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Follow the Stars Home · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is a bramble Jam podcast. Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: a Hallmark review podcast. I'm Megan and I'm a longtime
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Hallmark fan. I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater. On
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: today's episode, we're discussing Follow the Stars Home as part
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of our look back on Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: This movie originally aired in two thousand and one, and
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: you can stream it right now on Hallmark Plus. Keep
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: up with us on Instagram where we are Girls Gone Hamewark.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: We're sharing clips from recent episodes, our upcoming schedule. Fun
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Hallmark News over there. Once again, we are Girls Gone
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Hallmark on Instagram.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Hey, thanks to everybody who has written into our brand
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: new email address. Hello at Girls Gone Hallmark dot com.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Question for you, Megan, are we saving those up for
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: a mailbag episode this month?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Of course? Yeah, we already did one February mail bag,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: but we''re gonna definitely have enough to do a second.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: So keep your ears peeled for a mailbag episode coming soon.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: I love it. Let's hear a synopsis for Follow the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Stars Home. Okay, before I jump in, I have a
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: question for you. Yeah, I really like these movies me too,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: and I wouldn't mind if we reviewed more of them.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Let's do it, should we? I'm totally open to that.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Okay, So guys, our schedule is available on Instagram. Like
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Meghan said, what Hallmark Hall of Fame movies we are
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: reviewing this month? If there is a movie you think
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: we should watch, please email us hello at Girls Gone
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Hallmark dot com or jump into the dms or join
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: our Girls Gone Homemark Facebook group. I would like to
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: know what other people would want us to watch from
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: the Hallmark Hall of Fame because there's a whole bunch
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: of them.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Totally, it is an enormous list. We did have some
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: recommendations in our Facebook group, but yeah, tell us your favorites.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: That's it. I just when I was putting my notes together,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I was like, you know what, these movies are really good.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: They really are really good.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: So that might be a spoiler into my review today,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: I'll follow the stars home. But here is the synopsis.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Are you ready? M M?
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: After Diane becomes pregnant, routine test revealed that the child
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: will suffer severe genetic defects. Diane's husband decides that having
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: a disabled child is not something he can bear.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And leaves. She decides to keep the baby. This movie
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: originally aired on May two thousand and one on CBS
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame Anthology. I
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: did try to find viewership on this movie because I
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: was so blown away by the number of people who
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: watch The Magic of Ordinary Days when it originally premiered,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: But I could not find anything. Unfortunately, all Right.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: This movie was directed by Dick Lowry. Lowry is best
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: known for made for TV dramas, with more than sixty
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: directing credits. Notable projects include one of My childhood favorite
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: made for TV movies, A Woman Scorn, The Betty Broaderick
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Story and its seql her Final Fury, Betty Broderick, The
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Last Chapter.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: One of your childhood favorites. The Betty Broaderick Story is
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: old enough to be from your childhood because I remember
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: it having a resurgence in like the last seven or
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: eight years.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, I watched this as a child. Now do you
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: understand the kind of content that I like.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: I just didn't realize the story was was less recent
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: than I thought. So she's been in prison forever.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: I don't know those details, but I feel like it
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: was the eighties.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, that's a wild story, super wild. And they
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: were from Sandy Ago right now, she's in prison in
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: like the Inland Empire. I think, oh really, yeah, I
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: think so.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I gotta tell you too. There was a like a
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: reboot of the Betty Baroderick story.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's what I'm envisioning fairly recently.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: It was during the pandemic. I remember watching it in
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty. It stars Christian Slater and Amanda Pete, and
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Amanda Pete is freaking fantastic as Betty Broderick. I mean,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: you know, but I was suggests watching it and that
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: was episodic, you know.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: I remember watching it and it made me so angry.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: I don't think I finished it. I was like, I can't,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I can't watch this. I'm so mad at these people.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Totally moving on. This movie was written by lew Anne
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Rice and Sally Robinson. Rice wrote the original novel Follow
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the Stars Home, and she and Robinson collaborated on the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: screenplay adaptation. Kimberly Williams Paisley stars as Diane. With more
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: than sixty acting credits. She's best known for a Father
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: of the Bride from nineteen ninety one and has an
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: extensive Hallmark resumes, currently part of the series nine to
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: one to one Nashville. We just started watching Father of
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: the Bride as a family the other night. We didn't finish,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: but why.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: You just didn't get it all the way through, or because.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: One of us got real tired had to go to
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: bed and it wasn't me, okay, Campbell Scott plays David.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Scott brings a deep film and TV resume with nearly
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: one hundred credits. Many viewers remember him opposite Julia Roberts
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: in Dying Young from nineteen ninety one. More recently, he's
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: voiced The Food That Built America and appeared in Elsbeth.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: That's the show you watch, right, Yeah, but I think
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: he's only in like one episode. I don't think he's
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: a regular exactly, but I mean he he's the narrator
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: on a show called The Food That Built America, which
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: I'm not even sure what channel that airs on. Maybe
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Food Network right?
