Latest / Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews / Love, Classified
Transcript
- 0:10Speaker 2: Hey, everybody.
- 0:11Speaker 1: Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a bonus episode of Long
- 0:14Speaker 1: Story Short the podcast. I'm Megan, I'm Wendy, and today
- 0:19Speaker 1: we are discussing Love Classified, a movie and Hallmarks bring
- 0:22Speaker 1: into Love line up for twenty twenty two. Before we
- 0:26Speaker 1: tell you our thoughts on this movie, you would like
- 0:28Speaker 1: to invite you to join our super exclusive Facebook group
- 0:31Speaker 1: just for a Hallmark movie fans. If that's you, hop
- 0:34Speaker 1: on over to Girls Gone Hallmark on Facebook, and Wendy
- 0:38Speaker 1: will leave a link in our show notes to make
- 0:40Speaker 1: it easy.
- 0:41Speaker 2: It's popped. It's popping over there. It is. I love
- 0:45Speaker 2: the community over there. There's like a lot of people
- 0:47Speaker 2: who know a lot of stuff and I love it.
- 0:50Speaker 2: I love it.
- 0:51Speaker 1: They actually scooped me on something the other day. I
- 0:54Speaker 1: was about to go post something in the group and
- 0:55Speaker 1: somebody had already posted it.
- 0:56Speaker 2: Dop. I love it. Yes, come join. We gonna do
- 1:00Speaker 2: Hallmark news and notes. We cannot bury this headline.
- 1:04Speaker 1: Okay, so lots of actually big news coming out of Hallmark,
- 1:08Speaker 1: but the biggest the Queen of Hallmark has abdicated her
- 1:14Speaker 1: throne goodbye. If you haven't heard, Candace Cameron Beret has
- 1:21Speaker 1: signed a deal to develop, produce, and star in movies
- 1:24Speaker 1: and series and take on an executive role for GAK Family.
- 1:30Speaker 2: I have a quote from a Deadline dot com article
- 1:33Speaker 2: that she talked about this move, and I'm just curious
- 1:37Speaker 2: your thoughts. You might have read it too, but I
- 1:39Speaker 2: just I'm curious about you what you have to say.
- 1:43Speaker 2: She says, I'm very excited to develop heartwarming, family and
- 1:47Speaker 2: faith filled programming and make the kind of stories my
- 1:50Speaker 2: family and I love to watch. And she also says that,
- 2:00Speaker 2: you know, because she's going to be doing a ton
- 2:02Speaker 2: of stuff, Like you said, she's excited for great quality
- 2:05Speaker 2: entertainment with a positive message. And I am really annoyed
- 2:11Speaker 2: by all of that and not surprised.
- 2:13Speaker 1: Well, and what she doesn't say, but what we read
- 2:17Speaker 1: into that is that she's going to be creating that
- 2:21Speaker 1: on GHAK Family because Hallmark has potentially turned away from that.
- 2:26Speaker 2: Isn't that how you read it? Oh? Absolutely? Yeah? Now
- 2:31Speaker 2: is that fair? Maybe not?
- 2:32Speaker 1: Maybe she just is trying to put a positive spin.
- 2:35Speaker 1: Maybe they offered her a ton of money. I don't
- 2:38Speaker 1: think Ghak has produced original content since Christmas. They're just
- 2:41Speaker 1: rerunning sitcoms over there, so they definitely need the influx
- 2:44Speaker 1: of content. I read multiple articles about this and I
- 2:47Speaker 1: never saw the word exclusive, so I don't know if
- 2:52Speaker 1: that means that she will still be creating Hallmark movies.
- 2:57Speaker 1: I looked in every press release I could. I never
- 3:01Speaker 1: saw the word exclusive, so I think that would leave
- 3:03Speaker 1: her open to create a Hallmark movie, although I think
- 3:08Speaker 1: what she wants is to be like, hey, you want
- 3:10Speaker 1: to see the Queen of Christmas, come on over to
- 3:12Speaker 1: get because you're not gonna get it in countdown to
- 3:14Speaker 1: Christmas twenty twenty two.
- 3:16Speaker 2: I think you are right. Yeah, I can't imagine that
- 3:20Speaker 2: Hallmark's gonna be like, oh right, yeah, you can do
- 3:22Speaker 2: a movie for us now. I think this just paves
- 3:25Speaker 2: the way for other actresses. And you know, my Queen
- 3:29Speaker 2: of Hallmark is Lacey Schaber Shabeer, so I'm here for
- 3:35Speaker 2: more of her movies. I just don't think people are
- 3:38Speaker 2: gonna follow her. There there are some, for sure, there
- 3:41Speaker 2: are some people who are leaving Hallmark, and I will
- 3:45Speaker 2: talk more about that as it pertains to this movie.
- 3:48Speaker 2: I just don't think they're gonna follow her in droves
- 3:50Speaker 2: the way Ghak thinks they are. I don't know it's
- 3:55Speaker 2: gonna be interesting to see. I think she's got her
- 3:57Speaker 2: hardcore following for sure.
- 4:00Speaker 1: Sleepy Kitty Pop, who is insider of a Hallmark on Twitter,
- 4:05Speaker 1: Ah had a long thread about this and I can
- 4:07Speaker 1: send you the link to include in our show notes
- 4:09Speaker 1: for anybody who would like to read her thoughts. I
- 4:11Speaker 1: actually don't know their thoughts. And one of the things
- 4:14Speaker 1: she says is the reality is that the Hallmark part
- 4:17Speaker 1: of the Hallmark equation seems just as important as the actor.
- 4:20Speaker 1: For example, Danaka mckeller's final Hallmark movie, You Me and
- 4:25Speaker 1: the Christmas Trees had two point two million viewers, while
- 4:29Speaker 1: her first GHAK title, The Winter Palace, had about one
- 4:32Speaker 1: hundred thousand. Danaka mckeller is not cannas Cameron Bray in
- 4:35Speaker 1: the world of Hallmark, but she is a well liked,
- 4:37Speaker 1: well known face. It wasn't enough to bring those two
- 4:41Speaker 1: point two million people over. And what I think GAK
- 4:45Speaker 1: is ignoring and that Sleepy Kitty Pap points out, is
- 4:48Speaker 1: like Hallmark is like Kleenex. Grandma knows where Hallmark is,
- 4:52Speaker 1: she knows how to find it on her TV. She
- 4:54Speaker 1: knows that's where her movies are. When people talk about Christmas.
