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Hello everyone.
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Welcome to the Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast.
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We are a movie review podcast where we talk about one thing, and that's Hallmark Christmas movies.
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My name is Renee, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host Rich.
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How are you?
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I'm doing good, Renee.
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Living the life uh really warm out here in Orange County, California.
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Right now doesn't quite feel like Christmas, but hey, that's all we do is talk about Christmas on this podcast.
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It's it's Christmas 52 weeks a year for us.
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That's right.
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And speaking of that, Renee, I know we've uh, you know, we've been putting out some posts on Instagram about what's coming for Christmas 2026, getting a lot of a lot of traction, a lot of comments, a lot of views.
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And I started thinking, you know, we're really the only podcast out there that only talks about Hallmark Christmas.
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Uh, you know, there's tons of other great Hallmark podcasts, but they cover kind of the content year-round.
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They're doing the August movies right now.
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Um, they're not even thinking about Christmas.
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They still got fall movies to do, and you know, we're we're we're Christmas.
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It's like, hey, it's coming up, that's all we think about.
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And uh I think it's one of the cool things about our podcast is is being Christmas only.
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You know, we can get people jazzed up about what's coming here in a couple months.
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Yeah, as I always say, we can have Christmas spirit year round, but I'm glad the work that the other guys are doing, because uh I do like watching, you know, just like the fall in love and all like I like watching all that stuff.
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So uh I'm glad that someone can get me my my give me their takes on those movies that I watch as well sometimes.
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No, I I I've I've seen every single one so far this year.
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Uh all three of uh of Lacey's Paris, it's always a good idea.
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I've seen the first three, so yeah, I'm really into all the call.
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And it's really fun hearing the other podcasters talk about that content.
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Yeah, I like that too.
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Yep.
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All right.
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So this week I picked a movie from 2013, uh Snowbride.
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It stars uh Katrina Law as Greta Kane or Kenable Insteinsky, if you prefer.
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You'll get good good job on that uh pronunciation there.
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That was a hard one.
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I think I had to spell it phonetically.
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Uh, you might have seen her in Twelve Gifts of Christmas with uh Aaron O'Connell and Christmas with the Darlings.
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She's been in those.
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Uh Jordan Belphy, uh, as Ben Tannehill.
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Uh I didn't find any other Hallmark credits.
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He has been in Entourage and appearances in Castle, Grey's Anatomy, and CIF, and a bunch of other stuff.
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Uh Supporting Cast, Patricia Richardson, who we all know from uh as Maggie Tannehill.
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Tannehill.
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Tannenhill, excuse me.
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Uh Supporting Cast is Patricia Richardson as Maggie Tannehill.
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She plays Ben's mom and is well known for home improvement.
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And there's a few other people in here that we have definitely heard of for sure.
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Uh this movie is directed by Burt Kish, who also directed Stranded in Paradise and Holiday Switch.
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And this is written by the one and really the only, the great Tracy Andrewine.
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Uh she this is one of her first, if not her first, uh movie that got picked up by Hallmark.
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I wasn't sure if it was exactly her first, but it was a very early one for her.
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It's it's her first Hallmark uh ever, for sure, yeah.
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Yeah, so it's a very important break for her, and uh you know, she did several movies: Christmas Getaway, Switch for Christmas, uh It's Christmas Eve, which we've we reviewed here and we loved with Leanne Rhimes and Tyler Hines.
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She she worked with Mark Mark Amato on your favorite, uh, A Kiss Before Christmas, too.
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So yeah.
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Oh, I I forgot about that.
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Yep.
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Yeah.
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So she's pretty amazing.
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I like her a lot.
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So uh our FHC log line is a tabloid reporter chases a juicy Christmas scoop, gets stranded in the snow, and somehow ends up falling for the very guy she is supposed to be spying on because nothing says holiday romance like lies, rich people, and questionable journalism.
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Uh, this movie has an IMDB rating of 6.8 out of 10, which is a I think is a rather good score, 6.4 being the average, and the ever-popular Fun Facts with Rich.
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Yeah, we got a whole bunch on this one because this is a uh really popular movie of the uh the Hallmark fans out there.
