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The Stars Between Us · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is a bramble Jam podcast.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a homework review podcast. I'm
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Megan and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: On today's episode, we're discussing The Stars Between Us, which
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: originally premiered on Saturday, February twenty first on the Hallmark
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Channel and is currently available to stream on Hallmark Plus. Hey,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: thanks for following us on Instagram. That is where we
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: update you on our schedule, especially last week, which we're
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: going to talk about in just a second. But we
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: are Girls Gone Hallmark. We're also dropping break in Hallmark
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: news over there. I believe next week we're going to
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: be dropping a behind the scenes day in the recording
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: life of vlog, So keep your eyes open for that.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Are we This is new news to me. It was
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: your plan, man, I don't even remember Megan mentioned last week.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I've been so sick and honestly like I feel like
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: I'm waking up to like all this new news. I'm like, oh,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: mistletoe murders, husband.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's in my notes to discuss all this, all
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: this stuff happening.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: So this behind the scenes vlog stuff. Are we doing
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: that like next Monday? Yeah, okay, I love it. Hey,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: we invite you to come join us on Patreon. We
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: are at patreon dot com slash Megan and Wendy. We
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: just recorded our monthly What's Good episode, Megan Deep's dives
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: into her newest hobby obsession. I do. It's a good one.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: It's a good one. I wonder how, I wonder how
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: popular it is amongst women our age. You know, we
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: see the lie the hobby. Yeah, we see it a
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: lot on TikTok because we consume a lot of that,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: you know content. But I'm curious, So come on over there,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: give us a listen. Patreon dot com slash Megan and Wendy.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I will say I brought up this hobby out a
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: dinner with friends last week, and there were eight of us,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: and every single one of them looked at me like
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I had a second head growing off of my shoulders.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: So really, yeah, it's funny when I realized that my
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: social media feed is not the same as everyone else's
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: social media feed, and the things that I see constantly
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: are not the things that are hitting their eyeballs.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: That's so interesting, very interesting.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Like they wouldn't They didn't know who Emily Kaiser was.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: I didn't bring her up, but they definitely wouldn't have known.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Wow.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So, as Wendy alluded to, I think it's relevant to
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: discuss the fact that the long awaited news that Missletoe
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Murders has been renewed for season three was announced last
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: week and the Internet rejoiced. I mean, finally, I mean,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: we have needed some good news, especially we haven't really
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: discussed it here, but Hallmark dropped kind of a cryptic
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: announcement about the future of their unscripted programming boom. They
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: didn't name names specifically, they didn't talk about specific shows,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: but they did say that they weren't going to be
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: putting a heavy focus on their unscripted programming, which I
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: think the writing is on the wall for our favorite
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: finding Mister Christmas. And so we needed some good news
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and we got it in the form of a Missletoe
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Murders announcement. We're thrilled for the whole team over there.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: You know, we'll be here watching it and reviewing it.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm not happy about this unscripted announcement, Oh no.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: And you know, well, I spend a lot of time
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: on Reddit and people are like, oh, thank god, I
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: don't watch any of that stuff anyway, And I just like,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: why aren't people no fun?
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: You know?
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Friend of the show, Alonzo Geraldi had shared a I
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: believe it was on Blue Sky. He shared that article
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: and he was like, in a long running strategy for
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Hallmark to immediately abandon something that doesn't find its audience immediately.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: And I thought it was such an interesting take, like
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: this is brand new for your Hallmark audience, this unscripted programming,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: and you do really have to maybe give it time,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: like to marinate and to find its people and for
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: people to open up their eyes to the possibility that
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: this might be.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Something that they're interested in.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: And I appreciated his take that it was like, oh, they.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Just let it go, yeah, and to piggyback on that
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: because I'm not gonna say it because we're influencers, but
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: like I got people watching finding Mister Christmas who have
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: never watched Hallmark the same same. So if Hallmark is
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: trying to so whide in their audience base and then
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: shut it down after one season, it just makes me like,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: what are you doing? What are we doing over there? Anyway? Anyway? Weather.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: What other big news? Is there any other big news
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: I need to be filled in on.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Have we discussed that there's a release date for The
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Way Home. I'm not sure that we've discussed that here.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: I don't think so April sometime.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: April nineteenth, Sunday April nineteenth, which.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, back to Sundays.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Back to Sundays as a return back to Sundays, and
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: if you look at the calendar, that will take us
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: into June, the end of June, assuming we do the
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: same ten episode lineup that we've done in.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: The past, so late for them this year. I know.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Now, I was gonna save this for a mail bag,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: but I think I'm going to bring it up here.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: We got a suggestion from a listener. Have you read
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: this email by now? It's about the Count of Monte Cristo.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Oh yo, wait what was that in that way? Oh?
