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'Twas the Date Before Christmas · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

0:02
Speaker 1: This is a Bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
0:24
Speaker 1: a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
0:27
Speaker 1: Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater. Today
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Speaker 1: we're discussing twas the date before Christmas, the kickoff to
0:35
Speaker 1: count down to Christmas on the Hallmark Channel, which originally
0:38
Speaker 1: aired on Friday, October eighteenth, twenty twenty four. Hey, oh,
0:44
Speaker 1: come being our friends on Instagram, we'd love to have you.
0:47
Speaker 1: We have two Instagram accounts, Girls Gone Hallmark is probably
0:51
Speaker 1: the one you're looking for with. Hey, if you want
0:52
Speaker 1: to hang with us and just outside of the Hallmark worlds,
0:56
Speaker 1: we are Megan and Wendy. Also, Hey, you know what
0:58
Speaker 1: I've been doing on Instagram while I just started it
1:01
Speaker 1: this past weekend. Yeah, so that the night the movie premieres,
1:05
Speaker 1: like after it's over sometime, I have been asking followers
1:10
Speaker 1: over there to rate it. Uh huh, the same rating
1:14
Speaker 1: scale we have. There's no rhyme and reason, guys, that's
1:17
Speaker 1: all vibes. But I was I'm going to share. I'll
1:21
Speaker 1: share a little bit later like what these movies? What
1:24
Speaker 1: these movies got? If you want to join our Facebook group,
1:27
Speaker 1: come and do that. It is a Facebook dot com
1:30
Speaker 1: slash groups slash Girls Gone Hallmark. Admittedly haven't been over there,
1:34
Speaker 1: and then the last couple days just because of the
1:36
Speaker 1: sheer amount of Hallmark movie watching and notes and all
1:41
Speaker 1: the stuff that we have to do behind the scenes. Yes,
1:43
Speaker 1: but whenever you fear, the group is still poping off
1:46
Speaker 1: in our absence the past few days, they're talking Homewark.
1:49
Speaker 1: Plus they're talking new countdown to Christmas, so you can
1:52
Speaker 1: get in there and share your thoughts as well. Maybe
1:54
Speaker 1: we need an admin person over Hey, if you want
1:56
Speaker 1: to apply for the job, email us and and by
2:00
Speaker 1: I mean free volunteer. Yet you're want to be a
2:03
Speaker 1: volunteer Facebook moderator? Let us know. That's the word I
2:08
Speaker 1: was looking for, not admin. Yes, moderating you in our
2:11
Speaker 1: undying appreciation, Yes, exactly. You can always email us girls
2:15
Speaker 1: go on homework at gmail dot com with your thoughts
2:18
Speaker 1: on these movies, these shows, our podcast. Let us know
2:23
Speaker 1: what you think. Wait, see how a lot of my
2:26
Speaker 1: refrigerator is. Yeah, Wendy has a complex about the sound
2:31
Speaker 1: that refrigerator makes. I do not believe that our mics
2:33
Speaker 1: are picking it up. Okay, if if they are, if
2:36
Speaker 1: it if they are, Michelle, can you keep some message.
2:41
Speaker 1: If you hear a vibrating sound in the back of
2:43
Speaker 1: the podcast right now, please let us know. I mean,
2:47
Speaker 1: we truly are sitting at my dining room table right now.
2:49
Speaker 1: My two dogs are making a lot of noise in
2:51
Speaker 1: the background, my refrigerator, the air conditioning is running because
2:55
Speaker 1: it is ninety degrees in southern California today. The kickoff
2:59
Speaker 1: has kicked our butts a little bit, ban has, don't
3:02
Speaker 1: you think so? Well? You know, I this weekend was
3:05
Speaker 1: jam packed with activities for me, and so having a
3:09
Speaker 1: three movie weekend with three days where my personal life
3:14
Speaker 1: did not have any downtime. Honestly, by Sunday night, I
3:18
Speaker 1: was kind of like walking in circles and sweating and panicking,
3:23
Speaker 1: and I was concerned when I sent you a text
3:27
Speaker 1: about eight o'clock last night and you never responded, and
3:29
Speaker 1: I was like, oh boy, I hope she's okay. Oh.
3:34
Speaker 1: We hadn't even started Sunday Night's movie yet at that point. Oh,
3:37
Speaker 1: me neither. So we both watched it late last night. Yeah,
3:40
Speaker 1: and hey, if you are looking for our review of
3:43
Speaker 1: Scouting for Christmas, it was originally going to be on
3:46
Speaker 1: our schedule for this Friday. However, when does this episode drop?
3:52
Speaker 1: This drops Tuesday, So tomorrow on Wednesday, we will be
3:57
Speaker 1: in the deck the Hallmark Feed. We were a guest
4:01
Speaker 1: on their podcast reviewing Scouting for Christmas. Yes, ma'am, we
4:06
Speaker 1: have some up top Hallmark news to share. Yeah. Did
4:11
Speaker 1: you know that People magazine? You know they did the
4:14
Speaker 1: Sexiest Sexiest Man Alive stuff? Well, I guess every year
4:19
Speaker 1: because I remember them doing this last year too, although
4:21
Speaker 1: I feel like it was much later. They have Sexiest
4:24
Speaker 1: Hallmark Hunks. They have a list of twenty six Hallmark
4:29
Speaker 1: Sexiest Hunks. Do you want to go through the list? Sure.
