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Christmas Under Construction · Girls Gone Hallmark | Hallmark Movie Reviews

0:11
Speaker 1: Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark review podcast. I'm
0:13
Speaker 1: Megan and I'm a longtime Hallmarks fan. I'm Wendy, I'm
0:16
Speaker 1: a former Hallmark hater. On today's episode, we are discussing
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Speaker 1: Christmas Under Construction, also known under its previous title of
0:24
Speaker 1: Renovation Romance. This movie originally aired on the Hallmark Channel
0:28
Speaker 1: on Saturday, July fourth. It was previously available to stream
0:32
Speaker 1: on Hulu. If you're thinking I'm having a little bit
0:36
Speaker 1: of deja vu while watching this movie, if you're a
0:40
Speaker 1: big fan of Hallmark movies, we invite you to follow
0:43
Speaker 1: us Girls Gone Hallmark over on Instagram, where we are
0:47
Speaker 1: Girls Gone Hallmark. We are sharing the latest news over there,
0:52
Speaker 1: as well as our Girls Gone Hallmark recording schedule. What
0:55
Speaker 1: you can expect from us, most notably this month. Of course,
1:00
Speaker 1: we were reviewing the New Christmas in July Drops, but
1:03
Speaker 1: we are also doing a Hallmark Hall of Fame review
1:07
Speaker 1: series weekly in the month of July, so you can
1:10
Speaker 1: check out the movies over there so you can watch
1:13
Speaker 1: them along with us ahead of our reviews or sure, hey,
1:17
Speaker 1: we'd love to invite you to our Facebook group, Girls
1:19
Speaker 1: Gone Hallmark. It's a private group We also have a
1:22
Speaker 1: forward facing Girls Gone Hallmark Facebook page. Yeah, I was
1:26
Speaker 1: popping off this weekend. Popped the freak off. I don't
1:30
Speaker 1: know what happened and not how that happens. Did we
1:33
Speaker 1: go viral? We post a first impressions post for all
1:38
Speaker 1: the new movies to both Facebook and Instagram and they
1:41
Speaker 1: get a little bit of traction in both places. But
1:44
Speaker 1: for some reason, of all movies, Christmas under Construction blew up.
1:49
Speaker 1: Hopefully we got a little more exposure our way because
1:53
Speaker 1: we need it absolutely. Thanks to everybody who participated over
1:57
Speaker 1: there and shared your first impression of this movie on
2:00
Speaker 1: our Facebook page. It was kind of crickets on Instagram,
2:04
Speaker 1: which is interesting. Are you ready for synopsis? I am
2:09
Speaker 1: well doing a Christmas renovation for a cozy New Hampshire cabin. Chelsea,
2:15
Speaker 1: the star of a hit reality show renovation Romance, finds
2:19
Speaker 1: an unexpected connection with the cabin's owner, Cooper. Robin Dunn
2:25
Speaker 1: directed Christmas Under Construction. He has directed several Hallmark and
2:29
Speaker 1: Hallmark adjacent Christmas movies, including Last Years of the Christmas Cup.
2:33
Speaker 1: The screenplay was written by Robin Dunn, Julia Benson, and
2:38
Speaker 1: Peter Benson. What Are You doing here. Hallmark hans will
2:42
Speaker 1: recognize Peter Benson as both a familiar face on screen
2:45
Speaker 1: and an accomplished director. Julia Benson is his wife. I
2:51
Speaker 1: assumed as much but did not know for sure. Yeah,
2:55
Speaker 1: isn't that interesting?
2:57
Speaker 2: It is.
2:57
Speaker 1: I've never seen her name as a writer. She only
3:01
Speaker 1: has like a handful of credits, as does Peter Benson,
3:04
Speaker 1: only a handful of writing credits as well. So it's
3:07
Speaker 1: just I just thought, what an interesting project. Just go.
3:11
Speaker 1: Lown stars as Chelsea Hollmark fans most recently saw her
3:13
Speaker 1: in Happy Holidays, where she starred opposite Finding Mister Christmas
3:17
Speaker 1: season one winner Ezra Morland in his first leading Hallmark role.
3:23
Speaker 1: You know, I haven't seen Ezra on the socials lately.
3:26
Speaker 1: That's a good point. He's so positive, you guys, if
3:29
Speaker 1: you want some positivity in your social media feed, fall
3:33
Speaker 1: as Ezra Morland. He's a real nice guy, very nice.