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: The way to you? Is that what? It was called
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: the Yes movie in the Rebruary.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Core oct listener Jennifer emailed us and we had kind
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: of discussed, like we kind of threw on a bunch
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: of ideas. We're like, should we read this, should we
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: watch it?
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Should we do a book club?
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: While she dropped some knowledge, and that is that PBS
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: is going to be airing a mini series of The
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Count of Monte Cristo. Oh it's brand new, yes, starting
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: on March twenty second, and it will be airing weekly.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: But because Jennifer is thinking like a planner, she says,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: this is a production that has already aired overseas, and
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: so if you sign up for PBS Passport, which I
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: assume is their streaming service, all episodes will be available
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: March first, so you and I would have access to them,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: and then we could release those reviews as they drop
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: on PBS. So she actually said potentially for Patreon. I
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: just love the way Jennifer thinks. Uh, it's just something
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: to think about.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Jennifer, I want to join our team, right, do.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: You want to become our business manager, Jennifer, our content planner.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I am totally into this, okay, And here's what she says. Also,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: I think it might make more sense to read the
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: book after the TV show because of how soon it starts.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: And also I feel less disappointed by changes in an
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: adaptation if I read the source material afterwards rather than before.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: I love that, okay, yeah, because it will take me
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: forever to read a book. But yeah, I would totally
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: do this, and not for Patreon. I think we should.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I think so too. And the girl's gone homewark for
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: you can. I think so to Jason, I think so too.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: It could be fun. Same audience would be down for this.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: The lead actor is a man named Sam Kaflin, who
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: she says was in Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and mocking Jay,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: among other things. I'm going to look and see. Oh,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Sam Kaflin's a real wowie's howie? Oh it's claff. I
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: think it's Klaughlin. I think I mispronounced his name. He
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: is an English actor. Let me see if there's anything
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: that I recognize him. And oh, he was in Daisy
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Jones and the Six. He played Billy Dunn. Did you
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: watch that TV series?
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: I sure did. Peaky Blinders. Oh my god, he's real handsome.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh he was in He's the lead in me.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Before you get the heck out of here, we need
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: to do this.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm into it. You heard it here first, folks.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: I love it. I'm super excited about it. Yeah. I
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: totally recognize this guy. Yeah, yea, yeah, yeah, I'm into it.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: That's fun, super fun. I love the suggestion. Oh good,
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I'm so glad I didn't do it. I didn't want to.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: I didn't send it to you while you were sick
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: because I knew you're gonna be like, I can't even
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: think about.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: This right now.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: So I'm glad that it's it's falling on willing errors
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: right now.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: That's exciting. Yeah, very exciting. So okay, well we'll figure
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: out it will be in March though, sometime, right.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it drops in late March, so we will. Yes,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: we will figure out our schedule. We'll publish that over
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: on Instagram. Girls Gone Homemark.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm guessing we're going to be Oh. I know
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: there has been some questions too if we're going to
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: do Hope Valley. Oh.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: I thought we had already committed to doing Hope Valley.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: I thought we had committed to doing it too. But
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: I saw an email from somebody saying, oh, are you
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: guys doing Hope Valley. The answer to that is, yes, Yes,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: we are going to do Hope. We are. I'm going
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: to tell you I'm not that excited about it.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: No, I'm I'm I'm reserving judgment. I don't know what
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: I think I will say. We are committing to doing
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Hope Valley season one.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Yes, Yes, we'll see it through and then we'll see
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: So March sounds busy and we have a weird schedule ourselves.