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Speaker 1: I feel like it's really appropriate that number one on
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Speaker 1: the list is Robert Buckley. Well, it does say in
4:37
Speaker 1: no particular order, I understand, But it's appropriate that we're
4:40
Speaker 1: reviewing his movie on this episode, got it. I dont
4:43
Speaker 1: mean that I think he's the hottest man on a
4:45
Speaker 1: Hallmark Do not ask me to rank these men. It
4:47
Speaker 1: just works out well for our needs here today. I'm
4:50
Speaker 1: gonna rank this man Wowie's aUI Victor Webster number one
4:54
Speaker 1: for me. I haven't scrolled through the whole list. Did
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Speaker 1: he make Yeah, he makes the list. Yeah, why don't
5:00
Speaker 1: you go through the list number two again in all
5:02
Speaker 1: particular order. Benjamin Airs, Victor Webster, Dennis Haysbert, who will
5:08
Speaker 1: be on holidays? Niall mad Brendan Penny on our cruise,
5:12
Speaker 1: Andrew Walker, Wes Brown, Tyler Hines, Kevin McGarry, Ben Hollingsworth,
5:20
Speaker 1: Dan Janotte, Jonathan Bennett, Jordan Fisher, Will Kemp, John Brotherton,
5:25
Speaker 1: Marco Grizzini, b J Britt, James Denton, Paul Campbell, Christopher Paulaha,
5:30
Speaker 1: Sir Darius Blaine, Brendan Elliott, Ian Harding, Vincent Ronriguez, Sam Page.
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Speaker 1: Now I have a question, really quickly, how do you
5:38
Speaker 1: think they come up with twenty six? I don't know,
5:42
Speaker 1: because to me, tell me what you think is missing
5:44
Speaker 1: from the list. There's a whole bunch of people missing
5:46
Speaker 1: from the list. We just talked about them with David.
5:49
Speaker 1: Where's Luke McFarlane Is Luke McFarlane? Yeah? Where is Luke McFarlane.
5:55
Speaker 1: That's a huge miss, is Luke McFarland. Who else is
5:58
Speaker 1: missing from those lists? Chris McNally not on the list, correct,
6:04
Speaker 1: big miss, big miss? You know who else is? Not
6:07
Speaker 1: on this list. He was a real smoke show in
6:12
Speaker 1: the Real West. Lucas Bryant. Yeah, but Lucas Bryant because
6:17
Speaker 1: he hasn't been on the network. Yeah. Jordan Fisher, Yeah, Fish.
6:22
Speaker 1: I get that they're trying to include, like, Okay, Dennis
6:25
Speaker 1: Haysbert am I saying his name right. Yeah, he's going
6:29
Speaker 1: to be in Holidays that's like a on Hallmark. Plus
6:31
Speaker 1: that's a big thing coming to the network. Of course
6:35
Speaker 1: they have to include him. Jordan Fisher is going to
6:38
Speaker 1: be in a movie this holiday season. Brooks Darnell. Oh,
6:42
Speaker 1: you know who people are pissed about not being on
6:45
Speaker 1: the list. Michael Rady. Oh, Michael Redy, you're right, Chris
6:50
Speaker 1: Holden Reid. Go back in that brain of yours. You're
6:53
Speaker 1: wondering who it is. Thomas Cole Yes from the Way Home,
6:57
Speaker 1: Thank you, think you, thank you, thank you. You know
7:00
Speaker 1: what's interesting, I think People magazine and Hallmark have a
7:04
Speaker 1: symbiotic relationship because people covers a lot of Hallmark content. Yeah,
7:09
Speaker 1: so I'm guessing Hallmark was maybe in their ear because
7:13
Speaker 1: people like Christopher Russell and Carlos PenaVega, who have absconded
7:18
Speaker 1: for a different network yeah, are not making the list. Well,
7:24
Speaker 1: I had saw some feedback. Somebody was there like, where's
7:27
Speaker 1: Jesse Metcalf. I'm like, Jesse Metcalf, We've been reviewing movies
7:30
Speaker 1: for four years. I don't. We've never touched a Jesse
7:33
Speaker 1: Metcalf movie. No, and he's been gone, he's been gone. Oh,
7:38
Speaker 1: Jefferson Brown, Oh, Jefferson Brown. And how about No Love
7:44
Speaker 1: for Eric? Maybeus in a sin Sealed Delivered movie this year? Yeah,
7:49
Speaker 1: what about Marcus Rosner? What about Marcus Rossner? That's what
7:54
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, how do you get to twenty six?
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Speaker 1: I don't. Maybe they're like, well, we can't put every
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Speaker 1: single Hallmark star on the list. Of the way, this
8:00
Speaker 1: is not a very dude like Stephen who'sar Take you
8:04
Speaker 1: sure of Stephen? Who's are? Where is Evan Williams? Evan Williams? Yeah, good,
8:11
Speaker 1: good one. I think that the biggest miss is Luke
8:15
Speaker 1: McFarlane and Luke McFarlane is going to be heading a
8:20
Speaker 1: reality TV show for the network. Yeah, in the new year.
8:24
Speaker 1: I think they should have definitely definitely included him. There's
8:29
Speaker 1: just a lot of misses, a lot of missus. I
8:33
Speaker 1: agree with you, and some other feedback I saw is
8:36
Speaker 1: where are the hot women of Hallmark? Like, why aren't
8:40
Speaker 1: they making that list? Now, we have done this before,
8:45
Speaker 1: we did the King of Hallmark or King of Hallmark.
8:48
Speaker 1: I was just looking at it. That's where I was
8:49
Speaker 1: pulling those names from. And we never did a We
8:53
Speaker 1: never did a Women of Hallmark one. It just feels
8:56
Speaker 1: kind of weird doing it, Yeah, because I feel like
9:00
Speaker 1: it becomes like women on Woman Crime a little bit.