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First of all, it's it's kind of a very much a family affair movie.
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You mentioned the writer Tracy Andreen, her first Hallmark script here, first Hallmark credit.
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Uh her brother, Keith Andrine, he is the actor who portrays Doria's husband at the very end of the movie there in the wedding scene.
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He's uh Doria's husband.
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And in addition to that, Keith Andreen is married to Katrina Law, who plays Greta.
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So definitely a family affair here uh with Snowbride.
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Uh Jordan Belfi, you mentioned it.
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This is the one and only Hallmark movie he's ever done.
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And I'm gonna say, Renee, right now, like, what the Hallmark?
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Uh this guy's only got one.
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I mean, he's great.
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So let's get let's let's get Jordan Belphy in a uh I know he's a few years older now, but let's get him in another Hallmark uh movie, please.
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And actually looks better, clean shaven.
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He has a great jawline, so uh we should we'd like to have him back, but he's done some pretty big things himself.
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Renee, I I know you love all dogs in movies and broody in this movie.
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His real name is Max, and he starred in a lot of uh commercials for Greenies Dental Snacks for Dogs.
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So he's a uh he he's a media dog for sure.
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Uh we've mentioned a lot of the uh uh you know, some of the publications that have come out with the best Hallmark Christmas movies of all time lists.
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Uh, this is on a couple of the ones from last year.
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Variety, uh their top 25 lists is ranked number 23, and Entertainment Weekly is ranked number 25.
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So always up there on those lists.
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Uh 13 Hallmark movies back in 2013.
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In terms of rating, this is tied for number one with the movie we covered a few months back, a very merry mix-up.
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So they were the number one spot.
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Uh that was episode number six for us.
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Uh, the house, this movie was shot in Big Bear, California, 90 minutes from where you and I live in Orange County, Renee.
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Um, it's actually filmed at a place called the Edgewood Mansion, which has eight bedrooms and nine baths, about 12,000 square feet.
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And you can actually go and rent this house uh for a weekend, for a week.
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They do uh weddings there.
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Uh, if you want to go in the summer, it's about$2,000 per night.
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And that seems like a lot of money, I know.
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But think about it.
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This has eight bedrooms and nine baths.
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You get eight people who love Hallmark movies, maybe eight couples, and you split it, basically comes out to$250 a night.
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I was just fooling around this morning, Renee.
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I looked at one of the nicer hotels in Big Bear.
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For the same date I looked at, it would cost$300 per night.
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So, hey, if you if you want to go and stay in the house where Snowbride was filmed, this mansion at Big Bear, you can do that.
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That's pretty funny.
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Uh, as we mentioned, this was Tracy Andreen.
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Uh, if there's a Mount Rushmore of Hallmark writers, it starts with Tracy Andreen, Julie Sherman Wolf, and Nina Wyman.
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They are the big three.
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Uh, this was her first movie, and I heard her on a uh a podcast, Hallmark Movie Drafts.
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I've I've said before it's a podcast I love a couple months back.
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Um, the drafters drafted their top 10 Tracy Andreen movies.
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Uh, Snowbride ended up at number two, but at the very end, Tracy Andrine read her personal top 10 list, and Snowbride was number one on her personal list of all of all the Hallmark movies done.
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I think she's in the 30s now, so that's a lot of movies.
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Uh Tracy Andrine, when she was asked to write a Hallmark script, she had no idea what to do.
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So this was back in July of 2012, the first year they did uh countdown, or excuse me, the Christmas in July.
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So she binged watched 10 Christmas in July Hallmark Christmas movies to learn, took tons of notes, and kind of learn all the beats and rhythms of a Hallmark movie, the nine act uh structure.
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And that's how she kind of developed her writing style to write Snowbride uh by by taking notes and watching actual Christmas movies in the summer of uh of 2012.
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Uh if you look if you listen to our podcast, there's a chance you might listen to other Hallmark podcasts out there.
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One of the most popular, or the most popular, is Deck the Hallmark.
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And if you listen to them, you know that Dan basically dislikes about 98% of the Hallmark movies that he uh he watches.
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That's kind of their shtick.