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: Well, now it's time to discuss the Stars between Us,
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: so let's hear a synopsis.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Seven years ago, Kim made a connection with a stranger
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: during an eclipse event. Now a Fledglen News reporter, Kim
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: returns to Illinois for this year's eclipse, unaware that their
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: paths may cross again.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: Michael Robinson directed The Stars Between Us. Michael is the
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: director behind ninety two projects, including a slew of Hallmark
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: hits A Few Girls Gone. Hallmark favorites include both An
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Unexpected Christmas and an Unexpected Valentine, as well as Adventures
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: in Love and Birding.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Tim Huddleston wrote The Stars Between Us. Tim has four
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: previous writing credits, including Simpson Sensibility from twenty twenty four
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: on Hallmark. Sarah Drew stars as Kim We Know and
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Love her as Emily on miscletone Murders, but her fifty
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: four acting credits include roles in Hallmark Like One Summer
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: and Guiding Emily. You will also appear in the biopic
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Jimmy about James Stewart, due for theatrical release later this year.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: That's interesting. Anytime I think it Jimmy Stewart, I think
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of Chris Paula hud same And I don't think we've
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: ever seen that Christmas movie that I agree we have not.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I can't even tell you what movie it is right
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: now off the top of my head, but I feel
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: like I might have to write Christmas in July. I
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know. Matt Long appears as Malcolm.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Matt got his star in the one season series Jack
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and Bobby in two thousand and four, a show that
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: appears to be well loved by fans, but unfortunately is
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: not streaming anywhere. Matt also appeared on mad Men and
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: this series Manifest. He hasn't been seen on Hallmark since
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Christmas Joy in twenty eighteen, making this a very welcome return.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: I would like to note that I don't know what
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: it was that caused me to go down an absolute
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: rabbit hole about this year Jack and Bobby, but I did,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: and let me tell you the reviews of that show.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Everything I came across was this is the best thing
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: the WB has ever done. This show should have gone
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: on for more than one season. It was never released
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: on DVD, It never streamed anywhere. It may be available
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: on everyone's favorite video watching site for free, and I
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: may have started watching it there and it is really
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: good and I am enjoying it. So I hope the
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: powers that be don't come and get rid of it
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: before I finish it, because I will be I was
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: about to order the DVDs on Amazon because I was
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: so into this show.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: But they don't exist. They were never created. Question, he
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: plays like the older brother? Correct, he plays Bob. He
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: plays Jack. Oh, he plays Jack? Okay two thousand and four.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: I mean that was a lot of years ago.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: Was he like a teenager twenty okay? Okay, okay, Yeah,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: he plays The show is about technically, the show is
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: set in the future. It's about a president in the
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: year like twenty forty something, and it's set in two
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: timelines in the future basically in documentary style interviews with
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: people who were adjacent to the president, and then in
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: the quote present day timeline of Jack and Bobby as
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: teenagers in high school. And so we flash back and
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: forth and we get like the future vice president and
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: the future Chief of Staff and the future First Lady
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: and all of these people talking about the brother that
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: will become the future president. It's very interesting. I'm really
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: liking it.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Awesome.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: And Christine Baranski's in it, and she plays this like
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: truly unlikable mother and well, like I'm torn about whether
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: or not I should like her or not. Anyway, I
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: recommend it, but okay, there's nowhere to recommend it. Donna
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Benedicto plays Claire in this film. Donna has a total
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: of sixty nine acting projects, and we recently saw her
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: in The More the Merrier. Her other Hallmark projects include
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: The Professional Bridesmaid, Sweet Carolina, and Jingle Bell throw Back.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Grayson Guernsey is taking a break from his role as
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Nick on Virgin River to play Read. Grayson has twenty
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: four acting credits and this is his second appearance on
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Hallmark after appearing in a garage sale mystery film from
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: twenty seventeen.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Junipa Laguten plays Meredith. This is Junica's twelfth acting project
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: and her first appearance on Hallmark.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Benjamin Wilkinson appears as Steve. Benjamin has one hundred and
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: eleven acting projects under his belt, ranging from Hallmark projects
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: like Family Practice Mysteries and Wynn Calls The Heart to
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Family Law and The Good Doctor.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Catherine Evans plays Samantha. Although Catherine was in Gilded Newport Mysteries,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: her typical acting projects you much more in the science
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: fiction direction, with credits in The Mysterious Benedict Society, Supernatural
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: and six.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Kevin O'Grady is Pete Whittaker. He played Detective Lynn wil
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: in the Grodshell Mystery series and was recently seen in
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Christmas Above the Clouds.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Iris Quinn plays Beth. Iris has a long resume of
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Hallmark titles, including The Wish Swap and The More the
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: Merrier from twenty twenty five. Let's take a quick break
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: and we'll come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy,
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: what was your first impression of the stars between us?
