Latest / Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews / Christmas in Evergreen: Bells are Ringing

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Christmas in Evergreen: Bells are Ringing · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Welcome to Girls Gone Christmas, a bonus episode
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: from Long Story short the podcast. I'm Megan, I'm Wendy,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and today we're discussing Christmas and Evergreen Bells are Ringing,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: which is the fourth installment in the Christmas and Evergreen series.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: But first, a couple quick notes where you can find
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: us outside of the podcast. You can always find us
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: at meganand Wendy dot com. That's our home base. While
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: you'll find tons of content, you can also find links
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: to everywhere else you'll find us on the internet. You
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: can join our Facebook group and chat with us. We
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: are Long Story Shorties with an Ies on Facebook, and
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: you can follow us on Instagram where we are Megan
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: and Wendy LSS.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Send us your emails at Megananwindy at gmail dot com.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: We love them.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: We will read them on air.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, Wendy, what's up. Today's so exciting.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I'm very excited. You have no idea.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: We have a guest joining us on today's episode. We
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: are so happy to be joined today by Lashawn wilts Now.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Lashawan is the creator of Everyday Eye Candy, a lifestyle
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: blog based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also an Instagram master.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: She has a full shop full of Instagram courses and
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: strategy reports. I have to tell you she wrote a
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: strategy report for us a couple of years ago, and
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: every single time we think about getting our act together
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: on Instagram, the first thing we do is go back
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and read her words where she tells us we are
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: hiding our light under a bushel. I will never forget
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: you saying that happened. But she is full of inspiration
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: and strategy ideas for you to get your own Instagram
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: in check. She's also a mom and is dealing with
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: working at home and having a child doing school at home,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: so we share that in common. And perhaps most importantly
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: to today's episode, she loves Christmas and she loves Hallmark movies. Sean,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: thanks so much for joining us.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Welcome, thank you, thank you for having me now.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this, Lashawn, but Wendy
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: is a Hallmark newbie. This year is the first time
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: she's ever watched any Hallmark content.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I don't well, I'm not a huge fan of Christmas,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: so I know it's it's a long backstory, but Hallmark movies.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I would never sit down to watch these. It's just
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: not my jam. However, this year it is Appointment TV,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: and we've been watching them every week in our house,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: and I gotta say, like, I kind of love it.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: It's like, no blainer, I have any one all day
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: in the background.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good idea.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: I hadn't thought about doing that, just to turn them on.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: That's usually how I watch. This year, I've paid much
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: closer attention because I've needed to be able to talk
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: about them, and so I feel like I'm noticing more things.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: But they are so easy to just kind of let
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: the background noise, So.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: I always know when it's been ready to get to
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: my favorite part. They come when I'm like, here's coming.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know that you could walk away for
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: a minute and you haven't really missed anything.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: Nothing at all. The kisses the end.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: That's right. Okay, So, Wendy, why don't you read us
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: our synopsis of Christmas and Evergreen.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Christmas and Evergreen bells are ringing as Michelle's wedding approaches,
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Hannah steps up to help finish the launch of the
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: new Evergreen Museum while questioning her relationship with Elliott. That's it.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: I think they could have done a better job with
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: thissis because vague. There is so much more going on here,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: which we will talk about, but let's go in order,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: and let's start with our initial impressions of this movie overall, Lashan,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: why don't you go first?
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: I was let down. I'm going to just say it.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Maybe it's because this is this is
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: the fourth one, right, so maybe it's because these characters
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: I'm already familiar with and it was no new energy,
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: new couple, and I was just like, okay, all right,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: and then I have other problems, but yeah, that was
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: initially I was let down. Yeah, that's it.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: So I need to apologize to Wendy because when we
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: created the list of movies we were going to review
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: this year, Wendy, having no Hallmark knowledge at all, gave
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: me that job. And so I added this to the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: list because of course it's a fourth Evergreen movie. We
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: had to do it. And she said, do we need
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: to watch the previous three? And I said no, because typically, yes,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I have some of the same supporting characters, but it's
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: a new love interest. They kind of stand alone. You
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: don't know the backstory, You're fine.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: Well, right.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: That was not the case with this movie so poor.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Wendy's probably like I have nothing to say because I
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: don't know who these people are or what is happening.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I don't. I feel like I turned a movie on
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: an hour after it had already been on, Like I
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: had no idea what was happening. And even though they
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: recapped a very you know, short recap at the very beginning,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: it still didn't give me any background to this particular movie.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Well, the part of the problem with that recap is,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: like I said, every one of these movies has had
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: its own love interests. They could have stood alone. If
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you didn't know anything about the backstory, it wouldn't have mattered.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: And they brought back some characters, but they didn't bring
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: them all back, and they did start in the middle
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: of the story, and I feel like that was a
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: failure on the part of Hallmark, because yes, you have
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: your diehard fans who are going to have seen all
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: of these movies, but you need to be really ready
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: to bring in the new people. And this was not
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: a movie for someone who hasn't watched three previous movies.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: I just wanted a new love interest or something, but nothing.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: So our next question is your first impression of the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: main couple. Now, typically in these stories we have one,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: this one, there's a lot, So I mean, do we
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: focus on Hannah and Elliott.
