speaker 1: cruise if he didn't some sort of contractual obligation that
6:38
Speaker 1: Hallmark has their stars under to participate in some level
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Speaker 1: of san opportunity. I doubt it, Okay, but I don't
6:45
Speaker 1: know what do I know? Absolutely nothing? They posted U
6:51
Speaker 1: etiquette for meeting the stars on the ship, posted that
6:55
Speaker 1: six man I saw something about don't bring your sharpies
6:57
Speaker 1: or something like that. That's all I saw. Ye, don't
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Speaker 1: bring your sharpies to the group photo opportunity. They will
7:03
Speaker 1: not be signing autographs like come take a photo and GTFO.
7:07
Speaker 1: But in that same email they posted etiquette for running
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Speaker 1: into the stars on the boat and how you should
7:14
Speaker 1: handle like those moments. Briefly, what's it say? Basically, it's like,
7:18
Speaker 1: don't accost them at meal time, but you know, be polite,
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Speaker 1: ask nicely, be brief and move along. Wow, Like these
7:27
Speaker 1: are people too, they do not owe you an I
7:29
Speaker 1: think six man bit off more than they could chew.
7:35
Speaker 1: I am very curious, and I know we'll never find out,
7:38
Speaker 1: but I'm very curious the difference between the Hallmark crowd
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Speaker 1: and like the Rock the Boat crowd. There is a
7:44
Speaker 1: six man cruise sailing right now on our ship, but
7:48
Speaker 1: from three Instagram stories, I got the vibe that it
7:50
Speaker 1: was even more of like a death metal crowd. Oh cool,
7:53
Speaker 1: And I feel like maybe they're a little more easy going. Yeah,
7:56
Speaker 1: who would have thought death metal is more easy going
7:59
Speaker 1: than the Inside Scoop? Would you like me to continue?
8:05
Speaker 1: Zach Hugg is credited with writing the script for this movie.
8:09
Speaker 1: His previous seventeen writing credits include Ghost of Christmas, Always,
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Speaker 1: The Two Sister Swap movies from twenty twenty one, several
8:19
Speaker 1: Christmas and Evergreen movies, plus many many more. The only
8:23
Speaker 1: non Hallmark projects on his resume are a series called
8:27
Speaker 1: These People and Shadow Hunters. Katie Finn They plays Alice.
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Speaker 1: For those who don't know, Katie identifies as queer and
8:33
Speaker 1: gender fluid. This is according to their Wikipedia page and
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Speaker 1: uses the them pronouns. Katie has thirty one acting credits,
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Speaker 1: including Hallmark favorites like Sealed with a List and Love
8:43
Speaker 1: Strikes Twice. Outside of Hallmark, they've appeared in projects like Walker, Independence,
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Speaker 1: Nancy Drew, How to Get Away with Murder, and Zoe's
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Speaker 1: Extraordinary Playlist, where they even showed off those singing skills
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Speaker 1: in several episodes. Jordan Fisher plays Max. Jordan has a
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Speaker 1: mixed bag of projects, with his thirty seven acting credits
9:02
Speaker 1: throwing it way back. He's appeared in shows like the
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Speaker 1: Secret Life of the American Teenager, teen Beach movie Live
9:09
Speaker 1: in Maddie, amongst tons of voice work. At twenty three,
9:14
Speaker 1: he was the youngest male celeberty to win Dancing with
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Speaker 1: the Stars, and he also played the dual roles of
9:22
Speaker 1: John Lorenz and Philip Hamilton in the Broadway production of
9:26
Speaker 1: Hamilton from twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen. Hey, you didn't
9:31
Speaker 1: know that you knew that. I don't know that. I
9:34
Speaker 1: can't say tattoo of Alexander Hamilton on his arm. Oh,
9:38
Speaker 1: I don't know that. You did not know he was
9:39
Speaker 1: in Hamilton on Broadway. Wow. Jeff Avenue plays friend Daniel.
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Speaker 1: He has nine acting credits, but this isn't his first
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Speaker 1: Hallmark rodeo. He previously appeared in the twenty twenty Kimberly's
9:52
Speaker 1: Hosteed Paul Campbell Joint Christmas by Starlight Outside the Hallmark.
