Latest / Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews / Open By Christmas

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Open By Christmas · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hi, friends, Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a bonus episode
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: of Long Story Short the podcast. I'm Megan, I'm Wendy,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and today we're discussing Open By Christmas from Hallmarks Countdown
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to Christmas Series. And if you just can't get enough
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: of these Hallmark review episodes, guess what, there's more. You
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: can join our Patreon community by visiting Patreon dot com
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: slash Meghan and Wendy and you can get bonus Hallmark
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: episodes that you won't find here in the main Hallmark feed.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: We've reviewed movies like Christmas Sale, You Me and the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Christmas Trees, and this week My Christmas Family Tree will
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: go up on Patreon as well, so head on over
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: and join that community for access to those episodes. You
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: can also find us in real time on Instagram where
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: we are Megan and Wendy LSS. And you can find
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: more holiday content from us on our website, which is
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Megan and Wendy dot com.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: You can always email the show too, let us know
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: if you liked this week's Hallmark episode or a movie.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Megan and Wendy at gmail dot com. I need to
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: talk to more people about these movies because I'm finding
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: that I.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Truly like them. Wendy's having a true Hallmark renaissance right now.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: It is you know why. Okay, I'm not watching to
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: like hate watch anymore or like to pick apart a movie,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: even though like we we do.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: A little bit.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: But I'm simply watching them to just enjoy them. It's
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: really nice.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Wendy's watching movies that we have no plan to ever
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: talk about. Although this weekend we had a friends giving
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: and we were talking about one of the Hallmark movies
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and our friend was like, man, you go really deep.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And I was like, we have an entire podcast, how
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: about Hallmark movies? I need to have a thought be on. Yeah?
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Who was good?
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Yes? Seriously, you should see my friendly TV app right now.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: The number of recordings I have. Let me just break
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: it down for your second mingle. All the Way a
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: shoot att Ex Christmas, The Christmas House, Christmas, Walt Holiday
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: and Harlem Christmas Promise one December night, My Christmas Family
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Tree like a cookie cutter Christmas.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Who am?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I I don't know, but I love it.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: I love it. You understand the appeal of the Hallmark
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: movie is the perfect soothing background movie.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: It's taken me a year but I do like it well.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: And this is the year because I do think Hallmark
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: movies have improved in quality this year. And today we're
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: discussing as mentioned open by Christmas and do you have
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: a synopsis?
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I do. When Nikki finds an unopened Christmas card from
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: a high school seek Admier, she and her best friend
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Simone search to find out and thank the anonymous author.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Starring Alison Sweeney, Eric Erica Durrance is how I'm gonna
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: sa he name, Brennan Elliott, and Michael Carl Richards.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Let's hop into some news and notes about this movie.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: There was not a ton no.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I agree. Allie Sweeney, who is best known to me
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: as Sammy from Days of Our Lives and she's been
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: on that show for twenty plus years because she was
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: on when I watched in high school. She is on now.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: She has taken breaks from the show, but they keep
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: bringing her back in and as Sammy Brady, she plays
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the mother to Will Horton, who started last week's movie. Yeah,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: that's bizarre.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: How old is she in real life? Do you know?
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a guest and say she's forty four?
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Allie Sweeney is forty five years old.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: This movie was filmed in Vancouver and Vancouver Island in September.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: But I need to just stop here for a second. Okay,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: while watching this movie, several times they showed a house
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: and I can't remember whose house it was at this point.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: It might have been the house that he purchases for
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: his fiance. Right, Okay, I swear it's Lorei Gilmour's house
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: on the WB lot. It looks just like it. And
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: what I'm gonna do today, after we're done recording this
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: is go back on my TV and put it on
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: and take a screenshot of it because it looks like
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: the same house. But all the research I done did done.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: All the research I did was that it was filmed
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: in Vancouver, not in Los Angeles. Yeah.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know that Warner Brothers would be giving Hallmark
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: access to their lot. But don't they?
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Oh wait, I was thinking that daytime TV show. I
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: don't know if it still exists anymore with Debbie Motnopolis
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: or whatever however you say her name, and I think Cameron, Oh.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Home and Family, I think they all got fired.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Oh they did. I think it doesn't exist anymore.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Hallmark Channels, Home and Family concludes after nine season. Co
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: host Cameron Matheson looks forward to future on General Hospital.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: When did that happen? This article is dated August fourth,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, twenty twenty one.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Now did they film that show on the Universal Lot
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: or the w Lot?