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Um, and the first movie that Dan ever officially liked was Snowbride.
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He said, I really like this movie.
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Uh I saw the scene uh where they're playing football out of the field.
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I figured that was probably the Big Bear High School said, Home of the Bears.
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Like, oh, that can't be right.
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No one would call themselves the Big Bear Bears.
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I looked it up Renee, sure enough, they're the Big Bear Bears.
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That's funny.
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And of course, you mentioned Patricia Richardson home improvement.
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We also have another actress that had kind of an iconic role in the past.
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Doria, who who obviously is getting married there at the end.
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Uh her uh real name is Dana Baron, and she played the original Audrey Griswold in 1983's National Lampoons Vacation, Anthony Michael Hall's sister, uh, the daughter of Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo.
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So you know, I didn't even put that together.
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That's a good that's a good one.
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I I wouldn't have either, yeah.
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It's a good one.
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So and those are our fun facts of the day.
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Man, those are really good ones.
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Really outdone yourself.
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Thanks.
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So let's get to it.
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What are your overall thoughts on this movie?
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Okay.
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Um I I I saw this one back in 2013.
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I mentioned that before.
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I remember watching this, and it's kind of really when I started kind of consistently watching Hallmark Christmas movies.
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I really liked it back then, and I haven't seen it in 13 years, and it is still really, really good.
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It's so unique, it's so different.
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There's there's nothing cookie-cutter about it at all.
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Great plot twists and turns.
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Um, it's a really tight screenplay with hardly any holes.
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It's let's be honest, it's absolutely ridiculous.
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Some of the scenes of this movie in a great, great way.
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But so many rom-comps are like that.
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And it's it's just a wonderful movie.
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I I really like Snowbride a lot.
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Yeah.
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Uh, you know, this movie for me was like chaotic at times.
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It filled me with it was filled with questionable people.
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I flat out did not like the brother.
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I did not like his new girlfriend, uh, his brother's former girlfriend, and I did not even like the lead Greta.
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I just didn't like them as people.
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I would not want to be friends with any of them, at least not as they were presented to us initially.
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Um, there is redemption for two of three, two out of three of these, but the first half I dis I dislike these characters.
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I wanted Claire to just get what is coming to her the whole time in this movie.
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Uh having said all that, I like this movie a lot with its uncomfortable and aggravating moments.
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I really, really enjoyed this movie a lot.
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Right.
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Sounds sounds like we're on the same page, yeah.
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Finally, what are some things uh you really liked?
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Uh there's a bunch.
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I I uh first of all, I love the scene where the two of them are making up their fake stories about each other and how they met, you know, to be get on the same page.
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And then she hits him with that first kiss, which I didn't see coming at all.
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And but he has the best line.
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He goes, I just want to go on record that I'm a much better kisser when I'm not ambushed.
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And uh basically saying he already kind of knew, like, hey, I want this girl to think I'm a good kisser.
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He already kind of liked her in a way.
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You've talked about this before, and I kind of called you out uh during Unexpected Christmas, you know, that why they weren't sharing a room and stuff.
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And Ingreta sharing a room in this was something I liked.
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You just you just didn't see that back in Hallmark movies when Peters are all, hey, you guys are you guys are in the same room.
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Of course you are, you know, you guys are together.
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So I thought that was kind of different for that era because, like I can say, a lot of times kind of that wholesome Hallmark family values, you know, we saw a lot where they would actually sleep in different rooms.
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Uh, you mentioned Claire.
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Well, first of all, Claire Sinclair, what a great name.
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And she's a real villain.
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I I love it when we have a real antagonist in a Hallmark movie, and she's a good one.
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Um, and Wes too is kind of a secondary villain.
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So we kind of had two villains, but obviously Claire is a great, great antagonist.
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Uh Greta and the red dress looks, I mean, Katrina Law is just so charismatic and she looked great.
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Um, I like the Greta and Peter's relationship, and I also like the Maggie Greta relationship.
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They that great talk they two of them had out on the balcony.
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Um, we had a mid-movie kiss on this one, Renee, under the mistletoe.
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I'll I'll talk about it uh during the mistletoe meter, but it was a really good kiss.