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: I guess that was the main couple, the main you know,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: the main issues, like issues quote unquote. I guess you
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: could say I was so bored by them.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: So yeah, me too. And I really thought the focus
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: would be on Michelle's wedding.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Me too. I'm like, Okay, this is just going to
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: be a wedding episode. I was here for that. I
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: was like, oh, you go to weddings and be pretty yes. No,
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: he was set in now the whole time. I was like, really, really,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: he can't even like I thought maybe in the end
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: he would just.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: No, that's what I thought. I thought there's gonna be
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: a Christmas miracle, and there's gonna.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: Be a well zero.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: He didn't even come back to town.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I can't figure out what happened. So I was looking
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: at Rukia Bernard's Instagram this morning, and she plays Hannah
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: on the show, and she posted a photo, a cast
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: photo on rap day and the actor who plays.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: On his phone like this, it's not a picture.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: He wasn't there. His name is Thomas in the movie. Sorry,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: there's too many characters. His name is Colin Lawrence. He's
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: not in the photo, so I don't know. I'm maybe
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: he couldn't travel because of COVID restrictions. I don't know.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: I looked. I couldn't find anything that specifically said why
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: he wasn't there. He obviously was not. They filmed him
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: in the same room.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: The entire time.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: He changes clothes.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: Maybe they'll have like a zoom wedding. I don't know
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: that that would worked. Yeah, that would have worked.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Our initial thoughts are not great. Let's this is going
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: to be a short section. Leshawn. Did you love anything
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: about this movie? She sounds like me, Okay, I will.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: I do have to say. I was very It had
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: that nostalgic feeling. And when they brought back, like when
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Ezra came on screen, the former mayor, I was very
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: happy to see him back. I was happy they brought
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Alison Williams character back because she's the original Evergreen Bride.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: They left the other two. They're not there, even though
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: anything is. The Jill Wagner character owns that little shop
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: in town.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: And counts.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: This town is one street long and apparently she was
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: too busy. So, Wendy, did you love anything about this movie?
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: So actually I did, Okay, I loved I loved Sonya
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: and she played Mayor Michelle's sister because I felt funny.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: She was kind of a she was like a Christmas hater,
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: and so I kind of was like feeling her vibe
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: a little bit. I thought she was really funny. I
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: also liked they did a quick montage of Hannah and
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Elliott's like love story to kind.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Of like illustrate like what a great guy.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: He was, and I was like, that's sweet. But are
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: those like scenes from previous movies or did they just
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: make it for this one?
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: They're from previous okay.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: And then the other thing I liked were the freaky
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: twin sisters is the deal.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: They've been side characters. I don't remember noticing them a lot,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: but I know that their names are Jenny and Josie,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: but they've been like kind of in the background. But
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: they really gave them prian placement in this movie, and
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: I actually enjoyed that too. I thought they were I
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: thought they were fun. It's funny you say that about
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Sonia her. The actor's name is Marcy House and She
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: was also in a Cranberry Christmas, which was a Hallmark
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Movies and Mysteries Christmas movie this year, Well, Shan, I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: have a question for you. As a fellow Hallmark movie watcher,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: I'm watching these movies more critically this year, and what
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I'm noticing is there's so much recycling of actors and actresses.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, that's like the same actress who plays like
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: one of my favorites, The Christmas Bride, she also plays
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: in Christmas at Pimberley. I think it's called ay.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Well, I know they recycle them every year, but this
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: is the first year I've noticed so much recycling within
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: the same year. Like Holly Robinson Pete has a starring
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: role on the Movies and Mystery Channel, Lazy Shavert has
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: two movies. I've never noticed that level of recycling.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: May maybe it's a COVID thing. Maybe I think that's
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: what it was. And they were like, well, look, you're
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: going to be in all of them.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Once you're quarantined in Canada. There's to get as much
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: as they can out of you.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: I guess totally.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm noticing more of the guest stars too, but
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: again that could be simply because I'm paying closer attention
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: and I'm noticing the same faces over again. But okay,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: moving on. The next section is something we like to
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: call did you see that? And I don't have a
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: lot here because I have a lot for the next section,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: but this is where we talk about plot holes and
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: issues and things that we noticed. O Wendy, do you
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: have anything?