9:03
Speaker 1: I don't know why. I feel like the men can
9:04
Speaker 1: take it. So maybe that's why Homework does Sexiest Man
9:06
Speaker 1: but they don't do Sexiest Woman Alive. Yeah, for the
9:09
Speaker 1: same reasons. I don't know. I really want to hear.
9:14
Speaker 1: Maybe we have as a society have just decided that,
9:16
Speaker 1: like we're all in on objectifying men, but like we're
9:19
Speaker 1: not maybe so excited about the objectification of women. Yeah,
9:23
Speaker 1: maybe not? Maybe not? All right? Are you ready to review?
9:26
Speaker 1: Am this movie? Let us hear? A synopsis. Feeling the
9:30
Speaker 1: pressure to bring someone home for Christmas, Jesse convinces Brian
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Speaker 1: to join her family for a day filed with holiday events.
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Speaker 1: Only the family doesn't know it's their first date. This
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Speaker 1: movie was directed by Bradley Walsh. Bradley has a whopping
9:45
Speaker 1: forty nine directing credits, including last year's Catch Me a
9:48
Speaker 1: Few Claus speaking of Luke McFarlane, plus fun fact he
9:52
Speaker 1: directed a two thousand and eight episode of One Tree Hill,
9:55
Speaker 1: where Robert Buckley co starred as Clay, was written by
10:00
Speaker 1: Ramona Barkert. Ramona house seventeen writing credits under her belt,
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Speaker 1: including De Grassi, The Next Generation and Open Heart, which
10:08
Speaker 1: also appeared on Teen Nick. This is her first Hallmark project,
10:13
Speaker 1: but she also penned this year's Lifetime movie Danger in
10:16
Speaker 1: the Dorm, starring Bethany Frankel. I had no idea Bethany
10:21
Speaker 1: Frankel started in a Lifetime movie. Bethany Frankel can pounce
10:25
Speaker 1: hand in my opinion. Robert Buckley stars as Brian, with
10:30
Speaker 1: thirty acting credits. Robert is no stranger to Hallmark, having
10:33
Speaker 1: starred in Chesapeake Shores and The Christmas House one in two.
10:37
Speaker 1: But don't let those thirty credits fool you. He's appeared
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Speaker 1: in seventy episodes of a series called Fashion House, fifty
10:43
Speaker 1: seven episodes of One Tree Hill, and twenty episodes of
10:47
Speaker 1: Lipstick Jungle. Kim Delaney come through I loved that series.
10:52
Speaker 1: Amy Graning stars as Jesse. Ever might recognize Amy from
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Speaker 1: The Santa Summit and Miracle in Bethlehem, PA. Last year.
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Speaker 1: She also has been in We Wish You a Married
11:04
Speaker 1: Christmas and Pumpkin Everything. Patrese Goodman plays Shelly, Jesse's sister
11:08
Speaker 1: in law. Patrese has rocked. Patrese has racked up seventy
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Speaker 1: two acting credits, including Operation Nutcracker. You might have also
11:17
Speaker 1: caught her in The Way Home and a movie from
11:19
Speaker 1: that other network, Twas The text before Christmas is It's
11:23
Speaker 1: not funny, It's very similar name. Mm hmmm. Christopher Jacko
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Speaker 1: plays Andrew, Jesse's brother, with one hundred and one acting credits.
11:32
Speaker 1: Christopher has been in a bunch of stuff like Hallmarks,
11:35
Speaker 1: When Sparks Fly, also co starring Megan Markle Degrassi, The
11:39
Speaker 1: Next Generation, Supernatural psych and White Collar. Mimi Kusick plays
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Speaker 1: Aunt Lily with one hundred and forty three acting credits.
11:50
Speaker 1: Mimi is a seasoned pro. She's been in a very
11:53
Speaker 1: merry mix up and you may have seen her in
11:55
Speaker 1: work in Mom's Unreal, The l Word and Ghost Whisperer.
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Speaker 1: Karen Wadell plays Laura Jesse's mom, Karen, has thirty acting
12:03
Speaker 1: credits and appeared in The Good Witch. She is also
12:07
Speaker 1: a certified mindfulness based stress reduction teacher. I think we
12:12
Speaker 1: need that. Think. Sean Collin plays Marcus, Jesse's stepdad. Shawn's
12:17
Speaker 1: got seventy seven credits with appearances in Suits, The Good Wife,
12:21
Speaker 1: and House of Cards. This looks like his first homework project.
12:24
Speaker 1: And for the behind the scenes info, twas The Date
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Speaker 1: Before Christmas was filmed in March twenty twenty four in Toronto, Canada. Hey,
12:31
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break for some ads and
12:33
Speaker 1: we'll be right back. We're back and it's time for
12:44
Speaker 1: first impressions. Wendy, what's your first impression of it? Was
12:49
Speaker 1: The Date Before Christmas? Well, if anybody is following me
12:51
Speaker 1: on Instagram over the weekend, more Robert A. Buckley and
12:54
Speaker 1: Amy Graining fan freakantastic casting. We are of one mind
13:01
Speaker 1: because my first impression is we did it. We got
13:05
Speaker 1: Amy Greening a starring role. Now please put Robert Buckley
13:08
Speaker 1: Junior in everything else. Like, I know he's been in
13:12
Speaker 1: you know, Chesapeake Shores, but like and he was in
13:15
Speaker 1: a blind date book club. Yeah, fel like I want.
13:18
Speaker 1: I want Robert Buckley saturation. I didn't include Blind Date
13:23
Speaker 1: Book Club in our What hasn't Robert Buckley Junior done?
13:29
Speaker 1: Is it Junior? I don't know. I thought you told
13:31
Speaker 1: me yesterday it was Junior. I did, but I you
13:35
Speaker 1: have it in here, just as Robert Buckley. Do you
13:38
Speaker 1: think you made up Junior? Maybe Robert Buckley, Maybe I did.