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And if you notice on the mistletoe, they had white berries, so they got the mistletoe right.
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And then my then my last one here, I love the great twist at the end.
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Like I said, that this was not predictable at all.
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There's stuff I didn't see coming.
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Um, where you basically, you know, Claire uh with Wes in Pulse magazine office and then Maggie buying the company.
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Stuff I didn't see coming.
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I like it when I'm surprised.
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And the movie definitely uh kept me kind of uh, you know, not knowing what was going to happen there at the end.
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So yeah, those are a whole bunch of things I liked.
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I mean, there's more, but a bunch.
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Okay.
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Some of the things I really liked.
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I touched up, you know, you hit upon a lot of the same things that I would have picked myself.
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Um, I knew you would catch up on that uh mistletoe being actual mistletoe, which I learned from you last week.
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No, Renee, I think every movie we now see that has mistletoe, we're gonna call it out.
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I know.
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It's gonna be my focus.
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You had d deeper things, but you know, I really like hearing all the traditional Christmas music in this movie.
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This is one of the movies of late that we've watched that, you know, even though we've been watching Christmas movies, I haven't gotten a sense on some of these movies of Christmas time and Christmas that feeling that I like.
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And this one had a lot of classic songs in it, and I started feeling like, ah, this feels like a Christmas time to me.
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Like a Christmas movie.
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Um, I like that a lot.
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I like that she eats bacon.
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Uh I thought it was really funny when he called her Snowbride a couple times.
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That cracked me out.
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Um, as you said, it was filmed in Big Bear, and I, you know, and I recognize the street because I've I've stayed in Big Bear.
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And I said, geez, I hope I'm not say this like, oh, it I recognize that street, and then Rich go, well, this was actually filmed in Canada or something, but it thinks like it was filmed, it was filmed in Big Bear.
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Yep.
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So, and I of course I love Patricia Richardson, such a great presence, and is like an every mom in this movie.
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Uh, just love seeing her in a Hallmark movie.
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She looked great.
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I hope uh we see more of her again in Hallmark.
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Uh, there was lots that I liked, but you pretty much hit on a lot of them as well.
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Some of your where you excel at, I think.
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What are some things you'd fix in a rewrite?
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Okay, so with the script itself, I don't think there's really much I'd fix at all.
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I think the script is absolutely sensational.
00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:44.240
I just I am blown away that this was a first-time Hallmark writer at the time putting out such a fantastic script.
00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:50.639
Other than the Christmas music, which I really liked as well, the one thing I think this movie could have had more of was Christmas vibes.
00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:54.799
I think the actual Christmas itself felt a little secondary.
00:13:54.879 --> 00:14:03.279
Like if you would have told me this was a January movie, you know, you had they have the kind of the winter escape movie, sometimes they're at a snow lodge or something, but Christmas really isn't part of it.
00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.000
Kind of like Winter and Vale with with Lacey and Tyler there.
00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:10.480
There's you know, it was a shot in at a winter lodge, but no Christmas really in the movie.
00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:12.480
And I think that kind of felt like this could have almost been.
00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.240
I just don't think Christmas was really intrinsic to the story.
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.240
That's really the only thing I can knock on it, though.
00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:25.360
The script itself, I there's nothing really I would rewrite other than trying to maybe, like I say, just make me feel a little bit more like this is centered around Christmas.
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:26.559
Yeah, I felt the same.
00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:31.279
I mean, she's such an excellent writer, and for this being her first movie, it's really, really good.
00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:35.360
So I just kind of picked a couple of scenes that I would have liked to have seen differently.
00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:35.919
Sure.
00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:45.120
And the first one for me was like Ricard being boxed in and having to go back and forth to get it out, sort of like in Austin Powers when he's in that hallway with that little golf cart or whatever.
00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:51.600
I would, I know it's silly, but I would have liked to have seen that scene drawn out to its conclusion.
00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:57.440
Like just dig into it and make it like a one-minute scene of her just going back and forth, back and forth.
00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:02.000
I think it would just been frustratingly funnier as it as you watched it.
00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:04.240
That's just my sort of sensibilities.
