Latest / Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews / Absolutely Devoted to You

Transcript

Absolutely Devoted to You · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

0:10
Speaker 1: Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Homemark review podcast. I'm
0:13
Speaker 1: Megan and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan. I'm when do
0:15
Speaker 1: you have a former Hallmark hater? On today's episode, we
0:18
Speaker 1: are discussing Absolutely Devoted to You, the second movie in
0:22
Speaker 1: Hallmark's twenty fifth Birthday celebration lineup of three movies. This
0:27
Speaker 1: movie originally aired on August eighth, twenty twenty six, on
0:30
Speaker 1: the Hallmark Channel and is now streaming on Hallmark Plus. Hey,
0:34
Speaker 1: drop us an email, let us know what you're thinking
0:36
Speaker 1: of these movies. We earlier this week dropped a Hallmark
0:40
Speaker 1: Headlines episode chalk full of new information from Hamark. We'd
0:43
Speaker 1: love to know your thoughts on that. We are mere
0:46
Speaker 1: weeks away from the full countdown to Christmas launch lineup announcement.
0:52
Speaker 1: I can't believe that. I can't believe it either. I mean,
0:56
Speaker 1: all the stores are all fall it's the first week
0:59
Speaker 1: in August. Know what to do with that information, but
1:03
Speaker 1: we'd love to hear from you. Hello at Girls One
1:05
Speaker 1: Hallmark dot com. We did receive an email today and
1:08
Speaker 1: they're talking. They're raving about a movie that they love.
1:11
Speaker 1: They don't name the movie. Let's look I think it's about.
1:15
Speaker 1: I know what I think, I know what it's about.
1:16
Speaker 1: But the one with no subject, yeah, it says I
1:19
Speaker 1: love this movie. It just makes me feel good. I
1:21
Speaker 1: love the plot, the town. I especially love the house
1:23
Speaker 1: that they get to live in all the while, and
1:26
Speaker 1: Angel is watching over them and helping things move along
1:29
Speaker 1: in the way that is good for everyone. There are
1:31
Speaker 1: so many great actors actresses in it. And of course
1:34
Speaker 1: we can't forget how our heavenly Father is watching over
1:37
Speaker 1: us and sometimes sends his helpers angels down to Earth
1:40
Speaker 1: to remind us he's always watching and loving us. Ten
1:43
Speaker 1: out of ten for this Hallmark movie. This has to
1:45
Speaker 1: be one of the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, right, yeah,
1:48
Speaker 1: the one what is it called? I can't think of
1:51
Speaker 1: the name of it either, Oh my god, this season
1:54
Speaker 1: for Miracles, Yes, Miles, yep, this is the lot of
2:00
Speaker 1: the movie. So we figured it out. But you gotta
2:03
Speaker 1: tell us on what you guys are talking about. But
2:06
Speaker 1: thank you for your email. Are you ready to get
2:08
Speaker 1: into absolutely devoted to you. Let's hear a synopsis and then, oh,
2:14
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just preface this with saying, like, I don't
2:17
Speaker 1: think this synopsis I pulled it from the Hamewark website.
2:20
Speaker 1: I don't think it's quite accurate. Okay, here we go.
2:22
Speaker 1: An ambitious TV producer devises a brilliant plan to reunite
2:26
Speaker 1: a nineties boy band for an annual summer beach batch,
2:30
Speaker 1: but her idea is derailed when she falls for the
2:33
Speaker 1: band's reluctant lead singer. Yeah, none of that is accurate.
2:37
Speaker 1: I know. Stacey en Harding directed absolutely Devoted to You.
2:41
Speaker 1: Stacey has a long Hallmark resume, including fan favorites like
2:44
Speaker 1: Round and Round and Mystery one oh one Deadly History.
2:48
Speaker 1: Writing credit is shared by Ali Spuck, Casey Tabanu, and
2:51
Speaker 1: Matthew Willis. Ali and Casey have written many Hallmark and
2:54
Speaker 1: Hallmark Jason movies. Their last project for a Hallmark channel
2:57
Speaker 1: was Scouting for Christmas from twenty twenty four. Matthew Willis
3:00
Speaker 1: has just four writing credits, including a short film and
3:03
Speaker 1: two video games. Yeah. When I said read two video games,
3:06
Speaker 1: I was like, well, I guess people probably do write
3:09
Speaker 1: like stories for like, yeah, video game is gonna play out?