3:39
Speaker 1: Daniel Listing stars as Cooper. Hallmark fans last saw him
3:43
Speaker 1: in Single on the twenty fifth, where, coincidentally, his character
3:46
Speaker 1: was also named Cooper. Interesting. According to IMDb, his next
3:51
Speaker 1: project is Ozzie at Heart co starring Rhiann and Fish,
3:55
Speaker 1: though at the time I wrote these notes, I hadn't
3:59
Speaker 1: seen it be announced. It is Hallmark. Hallmark promoted it
4:03
Speaker 1: as they were filming, as they were filming, like it's
4:06
Speaker 1: not an acquisition like Hallmark was promoting like on location.
4:11
Speaker 1: It is an August release for Hallmark. Okay, are we
4:16
Speaker 1: gonna get Daniel with the Ossie accent? You know, Daniel,
4:21
Speaker 1: as you alluded to, is Australian and his accent is
4:25
Speaker 1: quite enjoyable. And as we were watching this, interestingly enough,
4:28
Speaker 1: my husband recently watched Single on the twenty fifth this
4:30
Speaker 1: past weekend and I came in because I've always got
4:34
Speaker 1: a fun fact, I said, did you know fun fact?
4:36
Speaker 1: He is Australian. I don't understand why they never let
4:39
Speaker 1: him be Australian. Yeah, I hope in Azsie at Heart
4:43
Speaker 1: he is there is watch it be Rhannon Fish, who
4:46
Speaker 1: is like, she's Australian. Oh she is? Yes, that's right.
4:50
Speaker 1: It's all coming back to me. I would love it
4:53
Speaker 1: if they both. Okay, now I feel excited for this movie.
4:57
Speaker 1: We're in twenty seconds ago. I was not Shannon from Australia.
5:02
Speaker 1: Did send us a clip of Rhiann and Fish with
5:07
Speaker 1: her Australian accent in a show months ago when this
5:11
Speaker 1: was announced. You know, I've kind of had my head
5:13
Speaker 1: buried in the sand. Yeah, last like six months, So
5:16
Speaker 1: this is all new news, all new news to me.
5:20
Speaker 1: We have several familiar Hallmark faces in this movie. Adam Herdig,
5:25
Speaker 1: who you might know from A Sweet Holiday Romance, Paul
5:28
Speaker 1: Scimbre from A Haunted Wedding, and Michael Strickland from Holiday Hotline,
5:33
Speaker 1: another movie I think might deserve a rewatch. Yes, yes,
5:39
Speaker 1: great movie. Hey, what was your first impression of Christmas
5:43
Speaker 1: Under Construction? If Hallmark wanted a Christmas movie with Daniel
5:47
Speaker 1: listening and renovation vibes, they already had one. It's called
5:52
Speaker 1: Santa Tell me, Yeah, that's much better. My first impression
5:58
Speaker 1: is color me shock that Jake and Janna I didn't
6:00
Speaker 1: become the social claiming power couple in New York City.
6:04
Speaker 1: I kind of waited for them to like turn to
6:06
Speaker 1: each other and give eyes like sane. Now since they're together,
6:10
Speaker 1: we're together. Yes, yeah, let's talk what we liked about
6:14
Speaker 1: this movie. Well, while I didn't really like this movie
6:20
Speaker 1: a whole lot, I did have some likes, as did I.
6:23
Speaker 1: The first one is Daniel listing continues to make me
6:26
Speaker 1: root for him. He is one of those actors who
6:31
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't familiar with because we didn't watch
6:34
Speaker 1: we don't watch Win Calls the Heart. Obviously, he was
6:37
Speaker 1: on it for many, many seasons. I think the first
6:40
Speaker 1: movie that I ever saw him in was Santa Tell Me,
6:42
Speaker 1: and I was like, who's this? Where have you been?
6:45
Speaker 1: Where have you been? All my life? I really enjoy
6:49
Speaker 1: him Cooper. The character of Cooper is pretty straightforward, like
6:54
Speaker 1: a good guy, and there are moments that Daniel listening
6:59
Speaker 1: like gives this character like sincerity. Mm hmm. I wish
7:06
Speaker 1: this movie trusted him with something a little meteor meteor.
7:13
Speaker 1: So I have some thoughts. Okay, First of all, this
7:16
Speaker 1: movie was a throwaway movie for Hallmark. It aired on
7:20
Speaker 1: July fourth, when no one is home to watch it. It
7:23
Speaker 1: had already been unavailable on Hulu for a year and
7:25
Speaker 1: a half at this point, and it was just on Hulu.