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Well, the whole time I kept saying, don't look directly
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: at the eclipse, and all I can think about was
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: that one president who's do it with exactly that.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: My first impression is if you've seen Virgin River, this
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: is the natural progression from the character of Nick to read.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: I didn't think you watched that show. I've seen the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: first couple of seasons. Oh, I like to read me too.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: I like his character.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Nick, he's like him on Rogin River two.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, spoiler friends, Megan told me she didn't really
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: like this movie. Well, let's talk about it. I don't
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: know that's fully accurate. Go ahead. Do you feel disappointed
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: because this was the one you were looking forward to
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: the most? A little bit, A little bit, Okay, it's
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: not that I didn't like the movie.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: It's that it wasn't what I expected it to be,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: and I think it was sold as a very different
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: movie from.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: What it is. Okay, tell me more. Let me tell
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: you what I do like. Okay.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: I think Sarah Drew always hits. I think always I
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: would watch her to do anything. I find her incredibly charming.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: I think she's great as Kim in this movie. I
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: really enjoyed a lot of the relationship she developed in
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: this movie. I liked her friendship with her camera woman Claire.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: I liked the way she talked to her daughter. I
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: liked the relationship she had with her mom when they're
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: sitting on the couch after she puts her daughter to bed.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: I thought that's also aspirational. I liked so much about her.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: She's always good.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: She's always good. I need like a because we've watched
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: a lot of her movies, but not every movie. Yeah,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: we need to do a Sarah Drew collection. So yeah,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: I feel like we do. I really like her. You know,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: it's funny because I know you said she had a
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: really big, long roll on Gray's. Is that right? April
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Kopner and we were recently talking about kim Matula and
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: You're like, I don't feel like kim Mitula is long
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: for homework, Like she's so much more. Yeah, and I
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: kind of feel like Sarah Drew is in that lane too.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I do too.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: I think also, we know that she's a working mom,
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: and I'm fully projecting here, but I think maybe there's
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: part of her that likes the flexibility that comes with
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Hallmark projects, knowing that there a few weeks and then
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: she gets to be back home and she doesn't have
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: to be on location for six months at a time.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: M I don't know. I don't know. Well, I agree
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: with you. I thought she was great, and I was
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: a little bit nervous going into this because I'm so
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: attached to her as Emily Lane. Yeah, I mean even
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: after just two seasons. Like, I love her as Emily Lane,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: but I like the way that she played the character
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Kim here because she was a little more like self
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: doubting and a little awkward and felt very relatable, I thought.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: And you know, we do get to see her. She
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: does have these like comedic beats as Emily Lane, but
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: in here she also had like this like comedic tone
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: that was like nervous energy, you know, a little anxious.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And I really enjoyed her as Kim in this. I
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: liked her playing this role of Kim. I liked Kim.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: She made me root for Kim. I liked her a
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: lot in this. She was great.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: If I can piggyback on what you just said, I
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: think there's quite a bit of relatable content in this movie.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: We talked a little bit about Read. You know, he
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: can't he's young, he can't really seem to get his
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: feet underneath him. He has a lot of potential but
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: can't really get it together. And then we have Kim
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: who's feeling a little bit torn between her career and
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: motherhood and chasing balance, which is something highly relatable to
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: you and I. And then we even have Malcolm who
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: kind of believes that he just needs to be in
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: front of the right person that's going to be the
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: thing that gets his book across the finish line. And
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: I think each one of those moments is relatable to
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: somebody in some way. I think they brought real people
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: and real struggles into the storyline of this movie.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Agree. Agree, Let's talk Matt Long. Okay. I loved him,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: and I know we didn't get a ton of him. Yeah,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk some more about that in a little bit,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: But I really liked him. I thought I thought he
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: felt believable as this you know, professor. He wasn't smug,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: he was passionate about what he was doing. He was
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: he had that student like assistant or whatever. He was