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Well, like I said, I had a really hard time
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: watching this episode, so I didn't I'm sorry. I had
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: a really hard time watching this movie, so I didn't
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: watch it that closely to like see the plot lines.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: The only thing that I did notice, Sorry, the dog
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: is coming in here. The only thing I did notice
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: was those Nestley cookies. Did you not see them?
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: It was? It was so weird placement. It was like
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: product placement on ten.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay, yeah, And they put the chocolate
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: chips on top of the cookies.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Who makes the chocolate chip cookie? Like that?
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: You mix them?
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: You don't mix them in, You put your chips on top.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Me too, I mixed them in. Okay, Yeah, I thought
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: that was so weird. They were like placing the chocolate chips.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Speaking of product placement, did you catch the Hallmark product
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: placement in one of the final scenes. It was subtle
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: and Leashaan, I actually think you own this item on
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the table in the final dinner scene, they had their
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: bottles of wine, their jingle and joy wine. Am I
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: wrong in that you had those wine bottles?
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: I could have sworn me put.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Somebody on Instagram. Yes, So they sell Hallmark movie brandy
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: wine jingle and enjoy.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: My god, I wonder where you would even buy that at.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: And they it made it onto the table in their
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: final dinner scene.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Weird. Now, I have seen Hallmark Christmas tea at World Market,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: but I have not seen one.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: Maybe that world market. That's where I was thinking, maybe wine,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: because you know, it seems like a world market type thing.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: I wrote very dramatic slow motion montage of Hannah and
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Elliott flashback. But I liked that wart well. I think
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: especially they needed to do it.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Oh oh god. I had issues with just the everything
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: about their plotline me too.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: So that being said, let's move into the what we
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: wished for, which really is going to be the section
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: where I complain a lot about this movie. What did
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: we wish for? In this movie?
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: M okay, I wished that. I mean, I know from
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: previous movies that Hannah, you know, she's very bubbly and everything.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: But she was annoying me. And the fact that she
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Elliott wanted to expand you know what. I'm like, Oh,
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: this is a crazy wants to be in the business.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: He wants to take it to the next level. I'm like,
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: other people have left ever Green, y'all can go and
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: come back, and how she was like, no, my life
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: is here with this museum. I'm like, baby, you just
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: gets the museum. I mean, I'm like, it wasn't really
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: your whole little set up there was really boring. It
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: was just some pictures and stuff. I said, no if
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: I was the old man too, but you know, okay,
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: it was like he was. I felt like he was
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: bored and he was like, I got to get out
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: this time. Crazy, I can't. I can only think of
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: for so long. But I felt like she was she
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: was suppressing his dreams so they could remain in Evergreen
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: and be on the next episode next year. I'm like, oh, really,
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: it's annoying.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: If Ali can come back from Paris, they can come
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: back to Vermont from Boston.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: From Boston, that's saying, I was like, you can come
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: every weekend it the mind, the shop.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I don't I I don't understand what was keeping her
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: in Evergreen. I felt like they manufactured drama because they
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: did not have a story. I the thing I wish
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: the most was that they eliminated ninety percent of the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: plot lines in this movie because there was way too
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: much going on exactly. I think the original movie was
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: supposed to be about the Michelle and Thomas wedding. That
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: had to be what it was. It seems weird to
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: me that Michelle has always been much more of a
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: main character than Hannah has been. She was a supporting character,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: and if they were going to elevate one of the
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: main cast, it should have been Michelle Holly Robinson Pete's
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: character in my opinion. And I feel like when they
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: realized that couldn't happen for whatever reason, they just said,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: give me every idea you have and we'll put it
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: in the movie.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: It was just so contry. It just did not feel
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: natural at all, and it was just like painful to
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: watch What Why? And I hate that he changed his
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: plans and then come up. I just wouldn't be with you.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: I love you, and I'm like, really, you could have
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: left her. Maybe it could have resolved it in the
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: next movie.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: I do feel like that was a bit of a
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: versial for Hallmark, because usually it's the woman who feels
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: like her life is too small and wants to branch out,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: and they kind of gave.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: That that she wants to stay in this small town.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: And even I was trying to remember the last of
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: the movie where they got together, and I was like,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, it was kind of cute, but you know,
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: there was just a couple in the movie that you
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: it was a sick that they were a sick couples, yes,
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: and so you didn't really pay much attention to it,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: and you're like, oh, they're cute. Oh they got the
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: two black people together all your Kids movie. I'm like,
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: why are they main characters?