7:28
Speaker 1: It wasn't like a Hulu re airing of a Lifetime
7:32
Speaker 1: or a gaff movie or a It was just a
7:35
Speaker 1: Hulu Christmas movie. Okay. I have to imagine that they
7:39
Speaker 1: acquired this movie for a song. They were like, Who's
7:42
Speaker 1: trying to get this movie picked up. Where can we
7:45
Speaker 1: throw some dollars and fill out our countdown to Christmas schedule? Gotcha?
7:50
Speaker 1: I'm speculating here, but think it works. Did it do
7:54
Speaker 1: what it needed to do and give us a hint
7:57
Speaker 1: of holiday without giving anyway of the real countdome Christmas goodness? Yeah?
8:03
Speaker 1: Maybe some people on our Facebook comments loved this movie.
8:07
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Coincidentally, this weekend, my husband also watched December Bride,
8:12
Speaker 1: also starring our two leads, of which our Facebook commentar's
8:15
Speaker 1: comment December Bride is so much better for these two.
8:19
Speaker 1: He instantly he watched this movie with me, and five
8:21
Speaker 1: minutes in he was like, December Bride is better. Bringing
8:24
Speaker 1: it on home. Daniel listening and Jessica lowns do make
8:28
Speaker 1: a movie with an unwatchable plot watchable? In my opinion.
8:33
Speaker 1: Throughout most of the movie, my brain was trying to
8:36
Speaker 1: make sense of what the heck we're doing here? But
8:41
Speaker 1: I think it's watchable because they're charming. Nobody loves Peter
8:45
Speaker 1: Benson more than I do. Nobody hates having to say this,
8:48
Speaker 1: but I cannot blow smoke up my own behind and
8:53
Speaker 1: tell myself that I thought this was a great story.
8:57
Speaker 1: Remember when we had our listener survey and somebody said
9:01
Speaker 1: this podcast would be great with a little more courage, Well,
9:04
Speaker 1: here you go, here it is there, it is. Look,
9:10
Speaker 1: you know, Peter Benson is going to be behind some
9:12
Speaker 1: of our favorites this year. I am certain we are
9:14
Speaker 1: going to be singing his praises. What else to do? Like,
9:18
Speaker 1: I agree with everything most everything you've said. I do
9:23
Speaker 1: think traditional Hallmark fans will eat this movie up. And
9:28
Speaker 1: it showed on those comments. There were a lot of
9:31
Speaker 1: comments it was heavy. December Bride is a better movie, yes,
9:35
Speaker 1: but there were many comments that were like, this is
9:39
Speaker 1: a great movie. This is a great movie. And I
9:42
Speaker 1: think it's because it falls in the category for me
9:46
Speaker 1: what I call classic comfort food. Yes, this is a
9:50
Speaker 1: very traditional Hallmark story, heavy on the Christmas decor. I
9:55
Speaker 1: think it scratches like that Christmas itch for the people
9:59
Speaker 1: who are just dying for Christmas movies already. Yeah, and
10:04
Speaker 1: Daniel Listening and Jessica Lownds look deep in each other's
10:06
Speaker 1: eyes and fall in love. Yeah. For me, it's a
10:09
Speaker 1: little safe. It's not my kind of movie. It falls
10:13
Speaker 1: in the hater box for me. Just you wait so
10:16
Speaker 1: if my wishes are written in all caps, oh well,
10:19
Speaker 1: I got a big long list, but I'm still I'm
10:21
Speaker 1: still on my likes me too. My next one is
10:23
Speaker 1: Justice for Bethany. Here, the character Bethany, we didn't talk
10:26
Speaker 1: about her. She's actually played by the wife of a
10:30
Speaker 1: writer and director Robin Dunn Oh, the producer who was
10:35
Speaker 1: the producer Renovation Romance Show. I thought, first of all,
10:40
Speaker 1: she might have been my favorite character in the entire movie,
10:42
Speaker 1: because she's warm and supportive and she gives Chelsea thoughtful
10:46
Speaker 1: advice without trying to like railroad Chelsea's life. And then
10:50
Speaker 1: the fact that Tom, the sleazy TMZ esque reporter, it's
10:56
Speaker 1: my favorite plot point actually really yeah, that he's like
11:00
Speaker 1: the big bad guy selling stories about the hosts. Okay,
11:03
Speaker 1: but he kind of uses Bethany for all this information. Yeah,
11:09
Speaker 1: and when I like it, okay, I mean that could
11:12
Speaker 1: have been a movie in its own right. Yeah, I
11:14
Speaker 1: think so, like Let's spend Let's Workshop that movie. Yes,
11:17
Speaker 1: But what I wanted here was justice for Bethany. I
11:20
Speaker 1: just wanted one glorious scene where she just publicly shames
11:24
Speaker 1: this dude. Yeah, for me, that's a lack. That's a
11:27
Speaker 1: miss there, right, because we hear her say like, oh,
11:29
Speaker 1: security escorted him out and I wanted her to boot
11:32
Speaker 1: him on his ass. Yeah, yeah, something like the dude's
11:37
Speaker 1: a creep, He's the worst. Yes, okay. Also, my final
11:41
Speaker 1: like is the message of this movie sort of works
11:44
Speaker 1: for me here now, okay, hear me out. At the
11:47
Speaker 1: heart of the movie, my takeaway is it's about recognizing
11:53
Speaker 1: or forcing a future that does not fit for you. Yes.