9:55
Speaker 1: He's been seen in Lucifer, Star Trek Beyond and Untold
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Speaker 1: Stories of the Ear. Zenya, That's where we live, that
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Speaker 1: is where we know her from. Xenia Marshall plays Claire.
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Speaker 1: Zenya has fifteen acting credits, including Hallmark projects like A
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Speaker 1: Godwenk Christmas, Second Chance, First Love in the Key of Love,
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Speaker 1: and Wedding of Dreams. We here remember Zenya as teenager
10:18
Speaker 1: Mayor Bell Cooper in all ten episodes of Date My Dad,
10:22
Speaker 1: Oh My God, I know when she was on screen,
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Speaker 1: I was like, I know her face, I know her face.
10:26
Speaker 1: Where is she from? Where is she from? And of
10:28
Speaker 1: course y'all IMDb and Hallmark Press not updated, so I
10:34
Speaker 1: had to dig out to dig deep. Yeah, I wonder
10:37
Speaker 1: if she remembers us. You know, she used to engage
10:40
Speaker 1: with ourge. You're with her date my Dad coverage. Katrina
10:45
Speaker 1: Reynolds plays Pam Max's sister and caterer. Katrina was last
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Speaker 1: seen on Hallmark in time for Her to Come Home
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Speaker 1: for Christmas, as well as The Christmas Waltz from twenty twenty.
10:55
Speaker 1: Outside of the network, she's appeared in projects like A
10:57
Speaker 1: Million Little Things, Firefly Lane, and Shmega Doon. We are
11:03
Speaker 1: going to take a quick break and we will be
11:04
Speaker 1: right back. Hey, we're back. Let's talk first impressions. I
11:16
Speaker 1: just want everybody to know before we do our first impressions,
11:20
Speaker 1: the boxing gloves have come off. We're going to spend
11:22
Speaker 1: the next twenty minutes fighting. I feel like we just
11:24
Speaker 1: like squared off with our eyes to across the table.
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Speaker 1: I knew within ninety seconds of this movie starting that
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Speaker 1: it was going to be polarizing, and I knew it
11:39
Speaker 1: was going to be painful, free to watch. We're gonna
11:43
Speaker 1: have to get into it because I want to explore
11:46
Speaker 1: what spoiler alert I didn't like about it. My first
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Speaker 1: impression is, thank you Katie and Jordan for giving me
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Speaker 1: this moment with my own personal theater. Kid. See it's
11:56
Speaker 1: relevant to you. That is why you liked it. Everything
12:00
Speaker 1: is personal, of course it is. I'm not suggesting my
12:02
Speaker 1: opinion is right. Okay. My first depression is this so
12:07
Speaker 1: wanted to be round and round and it didn't even
12:09
Speaker 1: come close. That is a very interesting take. I find
12:13
Speaker 1: these to be completely different movies. Well, they are different movies,
12:18
Speaker 1: but I just in terms of like it's storytelling it
12:22
Speaker 1: just nope, not okay, close, not even close. But let's
12:26
Speaker 1: talk about likes because I actually do have some. Well, look,
12:29
Speaker 1: I haven't seen a ton of chatter about this movie.
12:30
Speaker 1: I have, and you're right, it's polarizing. It's either people
12:35
Speaker 1: loved it or they hated it. But I feel like
12:37
Speaker 1: it might be polarizing. Was my next one. Oh my god, sorry, no,
12:40
Speaker 1: it's fine for me. I say this truly. I felt
12:44
Speaker 1: like you're gonna make fun of me. This was a
12:49
Speaker 1: really special watch for me. Okay, I have the word
12:51
Speaker 1: magical in here. Wendy hated it. Now, the context is important.