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:11.039
The other one was when they showed the car being stuck in the snow, when they showed the tire spinning, it was going in reverse into the embankment.
00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:12.240
It makes no sense.
00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:13.440
Like, that's bad.
00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.840
Like, that's just like a continuity thing.
00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:21.039
Like, I could see the embankment was behind her, and I could see the tire spinning in that direction.
00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:22.960
Like, okay, that's fine.
00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:25.519
That was really that was really kind of it.
00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:31.919
I think I put something in here that was from a scene I liked, but uh can't really think of too many more rewrites.
00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:38.000
I I hated Claire so much that I would have liked to have seen a nicer character, but that's not a rewrite.
00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.720
I mean, she did such a good job in writing a a villain.
00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:41.600
No, man.
00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:43.120
I I loved having Claire in there.
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:46.720
That's we're not rewriting that at all, Tracy Andrine.
00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:47.600
No, I know.
00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:54.639
Yeah, I I didn't have much this week, but uh, you know, it's hard to find anything with with uh Tracy Andrine writing.
00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:58.240
Also, let's move on to what is your favorite moment?
00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:10.559
So my favorite scene, and and you've just talked a little bit a little bit, but it's the entire sequence of when her car gets stuck, and then she's running outside, and basically her gym gear, she's wearing shorts and a tank top, obviously, it's freezing outside.
00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:17.039
Then she runs out of gas, she puts on the wedding dress, and then she falls down the snowbank.
00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:20.320
It is so absurd, so ridiculous, but I loved everything about it.
00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:21.679
It's just so classic.
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:25.759
And I think, you know, I think we're like at maybe eight or nine minutes in the movie here, and that all happened.
00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.559
So just that was just a great all-around scene.
00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:29.360
That was really good.
00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:31.759
For me, it's a very quick scene.
00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:39.360
It's when Claire says to Greta, you may think that you are now in the catbird seat, but that is a temporary position.
00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:42.720
And Greta says, Well, you would know, and walks away.
00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:47.919
I was like, Burn! I was cracking up so hard that I rewound it like two or three times.
00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.759
I just love that sort of right back into your face.
00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:59.279
And one of the things about that scene, it was just a quick little moment for me, but I watched it because I was like, Did she say captain's seat?
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:05.039
I wasn't sure, so I rewound it and put it on the subtitles, and it says cat bird seat.
00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:06.240
I'd never heard that expression.
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:07.200
So I looked it up.
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:12.240
Uh, I channeled you and looked at some research, uh, and it means being in a favorable position.
00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:19.599
And it was known from it was it was a famous expression, but it was really made famous by a baseball broadcaster named Red Barber.
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:24.240
His n his nickname was Red Barber, from the 1930s and 60s from the Reds, Dodgers, and Yankees.
00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:25.359
So I thought that was kind of neat.
00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:32.559
I might look up some of his old um, you know, ball games casting and see if I can hear him say, you know, you're in the catbird seat.
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:34.640
I thought that was an interesting expression.
00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:36.160
I think we should bring it back.
00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:38.799
Who's your best supporting character who deserved more screen time?
00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:42.160
Yeah, I think I think most of the main casts got got the right amount.
00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.400
So I'll went back and forth on a couple ones.
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:50.799
In the end, I'm gonna go with Wes, uh kind of her antagonist there at the uh at the gossip magazine.
00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:52.319
Yeah, I thought he was great.
00:17:52.480 --> 00:18:01.039
I love the scene where Greta pulls him into the janitor's closet and she's holding a toilet toilet plunger up to his face, like interrogating him.
00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:04.720
That was so good, and obviously him and Claire at the end.
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:08.079
Um, so if there's somebody I could have used a couple more Wes scenes in there.
00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.640
I I liked Wes as a supporting character.
00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:13.119
Well, for me, it's Brody the dog.
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.759
His acting was perfectly timed in this movie.
00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:17.359
No, I'm just kidding.
00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:24.240
It was uh it was a Maggie, Patricia Richardson, uh, with Peters, them them together.
00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:26.960
I would have liked to know more of their backstory with Peters.
00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:35.599
Uh she has a great presence, and it's one of the few times where, like, you know, the unrequited love Peters has for her is isn't fulfilled.