13:43
Speaker 1: There's no I apologize Robert Buckley, not Junior, not Junior. Hey,
13:49
Speaker 1: let's talk what we liked about twas the date before Christmas?
13:53
Speaker 1: All right? Before we get into it, can I just
13:55
Speaker 1: give you what the what the breakdown was from. I
14:01
Speaker 1: would love to hear followers of our Instagram what they thought.
14:05
Speaker 1: So the Instagram peep said they thirty six percent gave
14:09
Speaker 1: this a five star movie, twenty four gave it a
14:12
Speaker 1: four star movie, thirty percent gave it a three star movie,
14:15
Speaker 1: and there were nine percent of people who gave it
14:17
Speaker 1: two stars or less. Hey, so over fifty percent of
14:21
Speaker 1: the voters gave it a four or a five star.
14:23
Speaker 1: I would say that's a solid first night, showing absolute
14:26
Speaker 1: freakingly And I'm going to spoiler alert and tell you
14:29
Speaker 1: I'm right there with them. M hmm. I was very
14:33
Speaker 1: pleased to have this kickoff movie. I feel like kickoff
14:36
Speaker 1: movies you never know what you're gonna get. We've had
14:39
Speaker 1: some winners and we've had some less than winners. This
14:43
Speaker 1: was just an absolute delight. We recently conducted an interview
14:49
Speaker 1: that'll be coming out shortly and we talked with this
14:52
Speaker 1: writer who we were very excited to speak with. But
14:55
Speaker 1: one of the things he said was like, you know,
14:57
Speaker 1: I want to keep a Hallmark moving forward, but I
15:00
Speaker 1: also want to be true to what Hallmark is, like
15:03
Speaker 1: a trademark baby, tradmark tradmark. But I don't. I feel
15:07
Speaker 1: like that's like a negative. Trademark's a negative, like traditional
15:14
Speaker 1: Hallmark trad wife is not a nice But Okay, I
15:20
Speaker 1: just thought it was very funny. But I feel like
15:26
Speaker 1: the idea here is I think this movie is really
15:30
Speaker 1: true to what Hallmark is, But does it really well? Yeah.
15:35
Speaker 1: I think the writer took a fresh take on kind
15:40
Speaker 1: of a traditional Hallmark trope. Yeah, it's like fake dating,
15:46
Speaker 1: but kind of not because they're actually dating. They've just
15:50
Speaker 1: fake accelerated their relationship. Yeah. I liked a lot about
15:54
Speaker 1: this movie, So I thought Robert Buckley and Amy Greening
15:59
Speaker 1: were perfection in this delightful high energy, great chemistry, very
16:08
Speaker 1: playful and fun, very current. I'm like, oh, make them
16:12
Speaker 1: the next Lacy and Brennan. Make them the next Andrew
16:16
Speaker 1: and Nikki. Right. I agree, such a fabulous dynamic between
16:23
Speaker 1: these two. I need more from them together. Yes, I
16:27
Speaker 1: want them to be the next, like to some that
16:31
Speaker 1: are in a bunch of movies to Yeah, I want
16:33
Speaker 1: to fast forward to like Girls Gone Homework fifteenth anniversary,
16:36
Speaker 1: and they're like and with their eleventh movie together, Amy
16:39
Speaker 1: Greening and Robert Buckley June Yeah, second Chance, Holiday Romance,
16:43
Speaker 1: Let's start a campaign. They were great. The writer of
16:49
Speaker 1: this movie, I thought she used some interesting and fun
16:54
Speaker 1: language choices. Tell me, uh Jesse slash. Amy uses the
16:59
Speaker 1: word we She's like, oh, just a wee one. She's
17:01
Speaker 1: talking about her little lie. And then she also uses
17:04
Speaker 1: the phrase gong show. She's like, it's going to be
17:06
Speaker 1: a complete gong show talking about her weekend. I really
17:08
Speaker 1: love it. Those are phrases that we don't get enough of.
17:12
Speaker 1: I found the writing to be incredibly fresh. At one point,
17:17
Speaker 1: Robert Buckley, I'm having a really hard time not not
17:21
Speaker 1: to Brian is talking to his friends and they're like,
17:26
Speaker 1: you need a safe ford and he goes, what's yours?
17:28
Speaker 1: And I was like, whoa save for it on homework? Yeah?
17:32
Speaker 1: Real cute, really cute. Speaking of Brian's friends, Yeah, for
17:38
Speaker 1: a diverse cast, yeah, I was thrilled to see that
17:42
Speaker 1: we have Brian's friends, Debbie the ride, shair boyfriend, a
17:48
Speaker 1: biracial family dynamic. You know, I know we said pre
17:54
Speaker 1: pre count down to Christmas, in our preview we were like,
17:57
Speaker 1: where's the diversity? And here is a little bit right, Yes,
18:03
Speaker 1: I know. I think you might have mentioned it when
18:06
Speaker 1: we recorded this weekend for either Chicken Sisters or Groomsmen
18:09
Speaker 1: or something. Was this a highlight for you that we
18:13
Speaker 1: have we have a mix here? Yes, I mentioned in
18:17
Speaker 1: our Groomsmen episode which came out yesterday that we initially
18:21
Speaker 1: were like, where is the diversity? And I still think
18:24
Speaker 1: like some main cast diversity is lacking overall, but first
18:29
Speaker 1: two movies out of the gate real strong diversity. And
18:32
Speaker 1: I'm not just talking about racial diversity, Like, we have
18:36
Speaker 1: family structured diversity. We've got a blended family. They're celebrating
18:40
Speaker 1: the stepfather and that relationship here, and so I am
18:44
Speaker 1: liking seeing all of these different paths to you know,
18:49
Speaker 1: family structure, and I was very pleased with what we're
18:55
Speaker 1: seeing here. I still think we need some more main
18:58
Speaker 1: cast diversity. We don't have a single lead story LGBTU storyline.