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Speaker 1: I watched this with my theater kid high schooler, who
13:01
Speaker 1: absolutely loved these two characters. She loved Alex and Max
13:06
Speaker 1: so much. She was like, Alex Alice is so dorky
13:11
Speaker 1: and so fine, those are her words. And she described
13:14
Speaker 1: Max as the straight guy who gets all the big
13:16
Speaker 1: roles because he's the straight guy in theater. Oh interesting,
13:18
Speaker 1: and that's funny. My husband left the room less than
13:22
Speaker 1: ten minutes into the movie. He went upstairs, she came
13:24
Speaker 1: Wendy and watched Back to the Future for the one
13:28
Speaker 1: hundredth time. Well, it's Back to the Future weekend. It
13:30
Speaker 1: was the official Back to the Future dates. Okay, and
13:35
Speaker 1: I think these two they did such a nice job
13:39
Speaker 1: embodying that theater kid moment. I just I think they
13:44
Speaker 1: did a really nice job of bringing that home. Okay,
13:48
Speaker 1: I don't disagree with you. I think, obviously Jordan Fisher
13:56
Speaker 1: probably was a theater kid growing up, right, I mean
14:01
Speaker 1: Teen Beach Movie. I can still my daughter was in
14:04
Speaker 1: kindergarten when that movie came out. I remember she had
14:07
Speaker 1: a Teen Beach Movie backpack and I still find her
14:12
Speaker 1: listening to the soundtrack some days, like you know, doing
14:15
Speaker 1: their little like dance and all that. It's so cute, right,
14:17
Speaker 1: Like he just probably grew up in that. He's a
14:21
Speaker 1: Disney Channel kid, right. I live in Maddie his liv
14:24
Speaker 1: and Maddie role is my Jordan Fisher foundational moment. That
14:28
Speaker 1: was a show that we've seen every episode multiple times
14:30
Speaker 1: in our house. And but Katie Finley, I don't know
14:33
Speaker 1: if I don't know what their resume is theater wise,
14:39
Speaker 1: theater wise, like did they grow up in the theater like,
14:43
Speaker 1: so it might have been a very personal role for
14:47
Speaker 1: these two to play that aside, Like, I think that's great,
14:51
Speaker 1: but individually and this is all like individually, I thought
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Speaker 1: they were very strong, very strong actors. Enjoyed their scenes
15:02
Speaker 1: together because their conversation was like Quippie and like fascin
15:08
Speaker 1: they like you could tell that they were like working
15:10
Speaker 1: off of each other. Right, So I agree that there
15:12
Speaker 1: was a talented cast here. What else did you like?
15:15
Speaker 1: I liked the passage of time sequences and how they
15:19
Speaker 1: were similar in tone but uniquely different, showing how their
15:23
Speaker 1: lives were different each year. I thought those were well done.
15:26
Speaker 1: And I also like in terms of the passage of time,
15:29
Speaker 1: we see Alice. She's a very awkward young person, like
15:35
Speaker 1: her younger self, is incredibly awkward and trying to find
15:38
Speaker 1: her own space. And then I think we watched Alice
15:44
Speaker 1: come into their own over the course of the movie.
15:47
Speaker 1: And I really liked that. I also loved the running
15:52
Speaker 1: Ashley Williams bit and that they brought it all the
15:54
Speaker 1: way back around with Max being in a movie with
15:57
Speaker 1: Ashley Williams herself in the end. I don't remember he
16:03
Speaker 1: was going to be in a movie with her at
16:04
Speaker 1: the end. I don't remember that. But did you see
16:08
Speaker 1: Never Kiss a Man in Christmas Swab? I did? It's
16:10
Speaker 1: in minded to say that, my course, I did, Okay,
16:13
Speaker 1: so I agree with you. I thought the structure of
16:15
Speaker 1: like when they change from year to year, I thought
16:17
Speaker 1: that was really cool, and like how I say, like
16:19
Speaker 1: year two Max and Alex friends, it's Alex right, Alice friends,
16:26
Speaker 1: and then like whatever, I liked how they did that.
