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Love Lights Hanukkah & Christmas Comes Twice · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Girls Gone Christmas, a bonus episode from Long
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Story Short the podcast.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: I'm Megan, I'm Wendy.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: And on these episodes we recap and review and talk
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: about all of our thoughts about movies from the Hallmark
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Channels Countdown to Christmas. And this week is a very
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: special episode for a couple of reasons. One, we are
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: recapping two movies, and that's a because this is our
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: last Countdown to Christmas episode of the season. And B
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: these movies had a little bit of something in common,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: and that is that their main stars were nineties television
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: TV stars. I was a fan of Boy Meets World
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: with Ben Savage big time. Also a big time fan
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: of Sister Sister with t and Tamara. Of course, we
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: just have Tamara in this movie. We put it to
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: a vote on Instagram and the people voted for Lovelights
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Hanagha starring Ben Savage, and several people message us saying
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: why not both? So why not both? Here we are. Yeah,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: we do have a bit of an apology, and that
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: is we had originally said that this week we would
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: be talking about across Country Christmas and the reason we're
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: not doing that is it has not been on yet.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: I made a mistake in my scheduling. Although it is
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: possible that there was a mistake in the Hallmark app
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: like I'm there's a two percent chance that there was
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: a mistake in the app when I was looking at
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: the schedule, but bigger chance that I just made a
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: mistake and scheduled these wrong. And the other thing is,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: we had planned to have an episode next week, and
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: we've decided that we're giving ourselves the gift of time.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Our children are going to be at home all next week,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: and so this is going to be our last count
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: On to Christmas episode for this year. But that doesn't
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: mean we're done with Hallmark movies on the podcast overall.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: We'll see which one do you want to do first?
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Uh, let's do Love Lights Honkah first, simply because that's
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: the one I watched first.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, me too. Do you want me to read the synopsis? Please? Okay?
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: So Love Lights Honkkah. As Christina prepares her restaurant for Christmas,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a DNA test reveals that she's Jewish. The discovery leads
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: her to a new family and a new unlikely romance
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: over eight crazy nights. Really, that's a terrible summary of
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: this movie. I mean, those things happen.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: I agree. Now, what's your overall first impression of this movie?
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I kind of liked it.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I did too, I agree. I it was a sweet movie.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I have lots to say about some the content, but overall,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: I thought it was an enjoyable movie.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I agree.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I liked it too.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: I thought it was sweet. It didn't have the Christmas
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: hijinks that I hate, so but I have a lot
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: to say too.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: What was your overall impression of the couple? Were you
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: rooting for them?
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: So we're talking about Ben Savage and Mia Kirshner, who
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: I love Mia Kirshner as Jenny Sheckler in The L Word,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: like she's.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: So amazing, but I really enjoyed her on this movie.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I liked her too.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: She has changed a lot. I mean, obviously a person
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: changes a lot in twenty years. I think that's maybe
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: when The L Word was originally on. I liked her.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I think she's a good actress. I really liked Ben Savage.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: I thought he was great, and I know that this
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: is his first Hallmark movie because I did a little
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: research and I was for them. I did feel a
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: little bit of fun chemistry, not like sexual chemistry, but fun,
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: flirty chemistry.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: I would agree with that. I had a hard time.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: I was a big time Boy Meets World fan, Like
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: when Corey and Tapanga had trouble, really hurt my heart.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: So I had a very hard time disconnecting adult forty
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: year old Ben Savage from Corey from the nineties.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: So I have no idea what you're talking about, because
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: I never ever have seen an episode of Boy Meets
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: World never, So I mean, I know of the show,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: but I've never watched it. So so you.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Did not have that mencha.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no emotional attachment to Ben Savage as a
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: character he played twenty years ago. Well look at what
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I just did there. I was just saying how much
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I loved me A Kirshner as Jenny Sheckler and the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: OL word, and I had a blockage there. Okay, circle moment.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Now. I the second he came in the room, I
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: noticed his voice and I was like, Corey's here. So
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: that said, I did enjoy them. I would agree with
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: your assessment that it's kind of a cute, fun chemistry
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: rather than any sort of like deep sexual tension. But again,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I think that's gonna fall short in all of these movies.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Oh for sure. That's what I've learned now. I should
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: just not ever anticipate strong sexual chemistry.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: I think that's wise. What did you love about this movie?