- 4:57Speaker 2: Movies, they often talk about Hallmark movies, even if it's
- 5:00Speaker 2: that style of movie across multiple channels, and so I
- 5:04Speaker 2: just don't think GHAK can compete. And we have many,
- 5:09Speaker 2: many times talked about our thoughts on the way GHAK
- 5:12Speaker 2: is weaponizing the term family friendly. I am not here
- 5:14Speaker 2: for it, and so I am disappointed a little bit
- 5:19Speaker 2: in CCB's decision to do this. I am not surprised,
- 5:26Speaker 2: well meaning they're not surprised either. I think either they
- 5:29Speaker 2: showed her a ton of money, like you said, and
- 5:33Speaker 2: with tons of opportunity to like curate programming and produce
- 5:38Speaker 2: and whatever. Right, I mean, how could you turn down
- 5:42Speaker 2: that offer? That probably feels really good.
- 5:45Speaker 1: I think in the wake of Look, Lacy Shaber's movies
- 5:50Speaker 1: did better than hers, A number of movies did better
- 5:52Speaker 1: than hers this past year, and then they kind of
- 5:55Speaker 1: with the Wedding Veil trilogy somewhat crowned their favorite in
- 6:00Speaker 1: a way.
- 6:00Speaker 2: I think. So I feel it's a statement on many levels.
- 6:06Speaker 2: Moving on, what other big Hallmark news coming out this week?
- 6:09Speaker 1: We heard that Andrew Walkers find it an exclusive that
- 6:12Speaker 1: was listed in the deal multi picture deal with Homewark.
- 6:16Speaker 1: More Andrew Walker bless you please, Andrew Walker is like
- 6:21Speaker 1: BFFs with Tyler Hines, so I'm gonna I'm gonna expect
- 6:25Speaker 1: and exclusive Tyler Heines deal come into the news escape
- 6:30Speaker 1: here soon too.
- 6:31Speaker 2: I don't know. This makes me so happy. Give me
- 6:34Speaker 2: more curious caterer with Andrew Walker. Let's get popping on
- 6:39Speaker 2: Love Classified. Let's hear it. Are you ready for synopsis?
- 6:43Speaker 2: I am okay. It's a short one romance novelist Emilia
- 6:48Speaker 2: returns home after a long absence to reconnect with her children,
- 6:51Speaker 2: who are also finding their own paths to love. Stars
- 6:57Speaker 2: Melaura Hardin Airy and Mandy I know I'm saying that wrong.
- 7:01Speaker 2: How do you say it? That sounds right to me? Okay?
- 7:04Speaker 2: Catherine mac namara and Max Lloyd Jones. I always butcher
- 7:09Speaker 2: everybody's name. I'm so sorry. I feel terrible about it.
- 7:12Speaker 1: I just want to say that the IMDb page is
- 7:14Speaker 1: in embarrassment.
- 7:16Speaker 2: The number of there's.
- 7:18Speaker 1: Like twenty actors listed, and five of them have their
- 7:22Speaker 1: character names listed alongside them, Like Hannah's name isn't listed,
- 7:28Speaker 1: Taylor's name isn't listed. It's an embarrassment. Somebody whoever was
- 7:33Speaker 1: in charge of that needs to get.
- 7:35Speaker 2: On their game. Well, here's my inside scoop on IMDb.
- 7:40Speaker 2: It's not very user friendly, and so I'm sure some
- 7:44Speaker 2: intern is like, ah, how do I do this? So
- 7:48Speaker 2: you know, I can't. Yeah, but I understand.
- 7:51Speaker 1: Let's happen to some news and notes about this movie. Okay,
- 7:56Speaker 1: it was filmed not in Vancouver but in Victoria, which
- 7:59Speaker 1: is the hugest little town you ever did see?
- 8:01Speaker 2: Have you been there? I have? Oh nice? I just
- 8:05Speaker 2: shared on our Hallmark Facebook page not group, a really
- 8:10Speaker 2: cute article about like real life Hallmark towns. And I
- 8:14Speaker 2: were to tell you last weekend, I was in Summerland, California,
- 8:17Speaker 2: and I stopped for breakfast at this totally adorable cafe
- 8:20Speaker 2: and I was like, this is like a Hallmark main
- 8:23Speaker 2: street here. This is so cute. I mean, I don't
- 8:27Speaker 2: know why they're not filming movies there other than it's
- 8:30Speaker 2: in California.
- 8:31Speaker 1: But is Summerland, California the same place that the Summerland
- 8:36Speaker 1: TV show staring Lori Laughlin.
- 8:37Speaker 2: Was not full Circle moment here? I think it? I
- 8:44Speaker 2: think it is. Yeah, yes, like Santa Barbara County. Yeah yeah,
- 8:48Speaker 2: yeah ive that show. By the way, I think I
- 8:51Speaker 2: watched it. I don't really remember the details of it, though.
- 8:54Speaker 2: I was mixing it up with the reboot of nine
- 8:56Speaker 2: O two and zero because she was the mom and
- 8:58Speaker 2: that too. Oh so I was like, did they come
- 9:02Speaker 2: move from Summerland to Beverly Hills or am I confused here? Yeah? Many? Okay.
- 9:10Speaker 2: The writer of this movie is Lynn Sternberger, and she
- 9:12Speaker 2: also wrote for me Laura Harden on The Bold Type.
- 9:16Speaker 2: I love it. So. Speaking of Malaura Harden, she plays Amelia.
- 9:21Speaker 2: She's most notable for playing jan on The Office, which
- 9:24Speaker 2: is a show you've never watched. Is that right, that's correct. Yeah,
- 9:27Speaker 2: she was Michael's girlfriend. She was very funny on that show.