16:29
Speaker 1: I enjoyed that. Like I said earlier, I liked the
16:32
Speaker 1: writing style. I enjoyed the language the writer used. There
16:37
Speaker 1: was relevant dialogue. Ghosted was a word that was used
16:40
Speaker 1: like once or twice in it. There was a funny
16:43
Speaker 1: joke about the mold wine and how it gives you
16:46
Speaker 1: all the headache, but none of the buzz I thought
16:48
Speaker 1: was really funny, And I think Jordan Fisher did a
16:53
Speaker 1: really great job at delivering a lot of that stuff,
16:55
Speaker 1: as well as Katie Finley. I thought like the personal
16:59
Speaker 1: struggles were realistic, so like we have Alice's mom who
17:03
Speaker 1: was struggling financially and they were like not seeing each
17:06
Speaker 1: other during the holidays. And then like, you know, you
17:10
Speaker 1: have an actor who's working in catering just because like
17:13
Speaker 1: the jobs aren't coming in so you gotta eat, right,
17:16
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta make make some money somehow. I
17:19
Speaker 1: like those felt very like real and personal that I
17:24
Speaker 1: enjoyed about the movie, And it had one We've been
17:28
Speaker 1: talking about this a lot, but it had one little
17:30
Speaker 1: note of inclusivity with the friend Daniel and his friend. Yeah,
17:35
Speaker 1: but they were like super side characters, which kind of
17:37
Speaker 1: bummed me out. But anyway, Yeah, but I like Daniel
17:40
Speaker 1: his I'm furious I looked this good to feel this
17:42
Speaker 1: silly in his dickens where it made me laugh out
17:44
Speaker 1: loud that when you already had a mustache was rough funny,
17:49
Speaker 1: but you could totally like. I liked that choice, like,
17:58
Speaker 1: I like the idea of framel here like your friends,
18:01
Speaker 1: I thought they did a really nice job. I always
18:04
Speaker 1: like stories like that. I always like that depicted. I
18:06
Speaker 1: like that in books too, because it feels different than
18:10
Speaker 1: my own, like lived experience. Sure, like I have good friends,
18:13
Speaker 1: but I have never had like a I'm gonna spend
18:15
Speaker 1: the holidays with this person. Also, I like that we
18:18
Speaker 1: were surprised with Chef Richard at the very end when
18:22
Speaker 1: he has his really sweet moment. He's like, you're all
18:24
Speaker 1: just spectacular, and I was like, Richard, where did you
18:27
Speaker 1: come from? I did enjoy Chef Richard And apologies. I
18:31
Speaker 1: don't know the actor who played that role could not
18:34
Speaker 1: find anything on it. Is that all you liked? Yeah?
18:38
Speaker 1: I just liked it. You just liked it. Sometimes that's
18:41
Speaker 1: how it goes. I'm not a shamed when it's into
18:45
Speaker 1: this episode. It's not like I doc didn't talk about things. No,
18:47
Speaker 1: I know. Okay, so let's move on to the wishes now,
18:49
Speaker 1: don't come for me, please, Okay. I thought the romantic
18:55
Speaker 1: pairing between these two leads was a swing a miss.
19:00
Speaker 1: I did not see it at all, not one bit
19:02
Speaker 1: of chemistry. They worked better as friends, They were great friends. Yeah,
19:07
Speaker 1: why are you trying to force us like romance like
19:09
Speaker 1: with them every single year? Okay, I just think it
19:14
Speaker 1: was a mismatch. And here's what I would have preferred.
19:19
Speaker 1: This is such a missed opportunity. They should have paired
19:22
Speaker 1: Katie with a woman in this role. Yeah. Yeah, I
19:28
Speaker 1: just think it would have been so much better. Yeah,
19:30
Speaker 1: and that's not I'm not discounting Jordan Fisher as an actor.
19:33
Speaker 1: He was great. He was really great. Please hear me
19:36
Speaker 1: when I say I think these two actors are great.
19:39
Speaker 1: I just did not like this pairing as a couple. Well,
19:45
Speaker 1: I think it takes a long time to get there.
19:47
Speaker 1: I think too long, building it over five years. I
19:53
Speaker 1: kind of like like the misconnection of it all, but
19:57
Speaker 1: it runs the risk of me losing interest in their romance. Yeah.
20:04
Speaker 1: If we're spending all this time, you know, and there's
20:08
Speaker 1: other things building, like she's working so hard on her
20:11
Speaker 1: career and all really miss steps there too. Really No,
20:16
Speaker 1: I know she was, but this is one of my
20:18
Speaker 1: biggest wishes is that like they just talked about it,
20:20
Speaker 1: we never saw it. Oh yeah, it drove that Yeah,
20:24
Speaker 1: that's like a bunch of things, right, Like, we can't
20:26
Speaker 1: stage this whole other situation. Then cut it from the movie.