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Okay? Like I said before, I really loved Ben Savage.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I think he's a good actor. Doesn't he do a
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: lot of like directing?
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Ben Savage from Boy Meets World is a director now.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I guess he directed Girl Mats World, which is the
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: adult spin off. I wonder if he and his brother
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: direct together. Who is his brother, Fred Savage? Yeah?
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know who that is. Oh, yes, you do.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: From The Wonder Years.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Wonder Years? Oh gosh, I didn't even realize Fred Savage
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: directs a lot. So maybe that's where I'm getting these
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: names mixed up it Savage? Whoa, I haven't thought about that.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: My husband has been rewatching The Wonder Years on Hulu,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: so it's top of mind.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Never mind. Anyway, I thought Ben Savage was really good.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I liked him a lot. I think we're gonna see
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: him in more Hallmark movies. What do you think?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I just hope they don't make him like the Jewish
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: movie Go.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: To Boy, right, I was just gonna say that. Yeah.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: So I looked for some reviews of this because I
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: cannot review this movie from the point of view of
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: a person who celebrates Hanukah. So I looked for some
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: reviews and I read too that had strongly different opinions.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: One felt cute movie, nice depiction of Hanukah. Yes, they
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: had kind of christmasified the Honkah. The decorations were basically
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: blue and silver versions of standard Christmas decorations, but they
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: liked that there was an explanation of the reason behind
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: the celebration of Hanukkah. They incorporated a lot of the traditions.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: It was definitely Hallmark Hanukkah. Another review kind of came
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: at this from a standard movie reviewers perspective, and I
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: think we know we cannot look at Hallmark movies in
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: the same light that we look at a regular movie.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: They're a different formula. I think they're a completely different animal.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: And they were saying, there's so many more important holidays
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: in the Jewish faith, why did we have to tie
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: it into Christmas? And the reason we have to tie
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: it into Christmas is because this is a part of
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: a countdown to Christmas series. So I feel like I
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: hear that criticism, and it would be great if they
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: made movies right about the Jewish religion that didn't just
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: focus on Honkkah, because I think our go to is like,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: let's find a way to tie it into Christmas because
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: then people will get it right. That said, this is
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: a series of Christmas movies. They wanted to tie it
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: into Christmas in this particular story. I think it works.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: I just to know. I think they Homework feels that
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: they have to add a Honkkah movie because they're trying
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: to capture a population. They want people who celebrate Hanukkah
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: or of the Jewish faith to watch their movies on
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: the Homework channel, do you know what I mean?
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Doesn't that make some sense? And this was significantly better
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: than last year's Honka movie, So that's interesting. Yeah, last
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: year's Honka movie was one of those like fake boyfriend,
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: girl brings boy home, pretends to be her friends of
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: her family. Yeah, but he was secretly Jewish and they
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: tell her family that because her family's so into Christmas
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: and like he didn't understand any of their Christmas traditions.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: It was it was clunky and awkward. This was a
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: thousand percent better. Is there anything else you loved about
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: this movie?
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, So adoption was a big part of this story,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: and I liked that they portrayed adoption in kind of
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: a positive healthy healthy is not the right word, but
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: just like in a positive light. The character played by
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Mary Lou Hinner explains how she was young and married
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: before and were they married. I can't remember if she was.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: She and that man were married, but then she didn't
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: find out she was pregnant until after she had come
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: back home and left him.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. So I just thought that that
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: was I liked that they talked about adoption like that.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: That's what I liked about.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: It, right, And her adoption experience was great. She loved
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: her mom. She you know, there was no negative feelings
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: associated with having been adopted. She had this great relationship
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: with her mom. And like how they had the Festival
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: of Lights. It felt like Hallmark's answer to a standard
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Christmas festival in these movies in the Tree Lighting. Instead
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: they had the outdoor Festival of Lights. I thought that
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: was nicely done, and they did some you know, exposition
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: explaining on I guess people would understand what's going on right,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: I said to my husband, I.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Go, obviously, I'm not Jewish, so and I don't practice
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: Honkkah or I don't celebrate Hankkah. So there is some
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: things I don't understand. But I was like, eight nights.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: I don't want to get together with family, like eight
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: nights Celena. I was like, that seems like a lot
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: of effort, because like what they're having big dinners or
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: exchanging gifts and this and that, blah blah blah blah blah.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Does that happen every single night?