11:58
Speaker 1: I can get behind that, yes, but it also wants
12:03
Speaker 1: us to believe that it's about choosing the right person,
12:09
Speaker 1: and they make the movie makes Jake and Janice just
12:15
Speaker 1: unlikable enough that we don't feel bad about cheering for
12:20
Speaker 1: Chelsea and Cooper to get together. Yes, you know, you know,
12:23
Speaker 1: I can see the I can see the excitement, the
12:28
Speaker 1: excitement in you because I know your biggest wish is
12:31
Speaker 1: going to be like these people were cheating. Yes, okay,
12:34
Speaker 1: but you are right, of course they have to make
12:37
Speaker 1: them well, she shouldn't be with him anyway, Yes, exactly.
12:42
Speaker 1: But at the end, when we get Chelsea's big like speech,
12:48
Speaker 1: like when she turns down Jake's proposal, the message starts
12:51
Speaker 1: to feel a little preachy here. Yeah, feel like, can't
12:53
Speaker 1: if your soapbox babe. Yeah, yeah, that's all. But you know,
12:56
Speaker 1: you know, I was already on board. I like the
12:58
Speaker 1: idea of the movies when we were presented with something
13:02
Speaker 1: and we were realized, oh, this doesn't fit for us,
13:05
Speaker 1: but like all the other stuff like that goes along
13:08
Speaker 1: with it, Like I don't like I mean, look, I
13:11
Speaker 1: like shouting about some of these movies. I did think
13:13
Speaker 1: there was some fun lines in this movie. I like
13:15
Speaker 1: Chelsea telling Jake you should really sell time shares when
13:17
Speaker 1: he tries to sell her on doing the special, and
13:20
Speaker 1: when Chelsea's boss arrives and he was I fly private,
13:22
Speaker 1: I'm not subject to the same rules, And my first
13:24
Speaker 1: thought was like, that's how you end up dead, bro,
13:26
Speaker 1: I fly private. I'm you know me. I'm like, I'm
13:30
Speaker 1: bougie bitch. I'm like, yeah, that's what I want. Yeah,
13:33
Speaker 1: I've been The whole thing was about. The whole thing
13:36
Speaker 1: was that Jake couldn't fly out because the weather was bad.
13:39
Speaker 1: Yea yeah, He's like I could get here. I'm like, well,
13:41
Speaker 1: the weathersbed. You shouldn't be flying, especially in a smaller plane.
13:44
Speaker 1: But you know, you know that's real, Like where la
13:48
Speaker 1: bamba bomba. Wow, that's a real throwback. I mean, JFK Junior.
13:54
Speaker 1: I was thinking like more of like The Devil Wars Prada,
13:57
Speaker 1: where like Andy's trying to get Miranda a flight when
14:00
Speaker 1: the weather's really bad and she calls like the National
14:03
Speaker 1: Guard and all that crap. But you know, supposed to
14:06
Speaker 1: illustrate when you have money to burn, you can do
14:08
Speaker 1: whatever you want. Yes, of course, of course I thought
14:11
Speaker 1: it was a funny line. Let's take a quick break
14:12
Speaker 1: and we'll come back to chalk about our wishes. I
14:22
Speaker 1: feel like I need like the rocky music behind me
14:25
Speaker 1: because I'm gearing up for a fight. Well, I have
14:28
Speaker 1: a fight with whom me not me? One, two, three, four, five,
14:33
Speaker 1: six wishes, just the concept of this movie in general. Okay,
14:37
Speaker 1: go ahead, hit me with your first wish. I believe
14:41
Speaker 1: it's going to be the same as yours. Chelsea and Cooper,
14:44
Speaker 1: though never across a physical line, but emotionally, these two
14:49
Speaker 1: are very much in other relationships. They're spending way too
14:54
Speaker 1: much time together, They're giving looks way too long at
14:57
Speaker 1: each other. Let's just end relationships before jumping into new ones.