20:31
Speaker 1: I don't know, it looks nice. It's giving me right now.
20:37
Speaker 1: Then there's no movie. Like she needs to have her
20:39
Speaker 1: own personal growth. You wanted to see the play, you
20:42
Speaker 1: wanted to see her working there. I didn't need to
20:44
Speaker 1: see the play. But she was so like, Oh, this
20:46
Speaker 1: means so much to me working for this theater. That's
20:49
Speaker 1: going to be my name up there. She's super passionate
20:52
Speaker 1: about it. I never show her there ever, show her
20:55
Speaker 1: like being the ticket take her, show her like they
20:58
Speaker 1: show her seeing the show her one directing, and it's
21:02
Speaker 1: at the very end. It's in like the fourth or
21:04
Speaker 1: fifth year. Yeah, but before that, show her those montages
21:08
Speaker 1: could have been like her paying her dues at the theater,
21:11
Speaker 1: like all the little tiny jobs she does instead of
21:14
Speaker 1: getting coffee in and out of doors. Right. I think
21:17
Speaker 1: a storyline that is incomplete is the storyline of Alice
21:20
Speaker 1: and her mother. Were to believe based on the storytelling
21:23
Speaker 1: that she doesn't see her mom for five years, I
21:26
Speaker 1: couldn't believe that they're clearly closed. Some maybe roadblocks in
21:29
Speaker 1: their relationship and Alice talks about like, you know, her
21:31
Speaker 1: mom will put up a wall when she feels like
21:33
Speaker 1: her life isn't together and she doesn't want to, you know,
21:36
Speaker 1: let Alice feel troubled by her. But they are in communication,
21:39
Speaker 1: they are in each other's lives, or her mom shows
21:41
Speaker 1: up for her big directorial debut. So at no point
21:44
Speaker 1: in those five years could either of view cobbled together
21:47
Speaker 1: the money for a plane ticket one time or runt
21:51
Speaker 1: a car or Spirit Airlines is not that expensive and
21:55
Speaker 1: fly off season. Fine, it's too expensive to fly in December,
21:58
Speaker 1: go in February when nobody wants to go to Idaho
22:01
Speaker 1: or wherever your mother lives. Yes, yeah, I think I
22:05
Speaker 1: find it very hard to believe that you would go
22:07
Speaker 1: five full years without seeing your mom, with whom you
22:11
Speaker 1: have a relationship with. Yeah, because that apartment you live
22:16
Speaker 1: in is a very nice apartment for someone who doesn't
22:18
Speaker 1: seem to have any money. Yes, I agree. Who was
22:22
Speaker 1: working a job at a theater and not being paid
22:24
Speaker 1: anything and catering The lady says there's like maybe four
22:28
Speaker 1: to five catering jobs a month during the year. Yeah,
22:32
Speaker 1: like their busy time is the holidays. She works there
22:34
Speaker 1: during the year. But she says, there's like, what, you're
22:37
Speaker 1: working one day a week. Yeah, I don't know. That's
22:39
Speaker 1: not paying the bills, and you're volunteering at the theater. Yeah,
22:45
Speaker 1: those are your wishes. Okay, I have more. These two
22:50
Speaker 1: are actual singers, and then they use them in a
22:53
Speaker 1: scene to sing badly. Yeah, and it was not even
22:56
Speaker 1: that funny. Maybe man, it was cringey, this syper cringey.
23:02
Speaker 1: Why that's my question, like, why did they do that?
23:04
Speaker 1: Did they sing badly so they wouldn't have to keep singing?
23:06
Speaker 1: Because we're talking about in the movie they're all theater majors. Yeah,
23:10
Speaker 1: you're telling me to me. That scene didn't land because
23:15
Speaker 1: I didn't fully understand what they were trying to do.