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Oh?
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: No, I don't know either, but it was like hundreds
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: of episodes. Oh.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Eric Close appears as Mark. Close is known for long
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: running TV roles on Without a Trace and Nashville. Most recently,
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Hallmark audiences saw him in To Have and To Holiday
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: from twenty twenty four.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Alexa PenaVega plays tween Amy. The same year this film aired,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: she starred in her first Spy Kids. She now has
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: over one hundred acting credits and last appeared on Hallmark
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: in Never Too Late to Celebrate in twenty twenty three.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: As I'm watching this, I'm like, Oh, that's that's Alexa PenaVega. Like,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: I didn't realize like she was a child in this movie.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The only reason I realized it early on was
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I saw Alexa Vega in the opening credits, and then
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: when she popped on the screen, I was like, Hey,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I was really surprised by her. I'm gonna talk about
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: it more in My Likes okay. Blair Brown plays Mom Hannah.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: She's mom to Diane anyway. She is a five time
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Amy nominee for the series The Days and Nights of
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Molly dadd Brown has an extensive career, with major roles
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: in Fringe and Orange is the New Black. Roxanne Heart
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: plays Tess. With a long television resume, She's appeared in Chicago, Hope, Medium,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: and How to Get Away with Murder.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Tim Ransom plays Buddy. He has more than sixty acting credits,
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: including appearances in Law and Order, SPU Without a Trace,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: and Bones.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Amanda Fine and Caitlin Fine appear as Julia. Amanda later
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: transitioned into writing, with credits including The Loudhouse. Caitlin's most
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: recent acting credit dates to twenty twelve. Octavia Spencer appears
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: as Hildy. She won the Academy Award in twenty twelve
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: for The Help. If that name does not ring a bell,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: we can't help you. Let's dig it quick, rag and
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy, what
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: is your first impression of Follow the Stars Home?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: You thought I was upset about raised treatment of the
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: family dog in the Magic of Ordinary Days A Buckle up, friends,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: buckle the FI up.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: The Wish's section gonna be lit. My first impression is, wait,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: I've seen this movie on TikTok. What I think you
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: need to add some backstory here? I would love to
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: On TikTok, I often get served clips of television shows
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: and movies and I watch them and they're often just
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: compelling enough to have people in the comments going, wait,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: what's that movie? Wait? What show is this? I see
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: clips from shows like er Gray's Anatomy. It's often medical
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: shows because there's often something like salacious, but all kinds
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: of shows. And I've seen several clips from this movie
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: and thought that seems very compelling. The clips, look, they're
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: in my digity that I'll tell you right now since
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: we're talking about it, that I've seen multiple times are
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: the one in the doctor's office where Amy meets Julia
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: for the first time, where she says, like what she got,
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and the scene with Amy and Julia talking about the watch.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: I've also seen as well. And so as soon as
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: I saw her in that doctor's office, I was like,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I've seen this movie before.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: I've seen this movie and at thirty seconds, that's right,
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: that's right. That would really mess my brain up because
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: I would be questioning the entire time, like, have I
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: actually watched.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: This movie previously? Oh? No, I knew exactly where I
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: had seen it. I knew exactly where I had seen
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: it too. Funny, although I would say I'm not entirely
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: sure that I haven't seen this movie before. I mean,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: it was twenty five years ago. It's definitely possible. It
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: is possible. I'm trying anything. May sixth two thousand and
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: one like I was. I got married in July two
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: thousand and one, so it's possible. Like I was kind
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: of busy during that time, Like I wasn't watching CBS
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Made for TV movies. No, that's the weekend I graduated
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: from college. Oh look at you remember the exact weekend,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the first weekend in May two thousand and one. Yeah,
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: oh my god. That must have been a Sunday, right,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: because I feel like I graduated on the fifth. I
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: would imagine this was a Sunday night movie. It was
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: a Sunday, May sixth That's right. You're so happy and
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: proud when I remember something I really am. Let's talk
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: about what we liked about follow the Stars Home?