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they were third level characters.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: I think that was the main problem, that they were
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: third level characters that they tried to elevate and we
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: didn't have enough invested in them. Yeah, there they are born.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: I did think they were boring. Okay, what else did
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: we wish hold on? I got, Oh, I know what
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: I wish that Michelle and Thomas would have gotten married.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: What is happening When they got to the end and
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: they're having dinner and I'm looking around like excuse me.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: I was waiting him to come through the door and
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: be like surprise. I think they would have played music
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: and she would have been crying and they would have
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: had a wedding. No, no, I mean.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: But this is what I don't understand. The sister says,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: get dressed up, we're going to dinner. So she like
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: just happens to have the ball gown that she puts
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: on right like, I'm going out my fancy ball gowns.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: So she comes downstairs and Sonya's in a sweater and
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay, maybe she has her zoom call
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: with Thomas and they say their vows to each other.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Why didn't we take it a step further? They get
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: dressed up, they say their vows, they don't get married.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, why can't they just have somebody marry them? Like
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: what has that have been?
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: I'm like, it's homeark, you can do these things.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Come on, surely Nick is an ordained minister. You're telling
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: me that your Santa character Nick is not ordained? Before?
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: It's Nick? Who is this movie annoyed because I was like, Oh,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: they're getting her dressed up because he's going to appear,
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: and then he did not appear except on video.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, why wasn't he wearing a suit? Why was it?
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Why they just dropped the ball. I could have gotten
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: on board with a zoom wedding, but not this. Let's
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: say our vows I miss you, and then he's gone
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: and that's his last appearance in the movie.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: And like the regular clothes, I feel like they filmed
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: it in his living room against the white wall.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they were like, hey, get yourself some natural lighting
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and an iPhone and send us the footage. We'll cut
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you in.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: Phone.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: I I did not think we needed the storyline of
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: cranky Jeb Cooper coming to distrust the Christmas Museum. You're
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: telling me that in thirty years now you care what
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: happened to the museum.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: No, you don't the hash Yeah, I was just starting
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: to care.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: So I was wondering because I have lots of questions
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: about a Christmas museum. First of all, who's going to
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: a Christmas museum to see what exactly?
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Because you as their business Christmas? Okay, I guess it
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: made sense.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: But it's not all year long, right, It's just they opened.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: It on Christmas Eve. That's another failing in this movie.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Doesn't have a Christmas museum. It needs to be open
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the entire month of December.
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: And then it's closed the rest of the year.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: I don't understand it. It's like, has a sustainable business.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: How's that going to make?
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know. See another reason why Hannah could have
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: gone to Boston because the museum is.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: All they come home and run it for a day.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: Understanding, Because that's why I was so upset, because I'm like,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: a Christmas museum. You're saying for the Christmas museum. Christmas
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: it's all I mean, come on now. Yeah.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: And she had no like oh, she kind of works
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: at the inn. She kind of helps at the tinker shop,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: like you have nothing holding your here.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: She was just like a little she had like little
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: jobs everywhere.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Okay. That brings me to another question, because they talked
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: about the nephew all the time. Hannah's nephew, the boy
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: that like worked in the Kringle shop and whatever.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: That's Thomas's son, Thomas's son.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Thomas is the guy that was on the video camera.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah what yes, Okay.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: I'm so, who's his mom someone who's.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Not in I don't know if we know what happened.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: She's never been in the movies. He's always been a
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: single dad. And then he came to Evergreen and he
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: met Michelle okay the first or second movie, well, who was.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Taking care of Thomas's son while Thomas is stuck in.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, Michelle is living with Hannah, who's his aunt.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Which why wouldn't he live with Michelle who was going
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: to be his new stepmom.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: Because he was always living with Hannah. Yeah, right.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: I was so confused.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: And then Michelle didn't even like, she didn't even.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Like react to this boy like this was going to
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: be her future steps and she just would like look
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: at him like he was making hot chocolates or cider
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: or whatever, and she was like all right, like there
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: was no investment there. And I just was like, what
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: is this kid? Who is he?