00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:41.039
He's he honors his place as her friend and friend of the husband.
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:45.759
That is a um really nice sign of integrity from Peters.
00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:58.880
I really enjoyed seeing that I really admired him and and had a respect for that character because I thought, oh, they were gonna do the trope thing where the butler or the family helpers was always in love with the with the matriarch or something like that.
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.559
But no, Tracy Andrine that threw me a curveball, a very nice one.
00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:04.960
And I was really glad for that writing.
00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:08.240
And uh I wish I would have known more of their backstory.
00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:09.599
We did get a lot of time with them.
00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:11.039
I think your pick is great.
00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:12.640
Is this your wife's favorite?
00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:13.920
You said the Are We Sure's?
00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:15.279
I forget which one was her favorite.
00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.440
My wife my wife loves loves Are We Sure.
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:20.640
I think she likes the creative part of it, how we can pull some of these things out of a movie.
00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:22.160
Yeah, for sure.
00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:31.440
And my first Are We Sure, are we sure that somebody is who is really super smart, which she is, would drive from LA to Big Bear, which you and I have both done that drive.
00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:35.680
It's a mountain drive at night in the snow, no gas, no clothes, no tire chains.
00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:37.440
Yeah, that's my first Are We Sure.
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:41.759
Are you are we sure she just wouldn't wait until the next morning and get up at uh at sunrise and go?
00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.240
We've got the Kennedys of the West Coast here.
00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.559
These are the really polite elytical people.
00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.119
Are we sure there wouldn't be security at this fundraiser gala?
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:56.319
Because Wes literally comes up shoulder to shoulder with Jared as he's proposing and just at least one inch away from the guy.
00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.920
I'm well, where is security at this place?
00:19:58.000 --> 00:19:59.200
This is a private event.
00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:01.200
So that's another are we sure here.
00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.359
Are we sure that Greta would send Ben's manuscript to a publisher without asking him?
00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:12.079
I I gotta think herself being a journalist understands how personal that would be to somebody.
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:13.839
I'm not sure about that one.
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:23.839
And my last one here are we sure that the caretaker's cabin would be half a mile from the main house in kind of a mountain community like Big Bear, where you can get snowed in really easily there.
00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.680
Roads close, uh unaccessible.
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.880
If that's a half mile from, there's a good chance they get a lot of snow.
00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:32.720
That the caretaker literally can't get from the cabin to the main house.
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.640
So that's my last, are we sure?
00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:39.839
So my big one, I even bolted it, is like that Jared would propose to Claire.
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:41.519
He's out of his hallmark mind.
00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:45.519
His brother should have walked up to him right then and there and told her what she had done.
00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:46.720
How could he keep quiet?
00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.559
I don't understand how he could keep quiet at that moment, as Susan Powers would say.
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:51.839
Stop the insanity.
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.920
Like that was insane to me.
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.240
Like, well, forget, forget, forget about him.
00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.400
What about Maggie who knows that Claire hit on her husband when he was alive?
00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:07.200
I mean the moment he arrived, she arrived, I I would have gut-punched my brother, like if that had happened.
00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:09.359
I was like, no way at all.
00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:10.720
I did not understand this.
00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:18.079
Yeah, my mom would have if I showed up with my brother's ex-girlfriend, my mom would be the first one to smack me across the face.
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:19.680
And my mom's not a violent person.
00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:21.519
So just saying that.
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:27.759
And the other one was like, are we sure Ben wouldn't just unplug the phone in the cabin instead of disabling it to where he cannot use it at all?
00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:28.559
That's nuts.
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:29.119
Right.
00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:31.759
Um he's taller than she is.
00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:33.359
That couch did not fit him.
00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.640
Why doesn't he just take the bed and let her stretch out on the couch?
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:37.599
She fits on the couch.
00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:38.079
He doesn't.
00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:44.319
I know it's like a gentlemanly thing to do, but I'd be like, hey, I'm six feet tall, you're five five or whatever.
00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:46.000
You can fit on this couch, I can't.
00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:47.279
My feet are hanging off the side.
00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:48.160
Let's trade.