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Homean Family set? The studio tour? Universal Studio?
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Okay? I knew it was one of the two. I
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: remember being on a studio tour and they were saying, like, oh,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: what's filming here today? But I couldn't remember if it
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: was Universal or WB. Anyway, I swear to the Gilmore
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Girls House, I will show it to you. It's probably not. Okay,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: it's obviously not if it was filmed in Vancouver.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: That I did not bump on that this movie did
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: have a different original title, And now I don't know
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: what it was.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: Christmas Be Mine, thank you.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a dumb title.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: It is a terrible title. I was uh looking and
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I found an Instagram post. It was like a selfie
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: of Brittan Elliott and he's far more handsome like in
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: his real life than this like buttoned up realtor guy.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: And I was like, where do I know him from?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: He had to have been in another movie we watched,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: and so I did a little research. He was in
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Christmas in Vienna in twenty twenty. I did not watch
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: that movie. I know I didn't watch that movie. I
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: think I recognized him. He was gram the host of
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: the dating show on that show. Unreal, Oh the host.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's such a different role, kind of a steadier role.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: I'm looking at his instagram and the non Hallmark headshot
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: photos are a much better.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: A little wowie Zowie was a little.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Wowie zowie, like we've got some scruff happening. I like it.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: I want to see him in a role like that.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: And I don't like you to know that Brendan Elliott
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: put his Christmas tree up on November three, so.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: He's want to get over here. One of me, Alice
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: Alice Sweeney was an EP on this movie.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Well, hey, she is definitely a Hallmark movie sweetheart. She's
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: in a number of them, and I typically enjoy her.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: I want to hop to first impressions of this movie,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and my first impression was this was just the perfect
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: sweet made me happy to watch, filled me with warm thoughts,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: really enjoyed it. Hallmark movie.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna agree. I'm gonna also add no, no, no,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: but this is the movie that has turned me hands down.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Would watch it again? I really really enjoyed it.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Oh wow, that makes me so happy, I know, and
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: that's gonna happen with you. I want to say that
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: we are reviewing, as mentioned my Christmas Family tree for Patreon.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: You may recall that Wendy strongly disliked A New Year's Resolution,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: also starring Amy T. Garden and I'm so nervous. I
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: am so nervous. You're gonna have to tune into that episode.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: I do not say anything, okay, but I'm so nervous. Okay,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: let's hop back into this movie, right. What did we like?
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: For me? I loved the acting all around, with the
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: exception there's one small exception, and I'll get to that
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: in a second. But I loved Alison Sweeney. She straight
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: up made me cry twice watching this.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: WHOA.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: I loved Simone the best Friend. I thought she was
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: very natural. I didn't hate the kid he was played by.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Oh, I was worried that's who you were going to
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: say you had took exception with No.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: He was played by an actor named Glenn Gordon. He
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: was also in Sweet Carolina with Tyler Hines. I don't
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: remember him in that movie, but I did like that movie.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: And I loved the mother in law Miriam.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: I loved the mother in law Miriam too, and I
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: loved the storyline her arc that she really kind of
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: came to be Simone's supporter totally. I mean, she did
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: a great job coming in as that like snide mother
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: in law that makes us all uncomfortable that we don't
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: want to visit. And oh, I just loved.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Her and I liked her a lot too. Yeah, what
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: did you like?