- 9:31Speaker 2: She was Jacqueline on The Bold Type, which is a
- 9:34Speaker 2: show we loved except for that last season, but other
- 9:38Speaker 2: than that, it was really great. And she just was
- 9:41Speaker 2: on the thirtieth season of Dancing with the Stars, which
- 9:45Speaker 2: I also watched, and she finished in sixth place. She
- 9:49Speaker 2: was great. She was great on that show.
- 9:51Speaker 1: I need to tap into my old lady's side and
- 9:54Speaker 1: get on some Dancing with the Stars.
- 9:57Speaker 2: I mean, was that the most recent season with Jojo Siwa? Yeah, yeah, exactly.
- 10:01Speaker 2: I was just stoked because, like you know it, the
- 10:05Speaker 2: winners are always like the young ones, you know what
- 10:08Speaker 2: I mean. But and Melaura, I don't know how old
- 10:10Speaker 2: she is, but she's older than me, and I was
- 10:12Speaker 2: very impressed with her dancing ability, her stamina, her good attitude.
- 10:18Speaker 2: Like she was a pleasure to watch. Awesome. Yeah. Catherine
- 10:23Speaker 2: McNamara plays Taylor. Mm hmm. I was looking at her IMDb.
- 10:29Speaker 2: She has a ton of acting credits, including the CW's Arrow,
- 10:34Speaker 2: a show that I am not familiar with. But I
- 10:37Speaker 2: think it's for maybe the teens or the sci fi group. Yeah,
- 10:41Speaker 2: it's not for me. I think she's also new to
- 10:45Speaker 2: Hallmark and I would like to see her again. God,
- 10:48Speaker 2: I loved her so cute.
- 10:50Speaker 1: She's so freaking cute right, such good hair too, she
- 10:54Speaker 1: has great hair.
- 10:55Speaker 2: Max Lloyd Jones he plays the brother Zach Now. He's
- 10:59Speaker 2: currently on Just Plus in the Book of Bobofette and
- 11:02Speaker 2: season two of The Mandalorian both Why are you laughing?
- 11:08Speaker 2: The bookma? Oh whatever? I was just going to say,
- 11:11Speaker 2: these are shows I do not watch. Star Wars is
- 11:15Speaker 2: completely lost on me. I don't know any details, but uh,
- 11:18Speaker 2: here's a fun note and maybe you recognize him from
- 11:22Speaker 2: Once upon a Time. Oh, I don't who did he
- 11:25Speaker 2: play Jacob? He was like somebody's like hand hand man
- 11:30Speaker 2: or something. I don't know. Oh man, Okay, I'll have
- 11:33Speaker 2: to ask my son. Oh is he like that show
- 11:37Speaker 2: or rewatching that show?
- 11:39Speaker 1: Yes, my husband was the biggest fan, and then they
- 11:41Speaker 1: rewatched it together.
- 11:43Speaker 2: Oh. Cute, cute, cuit cute. Max Lloyd Jones also is
- 11:48Speaker 2: not new to Hallmark. He played Tom Thornton on When
- 11:51Speaker 2: Calls the Heart from twenty fifteen to twenty eighteen. Just
- 11:55Speaker 2: a side note here, we have a great guy in
- 11:58Speaker 2: our homework group named Michael, and he gave us some
- 12:02Speaker 2: criticism a while back about not having enough deep knowledge
- 12:08Speaker 2: of affors and actresses. So I just want to note
- 12:12Speaker 2: that I really did a deep dive. I can tell
- 12:15Speaker 2: I'm preparing for this episode. Can you tell I can?
- 12:20Speaker 2: All right? I just wanted to make that clear. Finally,
- 12:25Speaker 2: Doctor Frankie. She is played, and I'm tell me her
- 12:29Speaker 2: name again, Arian? Is that all right? Yeah? Okay? Arian Mandy.
- 12:33Speaker 2: I know her as Danny Muniez from The L Word
- 12:36Speaker 2: Generation Q on Showtime, which I'm a big fan of.
- 12:40Speaker 2: I really like that show quite a bit. And if
- 12:44Speaker 2: you remember when we did our Spring into Love like
- 12:46Speaker 2: preview episode. Uh huh. We had talked specifically about this
- 12:50Speaker 2: movie and this actress, And do you remember what.
- 12:52Speaker 1: I said, Well, you wondered if there was the same
- 12:54Speaker 1: sex storyline coming, But I don't know if that's what
- 12:56Speaker 1: you're asking me, That's what I'm asking you, Okay, I
- 12:59Speaker 1: remember that. Yeah, yes, And I based that on that
- 13:03Speaker 1: she is in a same sex relationship on the L
- 13:06Speaker 1: word generation Q. So I was trying to put the
- 13:10Speaker 1: puzzle pieces together and I was correct. Indeed, Dacy Harden
- 13:15Speaker 1: directed this movie, and she also directed twenty twenty one's Christmas.
- 13:18Speaker 2: Sale, which we liked the lot. Yeah, we did record
- 13:25Speaker 2: a review of that movie, but it was only on Patreon.
- 13:28Speaker 2: I did try to look and see because I was
- 13:30Speaker 2: going to drop it in our show notes, but it's
- 13:32Speaker 2: not available for the regular listening public. You could subscribe
- 13:36Speaker 2: to our Patreon and get access to back episodes though,
- 13:40Speaker 2: m okay. One last thing I had read that Melora
- 13:45Speaker 2: Harden told Media Village dot com that she hoped this
- 13:48Speaker 2: would be a momentous film for Hallmark. Well, I think
- 13:52Speaker 2: that is accurate.
- 13:54Speaker 1: This unfortunately had the lowest premiere numbers for twenty twenty
- 13:57Speaker 1: two Hallmark Movies at one point six million.
- 14:02Speaker 2: Oh my god.
- 14:04Speaker 1: The second lowest prior to that was Second Chance at Love,
- 14:07Speaker 1: which is heartbreaking to me. The highest was The Wedding Veil,
- 14:11Speaker 1: the first one at three point three million. No other
- 14:14Speaker 1: movie top three million. I hope that this movie got
- 14:19Speaker 1: a lot of good feedback. I was following the hashtag
- 14:22Speaker 1: on Twitter, and so many people left such great comments.