3:12
Speaker 1: I had never thought about that. No. Kimberly Sas said
3:15
Speaker 1: stars as Caitland. This marks her first Hamewark her Parents
3:18
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty six. After Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper and
3:22
Speaker 1: three Wissisman in twenty twenty five, we were overdue for
3:25
Speaker 1: a Kimberly movie. Indeed, in my opinion, Jesse Metcast stars
3:30
Speaker 1: as Derek, making his long awaited return to Hallmark after
3:33
Speaker 1: five years away. Fans will remember him from Chesapeake Shores
3:36
Speaker 1: and the Martha's Vineyard Mysteries series. Megan Heffern appears as Sarah.
3:42
Speaker 1: We last saw Megan earlier this year in Best Serf Cold,
3:46
Speaker 1: a Hannah Swinson mystery. Linda Boyd appears as Lucille. Linda
3:50
Speaker 1: is a familiar Hallwark staple with appearances in a Royal Montana, Christmas,
3:54
Speaker 1: Happy Holidays, and The Real West. Tetiana Ostoppowit and Barry W.
3:58
Speaker 1: Levy appear as Mary and Mason, the charismatic co hosts
4:01
Speaker 1: of the Morning show. Hey Wendy, what is your first
4:04
Speaker 1: impression of absolutely devoted to you? Jesse Metcalf fangirl activated.
4:14
Speaker 1: My first impression is hotter than July. Will be the
4:16
Speaker 1: title of my memoir about life with perimenopause. The fact
4:20
Speaker 1: that you waits summer. I love it, I love it,
4:24
Speaker 1: I love it so tired of being hot. Y'all the
4:28
Speaker 1: air conditions on, it doesn't. Here's my problem. It's that
4:32
Speaker 1: I constantly have to be managing the temperature everywhere I go.
4:37
Speaker 1: You have to have the air conditioning blasting. I have
4:39
Speaker 1: to have a fan on. I have to get in
4:40
Speaker 1: my car and turn down the air because everywhere is hot. Like,
4:44
Speaker 1: you can't just exist in the world. You constantly have
4:46
Speaker 1: to be artificially cooling. It drust me go crazy. And
4:51
Speaker 1: I think the Organ Coast is looking better and better. Girl.
4:56
Speaker 1: If I don't move there, I'm summering there. Let me
4:58
Speaker 1: tell you. That is part of the We were telling
5:01
Speaker 1: the kids and my son was like, are you really
5:03
Speaker 1: gonna move? He's like, where am I gonna live after college?
5:06
Speaker 1: I'm like, bro, we're paying for a college education, so
5:09
Speaker 1: we don't have to answer that question for you. That
5:12
Speaker 1: sounds like a you proper. I'm like, I don't know
5:15
Speaker 1: work remote from the Oregon Coast. Boy, I do not
5:17
Speaker 1: know what to tell you. That's hilarious. What did you
5:20
Speaker 1: like about this movie? Well, I need to talk about
5:22
Speaker 1: Jesse Metcalf. I can't. I'm I gotta tell you all
5:26
Speaker 1: the things I thought you were gonna say. I just
5:28
Speaker 1: didn't have Jesse Metcalf in my top five for you. Okay,
5:33
Speaker 1: hear me out, hear me out. I did not expect
5:36
Speaker 1: this either. I know Jesse Metcalf has this very loyal
5:40
Speaker 1: Hallmark fan base, uh huh. And we've seen pieces of
5:43
Speaker 1: Chesapeake Shores. I remember him from Desperate Housewives, and in
5:48
Speaker 1: my head it's the Desperate Housewives guy who I see,
5:52
Speaker 1: like this young twenty plus year old, half naked, very
5:57
Speaker 1: pretty pool boy pool boy. That's who I see. Wait ahead,
6:02
Speaker 1: when did Desperate Housewives come out? I don't know. I
6:06
Speaker 1: mean it was at least twenty years ago, at least. Yeah, Okay, looked.
6:10
Speaker 1: I looked up his age because I was like, how
6:12
Speaker 1: old is this man? Yeah? Was he nineteen years old
6:14
Speaker 1: on Desperate Housewives? The Internet tells me he is forty
6:17
Speaker 1: seven years old. Okay, so he was in his twenties,
6:22
Speaker 1: you know, at that time. But that's who I have
6:26
Speaker 1: pictured in my head, right yeah. And his only job
6:29
Speaker 1: on Desperate Housewives was to be hot, was to look good,
6:33
Speaker 1: right yeah? Yeah? And you know we have I've seen
6:37
Speaker 1: like maybe five to eight episodes of the first season
6:40
Speaker 1: of Chesapeake Shores, which I really enjoyed. It is a show.
6:44
Speaker 1: I wish I had the time to go back and
6:47
Speaker 1: actually watch, not review guys, just watch. But he's not
6:53
Speaker 1: one who like stands out to me like I wouldn't.