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: So? I kind of liked the opening credits of this movie.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, thank you for saying that. I don't
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: have it on my list. I really like the opening
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: of this movie too, so cute.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Typically we get, you know, like a title card just
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: over some b footed b roll footage of the setting
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: of this movie. Typically it's like a big city with
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: snow falling or a small town with snow falling. And
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: instead of that, we got kind of a throwback to
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: a nineteen eighties movie style intro where they take a
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: full forty five seconds and introduce the movie and it's
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: photos of the characters. And if I remembering correctly, it's
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: kind of like in a photo album setting.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I thought that was really sweet and well done, and
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: it just felt like a little bit of extra work
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: was added to this movie. Although my cynical Hallmark and
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: movie reviewer brain did go huh, I wonder if they
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: didn't have enough content to make this the full one
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: hundred and forty four meetings. Oh that said, I enjoyed it.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: I thought it was I thought it was sweet, and
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: it gave the real movie vibes to it.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, it did like a feature film, Yes it did,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Yes it did. I really liked the depth of the story.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: We got like the you know, mystery admirer. Fine, but
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: we also have Nicki's high school experiences and how that
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: played out for her and has like made her into
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: the adult she is today. We have her best friend,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: like lifelong best friend, and Nikki supporting her through I
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: think a divorce prior to this engagement. I don't know.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: They didn't really establish as she had been divorced or not,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: but you know, a single mom or whatever, single parenting.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: They had the mother son's storyline that I really liked
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: and the parents downsizing storyline. So you know, sometimes these
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: movies have like too many storylines that distract from like
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: a not so great main storyline. But I thought it
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: all worked together.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I agree with that sentiment one hundred percent. They did
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: a great job making them work together, wrapping them all up,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: bringing them to a satisfactory completion. I liked the issues
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: that Simone and Jeremy face blending their family. I yeah,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: I think they did a great job painting a very
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: full picture in this movie, Ugh Gury.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: One of my favorite scenes, and I'm going to go
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: off on a little bit of a rant here, Okay,
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: one of my favorite scenes in the movie is when
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: they're at a former classmate's house. It's like a Christmas party, right,
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: and she approaches like a former classmate because she thinks
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: maybe he's the one who wrote the letter or the card,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: and then it turns out he is gay. Right. I
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: just thought it was very funny. I thought it was
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: super funny the way she reacted to it and then
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: went back and told her friend, and it was like,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: really funny. I thought that actual whole scene was really funny.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: Like when Elliott's hit there joins him. Yes, his husband
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: comes up in natoryingum, but Brittan Elliott is also there
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: and they're like talking shit on the like appetizers and
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: they want to get out of there and go get
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: something to eat. And am I mixing up a movie
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: that's the same movie? Right?
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: No, I think it is. But also in that scene,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: and I know what you're going to talk about, but
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: I also want to point out that that scene where
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: she approaches I think his name's Trayton played by an
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: actual named Miguel Castillo. Even once she kind of tells
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: them what she's doing, like why she was asking him,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: he's so sweet about it, Like he's so kind and warm,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Like I could see why someone would have written that
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: there's no embarrassment for her asking the question, because I
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: could see how her coming from this place of like,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: well what if she said in the beginning, what if
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: this person doesn't remember me? And so that was so
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: comforting to me when he says, like, I could absolutely
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: see why someone wrote you that letter anyway, Chris.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, I loved it. The whole thing was a great scene.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Now we look at IMDb a lot, right, the homophobes
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: are out on IMDb today and it just makes my
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: head explode. This guy writes, like to sit down and
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: write that the edited version of this movie is better.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: And he says, before editing this movie, it was not
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: family friendly. I removed three minutes of a gay scene
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: and it's now family friendly. I'm like, I want, what,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: what what?
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I don't understand what about that scene is not family friendly?
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: And I'd like to point out that these movies have
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: a G rating. I noticed, oh, because they're like on
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: a TVG, not like a movie theater G, which is
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: I think probably very similar. I noticed because it popped
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: up when I was watching another movie. It said rated TVG,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: and so I went back and looked, and this one
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: has the same rating. And I'm pretty sure all Hallmark
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: movies actually are designed to achieve that rating, so they
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: are specifically family friendly. So if there's something about this
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: movie that you find offensive, I think you should go
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: pounds end.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Seriously, I just don't get it. Another one gives it
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: a one star. It says turned it off halfway through.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I will stick to the old Hallmark movies. The quote
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: woke and the new Hallmark Movies takes away that quote
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: feel good. Since Hallmark has been known.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: For what kind of sad person do you have to
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: be to be so taken out of the moment by
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: a ninety second scene in a movie also was lovely.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: I agree, I absolutely agree. There was another one on here,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: and I'm just not going to get into it because
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: it makes me feel so ragy inside, like I hate
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: these people and I want to get on IMDb and
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: like respond back to them, but I just it's it's
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: not good for my mental well being.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Well, I also don't think there's I don't think I
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: hear that and I have that conversation has been happening
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: on Twitter also, especially since Paul Campbell, he was in
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the Santa steagout. He made a statement saying that he
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: would be keeping a close eye on the GAP network
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: and if they weren't going to be making content that
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: was inclusive, that he would not be working with them,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: And there were many people that supported that, and then
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: there are many people who have since made comments like
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: you're just perpetuating the same stereotypes and saying, like, you
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: know you're doing the same thing they are. If you're
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: saying you won't work with them, isn't that also not
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: being inclusive? People are ridiculous. And then they're saying, well,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I'm turning away from Hallmark, because they're going in the
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: wrong direction. And he's like, what direction is that? Like
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: he every time he's like, pushes back. Uh, the quality
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: of their movies has drastically gone down. He's like, why
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: don't you explain that to me? He's pushing back, But
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the same thing is happening. And what I think the
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: issue is we will continue to call it out, but
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: I think engaging with these individuals nothing's going to change that. Like,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the hate is deeply ingrained, and I, you know, don't
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: think shouting back, as much as I want to shout
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: back at each and every one of them, I think,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: you know, the best thing to do is to continue
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: to call it out and to continue to support content
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: that you know promotes diversity and inclusivity. And again, Hallmark,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that they are perfect. I do think
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: they are taking steps in the right direction.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: I agree. I'm like, oh, thank you for being a
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: little bit progressive.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you, right, what did you wish for in this movie?