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: The people that I know that celebrate Hankah. Again, I'm
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: speaking not from experience. Typically we'll do like one big
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: family dinner on whatever night of Hanukkah and then just
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: their own thing the other nights, or maybe they'll like
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: a dinner with friends one night. But I don't think
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: it's like eight nights of Christmas Eve. That feels like
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: a lot to me too, And that's not how I've
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: ever seen it celebrated among my friends that celebrate. Okay,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: that's all I have for Like, okay, all right, let's
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: move on to did you see that? I have so
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: many things to say here, so many things.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I have a few as well, you go first.
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: I have a list, so let me just just go
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: back and forth. My first one is in the very beginning,
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: she's eating dinner alone at the counter, with like a
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: nice play setting on a real play Like when I
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: am eating alone in my house, I'm either on the
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: couch or standing next to the counter. I'm not setting
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: a nice play setting for myself. I thought it was lovely.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: But do people do that?
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: No? I thought the same thing. I was like, who
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: is gonna make themselves a nice dinner just like that?
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Not that she could have brought it home from the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: restaurant that she works at, but still, nope, you're not
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: sitting at the counter alone. That was the saddest scene
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I've ever seen in fight.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: I thought so too.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: They just needed to really illustrate that she was alone
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: this holiday stead alone.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Her first reaction, I have so many thoughts. Her first
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: reaction to finding out that she is part Jewish is
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: I have to learn a whole new holiday. And my
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: first reaction was no, you don't. I mean, fine, if
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: you want to, great, go out and learn. But there's
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: no pressure to discovering that in your someone was Jewish
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: and has passed that down to you, and now you
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: feel like there's an obligation to understand what it means
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: to be Jewish when that's not how you've been raised. Again,
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: no problem with her wanting to, but there was no obligation.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: They needed a storyline.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like this movie manufactured conflict over and
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: over where none existed.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Oh that is so funny you say that because I said,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: this movie has zero conflict in it. A good story
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: has conflict. This has no conflict, like, no real conflict.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: The idea that she has to learn a new religion
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: or holiday or whatever. Stupid. There was also David was
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: going to leave town, but it actually he was only
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: leaving for six weeks, so that was dumb. Like it
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: was just a sweet story with no rise and fall.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean?
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Yes, I have another source of manufactured conflict, Harriet. Let's
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: that is when she meets her bio logical mother. Now,
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: this is a woman who used a DNA test to
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: find out more about herself and her family, and when
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: she discovers she has family matches online. Look, she knows
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: she's adopted, she knows she has a biological and a
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: mother and father out there in the world. At a minimum.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Then she finds these other matches. It's funny because I
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: happen to know someone who's on one of these DNA tests,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: and it will tell you like, is this your half brother?
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Is this probably a cousin based on the level of
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: DNA match, So it's not just gonna say like family match.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: And then oh, surprise, surprise, this is your sister.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Uh huh.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: She's happy to meet the sister. She goes to the
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: sister's home. The mother has this like very dramatic moment
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: and then sits down and says, I'm your biological mother.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: And somehow it's shocking to her that she's now meeting
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: her biological mother. Her emotions surprised me for someone who
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: went looking for family. Did it not occur to her
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: that there was a biological mother and father out there?