6:55
Speaker 1: I didn't get excited. I know a lot of people
6:58
Speaker 1: are excited about his return to homework. I was like whatever,
7:01
Speaker 1: And when this casting got announced, I was more excited
7:04
Speaker 1: that Kimberly Sustad was absolutely than Jesse Metcalf. Okay, with
7:09
Speaker 1: all that said, consider me converted. I don't know what
7:13
Speaker 1: it was. There was something about this him as Derek
7:17
Speaker 1: that worked for me. You know, he looks a little
7:22
Speaker 1: he still is very pretty right, but he's a little
7:25
Speaker 1: bit more mature, like he's obviously a little bit older.
7:30
Speaker 1: But it was his voice that kind of drew me in.
7:34
Speaker 1: He has this gruff quality in his voice that I
7:38
Speaker 1: was like, oh, oh oh, he was a little grittier
7:43
Speaker 1: than your average Hallmark leading man. Yeah, and I like gritty.
7:46
Speaker 1: I thinked about that. I talked about it last week.
7:48
Speaker 1: I was like, I wish will Camp was a little grittier.
7:50
Speaker 1: You know, it just visually shows that you lived some
7:55
Speaker 1: life and you're not just this, you know, picture perfect person.
8:00
Speaker 1: So I think I was taken by surprise is and
8:05
Speaker 1: that's why I was like, oh oh. And then and
8:09
Speaker 1: then spoiler alert, he busts out onto the reunion stage
8:14
Speaker 1: and spoiler alert, Well, there was a minute there where
8:20
Speaker 1: I was like, he's not, he's not, He's not going
8:22
Speaker 1: to participate. What what is going to happen? It did,
8:25
Speaker 1: and it's gonna lose her job. I was really worried.
8:27
Speaker 1: I was really Nick's performance. But man, when he walked
8:33
Speaker 1: out onto that stage and he was like in it
8:36
Speaker 1: fully leaned in. I really dimmed. I squealed and I
8:43
Speaker 1: sent Mexican Megan a text. I was like, this is
8:45
Speaker 1: a little bop. I'm into this song. This song's a banger.
8:50
Speaker 1: Look I love the song. Tune of my top likes
8:54
Speaker 1: is that final performance same. I was like, they really
8:58
Speaker 1: went for it on Hallmark. I was super into it.
9:01
Speaker 1: So the song is fun, the dance is fun. I
9:04
Speaker 1: mean they choreographed that whole dance. Let me tell you.
9:08
Speaker 1: It was my mom's birthday yesterday. I call her and
9:11
Speaker 1: I was like, what are you doing. She's like, We're
9:13
Speaker 1: in Vegas. I'm sitting at a video poker machine, which
9:15
Speaker 1: is her happy place, and I had talked to my
9:18
Speaker 1: dad and I was like, what are you doing in Vegas?
9:21
Speaker 1: And he was like, oh, we're seeing boys in the hood.
9:24
Speaker 1: I said, I don't think you are, Dad, Please. He goes,
9:30
Speaker 1: I don't know megan a boy band. I was like,
9:33
Speaker 1: is it Backstreet Boys? He's like, literally, couldn't pay me
9:36
Speaker 1: to tell you. He doesn't know. So I'm talking to
9:38
Speaker 1: my mom. I'm like, did you bring your all white outfits?
9:40
Speaker 1: And she was like, oh, is that what we're supposed
9:42
Speaker 1: to do. She's like, I actually have the perfect thing.
9:45
Speaker 1: Oh my god. I'm like lean in. But she doesn't
9:49
Speaker 1: know any of the music, though, No, this is I
9:51
Speaker 1: was talking to my husband. I'm like, are they gonna
9:53
Speaker 1: like this show? Maybe maybe one or two of the
9:57
Speaker 1: songs will be like vaguely familiar, but it's a fun show.
10:03
Speaker 1: Going to the sphere is fun. The visuals, but I
10:05
Speaker 1: just kind of kind of imagine them, like we're gonna
10:08
Speaker 1: go see a vagas showing a few out I don't know,
10:11
Speaker 1: it's not that long. It's like a ninety minute show anyway, hilarious.