19:05
Speaker 1: I imagine we know at least of one supporting storyline
19:09
Speaker 1: on a Hallmark channel. You and I know that hasn't
19:12
Speaker 1: been announced. Yeah, hopefully there's a lot of them, but
19:15
Speaker 1: we need more of the leads. I agree. I'm going
19:18
Speaker 1: to keep beating that drum as we should. I said
19:24
Speaker 1: in our preview episode. Remember when I couldn't say Dalmark,
19:28
Speaker 1: see there it is again. It's imprinted in my brain.
19:31
Speaker 1: Now I forgot that was about this movie Dermott mulroney. Yeah,
19:35
Speaker 1: the fake dating trope, I love it. I loved it
19:39
Speaker 1: with this but I love that it was updated, that
19:41
Speaker 1: they like met on an app, yes, mingle all the
19:44
Speaker 1: way it was not, but that they met on an
19:47
Speaker 1: app and like it was so cute. I love fake
19:51
Speaker 1: dating because I like it so much more than enemies
19:54
Speaker 1: still lovers in a movie, in a book. And here's why.
19:57
Speaker 1: In fake dating, obviously you're pretending to be dating, and
20:00
Speaker 1: so you have these opportunities to like pretend to be
20:04
Speaker 1: a couple, and those kind of lead to be like, oh,
20:07
Speaker 1: I kind of like like holding your hand. I like
20:10
Speaker 1: playing this game with you. I like having these like
20:12
Speaker 1: couplely moments with you. It's like foreshadowing your relationship. It's
20:17
Speaker 1: so fun, exactly. That's that is fun because you get
20:21
Speaker 1: this like perfect mix of tension and awkwardness, and as
20:27
Speaker 1: a viewer you kind of know they're going to end
20:29
Speaker 1: up at the end, so it's just fun to watch
20:31
Speaker 1: it like unfold. Yeah, you're gonna get happy ending. Yeah.
20:36
Speaker 1: I thought there was a really lovely mother daughter moment
20:39
Speaker 1: in the bedroom where Jesse's mom, you know, Jesse's having
20:44
Speaker 1: a moment after kind of having to tell the Sean story,
20:47
Speaker 1: and her mom comes to her and she's like, I understand,
20:50
Speaker 1: Like you're afraid of getting hurt after I got divorced,
20:53
Speaker 1: so I thought that was it for me. And she
20:54
Speaker 1: tells her own second chance romance story, and I thought
20:57
Speaker 1: that was real nice. It's nice. They did have some
21:00
Speaker 1: great like family layers here. Yeah, you know, like she
21:06
Speaker 1: and the brother while tossle a little bit, but I
21:11
Speaker 1: actually truly have love for each other and they care
21:13
Speaker 1: for each other and they're looking out for each other.
21:15
Speaker 1: I thought that was really nice. I loved kind of cookie.
21:20
Speaker 1: Aunt Lily was fun. I really loved stepdad Marcus. I
21:28
Speaker 1: had saw some chatter that people thought he was like
21:30
Speaker 1: over the top and annoying. I loved him when he
21:33
Speaker 1: was like going through his kitchen and he's like, you
21:35
Speaker 1: don't touch what's in the oven. Yes, you don't touch
21:38
Speaker 1: what's I was like, how are you gonna let these
21:40
Speaker 1: people bake in your kitchen when I can't have access
21:43
Speaker 1: to anything? But I also can fully understand the like,
21:48
Speaker 1: don't mess with my holiday dinner, like I got a
21:51
Speaker 1: system in here. Don't let your saltine crack Gutafi ruin it.
21:56
Speaker 1: Every year I want to make that you've made it before,
22:00
Speaker 1: have you not? Never? I have a friend that makes it,
22:02
Speaker 1: but no, I've we make it so good. You're watching this.
22:05
Speaker 1: My husband's like, oh, we need to make that again
22:07
Speaker 1: this year. I was like, yes, we do, not technically baking,
22:09
Speaker 1: but yes we do. I don't care. It's still delicious.