15:04
Speaker 1: As you thought. This was also one of my number
15:06
Speaker 1: one wishes, and I believe that there is no redemption
15:11
Speaker 1: for this cheating unless you're counting Jake being the absolute
15:15
Speaker 1: worst because at the end there's a long period of
15:19
Speaker 1: time where they're clearly not right for each other. But
15:21
Speaker 1: I don't think Jake is a bad guy. When he
15:23
Speaker 1: proposes to her on camera, yeah, that's the moment I'm like, oh,
15:27
Speaker 1: now you're a bad guy. And so now maybe that's
15:30
Speaker 1: the one tiny bit of us that's like, Okay, it's
15:32
Speaker 1: okay that she's bad too. Otherwise, like you said, they're
15:37
Speaker 1: having a straight up emotional affair. She falls into the
15:40
Speaker 1: real relationship hours after ending the previous one. I don't
15:45
Speaker 1: understand why Hallmark audiences love this trope. Can't handle the
15:49
Speaker 1: same sex couple, but please give me more movies with
15:51
Speaker 1: cheating partners. Wait, people ask me to be brave. I'm
15:55
Speaker 1: speaking my truth. You're right, though, you're absolutely right, you know. Okay.
16:01
Speaker 1: This is why this is why I think people like
16:03
Speaker 1: this trope because it feels like salacious to them. It
16:06
Speaker 1: feels dening, dangerous. Yes, okay, I do still love the
16:12
Speaker 1: movie You've Got Mail, But my husband didn't see that
16:16
Speaker 1: movie when it first came out and so maybe five
16:19
Speaker 1: seven years ago, I watch it with him and I'm
16:21
Speaker 1: watching it and I go, he goes, these people are
16:23
Speaker 1: straight up cheating, and I had honestly never watched it
16:26
Speaker 1: through that lens. Of course they are. They're both having
16:28
Speaker 1: emotional affairs, and so it did. I'm guilty of this too,
16:33
Speaker 1: because you watch it and you're like, well, obviously Themmings
16:36
Speaker 1: and Meg Ryan are supposed to be together. These other
16:39
Speaker 1: partners suck, but they are cheating, and in this movie
16:45
Speaker 1: they are cheating. Yeah, and your relationship, you'll be brave.
16:52
Speaker 1: I mean, the writing was on the wall for Chelsea
16:54
Speaker 1: and Jake. Yes, they did not want the same thing.
16:58
Speaker 1: It's not even and they were forced to stay together
17:01
Speaker 1: because of this idea of being America's sweethearts sells. The
17:04
Speaker 1: television show Hello Christina and Taric would beg to are
17:08
Speaker 1: you for a computer? Are you in my head? I
17:12
Speaker 1: mean that was in my notes. I don't even know
17:15
Speaker 1: if it made the final my final version of it.
17:20
Speaker 1: But when the boss is like, oh, this this breaking
17:25
Speaker 1: news at our hosts, this could ruin our show, I'm like, hello,
17:30
Speaker 1: have you not seen Flip or Flop? Yeah? And now
17:33
Speaker 1: what's their new show called that's getting a second season.
17:35
Speaker 1: They're filming the second season right now with their new partners. Yes,
17:40
Speaker 1: I went back to think it makes the show more
17:42
Speaker 1: interesting because now people are going to tune and then
17:44
Speaker 1: they want to see because Flip or Flop continued for
17:47
Speaker 1: at least a full season, if not two, while they
17:50
Speaker 1: were separated and divorcing. People want to see what's it's
17:53
Speaker 1: like with you two working together, Like, yeah, it's way
17:56
Speaker 1: more interesting than a happy couple. I agree, I agree. Yeah,
18:01
Speaker 1: I thought that was so silly, But Jake and Chelsea
18:05
Speaker 1: were not it obviously, Like I had a really hard
18:08
Speaker 1: time understanding like what was Jake's like side hustles that
18:12
Speaker 1: he was like, I don't know. Were they just trying
18:14
Speaker 1: to get like influencer? Why was he in New York?