23:18
Speaker 1: I thought they were like, let's do this badly so
23:20
Speaker 1: they don't make us keep performing. Well, if that was
23:24
Speaker 1: the direction, then it didn't go as planned. Another thing
23:30
Speaker 1: that I found very distracting was the noticeable height difference
23:34
Speaker 1: between our two leads. Oh you're highest now, Oh yeah,
23:38
Speaker 1: I'm the hightis assume me. Look, I know it's like
23:41
Speaker 1: a thing like, but it was distracting to me. Put
23:44
Speaker 1: Jordan on a box cut Katie a trench like they
23:47
Speaker 1: did in the movie with the Irish Chick and Chris O'Donnell.
23:52
Speaker 1: I've talked about this before. Vaguely familiar. Any Driver and
23:58
Speaker 1: Chris O'Donnell were in that movie. You know what I'm
24:00
Speaker 1: talking about? Can you envision it? And the lore is
24:04
Speaker 1: that when they're like walking on a path, they like
24:06
Speaker 1: cut a trench for Mini Driver to walk in. She's
24:08
Speaker 1: tall because she's taller than because Cryst O'Donnell is not tall. Oh,
24:11
Speaker 1: funny short King. Huh. Circle of Friends. Oh, I'm not
24:15
Speaker 1: even familiar with that movie. Oh, nineteen ninety five. I
24:19
Speaker 1: think that's pre good Will Hunting, don't you? Definitely? And
24:22
Speaker 1: what's she been in? Nothing for a long time. I
24:25
Speaker 1: like Minnie Driver twenty twenty four, The Assessment twenty twenty four,
24:28
Speaker 1: Miller's in Marriage twenty twenty four, The Serpent Queen twenty
24:31
Speaker 1: twenty four, Batman twenty twenty four, The Beekeeper. I mean,
24:36
Speaker 1: here knew. I mean it's only October twenty twenty four.
24:38
Speaker 1: Now you named six movies. I know, I didn't know.
24:42
Speaker 1: I just need to know when Good Will Hunting came out.
24:44
Speaker 1: Just bothering, I'm going to think cay let me think, Oh, yeah,
24:46
Speaker 1: you don't, don't say it, that'll louted. I'm not going too.
24:48
Speaker 1: I do guess. Let's see, I started dating my husband
24:51
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety six and we saw that movie I'm
24:55
Speaker 1: gonna say ninety seven, am I right? Yes, nineteen ninety
24:59
Speaker 1: seventy in Style magazine and there was a photo of
25:02
Speaker 1: her with this super adorable apron dress that has burned
25:06
Speaker 1: in my brain. Google it right now here it is.
25:09
Speaker 1: I found it in a dress. Was she with Matt
25:12
Speaker 1: Damon at that time? I don't know. The photos make
25:14
Speaker 1: a look like it, right. Wow, this looks like a
25:16
Speaker 1: print photo from a million years ago. Anyway, Okay, what
25:23
Speaker 1: we were talking about the height difference, Yeah, it kind
25:25
Speaker 1: of bothered me. I thought it was distracting, like when
25:28
Speaker 1: they were like kissing and she's like clearly like looking
25:30
Speaker 1: over the top of its head. I'm sorry, there's no
25:35
Speaker 1: shade to either of these actors. You have to hear
25:38
Speaker 1: me when I say that, because I like them so much.
25:40
Speaker 1: I just don't know who put these two together. Okay.
25:43
Speaker 1: I also believe that it kind of had a slow start.
25:47
Speaker 1: It was unclear at the beginning, and like, what is
25:51
Speaker 1: happening here, like we just picked up in these people's lives,
25:54
Speaker 1: like their last year of college. And I was like, okay,
25:56
Speaker 1: but why do I care? Like there's you know what
25:59
Speaker 1: I mean when you have like this time each year,
26:02
Speaker 1: like this is a divorce couple, or you have we
26:06
Speaker 1: needed more stage setting before that party, exactly exactly. I
26:11
Speaker 1: already mentioned. I was frustrated with the lack of showing development.