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: Okay? I needed a couple of things to make this
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: a perfect movie for me. I needed a little bit
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: more explanation about when the note was written, yes, because
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: she doesn't remember, and what is his name. His name
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: is Brennan Elliott, but I can't remember his character Derek Derek.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: She doesn't remember Derek as being like a fellow classmate
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: or student, right, and he tells her, Oh, yeah, I
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: graduated a year before you. But when was the note written?
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Was it written when he was a senior and she
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: was a junior or a freshman and a sophomore? Like,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: I need a better understanding. I don't think it was
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: clear at what age she received the note, do you know?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: I mean she obviously didn't she received it as an adult,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: but when it was placed in her calculus book, how
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: old was she then?
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Right? I agree?
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: So it wasn't like a full closed loop for me there,
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: like I just because it was obvious it was going
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: to be Derek, right then, I thought, well, maybe not,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: because I'm confused of when they were at school together
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: and why doesn't she remember him and whatever.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I think that they kept that intentionally vague to build
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: up the mystery of who the note was from. But
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: that vagueness was the only thing that took me out
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: of this movie, because we didn't know that he even
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: went to school with her until the very end. And
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: is that believable, knowing that he was basically Jeremy's best friend.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Jeremy wrote the note. She was friends with Jeremy in
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: high school. Would she really not have, even on some level,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: whether she was close to this person or not, been like, oh,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: I remember you. You're Jeremy's friend from high school, right,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: exactly so? And I, you know, look, knowing he's the
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: main male actor in this movie, had we known they
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: had gone to high school together, we would have known
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: immediately that it was him. So there had to be
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: some other way to play up that mystery.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: I get it, I understand. It just is better.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: With you. I'm with you. What else did you wish for?
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: That's it?
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really it for me too. That was the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: only I've got lots of did you see that's though?
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Oh I only have two, so I'm excited to hear
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: what you have.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: So when she's early in her search for the note writer,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: she goes to visit someone she went to high school
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: with named Reggie, and Reggie is an artist and he
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: has an art show or a Christmas festival. I'm not
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: entirely sure what's happening there. And I said that Reggie's
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: paintings have a Pino's Palette paint night vibe for them.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: They did.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: I totally did tell our listeners what Pino's Palette is.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Uh, Pino's Palette. Well, it's a national chain, I believe,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: but yeah, so Pino's Palette. If you've ever seen advertisements
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: for like wine and paint nights where you go and
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: everybody paints the same picture, Look, we are paint night
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: snobs because we have paint with a local artist, Timmery,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: who I think is kind of the best in the
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: business at this paint night situation, and Pino's Palette is
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: always they just have a real look to them that
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: I felt was emulated in Reggie's work with luminism.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally, that's really funny. Did you notice Simone the
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: best Friend? Every scene girl is wearing plats. Every single
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: scene has plat on. I was like, okay, we get it.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: It's Christmas time, like where something else? Oh my god?