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: like helping her. Like he was just like this good guy.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I would absolutely like to see him in more Hallmark. Yeah,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I don't you agree. He's not a Tyler Hines, but like,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: I just found him so enjoyable, kind of like a
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: breath of fresh air when we get a lot of
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: like the same. No shade to Evan Roderick. I love
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: him a lot, but like, like that's a dude that's
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: been in a lot of projects in the last year,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Like I don't like that a little bit. Yeah, and
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: you know, if you remember, I think I think his
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: name is Aaron O'Connell. I can't remember exactly, but the
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: guy that was in the Subway movie. Like I was
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: like whatever, I really liked him, Like, give me more
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: of him too, Like I love these like fresh faces.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Which is interesting because you were not super excited about
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: any of these fresh faces coming into this movie. So
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: it's such a pleasant surprise when we get that. As
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: speaking of fresh faces, Grayson Guernsey as discussed, he's a
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: regular on Virgin River. He's been in forty something episodes
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: over there. But I think he does such a nice
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: job as the bumbling read. He gives me kind of
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: like same as like Mason in The Curious Caterer Mystery.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I really enjoyed it.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: He brought a level of comic relief to this movie
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: that was necessary in there's so much astronomy and astrology
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: talk in this movie that we needed that level of
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: comedy to.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Lighten it up.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: And I think it was nice to have Sarah as
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Kim does such a nice job being both completely frustrated
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: with him. You know, she kind of gets to bring
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: that like sarcastic, comedic energy in those moments with him,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: but she also gets to be a little bit of
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: a role model and a mentor and letting him know
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: that success is ahead of him. I loved their relationship.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: I thought he was such a nice addition to this movie.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. I liked that dynamic of
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the trio, the cameraman and the producer and Kim. I
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: thought they had like this nice rhythm. Yeah, and I
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: agree with you, Like I love that Kim could be
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: both like frustrated with him, like read, get it together,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: you know, don't walk in my shot or whatever, and
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: then but also very supportive of him. Right.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I just have the note that I think a
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: lot of care was taken in casting this movie from
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: top to bottom.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: You know, none of these.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Characters are throwaway side characters. Casting Iris Quinn as Beth
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: is great. Her daughter Anna, whose name is I think
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Phoenix Alice, who we didn't put on our news and notes.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I thought she was great, the villain news caster. I mean, yeah,
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: you know, to include Kevin O'Grady. There's a lot of
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: great casting in this movie. Like all of these side
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: characters were well chosen.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. One last thing that I
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: liked is the near misses in this movie. They weren't
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: they weren't. They didn't feel super ridiculous. And if you
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: recall the movie We Met in December, where those two
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: had so many near misses. But the difference is in
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that movie the two were like actively searching for each other,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: and this movie they were not, like they didn't even
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: know each other were in the same Yeah, yeah, that's nice.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: You know, so like the missues like were felt more frustrating. Yeah,
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: they felt more faded than like you know, like, okay,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I hear. That was my biggest frustration. And with we
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Met in December, like that was it felt like absurd.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: This felt realistic to me.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's almost like how many I don't know.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: You can't help but think, like is that happening to
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: me in my life? Like this is someone that I
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: just keep missing one tiny baby like is I did
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: love her white dress with a pleated skirt and the
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: button down sweatter. I don't think it was a two piece.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: I thought it was a dress.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Thought it was great. I loved her outfitting too. Let's
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: talk wishes. Okay, maybe this is yours, but it's certainly mine.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I wanted more Kim and Malcolm screen time. I think
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: maybe is this your biggest complaint is that, like the
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: movie was sold on these two being like these star
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: cross lovers or whatever. I mean, not really, but that's funny.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I that is among my biggest complaints about this movie.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I mean I enjoyed like their their initial
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: meet cute was very sweet, with the exception like her
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: fiance looked twenty years younger, like he looked right teenager.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: I was like, what is hopen?