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Right? So here's my note, drops bomb on Christina that
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: she's her biological mom. Wouldn't Christina know that could be
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: a possibility, Like she knows she's adopted, Like it's possible
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: she's going to connect via DNA test with her biological parents.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Thishar's so stupid. Word of warning. DNA tests are a
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: terrible holiday gift. Because I know so many people who
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: have found surprising family information via these. So unless you
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: are really certain of your genealogy, beware of giving those
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: because there is some shocking information that can be revealed
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: by Danna. Yeah, I wrote, did she only want to
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: meet the wacky cousins because it feels like she just thought, Hey,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: maybe I have some new friends out there, not hey
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: maybe my parents are out there.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: I know, it's so ridiculous.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I wrote. When David comes to the restaurant because he
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: has given her four review in the past. Her best
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: friend Janet is there, played by Brandy Alexander, who was
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: also at a timeless Christmas Yes connection, and she says,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: why don't you just why don't you just try her lasagna?
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, you just whip up a lasagna for him?
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, lazagna takes forever. The kitchen is closed, the restaurant
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: is not running. She's gonna go spend two hours prepping
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: a lasagna. No, there's a pasta dish you can make
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: in ten minutes, but lazagna. It should have been dark
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: outside by the time they were eating.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: That was funny that he was like the food critic.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: But again, he didn't have to be they just needed. Yeah,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: it was manufactured. Talking about this movie now makes me
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: kind of hate it, even though I liked it when
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: I watched it. And she was so hung up on
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: like holding onto this restaurant because it was her mother's
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: and this and that and whatever, and I thought, like,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: for I thought she needed to let the restaurant go,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: even though this was not a part of the story.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: I was like, she needs to let it go and
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: move on with her life because she's like too hung
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: up on grief.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Well, and she was too hung up on not changing
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: a single thing that her mother had done, as if
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: that would have, you know, tarnished her memory. I wrote,
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: stop saying goodbye in different languages. That isn't as charming
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Oh, that was so embarrassing. That was really cringey. I
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: was like embarrassed for him in those moments, Like how
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: you get embarrassed when you see people dance, Yeah this
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: or sing? Is it dance or sing or both? This
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: was like I was like, stop that, don't do that.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Stop that.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: There's a moment where David says to her, I understand
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: why you don't want it to end. Meeting all of
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: her Christmas traditions they don't have to end. Again, this
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: is manufactured conflict. She does not have to stop celebrating Christmas.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: She doesn't even have to begin celebrating Honkka if she
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: doesn't want to. Look, it would be perfectly possible for
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: her to meet her brother and sister and discover that
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: they have a close family friend who is David, and
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: they meet and they like each other, and there doesn't
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: need to be I'm just doesn't make a very interesting movie,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: But there doesn't need to be seventeen layers of conflict
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: in between meeting someone and deciding to start a relationship
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: with them.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Sure, but what really was the conflict that he was
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: leaving after the first year to go travel? Oh btw,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: did he pitch a book and get a book deal
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: about Italian food and Jewish heritage or something like that
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: in the timeframe we're talking in eight days, he pitched
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: a book and got a book deal and then was
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: going to travel to the Mediterranean or whatever to research food.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: I was like, really, what.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: These people can't get their holiday festivals started before Christmas Eve?
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: But apparently book deals work at lightning speed.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Seriously, So I just thought it was ridiculous. That he
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: was going to go on this trip, and she was
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: just like, I can't love anybody because I've been hurt
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: so badly and I've lost people I have loved. I
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: was just like, dude, you've just met this guy. Let
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: him go on his work trip and he will return
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: and then you guys pick it up where you left it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: At the beginning of the movie, there is a part
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: where she says something like she just wanted to find
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: some people to love, and I just was like, this
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: is the saddest person I've ever seen on TV in
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: my life, because like she did the DNA test to
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: find people to love and maybe love her back. Oh
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: my good.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: And are we to believe that she had this great
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: relationship with her mother but there was no other family involved,
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: and that they didn't build their own network of friends
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: that were like family to them. You know, if her
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: mother was this person who the community loved so much.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: I don't believe that you don't have this network of
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: people in your life that you have loved. It's not
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: just your mother is gone and you have no one.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: Is there anything that you wished for?
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: I wish Maybe I like this movie better than.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: You wish.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Maybe I hadn't talked about it. Yeah, the movie exactly.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I still kind of liked it. I thought it was cute.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: But I don't really wish for anything. I do wish
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: that Hallmark would have more than one Hanukkah movie. How
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: about that?