- 14:28Speaker 1: There's always a lot of tweets, but it's always like
- 14:30Speaker 1: love Hallmark love that these were really personal thoughts, and
- 14:35Speaker 1: a lot of people were saying, like I loved seeing
- 14:38Speaker 1: a reflection of my own relationship on Hallmark. I love
- 14:41Speaker 1: seeing these women together. I love seeing Hallmark embracests. And
- 14:44Speaker 1: so I'm hoping this movie has a little bit of
- 14:46Speaker 1: a slow burn. I tweeted that I think if you've
- 14:50Speaker 1: never watched a Hallmark movie, to start with this one.
- 14:53Speaker 1: And I do know that we have some listeners of
- 14:55Speaker 1: our main podcast that listen to these episodes in spite
- 14:58Speaker 1: of not being Hallmark movie watchers, and I would say
- 15:01Speaker 1: to you, We've said it before, if you're going to
- 15:03Speaker 1: watch a Hallmark movie, watch this one. If you're going
- 15:05Speaker 1: to watch a Hallmark movie, watch this one if you're
- 15:08Speaker 1: never gonna watch another one. This is such a departure.
- 15:11Speaker 1: I know I'm veering off news and notes. I'll get
- 15:14Speaker 1: back to it, but keep going.
- 15:15Speaker 2: I love it.
- 15:17Speaker 1: Also, this movie was executive produced by Neil Dodson, who
- 15:20Speaker 1: is the husband of Ashley Williams. Oh he also had
- 15:25Speaker 1: a hand in the Sister Swap movies, and Melaura Harden
- 15:29Speaker 1: tweeted fun fact cover of all my books are the
- 15:32Speaker 1: face of the producer's wife, Ashley Williams.
- 15:37Speaker 2: I'm trying to remember if I saw any of her books.
- 15:41Speaker 1: I apparently didn't notice, because I didn't see this sweet
- 15:44Speaker 1: until after I had finished watching, and then did not
- 15:47Speaker 1: go back and look for them.
- 15:50Speaker 2: I mean, I remember she holds it up. It's something
- 15:52Speaker 2: about like a progue, something about Prague. I'm gonna might
- 15:56Speaker 2: have to go back and look just out of curiosity. Yeah.
- 16:00Speaker 1: I was hoping someone would include a photo, and I
- 16:03Speaker 1: can't find any photos that have been posted.
- 16:06Speaker 2: I accept that challenge. I will if I find them,
- 16:10Speaker 2: I will put them in the show notes. Guys, excellent.
- 16:13Speaker 2: I would like to get on my IMDb soapbox for
- 16:15Speaker 2: a minute. Oh gosh, I have that. Also, please let's
- 16:18Speaker 2: start I am really disappointed at the reviews, and I'm
- 16:23Speaker 2: doing reviews and air quotes on IMDb. Like you said,
- 16:27Speaker 2: there were some supportive ones in there, but comments like
- 16:32Speaker 2: this isn't family viewing, and it saddens me to see
- 16:37Speaker 2: Hallmark embracing wokeness, which makes my head want to explode
- 16:43Speaker 2: when I see somebody using that word. There's just so
- 16:47Speaker 2: much hate, so much hate.
- 16:50Speaker 1: Yeah, it turns my stomach. I looked at the IMDb
- 16:54Speaker 1: reviews and I was very pleasantly surprised that when I
- 16:57Speaker 1: opened up the reviews, the first several were all very positive,
- 17:01Speaker 1: and at the time that I looked, there were more
- 17:03Speaker 1: positive reviews.
- 17:04Speaker 2: Than negative reviews.
- 17:06Speaker 1: That may have changed, but like you, I saw that
- 17:13Speaker 1: people use the term woke please stop, please stop, and
- 17:18Speaker 1: the comments, like I said, they turned my stomach. And
- 17:21Speaker 1: I am not in the same sex relationship, and I
- 17:24Speaker 1: can only imagine that this this movie was so beautiful
- 17:28Speaker 1: and it was such a like adorable sweet rom com,
- 17:33Speaker 1: and if I were in a relationship with a woman
- 17:36Speaker 1: and I saw people telling me that my life isn't
- 17:40Speaker 1: family friendly, it's it just it sickens me. And this
- 17:48Speaker 1: again is why we strongly dislike GAK. They've taken that
- 17:52Speaker 1: term family friendly and they've weaponized it in a way
- 17:55Speaker 1: that is incredibly dangerous because you're telling people that their lives.
- 18:02Speaker 2: Are not for public consumption. Yeah. Yeah, So I have
- 18:06Speaker 2: a call to action here and I want to encourage
- 18:09Speaker 2: listeners of this podcast that if you like this movie,
- 18:15Speaker 2: I want you to head over to IMDb and write
- 18:17Speaker 2: a positive review for it.
- 18:19Speaker 1: Now, you have said before the IMDb is not user friendly,
- 18:22Speaker 1: but I know you've left reviews, So tell people that
- 18:25Speaker 1: that's a different situation.
- 18:26Speaker 2: That's a different situation. You can leave a review. It's
- 18:29Speaker 2: super easy. It's the back end stuff of IMDb, like
- 18:32Speaker 2: if you're adding like details about actors and movies and
- 18:37Speaker 2: who produced it and that kind of stuff. So the
- 18:39Speaker 2: back end stuff of IMDb. It has a very user
- 18:43Speaker 2: friendly interface for if you want to leave a review
- 18:46Speaker 2: or a rating on it. So I really encourage listeners
- 18:50Speaker 2: if you like this movie or any other movie in
- 18:52Speaker 2: the last two years that included diversity of any kind,
- 18:57Speaker 2: go write positive messages for it on IOM. Those people
- 19:01Speaker 2: in entertainment are looking at that. Yes, I love that.
- 19:05Speaker 2: That's a great idea. Thank you, You're welcome. Let's talk
- 19:09Speaker 2: first impressions, Yeah, you go. I tried cleaning my kitchen
- 19:14Speaker 2: while watching, and I couldn't. This wasn't one of those
- 19:19Speaker 2: you could just throw on and have in the background.