26:16
Speaker 1: We said it like, I don't show me Alice doing
26:20
Speaker 1: her job. They showed a little bit of Max in La,
26:24
Speaker 1: and I'm quoting La because the scenes, like the setting
26:30
Speaker 1: were not of course they were not La, but they
26:32
Speaker 1: would not even pretend to be La. The biggest thing
26:35
Speaker 1: I really didn't like is I I thought it was
26:40
Speaker 1: rough when like Max, he wants to go back to
26:43
Speaker 1: La for his job, but he just ends things with
26:47
Speaker 1: her when she's like, oh, I finally got my big
26:49
Speaker 1: break here. Which where did they live? Chicago? Okay, she
26:54
Speaker 1: finally got her big break there, And he's like, Okay,
26:56
Speaker 1: then I'm calling it because I'm not saying here, well,
26:59
Speaker 1: you know, to me, that felt a little more believable
27:01
Speaker 1: than get them getting together. He's like it if we
27:04
Speaker 1: wanted to make this work long distance. We already would
27:07
Speaker 1: have agree with all that. And then so in the
27:11
Speaker 1: the final year, when they're like, we'll figure it out,
27:16
Speaker 1: like you'll have your thing and I'll have mine, I
27:18
Speaker 1: was like, but why did it take you a year
27:21
Speaker 1: to come to the place where you're like, oh, we
27:23
Speaker 1: actually can make this work, right, Like why didn't you
27:28
Speaker 1: leave last year and be like, well that was stupid.
27:30
Speaker 1: Now that we only want to be with each other,
27:31
Speaker 1: let's make it work and not let's just be miserable alone.
27:34
Speaker 1: I don't think Max really tried to make it work
27:36
Speaker 1: a whole lot. They always showed her calling him, but
27:41
Speaker 1: then they have the one year where he calls her
27:43
Speaker 1: and she fully ghosts him. I think they both were
27:45
Speaker 1: guilty of getting in their own heads for different reasons.
27:49
Speaker 1: She was like embarrassed because her life wasn't going anywhere,
27:51
Speaker 1: and she didn't want to be like, hey, what are
27:53
Speaker 1: you doing mister actor la and your Christmas thriller movie
27:59
Speaker 1: that he was in or whatever. I love that they
28:01
Speaker 1: made it a bad movie. Yeah, no, I enjoyed that too.
28:04
Speaker 1: All right, are you ready to move on to did
28:06
Speaker 1: you see that? Sure? We already talked about it, but
28:09
Speaker 1: actually Williams. I love the mentions. That's so cute, really cute.
28:15
Speaker 1: I love that they flashed never because a man on
28:16
Speaker 1: a Christmas weather and it's hauntinas the timing. I love
28:20
Speaker 1: the repeated mentions of Ashley Williams the flash of the movie.
28:24
Speaker 1: Isn't her husband like a producer, Neil Dodson? Did he
28:27
Speaker 1: produce this? Good luck? Trying to find out on the
28:29
Speaker 1: internet right now, I am dB Neil Dodson. The answer
28:36
Speaker 1: is he is not credited. Does that mean he did
28:39
Speaker 1: not work on this movie? No, it does not. The
28:43
Speaker 1: last Hallmark project he's credited for is Falling Together, which was,
28:46
Speaker 1: of course in Ashley Williams movie. He was ep on that.
28:48
Speaker 1: I have one more? Did you see that? Okay? The
28:51
Speaker 1: set was overly dressed, like I couldn't understand, like why
28:55
Speaker 1: are they in this alleyway of this like catering company
28:58
Speaker 1: slash restaurant or whatever, and it's decorated. It was always
29:02
Speaker 1: decorated instead of being like a dumpster. Yeah, like a
29:06
Speaker 1: real alleyway. Uh huh. I don't know. It's just weird.
29:09
Speaker 1: It felt like they shot us on a back lot somewhere,
29:12
Speaker 1: which maybe they did. I don't know, but I think
29:14
Speaker 1: they must have, because those like New York City or
29:17
Speaker 1: those Chicago City street scenes looked much more like New
29:22
Speaker 1: York City fake street scenes when she's like walking fake
29:25
Speaker 1: is the key word, yes, of course, but I'm saying
29:27
Speaker 1: it looked like a New York backlot more than a
29:29
Speaker 1: Chicago back lot, all of those like city scenes. Yeah,
29:33
Speaker 1: one of mine. Did you see that? Is? I thought, like,
29:35
Speaker 1: the thought that counts Christmas is a cute idea, like
29:37
Speaker 1: broke college students, like, this is what I would give you.