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, more than one non Christmas focused movie, right, Like,
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: can we talk about other winter traditions totally?
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Why don't they do that? Because they're because they know
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: who their base is promoting it as Christmas countdown theirs.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: And their base is a very like conservative Christian group
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: of people. I mean, I know people who are very
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: upset that there are gay characters in Hallmark movies. Oh
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: my goodness, and quite frankly, good riddance. Keep it going, Hallmark.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Don't stop. Don't let the haters slow you down. I
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: have two more things that I liked, actually, one of
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: the sweet father daughter moment at the.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: End, Yes, it's nice.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: And I also liked that I wrote that they I
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: like that they didn't wait until the end to start
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: falling for each other. So sometimes in these movies it's
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: like conflict right up until the last thirty seconds of
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: the movie, And in this we see those moments where
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: she's like putting her head on her shoulder, and she's
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: clearly enjoying his company. And I like when they give
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: us those glimpses because there was a movie earlier this
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: year with Alison Sweeney, and it's she and her coworker
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: fall in love, of course, but right up until the
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: very end of the movie, they basically hate each other. Yeah,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: even though they're secretly falling for each other. And it's
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: hard to believe in those moments, right, I need you
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: to give me the moments where I can see them
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: actually enjoying each other's company and liking each other. And
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: I feel like this movie gave that to us in
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: between moments of manufactured conflict. So I appreciated that we
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: do have a niece count in this movie, and it's
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: in fact a niece a nephew count. I liked them.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: I thought they were sweet.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I don't even remember them all.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Right, what are you giving this? Out of four stars?
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Two and a half.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: That's exactly what I was going to say, Yeah, sweet, fine,
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: didn't blow my mind.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: Would you watch it again?
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: No?
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Oh really, maybe you're such a Ben Savage stand that
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: you know, watch it again? No?
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: He gave me, like goofy vibes in this movie, like
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: thrown up fan Savage is somehow goofier than Childhood FN Savage. Alright,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: shall we transition to Christmas Comes Twice?
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, we're gonna.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: Change things up, and for this last synopsis, I'm gonna
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: read it. Christmas Comes Twice. Cheryl Jenkins is an astrophysicist
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: who works for the National Science Foundation reviewing grant applications
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: for projects. Although she'd prefer to be working on a
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: project of her own. Cheryl heads home to spend the
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: holidays with her family, and first on the agenda is
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: a visit to the annual Christmas Carnival with her sister Trish.
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: That's it, it's laughing about They just took two sentences
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: from a synopsis of that movie and and yep, that's it.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: That's That's the entire synopsis in the Countdown to Christmas.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: App There's nothing more about this magical carousel that she
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: gets on, or how about George? Nothing about yeah, or
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: I think they were phoning it in. Okay, So what
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: is your first impressions of Christmas Comes Twice?
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: So my first impressions are the same as my first
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: impressions of Love Lie Tonica and that is that I
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: enjoyed it. I thought it was fine. I have many
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: things to say, but it was okay. What are your thoughts?
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: So I enjoyed it at first, and then I fell asleep,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: so I didn't I didn't see the end of this movie.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Wait still, you still haven't seen the end.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: No, but let me guess what happens. She comes back
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: to the current day and she's in love with George.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Is that his name?
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: George? Yes, now let's chuck her. Let's just jump ahead
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: to the ending and discuss it right now. So she goes,
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: you know, the whole movie happens. She and George are
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: at the carnival and the carousel reappears, and she's gone
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: to tell George her feelings about him. She's run to
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: the carnival. She needs to tell George how she feels
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: about him. She sees George, she drops her scarf, she says, George,
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: a carousel, and then she goes running off. He follows her,
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: and she's like, look, it's here, it's here. And then,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: as I'm shouting at the TV, don't get on the
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: carousel again, she gets on and she goes, George, I
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: have to tell you. And then it starts to spin
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: and she goes, oh no, and I'm shouting jump off,
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: and the carousel takes her forward in time five years.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: She runs to her parents house, all is well, and
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: then she needs to go run and find George. She
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: finds George. He's holding her scarf, and apparently he's been
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: waiting for her for five years. First of all, George,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: why did you not get on the carousel and jump
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: ahead in time? I don't understand why he didn't just
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: follow her. We're to believe that he's just known that
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: she's loved him for five years and has just been
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: waiting for this night five years in the future. How
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: did he know when she was going to show up?