22:13
Speaker 1: How about the deeper themes here, especially with the ex
22:19
Speaker 1: fiance and his passing. I thought it was nice. I mean,
22:25
Speaker 1: I know, I don't love movies. Where they're like, oh,
22:29
Speaker 1: I'm a widow or whatever. I'm glad she wasn't a
22:32
Speaker 1: widow in this movie. Okay, that they had never gotten married, yeah,
22:36
Speaker 1: but it was it was it to me. Showed some
22:40
Speaker 1: really nice emotional layers about grief and healing. And I
22:48
Speaker 1: do have some wishes about that, but I I like
22:52
Speaker 1: that Jesse wasn't just this like chronically single gal who
22:57
Speaker 1: was like looking for a date. You know. I thought
23:00
Speaker 1: it was handled with their appropriate amount of weight, to
23:04
Speaker 1: appropriate to the circumstance. I understood Jesse's motivation in lying
23:10
Speaker 1: about bringing someone to Christmas, knowing that, like their concern
23:15
Speaker 1: for her and her ability to handle all the normal
23:17
Speaker 1: Christmas stuff was going to cause them to cancel. And
23:20
Speaker 1: she'd be like, no, no, no, no, I can't let my
23:24
Speaker 1: grief spill over onto everyone else. But I don't think
23:28
Speaker 1: that's an unfair choice to make, Like she doesn't have
23:30
Speaker 1: to fake it for everyone. But I fully understood her
23:33
Speaker 1: motivation to be like, I'm not gonna be the one
23:35
Speaker 1: that brings us down. Right. When Brian finds the photo
23:42
Speaker 1: in the kitchen, the family photo, and Shane's in it,
23:44
Speaker 1: and she's like, who's that? I really felt like the
23:48
Speaker 1: fallback moment would have been for some sort of misunderstanding
23:51
Speaker 1: to ensue there, for the mom to make some sort
23:53
Speaker 1: of comment, and instead she just says, I think you
23:57
Speaker 1: should talk to Jesse about it, which is such an
24:00
Speaker 1: appropriate response. Yes, yeah, really, I was like, Oh, this
24:04
Speaker 1: family just feels like so warm and lovely and as
24:08
Speaker 1: cookie and as silly as this is. It all is
24:12
Speaker 1: coming from such a nice place. Did you not love
24:15
Speaker 1: the Christmas Olympics. No, I loved the Christmas Olympics. I'm
24:19
Speaker 1: surprised you loved the Christmas emp I thought it was fun. Yeah,
24:23
Speaker 1: I thought maybe a bit much because if I look
24:28
Speaker 1: at my own holiday, doing all those events in one
24:32
Speaker 1: day and that's like the day before Christmas, like I
24:34
Speaker 1: would just be done. Yeah, it's a lot of events. Well,
24:39
Speaker 1: and then I think about it. What they're not allowing
24:42
Speaker 1: for here is like in my family, like we have
24:44
Speaker 1: to do one family the day before and one family
24:46
Speaker 1: the next day. I think if you are spending like
24:49
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with the family, it's like, okay,
24:51
Speaker 1: well Christmas Eve is going to be our busy day.
24:53
Speaker 1: We're gonna do have all this fun and then Christmas Day.
24:57
Speaker 1: I like fully thought this out. I'm like, that's your
24:59
Speaker 1: like pajamas, sin and rolls. Relax. It's not like that
25:04
Speaker 1: in my house neither. No. I wish it were. It
25:07
Speaker 1: would start World War three if we were to do that,
25:11
Speaker 1: but I would love that me too. We did that
25:15
Speaker 1: last year because the family that we usually get together
25:18
Speaker 1: with on Christmas Day was out of town and so
25:21
Speaker 1: we didn't do anything. And then I was like, We're
25:24
Speaker 1: just gonna order Chinese food and like have this great thing.
25:26
Speaker 1: And we couldn't get Chinese food from anywhere. Oh yeah,
25:29
Speaker 1: I ended up eating Del Taco. Oh that's a bummer.
25:32
Speaker 1: This was a real kind of bummer. So this it
25:35
Speaker 1: won't be like that this year, though, No, you'd have to, Yeah,
25:38
Speaker 1: you plan ahead better for the food situation. Well, and
25:41
Speaker 1: the family's in town this year, so well, we a
25:44
Speaker 1: couple of years were like, no, we are not dragging
25:46
Speaker 1: our kids out on Christmas Day. We'll do any other day.
25:48
Speaker 1: But people have not reacted well to that choice. So
25:51
Speaker 1: now we just do what everybody else wants to do.
25:53
Speaker 1: And I had a big meltdown with my husband. I
25:58
Speaker 1: was like, I'm forty five years old and I don't
26:00
Speaker 1: get to make my own decisions about how to spend Christmas. Yeah, no,
26:04
Speaker 1: that's a real You're not alone. I'm not alone. If
26:08
Speaker 1: you are feeling that way, it's really hard. I don't
26:12
Speaker 1: know what the solution is because I've definitely had years
26:15
Speaker 1: where I'm like, no, we get to develop our own
26:17
Speaker 1: family traditions, and then I feel badly that we're hurting
26:23
Speaker 1: other people in the process. Well, and you know, we
26:27
Speaker 1: are in this weird transition of life where our kids
26:29
Speaker 1: are getting older, right, and I would say, in the
26:32
Speaker 1: next five years, what are what our kids? What are
26:37
Speaker 1: they gonna want to do right on Christmas Eve or
26:41
Speaker 1: Christmas Day? And it may not look like the last
26:44
Speaker 1: twenty years. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Christmas holiday time
26:50
Speaker 1: is hard. I'm here to acknowledge it. It is hard.
26:54
Speaker 1: I have one lass. Like I thought the costume mean
26:59
Speaker 1: and the set tor was real good in this movie.
27:02
Speaker 1: Jesse and Brian's coats and scarfs were on point. Yeah,
27:05
Speaker 1: I love them. And I thought the set design of
27:08
Speaker 1: the house too was really nice. It captured like a beautiful, cozy,
27:15
Speaker 1: beautiful holiday vibe. Uh huh. And maybe because it's only October,
27:21
Speaker 1: like it gave me like, oh, I'm excited. I'm excited
27:24
Speaker 1: to do this to my house. Yeah, our sal decorps
27:28
Speaker 1: is still up. When he has a Jack Skellington in
27:30
Speaker 1: her front yard, you guys, it's like a twenty foot
27:32
Speaker 1: jacksk I love it so much. I showed my whole family.
27:35
Speaker 1: They all loved it. But this kickoff, really, I think
27:38
Speaker 1: I was just in the right I was ready for it.
27:40
Speaker 1: I was in the right frame of mind. I was like, Oh,
27:43
Speaker 1: give it to me. I'm ready. Let's put the tree up.
27:47
Speaker 1: Let's put the tree up. Well, you know what I
27:49
Speaker 1: said to my husband is we have faull garland. And
27:52
Speaker 1: I was like, when our Christmas decorations are up, we
27:56
Speaker 1: liked like turn down the lights and then light the
27:58
Speaker 1: tree and have everything. You know. I love that vibe.