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but she's supposed to be so much younger than too,
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: so I guess yeah, I don't know. It just was like, Okay,
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: it was hard to like root for them because, like,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: we don't know anything about these two as a couple. Yes,
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: that is my biggest complaint. It's not only that they
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: don't spend enough time together on screen. It's that we
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: because they don't get enough time on screen, we don't
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: get to see their feelings bloom for each other. We
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: don't get to see that end moment. Look, it is
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: possible that they each had their this is the one
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: that got away feeling in their hearts, and we do
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: I thought they did a nice job of hinting at
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: that when we see the parallel scenes of them echoing
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: each other's words, but I have the exact phrasing. It
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: wasn't enough for me to root for their relationship. And
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Sarah and are so good that in that moment at
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: the eclipse where they reconnect, they do such a nice
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: job of bringing that cute, flirty, oh my god, like
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: that level of energy to it, But it wasn't enough
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: for me to be like, oh, I think we'll be
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: together at the next whatever it is, like the xt
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: time this happens to be Like, it was enough for
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: them to be like, hey, let's get it drink after,
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: but the level of feeling that they had for each
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: other wasn't as earned, and that was a disappointment for me.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we never saw him pining after her for years
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: and years and years.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: Anything about him other than his professional life.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly, And then we know from her like
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: she had like a busted marriage or whatever. But like,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you and I could be like, oh, remember
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: that one guy that we met like twenty years ago.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I wonder if he was the one actually twenty years ago,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: because I've been married longer than that. But you know
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: what I mean? Sure, I do know what you mean.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: I would never be like if I divorced my husband today,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: I would never go, oh, I wonder what happened to
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: that guy from nineteen ninety four? Right, you know?
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Never Well, now to your point, if you were like, hey,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: this is Joey, I'd be like, who the F is Joey?
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Because I have not seen the intervening thirty five years
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: in which you've been like, oh, Joey.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Right, So.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: For our husband's there is no actual person named Joey.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: F why I And I think that speaks to there
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: is a lot going on in this movie. There's multiple
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: characters with different wants and needs, and sometimes that really
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: works out. But I think in this case it came
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: at a cost, And as mentioned, the cost was a
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: lack of relationship building between Malcolm and Kim. We haven't
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: really talked about Claire and Travis, but it's much easier
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: to root for their relationship because we saw it developing.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: We saw Claire goes to Kim and Claire goes, I'm.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: In love, No, I'm in like right.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: We see those moments. We see them standing behind Malcolm
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: while they're like holding hands and he's like, I'm gonna
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: give you to a moment, right. We see all of
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: that develop, and so it's so much easier to be like, oh,
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: they're so cute, this is so fun. We need to
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: be shown some of these things instead of just told them.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like even if they would have shown Kim like
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: know who who? Malcolm was over him here? Yeah? Yeah,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: something something. I was annoyed with the masquerade scene. First
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: of all, why are you having a masquerade party at
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: your clothes? I know, I understand you can't see people.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: I don't. Yes, I'm like, how do you you are
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: a redhead? Megan?
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: You stand out?
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: You've stid Oh I don't know why this They didn't this,
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: It didn't clock this guy at I'll go like, oh,
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: I was so taken back by this one redhead that
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: I met seven years ago in this exact same location
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: and you don't even like think.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Maybe that's her, like maybe, I know, I know, frustrating.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: That was frustrating. Okay, I have one more. I know
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: you liked it, but I just thought it was a
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: lot of like mom on FaceTime, Oh huh, like come on, okay, yeah, okay,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: doesn't feel realistic to you. It was twenty four hours,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: she got a five year old. I don't know. It
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: was adorable, but it was a lot. Yeah, I hear you.