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Is so okay? Is it supposed to be like it's
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Christmas we're wearing plaid or is it supposed to be
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: like I'm a casual lady, like I'm cool and easy going,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Like is that what the plaid vibe was supposed to
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: give us. I don't know. I don't know either.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, I look like a lumberjack
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: when I have a you know, a plaid shirt on.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: But it's during the holidays, so maybe I'm a holiday lumberjack.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: But it was like every scene she had another a
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: plaid shirt on, right, that's really funny.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: At one point, they're in a bookstore or a Christmas market.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: There's in some store that has a coffee counter. Nicki
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and Derek and they walk over and Nicki orders two two.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: She orders two coffees. I don't remember the scene.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: She just orders two. She's like, you want a coffee
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: and she just walks up and says, who Like, well,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: but guys, there's no coffee place in the land that
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: only makes one type of coffee regular, decaf, latte, gingerbread,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no no,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: not even like room for cream people. She just orders too.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: It's not a coffee cart in the middle of the
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: street where they're dispensing from a thermos, So what kind
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: of coffy do you want? I mean, they didn't even
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: have to make it a big deal, just like two
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: holiday coffees two eggnog lattes.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: I don't remember that scene at all, but I watched
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: so many movies this weekend, so I'm everything is all
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: mixed up in my head. Same Okay, about the top,
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: I said that I liked acting all around, with the
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: exception of one person, and that one person is Jeremy.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: He's so cute though, you the other one that I
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: feel like wasn't done any favors by this.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Movie, right, right, So he comes in, it's like one
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: of the opening scenes, like he walks in, he's like,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: he says something like who's the most beautiful woman in
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: the world, and like gives Simon a kiss, And I
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: was like, whoa dude, way over the top, way too much.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: And I was like, no husband ever does that. And
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: then I was like, oh, they're engaged, okay, so maybe
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: like a fiance might do that, but like it was
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: just too much for me, Like I needed him to
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: dial it back a little bit. Mm hmm. But I
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: liked I mean, I liked him, and I liked that
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: they got along. He got along with like her son
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: and they had a bond and you know whatever.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I know, I was like, don't harsh the
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Santa photo vibe. Dude, like the mom wants him to
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: go see Sanna Beyona.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: That yeah, exactly exactly.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: There's a scene towards the end. I believe it's the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: scene where Simone is being surprised with the new house
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and they're standing outside the house and on every step
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: of the house there's two lanterns with candles inside of them.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: The candles are not lit. Oh I did forgot to
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: light the candle. Was like eight lanterns, giant lanterns and
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: there's no lit candles home.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Oh no, that was funny. That was a weird scene
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: because like she's like, what are We're just gonna walk
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: into their house? Like we wouldn't just walk into a
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: stranger's home, right, Like she had to know, like what
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: was that? But I did truly like her like reaction,
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: like what is happening? And like I thought that was
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: very like sweet and endearing.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: But you're not just gonna walk.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Into some strangers home and be like, let's go check
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: out their decorations or well.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: And I have a question about that because she just this,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I love this house. I've loved this house for years.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Has she ever been inside this house? Because you and
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: I both know people who've looked at many house listings
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: that a house from the outside is not always indicative
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: of the house on the inside.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Right, wouldn't even great if it was like a hoarder
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: house or something like that cat house.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: They're like, oh, straight up, nineteen seventy is the entire thing, Yeah,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: you got it. It was clearly brand new. I mean,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: this was like a model home on the inside, all
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: modern finishes. It looked like new construction.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: But I just can't remember if that was the Gilmore
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Girls house.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I got house did not look like the Gilmore Girls
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: House from the outside. No, it had a similar porch
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: and like walkway up to it, like it had stairs
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: up the center. But it was not the Gilmore Girl House.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: Okay, maybe it wasn't. Maybe there's another one in the movie.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: I can't remember. I will I'm gonna watch after yep,
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: after we're done here.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Did Miriam the mother in law by Tasha her daughter
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: in law who isn't in this movie. She's just mentioned
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: by name Ovan Mitz for Christmas.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I paid that much attention Oven Mits. Oh,
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: when they're my husband gave me even mits like a
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: couple of years ago, but I asked for them because
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: the place I had were all shitty. But when they're
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: at the craft fair, right, and she's like, oh, these
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: aren't great, these are quality.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: You don't need anything like this because you don't cook, right.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, that's right, that's right.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: The final scene, when Nikki learns that Derek is the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: writer of the card, she says, I'm so glad that
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: it was you. And one of my favorite movies of
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: all time is You've Got Mail, and there's a scene
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: at the end where Meg Ryan finally realizes that Tom
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Hanks is her Internet pen pal and she says, I
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: wanted it to be you. And that was very reminiscent
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: of that scene for me, and I love that And
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: maybe it got a little bit tiery in that moment.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Oh that's when I cried in that moment. Yeah, yeah,
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: I was like because she brought it, like, she got
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: tiery too. That's a soap actress. Man knows how to
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: turn that on, turn.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Those tears on.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Uh that. Yeah, I really liked that. It just was sweet,
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: like he gave her the card and he's like, I
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: it's just signed by him. I signed this one.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Oh oh, yeah.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: I loved it. Yeah, but I did have to rewind
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: it a couple times there because he explains like how
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: he wasn't on the basketball team, but he was on
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: the debate team and they're the ones that beat the
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: high school whatever. Anyway, I need him to explain when
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: he gave her the.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Card, right, well, it's a Christmas card, but yeah, we
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: don't know what year it was. It would have had
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: have been before she graduated, because he's a year older
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: than she, younger than she is, he's older than she
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: is older, yeah, yes.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. And did he pine away for
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: her all those years because they never talked about him
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: being married? Right?