28:01
Speaker 1: I love that vibe. And I was like, oh, I
28:04
Speaker 1: was like, maybe we should add some lights to our
28:06
Speaker 1: fall garland so we can have that moment in fall.
28:10
Speaker 1: So we might. It probably won't happen until next year.
28:12
Speaker 1: But he was like, don't want to go get some
28:13
Speaker 1: I was like, not write this actual minute, but wow,
28:17
Speaker 1: settle down, dude, Okay, are you ready to move on
28:21
Speaker 1: to wishes. Sure, am, I know you have some let's
28:24
Speaker 1: hear him. While I liked the fake dating trope, I
28:28
Speaker 1: hated everything about you're gonna lose your small business trope.
28:32
Speaker 1: M he didn't bother you. I have mixed emotions about
28:37
Speaker 1: it because the one thing I did like about that
28:40
Speaker 1: is that they made it Shelley's business and not Jesse's
28:43
Speaker 1: business good so that the conflict wasn't between Jesse and Brian.
28:47
Speaker 1: It was like external Now Shelley is her sister in
28:50
Speaker 1: law and her friend. I'm not sure that we needed that,
28:58
Speaker 1: but I did like that he at no point was
29:02
Speaker 1: Brian really the bad guy, right, Like he wasn't in
29:07
Speaker 1: big bed corporate dude trying to steal the business. He
29:13
Speaker 1: was like, we can't do this, make it stop. And
29:15
Speaker 1: then he has that like get over here on Christmas Eve,
29:18
Speaker 1: let's solve this problem moment. Yeah, which feels a little unrealistic, sure,
29:26
Speaker 1: because I'd be like, this can wait until next week, bruh.
29:30
Speaker 1: But also the eviction letter could have waited another week
29:34
Speaker 1: as well. You don't send an email saying you're gonna
29:36
Speaker 1: be evicted on Christmas Eve. Nobody does that. So these
29:41
Speaker 1: are the hallmark things that drive me absolutely crazy. Yeah. Also,
29:49
Speaker 1: I thought the ending a little predictable as well, but like, well,
29:53
Speaker 1: of course they're gonna get together. Everybody's happy, and Shelley
29:58
Speaker 1: gets a new on her business. So those are my
30:02
Speaker 1: two biggest wishes. Everything's tied up with like a tidy
30:05
Speaker 1: little bow, a tidy little boat. And I think for me,
30:11
Speaker 1: I thought the first half of this movie was really fun. Yeah,
30:16
Speaker 1: my quick paced, and then like that the fun part
30:19
Speaker 1: of it kind of fizzled out in the lack last
30:22
Speaker 1: third of it, where I thought was like, Okay, let's
30:25
Speaker 1: get through like this whole business part of it and
30:27
Speaker 1: Shelley's stuff, those things kind of bother me. You know.
30:35
Speaker 1: That's really my only wish here is that I think
30:37
Speaker 1: Amy and Robert have such a nice chemistry on screen
30:41
Speaker 1: that it was so easy to root for them that
30:45
Speaker 1: the conflict does seem a little bit manufactured. But I
30:49
Speaker 1: was like, I almost was like I don't want to
30:53
Speaker 1: root against them, like in that moment where he's like
30:55
Speaker 1: remark PI, like I gotta go, and I was like,
30:57
Speaker 1: actually sad about it, Yeah, it's to leave. Yeah, I
31:04
Speaker 1: didn't think far enough into what I would prefer the
31:07
Speaker 1: conflict have been. Part of me is like, yeah, this
31:09
Speaker 1: makes sense. It's a Hallmark movie, it's on brand, it's easy,
31:11
Speaker 1: it's low stakes. And the other part of me is
31:13
Speaker 1: like something else, Yeah, how could they what could have
31:18
Speaker 1: been different? I don't know. I'm not a Hallmark writer, right,
31:22
Speaker 1: I don't know, But I am a fan and a
31:24
Speaker 1: viewer of these movies. And what if they just made
31:26
Speaker 1: the conflict The family finds out that they have just met,
31:30
Speaker 1: and then they're like, what are you doing? Like that's
31:33
Speaker 1: a terrible idea. But then I guess or maybe it's
31:36
Speaker 1: just like, wow, this is too much too soon, Like
31:38
Speaker 1: we went straight from like blind date to pretending like
31:42
Speaker 1: I like you. But maybe I'm not looking at this
31:44
Speaker 1: with realistic glasses. Esh, Yeah, I have one more wish. Okay,
31:50
Speaker 1: let Jesse grieve. I thought the push for her to
31:55
Speaker 1: meet somebody new was under the one year mark. It
31:59
Speaker 1: hasn't been long, too quick, too too quick. It was
32:04
Speaker 1: the same with scouting for Christmas that I didn't mention
32:07
Speaker 1: in our review. When we were on deck the Hallmark,
32:09
Speaker 1: I thought, there's too much pressure on these people, like
32:13
Speaker 1: you have to be with someone mm hmm. I'm very
32:16
Speaker 1: content being alone me too, so I don't know if
32:21
Speaker 1: anybody cares to me. I was like, you need to
32:23
Speaker 1: date somebody, you need to open your heart again, blah
32:26
Speaker 1: blah blah. I'd be like, yeah, bye, I'm fine. Yes.