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I liked? So his name is David in the movies,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: and he started as this like really awkward little child
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: and he's kind of grown into himself and so I
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: really enjoyed seeing him in this movie. And that's something
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: you'd really only appreciate if you'd watched him from the
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: very beginning when he was a very nervous little actor.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: Well maybe he'll be the star of Evergreen Park five.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: And I don't understand so many of these Christmas towns
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: do their Christmas festivals like two nights before Christmas are like,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: we're lighting the tree on December twenty third, Like, what
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the hell is wrong with you? You light the tree
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: November to It's up the entirecy.
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: We have to get it ready for Christmas Eve. It's
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: always it has to be done by Christmas Eve. And
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: all of them the house. What was it that one
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: of the movies a house tour? It was on Christmas Eve?
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, the Christmas house. They have their Christmas people
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: are busy on Christmas Eve. They're not outdoing neighborhood activities
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: on Christmas.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: Daves, we're cooking, yes, yeah, exactly.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: We're telling the kids to go to sleep. So one
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: thing we always do is we've noticed this year that
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: many of these movies have a niece character who helps
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: drive the connection. We don't have a niece, but of
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: course we just discussed we do have a nephew, and
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: he's a main character really in this movie. We've had
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: never had a niece nephew character be quite so elevated
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: in these movies. So I actually did like that for David.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I think he had earned.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: That that yeah movie.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: So I have another question, please, what was the point
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: of Ashley Williams returning to this to this no clue so.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: They could put her on the poster? Did you notice
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: see the movie image has Hannah and Holly Robinson p
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: and Ashley Williams on it because even the creators of
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: this movie didn't know what it was about. Every other
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: movie has the two main characters. This one, They're like,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: we don't really know who the movie was, so we're
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: gonna put them on the poster.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: I thought that was so dumb. And then she has
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: that like a big moment at the end where she
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: says she's pregnant, and I was like, Oh, is this
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: for next year?
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: No, but she lives in Paris. It doesn't make any sense.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: She's the original Green Bride. She probably honestly, she probably
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: probably like filmed back to back with her terrible movie
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: that was out this year. We hate Ashley Williams movie
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: this year. Never Kiss a Man on Christmas butter It
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: was so bad.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: It was so bad.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: I hated it.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: I struggled. I was like, oh God, am I going
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: to finish it?
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Would I would have walked away if I didn't have
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: to talk about it here, Wendy, do you have anything
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: else that you wished for in this movie?
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: No?
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: The only thing is is if Evergreen's this magical Christmas town,
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Like why can't we see any of it? That shots
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: are so tight, like you barely see anything. And I
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: know that they're filming this in like September or October
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: or whatever in another country, but.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Give me, like, is there a budget?
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Is there no budget for like these movies at all
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: in terms of like set decoration, Like Okay, for example,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: right now, I'm rewatching Fieldmore Girls, and in the winter months,
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: it looks like winter, and they film that in southern
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: California so they can make it look like Christmas. But Evergreen, man,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: you can't barely see, like what's going on this movie?