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: Can I start go for it? Okay, So this movie
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: tricked me. I thought it was gonna be like a
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: regular Hallmark setup, like you know, she picks the wrong
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: brother and the right brother and then like there's romantic
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: tension and like a triangle and all this stuff, right,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: But instead we get a story about a mother's love
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: choosing a child over the version of the life you
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: were promised.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: And I was like, WHOA. I did not see that coming.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I didn't see any of this coming. When it opens
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: on that scene with her and Alexa Vega at the
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: time before she and her husband combined their last names,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I noticed that Amy called her Diane, and I was like,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, what's their relationship? And then of course
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: we rewhind. I had no idea where we were going
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: with this movie.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Me too, And at time I was like, at the
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: very beginning, I was like, oh, is Amy the child
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: that they thought was going to have these severe disabilities?
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: And didn't you know?
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: It was a little bit confusing the start, And that
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: actually comes up in my wishes.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, I mean it all worked out. This cast is
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: so stacked. I mean, we are coming at this from
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: a Hallmark perspective. Obviously, we know just from looking at
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: last week Homewark Hall of Fame very different. These Movie
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: of the Weeks did draw in a different level. I mean,
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: I think it was probably a get to be cast
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: in the movie of the Week. I don't know. I mean,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: you got Octavia Spencer, all these people who I mean
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: Octavia freaking Spencer. When they panned by her in the
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: library the first time, I was like, excuse me, spend
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: a little more time on Octavia Spencer.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: Such a small little role, but she hadn't like become like, sure,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: the big actress she is now, you know, you know
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: a lot of them hadn't at the time for sure.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: But the cast is fantastic. It adds a lot of
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: weight to the movie itself. Agree, I thought Kimberly Williams
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: she was Kimberly Williams. Yeah, at this point she's now
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Williams Paisley.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I thought she was extraordinary, Like, you know, she's like
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: super cute and Father of the Bride, but.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: This, you know, she isn't.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Her character isn't written like a some murder like she's
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: she shows up for her kid every single day. She
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: like refuses to let the world define who her daughter is.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: I just thought Kimberly Williams was so good in like
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: what was a mature role. Yeah, it's funny because in
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Father of the Bride she's a baby. I just it's
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: ten years before this. But when we were watching this,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: my husband's like, is she seventeen years old? Like she
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: is so young in that movie and she's playing like
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: a twenty two year old. She is very young. But
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: your point about her not being the martyr is such
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: a good one, because if you ever heard someone going
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: through a tough time and someone will say like, I
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: could never do what you do and they're like, yeah
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: you could, Like you have no choice, right right, you
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: play the cards. You're dell. And I think she wasn't like, oh,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I am carrying this big burden of caring for my daughter.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: She was just a mom. This was the child she had.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: She lived the very best life she could with this child.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: She gave her child this beautiful life. I don't feel
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: like at any point she acted like she felt put
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: upon or like it didn't even matter other than the
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: fact that it was heartbreaking that her husband was a
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: complete asshole that we'll get into, she was enough. Yeah, yeah,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: very good.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: I also thought Alexa Vega was very good in this
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: role as tween Amy.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: I it was very sweet to see Amy and Julia
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: the child have this like sweet, tender little bond and
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: it was never like it wasn't cheesy or like it
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: wasn't it wasn't like.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: She was doing her a favor. They were just friends. Yeah, exactly.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: That is just like so sweet. I feel like a
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: lot of that is like missing in twenty twenty six,
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: you know, like I could see somebody doing that for
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: TikTok follows.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say, a social media video yeah.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, you know, like yeah, Christmas time when
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: the I can't remember what the Angel tree like the
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: Angel Tree stuff exactly, people were like making videos of
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: them shopping for gifts for the Angel Cheery project. I'm like,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: just go do it without being so performative about it.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: I know. It's it's sticky, right because people do those
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: videos and then it turns out everyone's like, oh, well,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: now there's no like the angel trees are empty because
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: they brought so much awareness to the Angel Tree, and
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: you're like, that's great. But then it's like my dad
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: alwaysays it's not a good deed if you tell somebody
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: about it. That's his favorite. So it is. It does
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: walk a fine line. It's like when there's a major
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: disaster and celebrity donations become public, it's like, well, hearing
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: that Jennifer Hanison donated a million dollars to World Food