18:18
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't even know. And she just
18:20
Speaker 1: kept like I thought there was ending to New York
18:23
Speaker 1: as a way for like him and Janice to start
18:24
Speaker 1: this side relationship, and then we were going to be like, Okay,
18:27
Speaker 1: he and Janis are these social climbers that like want
18:30
Speaker 1: bigger and better, and so they're gonna end up together,
18:32
Speaker 1: So we're gonna be okay with Jake and Chelsea or
18:35
Speaker 1: Cooper Cooper and Chelsea ending up together. But it didn't
18:38
Speaker 1: go that way. I didn't. I'm shocked. Honestly, I don't
18:41
Speaker 1: think I'm a fan of Jessica Lowne. Oh no, you
18:46
Speaker 1: wanted me to be brave, I don't. I don't like
18:49
Speaker 1: I don't like criticizing the actors. Look, I get this
18:54
Speaker 1: is their work. I'm having a hard time rememory in
18:58
Speaker 1: a movie that I've seen her in that I really enjoyed.
19:03
Speaker 1: But in terms of playing this character of Chelsea, it
19:11
Speaker 1: was kind of she stayed in one year for me.
19:15
Speaker 1: And that's the choice of the actor, is it not?
19:17
Speaker 1: And or the director? Yeah, and I thought there were
19:21
Speaker 1: moments throughout this movie that called for Chelsea to have
19:24
Speaker 1: some doubt or some excitement or heartbreak or joy, and
19:28
Speaker 1: it just she just felt very much in the same lane.
19:32
Speaker 1: I agree with that. It's like she was playing her
19:37
Speaker 1: on camera persona throughout her real life. Yes, exactly, exactly.
19:42
Speaker 1: Can we talk about the renovation itself? What renovation? Okay,
19:47
Speaker 1: First of all, the house is fully decorated for Christmas
19:51
Speaker 1: prior to her renovation. Second of all, the house is lovely.
19:54
Speaker 1: It doesn't need to be renovated. Third of all, there's
19:59
Speaker 1: no reveal. Oh my gosh, Okay. When I'm writing this,
20:04
Speaker 1: all I could think about was like watching Fix Her
20:07
Speaker 1: Upper or any renovation show and have like Chip and
20:10
Speaker 1: Jo be like, trust me, guys, it's great, Like we
20:13
Speaker 1: don't ever see it. There's no payoff in this movie.
20:16
Speaker 1: They turn the lights and they show you the dining
20:19
Speaker 1: table that they've built, but you, in Theory tore a
20:23
Speaker 1: wall down, Show me the reveew show me the before
20:28
Speaker 1: and after. What does that wall lead to? What does
20:30
Speaker 1: that room look? It's so egregious that they don't even
20:35
Speaker 1: attempt to do a makeover. I know. This is what's
20:40
Speaker 1: so stupid, And this is why I kept thinking of Santa.
20:44
Speaker 1: Tell me they did do a renovation in Santa, tell
20:46
Speaker 1: me yes. And then I keep thinking about that Nina
20:49
Speaker 1: Weinman movie. I think Tyler Hines is in it where
20:51
Speaker 1: they do a renovation that's so good. And she told us,
20:55
Speaker 1: because we had talked to Nina, she told us how
20:57
Speaker 1: they had built like two sets with like a one
21:01
Speaker 1: was renovated, one was not, or something like this this movie,
21:05
Speaker 1: they're like, you know what, We're not even gonna put
21:06
Speaker 1: that effort out there. We're not even gonna try. Nobody
21:09
Speaker 1: cares about the renovation. I do. I do, Yeah, I
21:12
Speaker 1: want to see it. You might have made this a
21:15
Speaker 1: movie better. It didn't make any sense to me. There
21:18
Speaker 1: was no crew there, like no renovation crew. It was
21:23
Speaker 1: our host who was also a therapist. Literally notes she's
21:28
Speaker 1: a designer and a therapist. What. I kind of get
21:33
Speaker 1: the idea. I could see how they were pitching this right.
21:36
Speaker 1: I get the idea of her being a therapist but
21:39
Speaker 1: making her do double duty as the designer as well.