10:15
Speaker 1: I'm a I was giving you my boy band credentials
10:18
Speaker 1: there to let you know that I feel like I
10:21
Speaker 1: have the chops to judge a boy band performance. And
10:24
Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I was thoroughly impressed with
10:28
Speaker 1: the costuming, the dancing. I mean, they got eight guys
10:31
Speaker 1: on stage and they weren't bringing it. I know, I
10:34
Speaker 1: thought it was great. It was really speaking to because
10:38
Speaker 1: you know, if you go to a Backstreet Boys concert
10:40
Speaker 1: or a New Kids on the Block, everyone there is
10:42
Speaker 1: our age everyone there. And so they knew what they
10:45
Speaker 1: were doing. Because we are the Homewark demo like us
10:47
Speaker 1: and above, and they knew what they were doing. They
10:51
Speaker 1: got to lean into the gen x the Spree sweatshirt
10:54
Speaker 1: that you know what I'm talking about. We're the new
10:57
Speaker 1: Hallmark viewer, I know. And this was genius. As the
11:01
Speaker 1: gen z ers would say, Homewark did their big one
11:03
Speaker 1: with this. I know they did. While you are busy
11:06
Speaker 1: printing your Jesse Metcalf fan Club T shirts, I will
11:09
Speaker 1: be over here renewing my membership in the Kimberly Sastad
11:12
Speaker 1: fan Club running for president. Because this woman doesn't miss
11:18
Speaker 1: she doesn't she's so good. She's so good. She has
11:21
Speaker 1: these micro expressions that she does. Are you are you
11:25
Speaker 1: reading my know? You thought? Please? Yes, please please talk
11:30
Speaker 1: about it. In the way she reacts most specifically to Derek,
11:35
Speaker 1: but she does it with everybody. She does it with
11:37
Speaker 1: her boss, she does it with Sarah at work. But
11:40
Speaker 1: specifically the way she laughs a little bit, the way
11:44
Speaker 1: she reacts to things. Her face just ever so slightly adjusts,
11:50
Speaker 1: and it is perfection. She's so good. And I don't
11:54
Speaker 1: want to be like she should be doing more than homework,
11:56
Speaker 1: but I do think she maybe she should just be
11:59
Speaker 1: Homework's best. I don't know, because I don't want her
12:01
Speaker 1: to go anywhere. She is Homewark's best. I think she
12:04
Speaker 1: really is. At the end when he's about to kiss
12:08
Speaker 1: her and he's telling her his feelings for her, and
12:11
Speaker 1: her little reactions, she's just she conveys a lot with
12:16
Speaker 1: very little on her face. Yeah, and she was a
12:20
Speaker 1: stage actress before she was a screen actress. Those are
12:25
Speaker 1: very different skills because you got to be a much
12:27
Speaker 1: bigger actor on stage because it has to convey to
12:30
Speaker 1: an audience, and so those two types of actors, some
12:35
Speaker 1: are better at one than the other. But I'm telling you,
12:38
Speaker 1: she has mastered the art of just the micro expression,
12:42
Speaker 1: which is not the same thing as a microaggression. Please
12:45
Speaker 1: hear me. That gets her point across very well. Let
12:48
Speaker 1: me talk to you about one specific well, there's two
12:50
Speaker 1: scenes where she has her big convo with him and
12:53
Speaker 1: she literally sheds a tear, which you don't often see
12:58
Speaker 1: like real tears feel like on homework. When she goes
13:02
Speaker 1: outside and she's talking to Lucille. And there's something about
13:07
Speaker 1: the way kimberly says that, the way you can see
13:11
Speaker 1: all the internal processing that's happening in her body as
13:17
Speaker 1: she's trying to explain to Lucille, like what just happened.
13:21
Speaker 1: She's so good, She's the best. She is so good,
13:26
Speaker 1: and you know I just said, like she is Homework's best,
13:29
Speaker 1: and I think about I want to compare her to
13:33
Speaker 1: I don't want to compare, but I want to talk
13:34
Speaker 1: about like difference. We have Lacey Shaver, who is probably
13:38
Speaker 1: the face of homework, right, I'm quoting the face of Hamewark.
13:41
Speaker 1: She gets all these big projects and whatever. She's like
13:45
Speaker 1: a certain type though she fits in a certain like type,
13:49
Speaker 1: don't you agree absolutely? Where then you have kim who
13:52
Speaker 1: can do funny and do serious if you've never seen
13:57
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw it way back to sign sealed Deliver
14:00
Speaker 1: their first season when they did episodes before the movies.
14:04
Speaker 1: There is a Kimberly sested episode and she is incredible
14:08
Speaker 1: in this episode. I'm going to encourage you to go
14:11
Speaker 1: and find it. I will link it in our show notes.
14:13
Speaker 1: I can't remember the name of it right now, but
14:17
Speaker 1: she's so good. I agree. Now I have a little
14:21
Speaker 1: bit of a The chemistry between Kimberly and Jesse's characters
14:27
Speaker 1: doesn't totally click for me, and I'm gonna get to that,
14:30
Speaker 1: but individually I thought they were both very good. Well,
14:34
Speaker 1: let me tell you something else I liked about this movie.