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Kitchen or whatever that's fully made up might encourage someone else.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: You're like, oh, I like Rachel, I'm gonna go donate
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: that money too. But it walks a line and that
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: wasn't a line that we had to see in this movie. Look,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: this movie takes a long list of tough subjects and
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: this certainly isn't an easy, escapist story. This isn't the
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: kind of Hallmark that we know today. The Hallmark hall
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: of Frame tells a very different story than Hallmark Channel does,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I think. But I think they handle these storylines with
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of care. I didn't spend a lot of
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: time going woo, which I think we could have. There
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: were some horrifying things, but I think when you look
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: at the story of Amy and her mom and the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: way they deal with her addiction and her recovery, and
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: they allow her to have a redemption story and to
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: show up for her daughter, I think was really important.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: They could have very easily just been like, oh, well
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: she found someone in Diane, so she's gonna be okay.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: But instead they show a path forward. They talk about
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: parenting a child with special needs, and they handle that
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: so beautifully. I just think they did a lot of
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: things really well in this movie.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: I agree, and to piggyback on that we didn't have it.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: It wasn't wrapped up in this pretty bow of like oh,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Julia is healed her, you know what I mean, M Like,
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: it was very clear that Julia's life was going to
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: end soon.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: It just was so sad, but handled with care, like
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: you said, m h, piggyback. One final thought on the
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: fact that this isn't like the Hallmark movies that we've
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: come to know and love, it also kind of goes
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: back to this movie was not what I expected. There's
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: nothing predictable about this movie. When you watch, for example,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: the movie that we're going to review tomorrow, All Things Valentine,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I could call the plot of that movie from eight
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: minutes in. There's nothing about this movie that makes me
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: feel like I could do that, and that's a very
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: different watching experience. I think it does keep you engaged
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: when you what's gonna happen, Who's she gonna end up with?
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: What's like, is this dad gonna show back up? What's when?
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Are we gonna circle back to this accident? All of
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: these other things? What's gonna happen with Julia? Her health
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: is so precarious. It's a lot. Yeah, but I enjoyed
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: it though. I really liked this movie too.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know these probably these movies probably aren't for everybody.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: You know, I say, like, let's review more. I don't
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: know how like how much my nervous system would take
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: like watching these kinds they are sad. Yes, I don't
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: know if I could do it every week, even though
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: I kind of want you because it is a nice
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: contrast to what we get on Hallmark now, you know,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: it's nice to feel something, yes, exactly. My final like
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: is for David, sweet, long suffering, emotionally intelligent David. The
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: bar for the men in this movie is truly underground.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: But I thought David, you know, David was a good guy,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: like quietly devoted, He had all the support for helping
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: his sister in law and his niece, like you know,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: I couldn't help, but I want He's such a good guy.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: He's such a good guy. My final like relates to
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: him too, especially to his proposal. It's real and it's meaningful,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and his actions speaks so much louder than his words.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: He's created a home for Julia and for Diane with
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the expectation that they're a package deal and whatever the
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: path forward is is one will take together. And Diane's response,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: this is what I've always wanted. Why has it taken
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: me so long to see it was such a great line.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: So that's interesting. I'm going to talk about it in
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: my digital Okay, okay, are you ready to talk wishes?
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I am. I texted Wendy at one point, what a
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: giant pile of assholes in this movie? And would you
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: like to say worst? Truly? My notes say Mark is
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the worst. Here's a list of reasons. Why can I
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: get into it really quickly? Yes? When they learn, when
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: they learn what they're dealing with with their pregnancy, he
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: just looks at Diane. He's like, I can't deal with this.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: But that's a choice you get to make. I can't
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: deal with this. Get out of here. That enough for me.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm You're done. He makes no f to
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: meet his child ever. Ever. Ever, he says, we're going
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: to have a real family, as if after Julia passes
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: and they have their own, healthy children. He then says
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: to Diane, she's not even six years old and she's dying.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: What was the point? What was the point? Yeah, this
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: is a full human being here, and you're saying, what
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: was the point of her life? Because it happens to
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: be shorter than you had hoped it would be. Yeah,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: he's garbage. Why would she let this piece of you
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: know what back in her life even for a second.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was probably my biggest wish, is like, why
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: is she entertaining his you know, why is he why
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: is she even entertaining the thought of him coming back around?