- 19:21Speaker 2: Huh no. And I kept having to stop and pause
- 19:25Speaker 2: and go back and rewatch and turn on close captions,
- 19:27Speaker 2: and then I just had to stop the movie and
- 19:29Speaker 2: finish cleaning my kitchen and then go back to the
- 19:31Speaker 2: movie when I was able to watch and enjoy it. Nice. Nice, nice. Okay,
- 19:36Speaker 2: So for me, this movie wasn't perfect, but this is
- 19:40Speaker 2: a top three Hallmark movie for me for people who
- 19:42Speaker 2: don't know the history here. I had never seen a
- 19:45Speaker 2: Hallmark movie prior to twenty twenty one, is that right? No,
- 19:50Speaker 2: twenty twenty, twenty twenty Christmas twenty twenty, never seen one,
- 19:54Speaker 2: have no interest in it, Like, it is just not
- 19:56Speaker 2: for me. And I've watched two years of some really
- 20:00Speaker 2: terrible movies, but there's a handful that I really like
- 20:07Speaker 2: and this is one of them. So it just makes
- 20:10Speaker 2: me super excited. Would you be able to name your
- 20:14Speaker 2: top three or you just know this is one of
- 20:16Speaker 2: the best. Oh? Absolutely A Christmas Waltz with Lacy Shabert.
- 20:21Speaker 2: Oh love that movie. And Tyler Hyes, and Unexpected Christmas
- 20:29Speaker 2: Great Choices, great choice, Yes, And those are two Christmas movies.
- 20:33Speaker 2: So here this is a non Christmas Hallmark movie that
- 20:36Speaker 2: I'm telling you will watch again. I loved it, same awesome. Okay,
- 20:41Speaker 2: let's talk about what you liked.
- 20:44Speaker 1: One thing I liked is this movie had the feel
- 20:47Speaker 1: of movies like a movie you hate love actually a
- 20:51Speaker 1: movie you maybe have seen Valentine's Day.
- 20:55Speaker 2: Nope, ever seen it.
- 20:56Speaker 1: It has a huge hit stars like Ashton Kutcher and
- 21:00Speaker 1: Jennifer Garner, and it has an enormous cast. And what
- 21:05Speaker 1: those movies have in common is they both have big
- 21:08Speaker 1: casts of characters with intersecting lives, but each character has
- 21:12Speaker 1: their own story, and I loved that format. For Hallmark,
- 21:17Speaker 1: we usually follow one character beginning to end, and then
- 21:20Speaker 1: there's other little mild off stories. I felt it was
- 21:23Speaker 1: a pretty even balance among the characters and what was happening,
- 21:27Speaker 1: and I liked that awesome for me.
- 21:30Speaker 2: Number one was the story. The romantic storyline between Taylor
- 21:36Speaker 2: and Frankie was secondary to the story about this family
- 21:40Speaker 2: dealing with grief and hurt and disappointment. And to that,
- 21:45Speaker 2: I say bravo to Hamark for giving us something deeper
- 21:50Speaker 2: than just the familiar tropes that we were used to. Yeah,
- 21:55Speaker 2: like this to me felt like, uh and I always
- 21:59Speaker 2: say this like a real movie, yes, thousand percent agree,
- 22:03Speaker 2: like a Netflix movie. Yes, you know, yes, yeah, I
- 22:09Speaker 2: like there are several romantic entanglements in this movie, but
- 22:14Speaker 2: the only people who have a kiss are Taylor and Frankie,
- 22:17Speaker 2: and they kissed twice, I know. And and like mid movie, yes,
- 22:22Speaker 2: it wasn't one of those like I love you at
- 22:24Speaker 2: the end and over you're a good kiss too, I agree.
- 22:29Speaker 2: So what I'd like that this movie not only gives
- 22:35Speaker 2: us like a same sex couple, which we've had movies
- 22:38Speaker 2: in the last couple of years that I have show
- 22:40Speaker 2: same sex couples right or talk about them, you know,
- 22:44Speaker 2: or imply, but this really explored a topic of like
- 22:50Speaker 2: sexual fluidity that we did. I say that, right, Yeah,
- 22:56Speaker 2: I've never seen anything really like that before, you know,
- 22:59Speaker 2: like Taylor, I mean it's implied that she's straight right
- 23:03Speaker 2: at the beginning, but then meets Frankie and is like
- 23:06Speaker 2: I'm open to this.
- 23:08Speaker 1: Yeah, that it was she'd never been in a relationship
- 23:10Speaker 1: with a woman, but that it was more about oh,
- 23:12Speaker 1: I have an attraction to this person.
- 23:15Speaker 2: Right, And the best part of it, right, And then
- 23:19Speaker 2: the best part of it is that her co worker, Hannah,
- 23:24Speaker 2: and her brother and her mom don't even blink at it.
- 23:27Speaker 2: They're like, all right, you know, it was just awesome. Yeah,
- 23:31Speaker 2: Hannah's her biggest cheerleader.
- 23:32Speaker 1: I love Hannah in this movie. When she's tell a fever, Oh,
- 23:37Speaker 1: she was great.
- 23:39Speaker 2: You know.
- 23:39Speaker 1: Her mom's first reaction is my daughter's dating a doctor.
- 23:42Speaker 1: I yes, well done. There wasn't even a moment where
- 23:46Speaker 1: they had.
- 23:46Speaker 2: To have this like coming out and the family struggles.
- 23:49Speaker 2: Everyone's just so happy for her. Yeah. Yeah, I love
- 23:55Speaker 2: the gal that played Hannah. Her name is Baraka Ramani
- 23:59Speaker 2: and I had to look her up because she's not
- 24:01Speaker 2: listed on IMDb. I don't believe, Oh she might be.
- 24:05Speaker 2: I had to look at her Instagram.
- 24:07Speaker 1: She's listed on IMDb, but she's not named as Hannah,
- 24:10Speaker 1: so she's in the full past.
- 24:11Speaker 2: But she was hilarious and who and who wrote the
- 24:17Speaker 2: lines for her were so funny. I just thought she
- 24:20Speaker 2: was so funny.