14:37
Speaker 1: The Mike and Mary in the Morning Show. Yes, they
14:41
Speaker 1: really went for it. Mary's basically Kathy Lee Gifford. Yes,
14:46
Speaker 1: thank you so much. But in terms of the production
14:49
Speaker 1: of this show, first of all, they carried it through
14:52
Speaker 1: the entire show. We see clips of the show that
14:55
Speaker 1: the movie opens with Mike and Mary in the Morning.
14:58
Speaker 1: That's very unique for these Hallmark movies. And from the
15:04
Speaker 1: casting of these two characters, who I mean, Mary leans
15:07
Speaker 1: so hard into yes, the Kathie Lee Gifford esque persona,
15:14
Speaker 1: but they see it through. I mean, we have the
15:16
Speaker 1: full set, we have backstage, we have the on screen graphics.
15:19
Speaker 1: They thought about those things in terms of making you
15:25
Speaker 1: believe that we're on set of a morning show, and
15:28
Speaker 1: I appreciate that attention to detail. Last episode, you joked
15:35
Speaker 1: that we're going to start including the editors in our notes. Yes,
15:39
Speaker 1: I do know who edited this movie. Okay, tell me more.
15:42
Speaker 1: Her name is Cindy au Yang and she has edited
15:45
Speaker 1: a number of movies, including two of the Groomsmen movies,
15:49
Speaker 1: All's Fair and Love and Majong and Tidings for the season.
15:52
Speaker 1: I do think that she gets some of the credit
15:56
Speaker 1: for the way this movie looks. I think so too.
16:00
Speaker 1: And I really like Love and Majong me too. And
16:03
Speaker 1: there was something about the way that that movie look felt,
16:06
Speaker 1: felt and paced was what I liked about it. So, okay,
16:11
Speaker 1: look at you, man. I just. I was just. I
16:14
Speaker 1: was actually looking for information on the music and digging
16:17
Speaker 1: in and then I saw it and I thought, well,
16:18
Speaker 1: I gotta know more about this. Well I got to
16:21
Speaker 1: know if this single is available anywhere? Well, you know,
16:24
Speaker 1: can I tell you? I was curious. I'm like, is
16:26
Speaker 1: that Jesse Metcalf singing? He does sing, He does sing,
16:30
Speaker 1: and he definitely sings to Caitlin at the end, right,
16:34
Speaker 1: which I thought was really good too. But you're wondering
16:37
Speaker 1: if if that like recorded song, is him actually singing. Well, yes,
16:41
Speaker 1: because I watched the full credits, and at the end
16:44
Speaker 1: of the credits they share their three songs with information
16:48
Speaker 1: Hotter than July, a song called Cool Like This and
16:51
Speaker 1: a song called Everything's going to Be Alright. Well, cool
16:54
Speaker 1: like This and Everything's going to be all Right. Both
16:56
Speaker 1: have artists listed, but for Hotter than July they have
17:00
Speaker 1: the writers, music producer, the vocal producer, the recording engineer,
17:04
Speaker 1: but no artist. Oh interesting, I don't, I don't. I looked, y'all,
17:09
Speaker 1: I have done the research. I'm very curious who was singing,
17:12
Speaker 1: because it certainly seemed to me like that very much
17:14
Speaker 1: could have it was not giving Jesse metcalf LIMPSI King onset. Yeah,
17:19
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't know. I wish we need I know.
17:20
Speaker 1: We touched on it a little bit. But the whole
17:22
Speaker 1: reunion performance at the end, like I just thought, like
17:25
Speaker 1: that was the payoff. The entire movie had been building
17:28
Speaker 1: to you, and it had set up enough like suspense
17:31
Speaker 1: for me, like is he gonna come out or is
17:33
Speaker 1: he not, because it seems like they were halfway through
17:35
Speaker 1: the performance and then he came on. Y right. I
17:39
Speaker 1: just it was fun, and that's what I liked about it.
17:44
Speaker 1: It was fun. And then I really loved Mary. The
17:49
Speaker 1: fact that she's like a little bit unhinged over this
17:51
Speaker 1: like boy band felt very relatable. Yes, when he hugs
17:55
Speaker 1: her at the end and she's like, yeah, it just
17:58
Speaker 1: was fun. That's what I really enjoyed it. Do you
18:01
Speaker 1: have any more? Like? My only other? Like is just
18:03
Speaker 1: a quick one. I thought there was lots of dry
18:05
Speaker 1: humor in the writing and I appreciated that that that
18:07
Speaker 1: vibes with me. Loved it. Let's take a good break
18:10
Speaker 1: and we will come back to talk about our wishes. Hey, Wendy,
18:21
Speaker 1: what did you wish for while watching? Absolutely devoted to you? Well,
18:25
Speaker 1: as much as I liked it, I do have some
18:26
Speaker 1: wishes and I've been thinking about it because I'm like,
18:31
Speaker 1: what did I miss the movie's telling us that Derek
18:34
Speaker 1: doesn't want anything to do with this old band? Right?