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Sure, your heart broken that he left, but in six
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: years you haven't come to the conclusion that you're better
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: off without him, that this is not a man who
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: is deserving of one second of your time.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I think she tries to justify at the beginning,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: because she's like, he sends a check every month that
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: she doesn't cash. But still, you know, like she's like, oh,
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: he's doing what he's legally responsible to do.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: He's the worst, the worst, speaking of terrible people. Oh
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: my god, Wendy was about fifteen minutes ahead of me
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: watching this movie, and she sends me a text of
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: her face, this horrified face, and she was like, you'll
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: know when you get there, And I did, in fact
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: know when I got there. Buddy is also the worst.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: Okay, early on, his treatment of like Amy is terrible. Yes,
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: this guy's like the biggest piece of shit, one of
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: one of two in this movie. But when he's mad
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: at this dog, and he's like, get me a pillow case.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: And I was like, what what what?
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: What? What?
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: What's happening what? And then it proceeds get worse, It
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: gets worse. Poor Amy runs away with the dog and
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: he finds them, and.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: He puts the dog.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: In the pillowcase and to actually tosses it over the
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: bridge into the water.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: I was like, I couldn't even comprehend what I was watching.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: I was so horrified. When she's running away with the dog,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, she's gonna get away, It's gonna be okay,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: she's gonna get away. She's gonna get to Diane's. I
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: don't know how far away Diane lives. I have no idea.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: And he pulls up in the truck. I had to
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: hide my eyes. I could not watch you hear the splash.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: I'm so relieved that Amy jumped in after the dog
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: and the dog was okay. I would I would have
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: had a very different take on this movie if that
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: dog had not survived that moment totally. But still, I'm like,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: I can't believe we even went there. It was bad
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: enough early in the movie where he's like, get in
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: your grade he needs to learn he needs. That made
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: me really, his anger made me uncomfortable. The way he
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: was talking to the dog and treating the dog made
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: me own comfortable, but didn't quite cross the line. Obviously,
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: this scene goes so far over the line. I honestly
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: cannot believe it made it on network television. And perhaps
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: I know the pillowcase was the only way they could
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: do it because you don't actually obviously they're not throwing
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: a dog overboards, and you don't actually see the dog
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: in there. It has stuck with me. It was It's
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: a very hard scene to watch. I feel like that
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: is the number one trigger warning in this movie. When
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: you see that coming, maybe just fast forward. Know the
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: dog's gonna be okay. I don't feel like anybody needs
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: to see it happen. Agree, because when Amy like is
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: screaming for the dog, it's it's hard to watch. I'm
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: sorry to interrupt you.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: No, you're right, though, this movie needed some trigger warnings.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: I think I mean, give me something, give me something
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: that like animal abuse, like at the top in the Corner.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: I need I need something. It's like a PG movie.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Is it not ugh something? Yeah?