- 24:22Speaker 1: Agree, And she has a pretty small list of IMDb credits,
- 24:28Speaker 1: but I hope, I hope we see.
- 24:29Speaker 2: More of her yeah, me too. Hey, Malaura Harden's wardrobe
- 24:34Speaker 2: was fabulous. I thought it was she and sophisticated. Did
- 24:39Speaker 2: you even.
- 24:39Speaker 1: Notice her big giant pink puffy sleeves. I'm like, that's
- 24:43Speaker 1: something Jacqueline from The Bold Type would wear when she
- 24:45Speaker 1: was in that art.
- 24:49Speaker 2: I just thought she looked so pretty. And she had
- 24:51Speaker 2: like these like like really pretty like elaborate suits on
- 24:54Speaker 2: with like these pretty like ruffled, you know shirts. I
- 24:59Speaker 2: just I like that look. I just thought she looked beautiful, beautiful.
- 25:03Speaker 2: I thought they did the wardrobe well across the board.
- 25:06Speaker 2: Sometimes they don't dress young women like young women. And
- 25:08Speaker 2: I thought Taylor had a real cute wardrobe as well. Well.
- 25:13Speaker 2: She wore this super cute belt apron thing when she
- 25:15Speaker 2: was working at the Blue Marea. Did you even notice
- 25:18Speaker 2: it didn't kind of like a fanny pack but kind
- 25:22Speaker 2: of like something like a handyman would wear. You know
- 25:25Speaker 2: that it has your like tools and stuff in it.
- 25:27Speaker 2: And I was like, I want one. Is she just
- 25:29Speaker 2: looks stylish because she was like was really cute with
- 25:33Speaker 2: her like cute shirts and jeans and then this cute
- 25:36Speaker 2: little like belt, and I was like, I want to
- 25:37Speaker 2: work at a plant shop. That would be so fun. Yeah,
- 25:40Speaker 2: and her good hair. She had the best hair. I mean,
- 25:44Speaker 2: this is coming from a girl who has great hair too,
- 25:46Speaker 2: so but I have a really bad haircut right now,
- 25:48Speaker 2: so I'm very envious everyone's hair. This is so small.
- 25:54Speaker 1: But when Taylor and zatcho bowling, and Taylor does her
- 25:56Speaker 1: ridiculous bowling throw, she does this like little shimmy.
- 26:00Speaker 2: Like slide to the side.
- 26:01Speaker 1: It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. Like I can't
- 26:04Speaker 1: obviously it was improvised, like there's no way that you'd
- 26:06Speaker 1: be like and then slide in a way that's like
- 26:08Speaker 1: really cute.
- 26:08Speaker 2: I can't. I cannot describe it. You would have had
- 26:11Speaker 2: to see it. But I know what you're talking about.
- 26:14Speaker 2: She like throws it crazy and then she like does
- 26:18Speaker 2: a weird little shimmy to watch it go down the alley. Right. Yes, yes,
- 26:24Speaker 2: I know exactly what you're talking about. That's so funny
- 26:27Speaker 2: that we noticed that same thing. I want to say
- 26:32Speaker 2: that Emilia's monologue at the end during her book reading
- 26:38Speaker 2: had some moments that I thought no one would say
- 26:40Speaker 2: that out loud, but but she there was two things
- 26:47Speaker 2: that really got me. One when she talks about abandoning
- 26:50Speaker 2: her adult children because she couldn't deal with her husband's
- 26:53Speaker 2: death felt like a sucker punch to me, Like it
- 26:57Speaker 2: had me very emotional. Yes, And I was just it's
- 27:00Speaker 2: like that felt very real because I know she's criticized
- 27:04Speaker 2: and from everything I've read, like her character is criticized
- 27:07Speaker 2: for like bouncing right like after her husband dies and
- 27:11Speaker 2: leaves her adult children, but like people deal with grief
- 27:13Speaker 2: in all different ways. And I don't know, I just
- 27:17Speaker 2: thought it was very realistic and I like that that
- 27:21Speaker 2: it was like a hard topic. Second, she has in
- 27:28Speaker 2: the same monologue, She's me, I'm gonna read it. I
- 27:33Speaker 2: wrote it down because I thought it was like, oh
- 27:35Speaker 2: my god, this is amazing. Did you pay close attention
- 27:38Speaker 2: to that monologue or no? Yes? Okay. So she says
- 27:44Speaker 2: that she wants to start writing her books in a
- 27:46Speaker 2: way that quote pays tribute to the more complicated love
- 27:50Speaker 2: stories around us. Not all are flawless, not to all
- 27:54Speaker 2: are romantic, and not to all are expected. And I
- 27:57Speaker 2: was like, is this the direction that Hallmer is going in?
- 28:01Speaker 2: Count me in? Yeah? Yeah. I just I was like,
- 28:05Speaker 2: this is the story that we have in front of us.
- 28:07Speaker 2: This was the movie it wasn't. It wasn't flawless. The
- 28:10Speaker 2: whole thing wasn't romantic, and it was unexpected and complicated. Yeah,
- 28:17Speaker 2: and you know, Hallmark loves a happy ending, and we
- 28:20Speaker 2: have so many not so many, but we have.
- 28:23Speaker 1: Several romantic storylines that are very up in the air
- 28:27Speaker 1: and very incomplete and don't have a clear direction forward.
- 28:31Speaker 2: And that's life and that's where they were in this moment.
- 28:35Speaker 2: And I liked it when her book publisher comes in
- 28:38Speaker 2: at the end and they're like, oh, he's a perfect
- 28:40Speaker 2: match for Frankie's like doctor friend. I laughed out loud.
- 28:44Speaker 2: I thought it was so funny, just like a throwaway,
- 28:47Speaker 2: like it didn't even need to be like sad, but
- 28:49Speaker 2: it was just so funny. Did you like anything else
- 28:51Speaker 2: about this movie?