32:31
Speaker 1: If my marriage or my husband should not last as
32:34
Speaker 1: long as I do, I will be the happy spinster. Yeah,
32:38
Speaker 1: well together, but totally, we're gonna live next door to
32:41
Speaker 1: each other. I am so independent, you know. Also world,
32:46
Speaker 1: Yeah we're old, we've had children. I love the idea
32:49
Speaker 1: of love and romance, but I also think, like, don't
32:52
Speaker 1: force it. Yeah. One of the movies this weekend, I
32:54
Speaker 1: think it was Scouting for Christmas, in fact it was,
32:57
Speaker 1: And she's like, you don't you want romance and your life,
33:00
Speaker 1: like you need a little romance in your life. And
33:02
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm married and there's no romance in my life,
33:06
Speaker 1: so I don't understand the conversation. Like romance is like
33:12
Speaker 1: my husband did the grocery shopping and bought like the
33:14
Speaker 1: candy that I like, Yeah, and bought strawberries even though
33:18
Speaker 1: I'm the only one in the house that eats them.
33:19
Speaker 1: I'm like, thank you for seeing me, Like that's it's
33:23
Speaker 1: not flowers and candy and candle at dinners and honestly
33:28
Speaker 1: never what that's just that's just not I know my vibe.
33:31
Speaker 1: Do you have any more wishes? I don't. Wow, your
33:34
Speaker 1: list was real short. I'm curious to see how our
33:38
Speaker 1: ratings are going to be different in this movie. All right,
33:40
Speaker 1: let's talk about did you see that? Really? Have one?
33:43
Speaker 1: Tell me it's a snowball fight. I have a snowball
33:45
Speaker 1: free too, except for the very last one. The snowballs
33:51
Speaker 1: did not fall apart. Dam did you sneak into my
33:53
Speaker 1: computer and look at my notes? You are absolutely right?
33:56
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay. First of all, I've never been
33:57
Speaker 1: in a snowball fight because I live in southern California,
34:00
Speaker 1: not that there's not snow here, but like, okay, whatever,
34:03
Speaker 1: I've never been in a snow off fight. Oh where
34:05
Speaker 1: we live, I know, but we are adjacent to have
34:07
Speaker 1: snow access. But yes, but I've never been in a
34:10
Speaker 1: snowball fight. I imagine getting hit by a snowball actually hurts
34:15
Speaker 1: a lot of ice? Can sure? I'm sure, I'm certain
34:17
Speaker 1: that it could. I have no idea, but I think
34:19
Speaker 1: they usually break upon impact. And I saw snowballs hit
34:23
Speaker 1: people and bounce off it. Yes, the only one that
34:27
Speaker 1: breaks is the one that Jesse throws at Brian the
34:30
Speaker 1: very very in to win the fight. Yes, yes, I
34:34
Speaker 1: agree with you. I have one more did you see that?
34:37
Speaker 1: And at the top of this movie it said it
34:39
Speaker 1: was inspired by a true story, And I really wish
34:42
Speaker 1: I knew more details about that? Yeah, who was fake
34:45
Speaker 1: dating at Christmas? I need to know? Maybe I might
34:49
Speaker 1: not slide into the DMS of this rider and be like,
34:52
Speaker 1: can you give us an update here? I love love
34:55
Speaker 1: the note that behind the scene details. Yeah, check our
34:58
Speaker 1: website Girls Gone homemark dot com for that. All right,
35:01
Speaker 1: it's the lemon Weddy has been waiting for. What did
35:04
Speaker 1: you rate this movie? Listen? Listen. I was in the
35:07
Speaker 1: shower yesterday and I was like, how am I going
35:10
Speaker 1: to rate these movies? You know, usually it's all vibes, right,
35:14
Speaker 1: and I'm very worried that you're gonna have like an
35:18
Speaker 1: actual system here. I'm not going to give it an
35:20
Speaker 1: actual system, but you know a five star movie when
35:24
Speaker 1: you see a five star movie, sure right, this wasn't it.
35:27
Speaker 1: It was still good and this is still a good
35:29
Speaker 1: rating three point seven five stars. You know, it's so
35:33
Speaker 1: funny is my rating is lower than that. What okay,
35:37
Speaker 1: tell me my rating is three point five stars. Now,
35:40
Speaker 1: let me be very clear that's a good rating. It is.
35:45
Speaker 1: I thought this was a great movie, very enjoyable, very
35:50
Speaker 1: fun to watch. And I'm also thinking of this in
35:52
Speaker 1: terms of, like we have a forty seven movie slate. Yes,
35:57
Speaker 1: and I think some movies are going to blow me
36:01
Speaker 1: away more than this one does. I think a five
36:03
Speaker 1: star movie needs to take a bigger swing. Oh. I
36:08
Speaker 1: think this actually was the perfect kickoff movie you can
36:11
Speaker 1: call in Solidly Hallmark, Solidly, well done Hallmark. I liked it.
36:19
Speaker 1: I did you, but it it. There was a couple
36:22
Speaker 1: of swings before I got a hit. Hey, thank you
36:24
Speaker 1: for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark, a
36:28
Speaker 1: Ramble Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, you know
36:30
Speaker 1: what we love. We love your five star ratings and reviews.
36:34
Speaker 1: You can leave them in the podcast app of your choice.
36:37
Speaker 1: Takes but a moment to let everybody know that you
36:40
Speaker 1: love the podcast and it is the very best thing
36:42
Speaker 1: you can do to support us and fellow podcasters. We
36:46
Speaker 1: will see you next time. Goodbye mane. All right, friends,
37:00
Speaker 1: before we go, just a quick heads up. You're about
37:02
Speaker 1: to hear some ads. These little JEMs help us keep
37:04
Speaker 1: the show running and the Hallmark love flowing. So do
37:08
Speaker 1: with that info what you will, Grab a snack, hit
37:11
Speaker 1: the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in and
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Speaker 1: discover your new favorite product. Bye.