18:36
Speaker 1: He like doesn't want that life. Did he ever get
18:39
Speaker 1: to like the real reason? Why was he burned out?
18:42
Speaker 1: Was it like his mental health? Was he it was conflict.
18:46
Speaker 1: It was because he likes connecting with people, and once
18:49
Speaker 1: they started to get big, it felt very impersonal to him,
18:52
Speaker 1: and he wasn't able to make those personal connections. It's
18:55
Speaker 1: not enough reason to don't you think he can look?
18:59
Speaker 1: Derek a little bit of a you know, baby bag
19:02
Speaker 1: b word in this movie. I'm gonna say, and what
19:07
Speaker 1: a baby back is? That? Is that? The is that
19:10
Speaker 1: what you're saying it is? What? What does that mean?
19:13
Speaker 1: I just think he's a little whiny. I just think
19:16
Speaker 1: I just I've got some issues with Derek. Yeah, I didn't.
19:20
Speaker 1: I didn't think Derek was I had some issues with
19:23
Speaker 1: Derek too. Don't get me wrong. I liked it. Jesse
19:26
Speaker 1: Metcalf as Derek Now, Derek, You're right, was a little
19:30
Speaker 1: like hard to understand, Yes, is how I felt about him.
19:38
Speaker 1: I thought, Okay, if he was missing the human connection, like,
19:43
Speaker 1: give me some sort of like flashback. I think a
19:45
Speaker 1: flashback would have gone a long way in this And
19:48
Speaker 1: I know it probably would have been hard to do
19:50
Speaker 1: because then you would have had to make like Jesse
19:52
Speaker 1: Metcalf look really young in terms of like and you
19:56
Speaker 1: can't give him bangs exactly exactly. But I needed something
20:02
Speaker 1: I needed to know, like what his resistance was. Yeah,
20:07
Speaker 1: but then on top of that, Derek's new life to
20:12
Speaker 1: me looked like he was hiding, right. I like that
20:18
Speaker 1: he found purpose in like connecting and working with the
20:21
Speaker 1: kids at the community center. I mean, this is very
20:24
Speaker 1: homework trophy. I thought, you know that sort of thing,
20:30
Speaker 1: you know. But what I struggled with was like how
20:35
Speaker 1: secretive he was. Like I think that he there's a
20:39
Speaker 1: stronger message there, like if he wanted to really be
20:42
Speaker 1: there for these kids and teach them something, he could
20:44
Speaker 1: be like, yes, I was famous and that was a
20:46
Speaker 1: part of my life, but now I choose privacy. And
20:49
Speaker 1: this is why, Like there's a difference between having boundaries
20:53
Speaker 1: and like running away from like who you were. I
20:56
Speaker 1: think agree. I just thought, because you know, he was
20:59
Speaker 1: like so into like I want to Tucci's kids something,
21:01
Speaker 1: and they're like, we already know that you were famous.
21:04
Speaker 1: This was this big secret. I don't know. I didn't
21:08
Speaker 1: love that. Let me hear your beefs on Derek. Well,
21:10
Speaker 1: I think Derek behaves badly, and even Lucio calls him
21:14
Speaker 1: on it early. He's like, you've made all these promises
21:16
Speaker 1: and you have no intent of following through. And at
21:19
Speaker 1: the end of the movie, Caitlyn is apologizing profusely on
21:22
Speaker 1: this beach, and I don't really think what she did
21:25
Speaker 1: was that bad. I don't either. He doesn't ever apologize.
21:29
Speaker 1: He starts to explain himself a little bit, but he
21:31
Speaker 1: doesn't really apologize, and I'm like, what is happening here?
21:34
Speaker 1: I don't like that. I also think, look, you're entitled
21:37
Speaker 1: to not want to be a part of this band anymore.
21:41
Speaker 1: You don't really have to have a reason. You could
21:43
Speaker 1: just that's a different part of my life. I don't
21:44
Speaker 1: want to do that. That's perfectly fine, but I have
21:48
Speaker 1: some questions. Derek says, our manager owned us, the record
21:53
Speaker 1: label owned us. We didn't make any money. All these
21:56
Speaker 1: dudes look like they're rolling. Where'd that money come from?