21:42
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I couldn't help but think remember
21:45
Speaker 1: when you did a lot of work to your house
21:46
Speaker 1: and you and your husband were like at each other's
21:48
Speaker 1: throats by the end of it because he was over it,
21:51
Speaker 1: and like, you know, because there's people in your house
21:54
Speaker 1: all the time, and the progress feel slow. My mom
21:56
Speaker 1: always says, men don't like to have their nest messed with, sure,
22:00
Speaker 1: and like whatever, Yes, I would like to never renovate
22:03
Speaker 1: a house ever again, So I could see how like
22:06
Speaker 1: a therapist could come in and help navigate that, or
22:09
Speaker 1: help navigate the choices, you know, because things get stalled
22:15
Speaker 1: out or people get paralyzed because they can't make choices.
22:17
Speaker 1: So a therapist could come in and like help talk
22:21
Speaker 1: a person through that or whatever, Like I get the
22:24
Speaker 1: idea of the show. Yeah it does not work here.
22:28
Speaker 1: Though it doesn't work here, And I feel like a
22:30
Speaker 1: therapist would show up to this particular couple where Janice
22:36
Speaker 1: is like, first of all, this is Cooper's house, and
22:38
Speaker 1: he's like, I want to keep the heart of the home.
22:39
Speaker 1: I want to keep it, keep the vibe as is
22:43
Speaker 1: my grandfather built it. Yes, reasonable. She's like, I want
22:47
Speaker 1: to modernize it and I want to sell it and
22:49
Speaker 1: I want to go to the city. And he's like, yeah,
22:50
Speaker 1: I don't want that. It feels like someone showing up
22:53
Speaker 1: and be like yeo, we're fighting a lot, but we're
22:54
Speaker 1: just going to get married and that'll make everything better.
22:56
Speaker 1: The therapist should have been like, yo, this is not
22:59
Speaker 1: a match, Like there is no compromise here. Someone is
23:02
Speaker 1: going to lose. Come promise. Oh my gosh, if you
23:07
Speaker 1: know you're no. The whole time I'm watching this, I'm
23:11
Speaker 1: going I don't what are we doing. I don't understand.
23:16
Speaker 1: I don't understand. It's kind of I did to see that.
23:18
Speaker 1: But while we're there. The timeline, You've got ten days
23:21
Speaker 1: to renovate the house, make a show, and get ready
23:24
Speaker 1: for a live episode reveal. Are we dropping episodes along
23:28
Speaker 1: the way? Well, that's your biggest beef. You don't want
23:30
Speaker 1: any sort of anything happening on Christmas Eve, right, Like
23:34
Speaker 1: nobody's watching that reveal. No, it's so stupid. But also
23:38
Speaker 1: the timeline doesn't make sense. He's like, we got ten
23:40
Speaker 1: days and they show up and they're somehow not only
23:42
Speaker 1: renovating it, but filming, editing, putting out episodes so that
23:46
Speaker 1: everyone's also ready for the live reveal on Christmas Eve. Yeah,
23:50
Speaker 1: we just complained about how Bravo doesn't turn around Summer
23:55
Speaker 1: House fast and that takes them nine months. Apparently they
23:58
Speaker 1: need to go to the Hallmark plot school of editing. Yeah,
24:02
Speaker 1: this is ridiculous to me, ridiculous. You hit a lot
24:08
Speaker 1: of my wishes, so there's no need to go over
24:11
Speaker 1: them again, but also my final wish. And we kind
24:15
Speaker 1: of talked about it, but Tom got off way too easy,
24:17
Speaker 1: like Tom the teams guy. That's why I call him
24:20
Speaker 1: Tom the Team. Oh and first of all, I'm like,
24:23
Speaker 1: why is this? Why is this tabloid news? Nobody cares.
24:27
Speaker 1: Nobody cares. No, this is a one season wonder of
24:31
Speaker 1: a show. It is not the viral sensation of Flip
24:35
Speaker 1: and Flop. Right, what other wishes do you have? Let's
24:37
Speaker 1: talk digit see that one one true digit see that
24:40
Speaker 1: and then just so snide comment me too. When they're
24:43
Speaker 1: on their way to the reno, Chelsea and Jake are
24:47
Speaker 1: looking at a photo of what they're going to be renovating,
24:49
Speaker 1: and it's the photo of the outside of the cabin.
24:51
Speaker 1: They arrive at a fully different location. Oh really, I
24:54
Speaker 1: was like, what what are we doing? They couldn't take
24:57
Speaker 1: a digital picture of the actual They film them at
25:01
Speaker 1: different times, but I don't know. Yeah, that's SU's annoying.