- 28:55Speaker 1: There were just the writing was impeccable. It's just so
- 28:58Speaker 1: funny and quippy. I mean, Hannah at one point, it's
- 29:01Speaker 1: like spitballing things she can put on classify for the
- 29:05Speaker 1: for the flower shop, and she's like, I don't know
- 29:07Speaker 1: all my plant loving nomis and I just like laughed
- 29:09Speaker 1: out loud of the ridiculousness.
- 29:13Speaker 2: But the writing, Bravo, Let's talk about.
- 29:16Speaker 1: What we wished for well to your point about Amelia's
- 29:22Speaker 1: monologue and about showing the realness, I'm having a hard
- 29:27Speaker 1: time both believing and forgiving Amelia for to use her words,
- 29:33Speaker 1: abandoning her children. I have not lost a spouse. I
- 29:37Speaker 1: can't personally speak to that. I can imagine that it
- 29:40Speaker 1: would be hard as hell to lose the love of
- 29:42Speaker 1: your life. I cannot imagine a situation in which I
- 29:46Speaker 1: then abandoned my children.
- 29:49Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, and neither can you. There's there's you
- 29:55Speaker 2: can't because I feel like I were in that position.
- 29:59Speaker 2: Would you be like, yeah, no, it'll lose both parents. No, no,
- 30:03Speaker 2: But I could see how she could justify it by
- 30:06Speaker 2: saying like, well, they're adults, They're not like they don't
- 30:09Speaker 2: need their mom, you know, on the every day anymore.
- 30:12Speaker 2: I'm not justifying it. I just think that grief is
- 30:16Speaker 2: a real bitch and it can do weird things to you.
- 30:20Speaker 2: I don't disagree. I don't disagree, and I can understand
- 30:23Speaker 2: her needing to move away. I can understand her needing
- 30:26Speaker 2: to say like, hey, I want you in my life,
- 30:28Speaker 2: but I can't have it be in this place where
- 30:31Speaker 2: all of my memories are and look of course they
- 30:35Speaker 2: needed a conflict, and I get it. I just that
- 30:40Speaker 2: is hard for me to understand. Sure, Okay, I understand
- 30:46Speaker 2: like when children's children die, marriages fall apart, that I
- 30:48Speaker 2: can understand. I just don't understand their reverse. Okay.
- 30:52Speaker 1: In Happier News, I think Taylor and Frank you need a.
- 30:53Speaker 2: Sequel, absolutely, that's what you wish for. Yeah, I would
- 30:59Speaker 2: like a sequel. I would Yeah, I would love a sequel.
- 31:03Speaker 2: What did you wish for? Okay. As much as I
- 31:07Speaker 2: liked Melaura Harden's character, I thought she was manic at times. Oh,
- 31:12Speaker 2: and I thought it was distracting, Like she has like
- 31:15Speaker 2: a way of her acting where she like is like
- 31:18Speaker 2: spitting out these lines at such a pace and her
- 31:22Speaker 2: head is like jerking around a little bit. It only
- 31:25Speaker 2: happened in a few scenes, but I just found it
- 31:28Speaker 2: very distracting, like when she's talking herself out of ordering
- 31:32Speaker 2: coffee and a mimosa, that when she's in the bar
- 31:37Speaker 2: talking to you know who, and when she's in the hospital,
- 31:42Speaker 2: like she's just like acts. I don't know, I can't.
- 31:47Speaker 2: I like. The word that comes to me is manic, yeah, okay,
- 31:51Speaker 2: twitch is twitchy. Yeah. I don't like it, and this
- 31:55Speaker 2: is an old lady complaint. I wish I would have
- 31:57Speaker 2: left the little chat bubbles up on the screen lawn
- 32:00Speaker 2: because I needed to read them when they were doing
- 32:03Speaker 2: like the Classified Love Classified or whatever. You know that
- 32:08Speaker 2: you had to pause. Yeah, I was like, leave that
- 32:10Speaker 2: up there. I need to read it. Yeah. The very
- 32:12Speaker 2: few things I wished for in this movie same? Oh, same?
- 32:16Speaker 2: Are you ready for? Did you see that? I am?
- 32:20Speaker 2: I mean, look, we've both held back. Is the best?
- 32:23Speaker 2: Did you see that one went in the bar? Yes?
- 32:25Speaker 2: It absolutely is? And who was the bartender? Hi? Paul Campbell?
- 32:31Speaker 2: He comes on screen and I literally go Paul Campbell.
- 32:37Speaker 1: Like he's my lovely house high school buddy.
- 32:43Speaker 2: I did too, I like gass them like Paul Campbell's
- 32:45Speaker 2: in this And then I was like did he write this?
- 32:47Speaker 2: So then it was like a deep dive on to
- 32:49Speaker 2: see if like he wrote it he did not? Yeah,
- 32:53Speaker 2: I was so excited to say. I was like, is
- 32:55Speaker 2: he just in town doing something else? And then I
- 32:58Speaker 2: was like, hey, I'll pop in and play the bartend
- 33:00Speaker 2: in this movie. And he has lines. He doesn't just
- 33:02Speaker 2: drop a coffee and bounce. No, And there's one scene
- 33:06Speaker 2: like when her son shows up. It's really quite funny,
- 33:10Speaker 2: and Paul Campbell's reaction to it was hilarious. I thought,
- 33:14Speaker 2: I just love seeing him. I just love Paul Campbell
- 33:17Speaker 2: so much. I do too. I need him in more movies.
- 33:21Speaker 2: I know he likes to I think right more than act. Well,
- 33:25Speaker 2: you know what is so funny And I feel quite
- 33:28Speaker 2: a shame saying this, but when he was in the
- 33:30Speaker 2: Santa Steakout, we were doing like something on our Instagram
- 33:36Speaker 2: or something like if you what did you just say?
- 33:39Speaker 2: What were we calling it? Hattie something? Whoa wowie zowie?
- 33:44Speaker 2: Oh yes, I thought you were going. What did you
- 33:47Speaker 2: think I was gonna say? Go ahead? Oh boy, guys,
- 33:51Speaker 2: I thought he was. You know, we were like, is
- 33:53Speaker 2: Paul Campbell wowie zowie? And We're like no. But he's
- 33:57Speaker 2: really turned it on for me A hundred persons like
- 34:00Speaker 2: I want to see him on my screen. I love
- 34:03Speaker 2: following his Twitter and his Instagram. I just love him
- 34:07Speaker 2: so much.