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: I don't know what was so dumb? I mean, didn't
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: she think she was going to go back into the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: current day.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: I'm sure she got back on, of course that's what
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: she thought. I don't understand she didn't have to get on.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: She was about to tell him how she felt, and
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: she's so amazed to see the carousel that she steps
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: on it and it propelled her forward in time. I
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: hated the ending of this movie. I'll be honest.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's so funny.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Is there anything you loved about this movie?
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: Oh? Not really. I loved her coat was Oh me too,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I did that, Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes I did notice.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Her coats were very beautiful and it makes me want
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: to live in a nice, cold town where I can
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: have a selection of beautiful coats to wear. There was
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: one scene there she was wearing a white coat and
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: I was like, eh, it's gonna get dirty, Like I
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: would never choose a white coat to wear. These are
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: my thoughts while I'm watching these movies.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Yes, it was. Her coats were beautiful though. I enjoyed that. Also,
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: she apparently has not aged in the past thirty years,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: because how old is she skin I've ever seen She's
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: got to be at least forty No, really forty two
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: years old. No way, she looks like a baby. Yeah
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: that's good, amazing.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: I have a few things to talk about here. First
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: of all, too much science talk for me. I was
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: like almost out with all that science y talk, like
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: when they were like doing the when they were doing
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: like the after school science program or whatever nonsense they
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: were doing, and she brings the lights and is talking
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: about how lights work. I was like, We're trying to
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: keep my eyes open.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: It was so full far, but I think the point, okay,
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: is going for you to be bored at that point, right,
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: like they're trying to say how bad she is at it?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Yes, but then I still was bored. When they all
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: went on their field trip to the Christmas carnival and
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: whatever they were looking for, I don't remember because I
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: was dozing off. So too much science talk for me.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: And then when she tells her former teacher that she's
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: time traveled, the teachers like, what that's possible, Like, doesn't
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: think maybe we should get her examined. Maybe did she
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: hit her head? Like what's happening?
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: What I don't understand about the former teacher. We know
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: that in the next five years, this teacher is going
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: to die. And her mother says, nobody could have known
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: she had a heart condition.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: But a heart condition, she could have warned her.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: She couldn't have said, hey, maybe you should just get
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: a check up this year. So I thought she meddled
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: too much in her sister's life. Who what was so
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: bad about her sister's life that she had to stop
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: her from being in the restaurant business, Other than it
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: was a hard business to be in. I couldn't tell
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: if I had missed a step. I didn't understand why
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: she was so dead set against her sister being in
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: the restaurant business, why she wanted her to be a
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: real estate agent.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, she kept interfering with I wrote, she's a Debbie
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Downer because she just would always tell her sister, that's
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: a terrible idea. Don't you know that this about don't
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: you know? Oh? That was awful. She meddled too hard
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: in the sister's life, not enough in the teacher's life.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: I agree. She's talking to her mother, and you know,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: she's saying, would you change anything if you went back
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: in time, And she said she would fix past mistakes.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: I just don't understand why they would not. She did
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: get a chance to tell her teacher how much she
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: meant to her, which I appreciated.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Well. I think her biggest past mistake was that she
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: took that job. There was too much hijinks with the
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: seeing that guy in the grocery store and then she
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: goes and sits down and has like an interview with him.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Just say no, you don't want the job.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: But what I don't understand is, I wrote, she clearly
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: doesn't want the job. Why does he want her there?
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Because in the interview she's saying, I don't think this
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: is a good fit for me, and he says, we
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: can make it work, we can make it work. She
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: doesn't want it, and then when she finally tells him no,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: they change the entire job. I don't it's not that
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: hard to turn a job down. I mean just say
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, thank you, but no thank you.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Well, that's how I was gonna ask, like, whatever resolved with
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the job, did she get the job she wanted or
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: did she become a teacher or did both?