25:05
Speaker 1: That' suf's annoying. I don't have a true did you
25:07
Speaker 1: see that? I also just have mostly complaints. I felt
25:14
Speaker 1: Jake and Chelsea are supposed to be America's favorite renovation
25:17
Speaker 1: couple based on what these two. There's no chemistry between none, zero,
25:24
Speaker 1: no zero. I just did not see the chemistry between
25:27
Speaker 1: like these two. And I was like, Chelsea, baby, it's
25:28
Speaker 1: written all over Chris are not a match move on
25:33
Speaker 1: at all at all? My only other did you see
25:37
Speaker 1: that was like to me, it felt like the cabin
25:41
Speaker 1: got like a Christmas decor makeover.
25:46
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
25:47
Speaker 1: Honestly, it was like the worst Christmas to club. Yes please, okay.
25:52
Speaker 1: When they do that decorating montage and they put that
25:54
Speaker 1: tree in the middle of the room, that Christmas tree
25:56
Speaker 1: is tragic. My husband goes, that looks like something you
25:59
Speaker 1: would get it pick and say back when that existed,
26:01
Speaker 1: it can save. It has like this tiny little tree skirt.
26:04
Speaker 1: It's plastic fake tree. First of all, you're in the
26:06
Speaker 1: woo like you're out in the country. Cut down a tree.
26:09
Speaker 1: I know they're not going to, but get a better
26:11
Speaker 1: fake tree. The rest of the decorations were so tragic
26:15
Speaker 1: and cheap in there, those big cardboard boats on the
26:20
Speaker 1: Saving Hobby lobby in the worst way. I just the
26:25
Speaker 1: cabin is it's very classically beautiful. It should be decorated
26:31
Speaker 1: with like nice beautiful garland and not these cheap decorations.
26:36
Speaker 1: I know the budget was low, but it really didn't
26:40
Speaker 1: real joy it real low. Evidently I have two little complaints.
26:45
Speaker 1: Wonder Hulu made their money back on this with Hallmark
26:48
Speaker 1: acquiring it. God, I hope somebody made some money on this,
26:52
Speaker 1: her boss comes out. I have two comments about her
26:54
Speaker 1: boss when he comes out, and he was like, better
26:56
Speaker 1: ratings than anything else. The show aired twenty minutes ago.
26:58
Speaker 1: You don't have ratings numbers. And the other thing is
27:01
Speaker 1: he can shoot himself straight into the sun because the boss. Yes,
27:06
Speaker 1: because he comes out and he's like, it's okay that
27:08
Speaker 1: you said no, ratings are off the charts. No, bro,
27:12
Speaker 1: you don't get to tell her that it's okay that
27:15
Speaker 1: she said no to Jake's proposal after they had already
27:18
Speaker 1: broken up. When Jake's like, just just say ask for
27:21
Speaker 1: the show on camera, just because the ratings were okay. Yeah,
27:26
Speaker 1: Like Jake is a super villain for pulling that move
27:29
Speaker 1: on her. Totally. So I have a question. Didn't it
27:34
Speaker 1: kind of appear the way the directing or the blocking
27:39
Speaker 1: of the scene. You know, I don't know anything about
27:41
Speaker 1: anything in terms of that kind of stuff, but as
27:44
Speaker 1: if you were at home, it made me feel like
27:46
Speaker 1: they were in front of a live audience. Yes, inside
27:51
Speaker 1: Cooper's home. Yes, they had set up like chairs, they
27:55
Speaker 1: had brought in folding cares this house. I don't know,
27:57
Speaker 1: it doesn't make any sense that's should have been the
28:00
Speaker 1: space where they were revealing the renovation. I know, dumb, well,
28:05
Speaker 1: I'm almost afraid to ask, what did you read this movie?
28:08
Speaker 1: I gave you a wop in one and a half stars. Oh,
28:10
Speaker 1: we gave it two for Daniel Listen and Bethany, the
28:14
Speaker 1: character of Thanks for listening to this episode. Up, Girls,
28:18
Speaker 1: Gone Homewark. We'll be back next time with more Hallmark reviews.
28:22
Speaker 2: Goodbye bye.
28:34
Speaker 1: All right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up.
28:37
Speaker 1: You're about to hear some ads. These little gems help
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Speaker 1: us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
28:42
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Speaker 1: hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
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28:52
Speaker 2: Bye