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: Because there are other movies where you know, you at
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: least get a glimpse of a town, then you might
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: get a neighborhood and you get somebody's house. It's like
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: this one did not have that much variety, even less
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: than say previous movies in previous years it was just sad.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Also, I agree, I mean, it was just it does
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: not make me want to travel to Evergreen to see
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: I mean, I know there's it's fictional, but I'm just
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: saying I don't want to go there, like I don't care.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: And in previous years I have wanted to go there.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: You know, they've shown there's always that truck factors heavily
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: into every movie. Not heavily, but it is in every movie,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: and that truck always breaks down and it always drives
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: some part of the plot. And this time they drove
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: like two inches out of town around a corner. In
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: the past, they're like out in the middle on the
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: open road where it dies down, like you can believe
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: they're out in the middle of nowhere. And this was like,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: let's put a hedge behind you. It's part three.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: And then he walked back real quick.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, well, I think that brings us this is
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: going to be painful. So we rate these movies out
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: of four stars. I'm going to be shocked by my
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: own writing. All right, Wendy, you go first as the newbie.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Oh it was a one star if that sorry, it
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: was the worst of the worst sorry, it was The
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: Bunch without.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: I'll give you a two so because it had black
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: characters and you know that's rare for homework.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, So one thing we've talked about a lot is
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: I do think they've very slightly tried to diversify their cast,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: but they're not doing a great job of diversifying their
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: main characters exactly.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: All their side characters are getting diversified, but the main one. No,
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: Lifetime is overtaking them with that, I will.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Say interesting, well, and Lifetime so Hallmark has even had
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: gay couples, but not as their main characters characters, but
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Lifetime did. I haven't seen that movie yet that they
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: do have a movie with a main couple that is gay.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: So I need to find that one. Hallmark. You need
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: to get with the program because I was pleased that
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: we did have actors of color as our main characters.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: But that really is this gets a tube.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: But it was one of the worst movies.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: That's Have you seen the Holly Robinson Pete's other movie
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: this season? Have you watched it yet? I don't know.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: I haven't recorded.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Holly Robinson Pete is a great actress. She shouldn't be
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: given this like terrible material.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: But you know, that's the same thing we talked about
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: when we watched Alison Williams movie. She's one of the
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: better Hallmark actresses and her movie was still terrible. I mean,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: you can only can't shine a TRD that much.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: A lot of the movies this season, I'm like.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: I think, I think they really suffered with whatever restrictions
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: they were replaced under this year in terms of time
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: and travel and availability.
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: This gets even the storyline.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, this gets a two for me, and it'd
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: only get to two because it felt familiar and like
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: going home and there were parts of that that I liked.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Weve Sean tell the people where they can find you.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: You can find me at lashawan will It's on Instagram
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: and Twitter. I'm on Twitter and Instagram the most. Twitter
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: is my other happy place other than Instagram, kind of
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: snarky over there that you know. And Facebook every day.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: I candy blog and on my blog every day, I
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: Candy Well all the time.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: And we will leave links to all of those places
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: in our show notes. You have to go check out
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Latron's and Stag because she's posting her Christmas Day core
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: and you have the greatest collections of mat crackers.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: I love it, Lashan. I'm obsessed with your stories. Every
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: single day, I'm like, is it a cureic day or
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: is it a poor over day? What is she eating
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: for breakfast? Did she ride the peloton? What kind of
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: music did you listen to? Is she is she up
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: at four thirty today? Like every single day?
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: What's she reading today?
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: So impressed? Like how you tear through these books, because like,
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: I'm such a slow reader, and every two days you
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: have a new book, and I'm like, holy crap.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: I read like five books at one Remember that I
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: will be reading President Obama's book for a long time
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: because it's very, very detailed.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, we are kindred book spirits. So that's another
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: thing you should follow the Shawan for because she reads
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: a lot, and personally we share similar tastes in books.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: So if you like it, often I like it. So
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: that makes me really happy anytime I'm like, what's she reading?
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: And then I've just added to my list because.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I'm always looking. I'm always looking.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: My personal book concierge. So we appreciate you taking the
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: time to record this with us. I'm so sorry the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: movie was such a stinker, Thank.
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: You for having me. I love talking about homework to
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: anybody who will listen.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: It was so fun having you join us. All right, everybody,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us for this episode
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: of Long Story Short With the podcast, you can join
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: us every Tuesday for our regular episodes and Thursday for
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: our bonus Christmas episodes. Next week we'll be talking about
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: a cross country Christmas so you can join us right here.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: You can watch it this weekend and listen along and
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: share your thoughts. We would love it if you share
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: your thoughts ahead of the podcast and send us an
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: email so we can share them on the show. As always,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: leave us ratings and reviews. It makes us so happy
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: and it does help people find us in iTunes. Have
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: a great week, everybody. We'll see soon. Bye bye bye
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: M