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Well, and when he when she walks into him in
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: her parents' house. First of all, if he was in
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: love with her, then did he not know who her
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: parents were? Seems like he might have. And when she
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: walked in, why didn't he have a moment of oh.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: It's you wait a minute, wait a damn it. He
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: was in the house, right, replacing the family family photo. Yes,
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: and then it looks and it was her that was
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: her as a teenager, right, yes.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: And then he's like, oh, we're staging it, and he
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: looks at her, looks at the photo, looks at her.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: Hello, he would have known by the last name that
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: her parents were her parents.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Yes, in the town that he grew up in. Yes, yeah,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: oh my god. Yeah.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: See how it wasn't quite perfect, but it was pretty
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: no stang close.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Well, speaking of not quite what did you rate this movie?
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Three point seven five stars?
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: WHOA? I gave it three point five three point five
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: still the highest I've rated any movie so far this season.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: I honestly, I am so excited. There's something that happens
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: in my Christmas family tree. There's a couple of things
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: that I cannot wait to talk to you about. I
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: cannot wait. I cannot wait. Patreon guys, Patreon dot com
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: slash Megan and Wendy for these hot takes, because I
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: have a feeling it's gonna get spicy. This weekend on Hallmark,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: we have Nantucket. No weell. I'm excited about this because
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Nantucket is the one place in the United States that
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I have wished that I lived. Starring Sarah Power and
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Trevor Donovan. We have a Christmas Together with you Stalling
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: NEI All starring NEI All Matter who we know from
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: as luck would have it Laura Vandervoort and Henry Lennox
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: and we have A Kiss Before Christmas starring Terry Hatcher
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: and James Denton, and they were promoting the crap out
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: of this during movies this weekend.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: I think I'm looking forward to that one the most.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Actually it's a split between and Nantucket Nowell and A
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: Kiss before Christmas. But I am here for all three
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: of those. And then Miracles of Christmas. Miracles of Christmas
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: has been really doing a good job this weekend.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: Miracles before Christmas.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Miracles of Christs is the movies that are on Hallmarks
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Movies and Mysteries Channel. Oh okay, that's their theme or whatever. Okay, Yeah,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: And next weekend's movie is Five More Minutes, which stars
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Nicky DeLoach and it's like where she wants five more
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: minutes with her grandfather and I think it's a crier.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: I think I don't think it's.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: Called five more minutes?
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Is it called five more Minutes?
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: It is? Indeed, I thought it was based off of
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: the song called five more Minutes. It is called five
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: more Minutes. Okay, yeah, I'll probably watch that one too.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: I like Nicki Diloach quite a bit, actually, and so
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: make sure to visit Megan and Wendy LSS on Instagram
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: so you can vote on the movie you'd like to
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: see us watch, even though we've already told you the
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: movies we would like to review and let us know.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: You can also follow along with us in real time
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: over there. Thank you so much for listening to this
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: episode of the podcast. If you enjoy long story short
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: the podcast and These Girls Gone Hallmark episodes, take thirty
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: seconds and leave us a rating or a review. It
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: is completely free to do and it helps other people
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: find our podcast and enjoy our content. So thank you
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: for being here. We appreciate you. Have a great weekend,
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: happy watching, Goodbye bye,