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: I just think they were trying to sell the notion
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: of she's like trying to be everything to everyone. That
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: is too hard. Agree, Yeah, she's got to learn that.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: You know, you just have to be one hundred percent
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: of what you are in that moment.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, Okay, exactly, Yes, let's talk. Did you see
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: that freezer burn as a nickname is a savage burn.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: It's mean, it is mean, but it made me laugh.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: Now, can I ask you? Because it's possible that I
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: missed it, but I don't think I did. Did they
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: ever actually show that scene? I don't think so. Oh
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: so that really I should have put it on my wishes,
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: But show was that like they talk about it so much,
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: like they should have just shown it at some point
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: of her just malfunctioning.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean I feel bad because I know
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: maybe they had it at some point and they cut it.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: But I thought it was kind of a funny. It
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: was funny. I thought it was funny. I hated the
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: on air flirting situation, like when they finally become face
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: to face, like you didn't tell me, she didn't go Hi,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: I'm Kim. I'm going to interview, like they turned and
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: looked at each eye time on air, Give me a break.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: And then they have this look. You know, things gotta
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: be snappy and tight on live television, right, Like there's
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: no way they're having like this sort of length personal revelations.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Oh why what she wants is.
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: To be this field reporter. Get it together and act
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: like a professional. Yeah, stop making googly eyes at him. No,
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: stop it, stop it, stop it.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I have two.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: Digit see that one's a true Did you see that?
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: It's so nippicky. But when they take the Salfie photo,
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: she takes it in landscape, and when she shows her
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: the photo with like Malcolm cut off shockingly, which there
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: was nothing in the way. What happened to that photo? Anyway,
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: it's in portrait.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Love it My last did you see that? Is? You know?
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: DIGITU that adjacent? But I did look and Carpondale, Illinois,
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: was in the path of totality for both the twenty
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: seventeen and twenty twenty four total solar eclipse.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: Oh interesting, so I thought I had read somewhere that
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I was like, oh, the chances of that are so slim.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: But well, this was known as the eclipse Crossroads of America.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: It was one of the few locations to experience totality
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: twice in seven years, and the next total solar eclipse
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: will not occur in this area for roughly three hundred years.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Oh wow. Interesting. So I just had to know, And
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: it's true.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: I did see someone. They were like, although this does
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: take place in Carbondale, it was not filmed there.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, no kidding. Sorry, I don't mean to
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: be a jerk, but I mean, no kidding. This was
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: real science heavy.
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: I tuned out. I honestly tuned out. I was like,
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: don't care. I'm sorry.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Sometimes I cared it, I didn't care. On top of it.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: On top of it, we have like our Hallmark Hall
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: of Fame movie is also science heavy. Oh. At some
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: point I actually loved the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Come Back. So did Good So did I. But I
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: was like, how weird is it that two movies in
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: one week? That's like science heavy. Yeah, I gotta admit.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: I although I heavily identify as a virgo don't really
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: care about astrology that much, and so when they're trying
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: to make the astrology astronomy, I was like, you don't care.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't care either, sorry at all. I'm a jure,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: but I was just like, you know, I just let
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: to be static. I mean, you didn't come back for
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: the bun stuff. Yeah. On the flip side, though, I'm like, okay, cool,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Like I don't in our six years, I don't think
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: we've seen a movie that I agree astronomy.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: I thought the idea, I you know, look I said,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: I thought the idea was really cool in our first impression.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: I loved the eclipse setting. I loved these characters. I
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: had high hopes. I thought it had a lot going
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: for it, and some people really liked it. The opinions
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: are really split. Some people really really enjoyed it. I
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: didn't hate it, had a lot that worked for me,
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: but I had some notes.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Okay, So on Matt, what did you rate this movie
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: three point five stars? I gave it four stars? Right.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Hallmark,
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, friends,
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: we do still and always will love your five star
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: ratings and reviews. If you're an Apple podcast user, especially,
• 34:31
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• 34:35
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• 34:37
  Speaker 2: you're feeling extra generous, type in a quick review about
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: why you love this podcast. Makes a huge difference. We'll
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: be back next time with more Hallmark reviews. Goodbye bye.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: All right, friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: you're about to hear some ads.
• 35:03
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• 35:04
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  Speaker 1: Bye.