22:00
Speaker 1: One dude lives on a yacht, the other one has
22:01
Speaker 1: like a big, beautiful house. They must have got some
22:04
Speaker 1: kind of money, But where's that coming from. Also, Derek
22:07
Speaker 1: talks about the community center isn't going to be able
22:10
Speaker 1: to fund its programs, and she's like, oh, and you'll
22:12
Speaker 1: lose your job. He's like, I don't care about that,
22:13
Speaker 1: So are we to believe like he has money and
22:15
Speaker 1: he doesn't need the job. This was unclear to me
22:19
Speaker 1: because the three other guys certainly weren't like working at
22:23
Speaker 1: the local car dealership to make ends meet. I didn't
22:26
Speaker 1: understand that I needed. I needed more clarity on that.
22:29
Speaker 1: Maybe they would go to like the fan fests, maybe,
22:33
Speaker 1: you know, because maybe because the other thing is Caitlin
22:37
Speaker 1: says like, why don't you ask the guys for money?
22:39
Speaker 1: And He's like, with what, how are they going to
22:40
Speaker 1: help me out? Yeah? Well, they clearly have money, and
22:43
Speaker 1: they're also clearly in each other's lives because they knew
22:47
Speaker 1: where to find him. Right anyway, it was just a
22:51
Speaker 1: note that I couldn't quite figure out. The other thing is, look, Derek,
22:55
Speaker 1: you working in a community center. You need to raise money.
22:58
Speaker 1: You got to lean into every money making up opportunity,
23:00
Speaker 1: and you need to understand that people will show up
23:06
Speaker 1: if they know that you're involved. I know, so you're
23:09
Speaker 1: freaking just put your name aside. Yeah, like with a
23:13
Speaker 1: with special guest Derek Dane. Yeah, I understand that you
23:17
Speaker 1: don't want it to be about you, but at this
23:19
Speaker 1: point you're hurting your nonprofit by not using your name
23:24
Speaker 1: and your history. You don't even need to perform. People
23:27
Speaker 1: don't even care if you're performing. If you come out
23:29
Speaker 1: and you're the one introducing these people, that's enough, right,
23:32
Speaker 1: So sell a meet and greet. Do like you said,
23:35
Speaker 1: fan conventions, do a photo opportunity. That's all people care about.
23:39
Speaker 1: All these nineties con stars that are showing up. These
23:43
Speaker 1: people make boatloads of money just shown up to take photos.
23:47
Speaker 1: I just think there wasn't trauma involved in his past.
23:52
Speaker 1: He just didn't like it anymore. It wasn't working for him.
23:55
Speaker 1: So I just think maybe loosen up a little bit.
23:58
Speaker 1: Loosen up, I agree. Well, okay, I want to talk
24:01
Speaker 1: about this, and I mentioned it before in terms of
24:04
Speaker 1: the characters of Caitlyn and Derek and why they they
24:08
Speaker 1: don't click for me for some reason. It has been
24:12
Speaker 1: the when I was writing my review the hardest part
24:14
Speaker 1: to like put my finger on, because I liked each
24:16
Speaker 1: of their performances, like I said, but like somewhere along
24:20
Speaker 1: the way, like I'm like, I'm not buying them as
24:22
Speaker 1: like a couple that's super interested into them into each other.
24:26
Speaker 1: First one is because I thought Kimberly's character Caitlin was
24:30
Speaker 1: definitely producing him like she was manipulating him for her
24:34
Speaker 1: own benefit at the beginning. M she needs him so
24:39
Speaker 1: she can get her promotion, right, and the questions like
24:42
Speaker 1: she's asking him, it's very like, you know, like a
24:45
Speaker 1: producer on a reality show, like you're trying to get
24:47
Speaker 1: like something out of somebody. Right. So there's that like
24:52
Speaker 1: I don't I could never fully buy into like, oh
24:56
Speaker 1: now she's really into him, like what she didn't even know?
24:59
Speaker 1: There was like a weird energy between the two of them,
25:01
Speaker 1: is all I can say. It was just Kimberly's like
25:05
Speaker 1: rom com energy and Jesse is not a little more
25:11
Speaker 1: lifetime movie. Yeah exactly. So I don't know, and I'm
25:15
Speaker 1: not talking about them as actors, but just like the
25:18
Speaker 1: way that they played these characters as together, it like
25:21
Speaker 1: never quite like synced up for me. There was just
25:25
Speaker 1: like at the end, I was like, I don't get
25:27
Speaker 1: that these two like are in love with each other. Yeah,
25:31
Speaker 1: I would agree with that. I have one tiny, tiny,
25:34
Speaker 1: tiny little wish okay that I thought would be super fun.