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: So she gets the job, but they're going to allow
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: her to work part time from whatever, the same town
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: she's in, and then she's also going to teach part time.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: It felt like a very quick tying up of loose
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: ends to make it work so that she and George
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: can be together. Best part of this movie George.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Oh, I loved George. I thought it was funny, good looking. Yeah.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: I thought George was probably the highlight of the movie.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Very natural to watch. He didn't feel like he was
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: struggling to act these lines.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Do you ever see him in any other movies?
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Been in several Hallmark movies. He's also in Christmas on Wheels,
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: which comes out on I believe Christmas Eve on It's
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: a wonderful Lifetime Prime placement. Well done, Lifetime.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: He's played a character in one of our favorite shows,
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: The Bold Type. He was landing in one episode. I
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: don't remember.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: It was a great show. Terrible last season though. Is
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: there anything you wished about this movie? You wish that
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: you could fallen asleep?
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: I just yeah, I wish that it kept my interest
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: for an hour and forty minutes.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: I feel like it was all over the place. My
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: least favorite part of a time travel movie is the
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: confused arrival, when they're like stumbling around trying to figure
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: it out. And she even sees the posters that say
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: like buy your New Year's Eve tickets twenty fifteen, and
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: she's like, these are old Come on, what are these
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: old programs? Yes, Fester running the city streets to her
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: parents' house and they're not there than to their old
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: parents' house.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they drew that out a little bit too long.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: The confusion part when she and George are walking and
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: they're about to kiss, and her phone rings and she
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: stops and reaches in her pocket to answer the phone.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: Do not answer your phone? Did we not learn anything
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: from Laura Lenny and Love? Actually, every time I watched
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: that movie, I hope she won't answer her phone. Why
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: do you answer your phone when you're with the guy.
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Because it might be an emergency.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: I have the emergency after you have the kiss?
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Okay, I have one? Did you see that? So at
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: their Christmas carnival, which was kind of weak, there were
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: a ton of people there for this big annual event, right,
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: which I guess is probably a covid ishu because they
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: couldn't get a ton of extras or whatever. Every time
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: they showed the ferris wheel, there's nobody on it. It's
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: just going around and there's not a person on it.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: It's hilarious to me.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: Also the Barry go Round.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, they that was empty too, except for
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: there's one scene you can see there's a person on it,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: but for the most part was empty.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: That poor person had to ride it over and seriously.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: But then it maybe wish that, like our town had
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: a little Christmas carnival, Like how fun would that be? Like?
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: Why aren't there more Christmas carnivals and festivities in my city. Okay,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: so what are you rating this movie?
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: This movie gets a two for me. It gets points
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: for pretty actors and actresses and loses points for storyline
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: that I was not terribly invested in.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to give it a one and a half.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: It wasn't it was what didn't I give that other
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: time travel movie a Timeless Christmas? I thought this was
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: a I thought this was a better time travel story. Okay,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: but it still was not a great one. So I
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: give it a one and a half.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: I said this was better than a Timeless Christmas.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: And I hate the title of it too.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: Some Christmas comes twice, so dumb.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Someone commented in our votes that you should always vote
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: for the unintentionally sexual title, right.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I told my husband I wasn't going to mention it here,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: but I was like, this is the highlyest digestive title,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: if you know what I'm talking about.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: All right, friends, thank you once again for listening to
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: this episode of Girls Gone Christmas, a bonus episode from
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Long Story Short the podcast. Now we will not have
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: a new episode next week, but you should be following
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: us on Instagram because we will be continuing to watch
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: Allmark movies and we'll be sharing our thoughts there, along
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: with all of our holiday hygiene snow time traveling carousels there.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: Probably we will be back on January fifth with brand
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: new episodes. Until then, catch up on past episodes, leave
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: us the lovely gift of a rating and or a review.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: Hop into our Facebook group, which is Long Story Shorties.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: Visit us at Megan and Wendy dot com. Send us
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: an email Megan and Wendy at gmail dot com. We'd
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: love to hear from you. Happy holidays, everybody, Bye bye