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: I agree, I agree with you that I wish somebody
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: in our Facebook group would.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Have said, oh, heyo, just FYI. Yeah, And I almost said, like,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: knowing that we're dog lovers, but honestly knowing that we're humans, like,
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: you don't need to you don't need to be a
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: dog lover to find that horrifying exactly. My next wish
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: is something I mentioned earlier is that the structure is
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: a little messy for me. So the beginning, like I
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: don't know where we're where we're at in time, and
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: then flashbacks and this car wreck and all these things
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: like and it all works out, but don't you wish
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: it had been like ten years earlier or whatever and that, Yeah,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: that's all I needed. That would have helped me orient
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Obviously it's earlier in time, but give me some idea
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: of where we are.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: Right And my final wish is I needed more time
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: with them at the end when the movie is like
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: wrapping up and they're like taking pictures at that party
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: and all that stuff, and I'm like, I need a
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: little bit. I need a few more minutes, like what
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: does life look like next for them? M h.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I mean maybe it.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Would just be tragedy, but like I just needed to
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: see everybody like real happy, right.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: I don't know, right, I hear you. Do you have
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: any other wishes? No, let's talk to you to see that.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: I only have one that I really want to talk about,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: and it's that proposal at the end, when David asks
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Diane to get married. I mean, it is very sweet,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: but it was giving to me similar vibes to the
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: Magic of Ordinary Days, where I didn't think Diane was
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: really all that in love with David, but had seen
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: him similar to how Ray was seen as being like
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: this stand up, loyal guy who has longevity.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: That's very interesting.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: You thought Diane was like in love other than being like,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: oh I've been waiting for this or whatever, or I
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: thought it was too late. I didn't see that she
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: was like actually in love.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: I still believe that in the Magic of Ordinary Days
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: that she fell in love with him. Maybe I don't know,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I believed it. I bought it. I believe that throughout
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the movie she just wasn't allowing herself to see it,
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: that she perhaps saw that marrying the brother of your
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: ex husband might not be a good look. I don't
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: know what stopped her, other than she didn't really let
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: herself let people in. When Mark brings Amy to her,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: she doesn't want the help, and he kind of is
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the one who forces her to accept it. So I
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: don't know I bought it, But maybe I'm just a
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: sap who wants to believe in it.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: I don't think you're a sap. I'm just maybe a skeptic,
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: Maybe to me it feels more like these movies are
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: more like real life. You know. Hallmark is like the
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: romanticized version, and these movies are more like, yeah, sometimes
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: that's what love looks like.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe I've just been like conditioned. That's all I got.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: Do you have any other Did you see that?
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: To one who uses a blender without a lid, Yeah,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: come on, you're gonna have a big mess on your ceiling.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: The other is not really so much a digitsu that,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: but a really if you give a mouse a cookie
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: thought that I had in this movie, and that is
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: back to the dog scene. My husband recently went to
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: outdoor Ed with his students, and on the bus on
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the way there, they showed the movie Milo and Otis.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: He's like, have you seen that? And I was like, yeap,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: twenty five years ago. I don't know when that movie
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: came out. I'm like, the Orange Cat, right, He goes, yeah,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: but how did that movie get made? It looks like
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: a horrifying There's like a scene where like the cat's
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: like rushing down the river. I'm like, oh, it's probably
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: like special effects. There's no way they had a cat
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: in the river. He's like, it looks really real. So
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: I do a little research into that, and apparently Milo
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: and Otis is the standard against which other movies are
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: held up against, to be like, don't do this because
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: they did not trade those animals. Well, rumor is cats
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: did die during the production of that movie. No, apparently
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: that was not CGI, that was not special effects. Those
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: were animals put in terrifying, dangerous situations. And while some
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: of them are like, yeah, we did have them rushing
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: down the river, we did swap out the cats like
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: every twenty seconds or whatever. Anyway, sometimes they do do
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: terrible things to animals in movies, and perhaps that is
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: why we have animal rights activists on the set of
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: these movies, or activists is probably the wrong word, but
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: they have supervision on the sets to make sure that
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: certain standards are being upheld.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Oh well, first of all, I don't think I've seen
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: that movie, and that don't roast. I don't need I
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: don't who chose that.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I don't watch on the bus. That's a great question.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know it's from nineteen eighty six. That's just
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: where my brain went when I saw that dog moment.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: I'm like, surely that dog's not in the bag. And
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: then I was reminded of this conversation I had a
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: couple weeks ago, Wow, what did you rate? Follow the
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: Stars Home? I gave it four and a half stars.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Me too, I was trying to compare it, like it's
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: so hard to rate these movies, Like I thought this
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: was an excellent movie. Like any other time, I would
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: be like, this is a five star movie if I'm
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: comparing it to like the weekly Hallmark movie.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Right, sure, it's very good. It is very good, and
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: with that trigger warning, I do recommend watching it. Yes,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: all right, thanks for listening to this episode of Girls
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Gone Hallmark, a Bramble Jam podcast. If you love this podcast, friends,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: hop on over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: five star rating. We'd love to see it over there,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: and we'll see you next time with more Hallmark reviews.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Goodbye bye. All right, friends, before we go, just a
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: quick heads up. You're about to hear some ads. These
• 29:45
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• 29:47
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• 29:50
  Speaker 1: will grab as neck hit the skip button, or maybe
• 29:54
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