25:38
Speaker 1: I wish the former like boy band members. It would
25:42
Speaker 1: have been a perfect opportunity to sneak in some of
25:44
Speaker 1: our funny mister, Yes, don't you think so? Yes, I
25:49
Speaker 1: wish they would have done that. That would have been great. Yeah,
25:52
Speaker 1: all right, let's talk to you to see that. I
25:54
Speaker 1: got a couple. Okay, Caitlin brings Derek a double espresso
25:58
Speaker 1: in a clear plastic cup with no ice. Yeah, what
26:02
Speaker 1: is going on there? Did you notice that? Yeah? Why?
26:05
Speaker 1: I didn't understand that at all. I mean then he
26:08
Speaker 1: just like drink, there's no straw, He just like throws
26:11
Speaker 1: it back and I'm like hot, I don't know. Yeah,
26:15
Speaker 1: I was like, why did we have this giant cup?
26:18
Speaker 1: Couldn't couldn't understand We earlier talked about a full head
26:22
Speaker 1: to toe white wardrobe. I did love that the younger
26:26
Speaker 1: guys were dressed in white, like I think. I think
26:29
Speaker 1: maybe they all were in their reunion. In that final reunion,
26:33
Speaker 1: they all were, but the younger guys had colored shirts
26:37
Speaker 1: on over and over them. I mean it's a if
26:39
Speaker 1: you know, you know kind of That was great. I
26:41
Speaker 1: thought that that was great. Also, my final did you
26:44
Speaker 1: see that the character of Caitlin, she introduces a choreographer
26:48
Speaker 1: to the to the Oh. Yes, his name is Paul Becker.
26:51
Speaker 1: He is not a fictional person. He is a real
26:53
Speaker 1: life choreographer and he's done a ton of Hallmark movies
26:57
Speaker 1: and musicals. I looked him up as well. Yeah, I
27:01
Speaker 1: saw he worked on Whole Valley, which I thought was interesting. Yes,
27:05
Speaker 1: I was like, what are they all light episodes he's
27:07
Speaker 1: credited on? And I thought, what are they choreographing? I mean,
27:10
Speaker 1: there are some dancing scenes. But I thought that was
27:13
Speaker 1: very interesting. I know, I know, but I just love
27:15
Speaker 1: that they like actually introduced him and then like used
27:18
Speaker 1: his real name. Yeah. Yes, And she was like, oh,
27:21
Speaker 1: he has a huge Instagram following. He has forty four
27:23
Speaker 1: thousand Instagram followers. I also thought it was interesting he
27:27
Speaker 1: choreographed the Call Her Alex documentary. Yes, I saw that
27:30
Speaker 1: too anyway, but yes, I love the inclusion of a
27:33
Speaker 1: real person my only other Did you see that? Because
27:36
Speaker 1: I had that Paul Becker as well. We get our
27:41
Speaker 1: second movie in a row with a flirty measuring scene,
27:44
Speaker 1: although it's Sarah doing the measuring, not our main character,
27:47
Speaker 1: but oh yeah, oh and it was plenty. I thought,
27:49
Speaker 1: I really like Megan hefferin Me Too. I think she
27:52
Speaker 1: could be a lead honestly in a rom com. We
27:58
Speaker 1: see her in a lot of mysteries but I think
28:00
Speaker 1: she's great. I think she's great too. It was really
28:03
Speaker 1: funny when she was like measuring him. I was like,
28:05
Speaker 1: is she gonna go down on link measure from you
28:07
Speaker 1: know the what's it called? Like the in scene? The
28:10
Speaker 1: in scene? Yes, Joey Tribriani, that's how you measure pants.
28:15
Speaker 1: I just laughed out loud when Caitlyn says, I don't
28:18
Speaker 1: know how to relax when the younger guys are like
28:20
Speaker 1: our moms told us about you, I just perfection, good stuff.
28:24
Speaker 1: What did you rate this movie? I gave it four stars.
28:27
Speaker 1: I gave it four point two five stars. A good time. Yeah, hey,
28:32
Speaker 1: thanks for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark.
28:35
Speaker 1: We'll be back next time with more Hallmark reviews. Goodbye bye.
28:50
Speaker 1: All right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
28:53
Speaker 1: you're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
28:55
Speaker 1: us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
28:58
Speaker 1: So do with that info, Oh what you will, grab
29:01
Speaker 1: a snack, hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe
29:04
Speaker 1: listen in and discover your new favorite product. Bye sa