- 34:08Speaker 1: You know, I think Hallmark movies often have the opposite effect.
- 34:10Speaker 1: They like, un wowie zowie these people who are actually quite.
- 34:14Speaker 2: Wowie in life. So no, I may cut this out,
- 34:18Speaker 2: but I will tell you that there was some promotional
- 34:21Speaker 2: shots for the Santa steakeout and in one of them,
- 34:24Speaker 2: Paul Campbell and his co star are sitting on steps.
- 34:26Speaker 2: Do you know where I'm going with this? No? Oh?
- 34:29Speaker 1: And he's he's like kind of like man spreading and
- 34:34Speaker 1: he's wearing a tight pair of pants and like the
- 34:37Speaker 1: rule of thirds, focal point of that shot is his
- 34:43Speaker 1: crotch and his pants are tight.
- 34:45Speaker 2: And did Wendy screenshot that to me? And say? Am
- 34:48Speaker 2: I looking at Paul Campbell's right here? Oh? I did?
- 34:53Speaker 2: You're right? And I think right, yes, I think the
- 34:57Speaker 2: answer is yes too. I forgot about that. I'm terrible
- 35:01Speaker 2: at objectifying these men on my TV. I mean, he's
- 35:05Speaker 2: sorry he objectified himself. Yes, but I didn't have to
- 35:08Speaker 2: like screenshot it and send it around the internet just
- 35:12Speaker 2: to me, just to me. Okay, I have one funny
- 35:16Speaker 2: Did you see that? And I I think it's funny.
- 35:20Speaker 2: In one of the early opening scenes, Margo, the bookstore manager,
- 35:24Speaker 2: is walking and reading at the same time and she
- 35:27Speaker 2: runs into this couple and the guy in this pairing
- 35:32Speaker 2: is like seven feet tall. He's huge, huge, His head
- 35:36Speaker 2: is out of the frame, right, And what's funny is
- 35:41Speaker 2: that he's walking with a much shorter woman. And I
- 35:45Speaker 2: had saw on IMDb a woman billed as height difference
- 35:51Speaker 2: couple female, and I didn't get the joke until like
- 35:55Speaker 2: I like put it all together. I was like, Oh,
- 35:57Speaker 2: this is the chick with the super tall dude. Dude,
- 36:01Speaker 2: it was funny. Fun fact.
- 36:03Speaker 1: Did you know that they completely built that bookstore out
- 36:06Speaker 1: of an empty room that is not an existing bookstore.
- 36:08Speaker 2: They staged it, really, I mean pressed me.
- 36:11Speaker 1: Too, so em At one point, Emilia is in a
- 36:16Speaker 1: bar and she her old high school flame shows up
- 36:19Speaker 1: and she orders a Shirley Temple.
- 36:23Speaker 2: Did you did you see the Shirley Temple? No, I
- 36:26Speaker 2: don't remember.
- 36:27Speaker 1: I took a picture of it. It's not a Shirley temple.
- 36:30Speaker 1: A Shirley temple is a sprite and grenadine, right am
- 36:35Speaker 1: I this? I am correct in this.
- 36:36Speaker 2: No, it's like a It looks like a like a
- 36:39Speaker 2: tequila sunrise. Let me find the photo.
- 36:42Speaker 1: It is red on the bottom and yellow on top,
- 36:45Speaker 1: like a bright yellow on top. And it's funny because
- 36:49Speaker 1: on the screen, like the caption literally says like, oh,
- 36:53Speaker 1: this is a Churley temple and it has like an
- 36:54Speaker 1: orange slice on it, which is not really the problem.
- 36:56Speaker 1: But it's red and orange. It's not a Shirley Temple.
- 36:58Speaker 1: How hard is it fake Charlie Temple?
- 37:01Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe they didn't have any sprite, may
- 37:04Speaker 2: be clear soda there, come on? But are they in
- 37:07Speaker 2: an actual bar? Are they at a bar or a restaurant?
- 37:10Speaker 2: I can't remember that scene.
- 37:12Speaker 1: They're sitting at a bar. Oh, there's a bartender in
- 37:15Speaker 1: this screenshot that I took. I have one more. But
- 37:19Speaker 1: this is a funny tweet less than a digit see that.
- 37:21Speaker 1: There's lots of good tweets.
- 37:23Speaker 2: I recommend looking at the hashtag love classified.
- 37:25Speaker 1: But this is from Twitter user ear Panado, and her
- 37:32Speaker 1: tweet says me, I love movies where a lady doesn't
- 37:34Speaker 1: know she's gay until she runs into a hot, confident
- 37:36Speaker 1: gay lady sister. The streets have meet cute, the gays
- 37:39Speaker 1: have oopsie gayzy.
- 37:46Speaker 2: Charmed me. That's funny. Are you ready to rate this movie? Yes?
- 37:54Speaker 1: On the count of three, three, two, one fours?
- 37:59Speaker 2: Wow, fine, fine? I loved it. I loved it a
- 38:04Speaker 2: five star? Ever, when did we switch? Beginning twenty twenty two,
- 38:08Speaker 2: Christmas Waltz, Well, Christmas wats is a four star, and
- 38:12Speaker 2: an unexpected Christmas was a four star. This was prior
- 38:16Speaker 2: to changing our ratings, so yes, full stars, full stars
- 38:23Speaker 2: stars impressive. I told you you loved it. It was
- 38:27Speaker 2: not perfect, but I loved it.
- 38:30Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of
- 38:32Speaker 1: Girls Gone Homewark.
- 38:33Speaker 2: Come back on.
- 38:34Speaker 1: Tuesday for a brand new episode of the podcast. And
- 38:37Speaker 1: before you go, we would love it if you would
- 38:38Speaker 1: leave us a five star rating or review. We see
- 38:40Speaker 1: your reviews coming in and we love them. Keep them
- 38:43Speaker 1: coming friends, Thanks so much, and happy watching.
- 38:46Speaker 2: Goodbye bye,