29:39
Speaker 1: It's the thought that counts. I thought it was cute.
29:40
Speaker 1: I didn't understand her giving him the tickets back when
29:43
Speaker 1: they came to the show and she's like, you can
29:45
Speaker 1: give it to me next year. I was like, what's
29:46
Speaker 1: happening here? I don't understand it. But also I was like,
29:50
Speaker 1: make it make sense to me. Your apartment is huge
29:52
Speaker 1: and gorgeous, Your kitchen is so nice. How do you
29:56
Speaker 1: not have any money? Who was paying for this apartment?
29:58
Speaker 1: My daughter's like, maybe Daniel's boyfriend is secretly rich and like,
30:02
Speaker 1: but they weren't together the whole time. Yeah. Also, did
30:06
Speaker 1: you see that that's not a digital that at all?
30:07
Speaker 1: But it's just a comment my daughter made when they're
30:09
Speaker 1: breaking up Max and Alice, Alice, you know what's happening,
30:13
Speaker 1: Like they're gonna run off together, and you know it's
30:15
Speaker 1: not the end of the movie, so obviously we know
30:17
Speaker 1: something's gonna happen. She's like, oh no, here comes the conflict.
30:20
Speaker 1: And then they go and they break up, and the
30:22
Speaker 1: song that is playing behind them is Wonder by Harriet Whitehead.
30:28
Speaker 1: She's like, I hate this jaunty music while they're breaking up.
30:30
Speaker 1: Your daughter said that just made me laugh. She's the
30:33
Speaker 1: word jaunty. She is a reader, she's a fun kid.
30:37
Speaker 1: Did you notice, just sitting here thinking about the first
30:40
Speaker 1: year when they bring that Christmas tree? Yeah it was.
30:44
Speaker 1: There was a pivot joke in there, which I thought
30:46
Speaker 1: was kind of fun. I didn't catch it, but I
30:48
Speaker 1: was like, I am not carrying this giant decorated tree
30:52
Speaker 1: through the street. When it was in the apartment. They
30:54
Speaker 1: were like sitting in front of it and and behind
30:57
Speaker 1: Katie was like the bottom of it. But it was
31:00
Speaker 1: so Why it was so tall? I guess, I what
31:03
Speaker 1: is going off? Yeah, it's wrong with this. I yes,
31:07
Speaker 1: I noticed that too. It's really I know this awkward
31:10
Speaker 1: and weird. Are you ready to read this movie? Yeah?
31:15
Speaker 1: I gave it four point two five stars. I gave
31:17
Speaker 1: it two stars. Oh my god, I thought it was
31:21
Speaker 1: I turned off the TV when I was over and
31:23
Speaker 1: I was like, I hated this movie. I really, I
31:27
Speaker 1: was so looking forward to it. I remember actors alone,
31:31
Speaker 1: was looking forward to it. I could have been executed differently.
31:34
Speaker 1: I don't know, like I don't I can't put my
31:36
Speaker 1: thumb on exactly what was wrong with it, but it
31:41
Speaker 1: didn't hit for me. I'm sorry. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hey,
31:45
Speaker 1: thank you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Homework,
31:48
Speaker 1: a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, we
31:51
Speaker 1: do love your five star ratings and reviews, and we
31:53
Speaker 1: have one to read that is short and sweet. It
31:56
Speaker 1: is five stars. It is from Apple podcast user Ka
32:00
Speaker 1: who says love the banter between Megan and Wendy. They're
32:03
Speaker 1: always fun to listen to it and they give great
32:05
Speaker 1: recaps of movies and shows. Thank you so much. We
32:10
Speaker 1: will be back with more reviews this holiday season. We'll
32:14
Speaker 1: see you next time. Goodbye bye. All right, friends, Before
32:27
Speaker 1: we go, just to quick heads up, you're about to
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Speaker 1: hear some ads. These little gems help us keep the
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Speaker 1: show running and the Hallmark love flowing. So do with
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Speaker 1: that info what you will, Grab a snack, hit the
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Speaker 1: skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in and discover
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Speaker 1: your new favorite product. Bye.