00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:50.319
But he's he's he's got the hots for her, Renee.
00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:53.039
I mean, he he's into her and he's being the gentleman here.
00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:53.680
I I get it.
00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:55.039
I know I get it too.
00:21:55.599 --> 00:22:03.039
And my last one is that are we sure that when Greta walked into the room, he Would offer to change the bowl game channel that he's watching?
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:12.160
Like, no, no guy who's watching a bowl game, even if it's not like it's Minnesota and whoever it was, like I like he's they're from California, it doesn't matter.
00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:19.680
But no guy is gonna watch, and then the whole family was coming to watch the bowl game too, and they would have showed up and had he changed the channel, they'd be like, What's going on here?
00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:25.519
Like, no way does any guy, I don't care how cute the girl is, I'm not changing that football channel when it's a bowl game on.
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.079
I don't watch college bowls, but you know what I'm saying.
00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:32.319
So you know, those things were just like crazy to me.
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:34.000
Will this couple last 12 months?
00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:35.680
See, one year, boy, Renee.
00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:40.640
I I have never been so conflicted of the I think we're number 26 now.
00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:48.960
I thought long and harder about this one because part of me says no, because look, she deceived this entire family for so many days.
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.079
And you gotta wonder, like, are they ever gonna be able to trust her?
00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:53.200
But you know what?
00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:55.359
By the end, everyone's crazy about her.
00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:58.000
Maggie, Jared, Peters, they all love her.
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.319
Um, Greta and Ben have great chemistry.
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:02.319
I mean, he's a writer, she's a journalist.
00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:06.480
He went to Harvard, Stanford for Greta, got a lot in common.
00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:12.400
Um, toughest call since we've been doing this podcast, but I'm gonna say yes, they're gonna make it.
00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:13.759
I agreed with you.
00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:16.319
Um, I'm feeling the Hallmark spirit this week.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:22.960
You gotta feel, yeah, I mean, because like I said, that that deception was real for a big part of this movie, and I think you gotta all you gotta feel the Hallmark spirit on this one.
00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:25.680
Yeah, because he's a he's genuinely a good guy.
00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:26.000
Yeah.
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:26.880
Sounds like, right?
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:29.119
Sounds like he's a good, nice moral guy.
00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:40.720
And she did something bad, but she fessed up to it, and when it came down to it, you know, she confessed, she did it, she did the right thing, and you're gonna allow in Christmas spirit, you give people grace.
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:46.079
Now, if she did it again, that's another thing, but she came, she apologized and she said she was wrong.
00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:49.119
In the end, her her morals won out for her.
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:51.759
She I, you know, she was conflicted about it.
00:23:52.000 --> 00:24:00.480
So yeah, they're gonna make it because I think she's uh she's a good woman and she's now living as the good woman that she knows she is, which I like.
00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:02.160
All right, we're we're on the same page.
00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:06.720
I think is this is really the one that people tune in for the mistletoe meter.
00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:07.920
Rate this kiss for us.
00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:11.440
So I I'm gonna rate two kisses here because I think they were both really good.
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:18.400
So under the mistletoe, the kiss uh after the gala there, that was an A and is creeping into A plus territory for me.
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:24.240
It it started out kind of tender for the first few seconds, but then it got hotter and hotter as kiss went along.
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.960
An A 13 seconds for the kiss.
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:27.599
I timed it.
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:28.079
Woo!
00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.119
That is a long hallmark kiss.
00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:33.279
That you we we don't get kisses that long.
00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:35.279
So absolutely an A for the first one.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:39.039
Like I say, kind of creeping towards an A plus, maybe not quite there, but it was really good.
00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:40.079
And then the final kiss.
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.279
Uh, first of all, we didn't get an I Love You or Will You Marry Me.
00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:45.599
Great job by a first-time writer.
00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.359
Um, also an A.
00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:50.559
Not as strong as the mistletoe kiss, but still really, really good.
00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:52.319
It's it's an A all around for me.
00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:53.119
It's pretty good.
00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:57.920
My first kiss, the one at the after the ball, as I wrote down, under the real mistletoe to boot.
00:24:58.000 --> 00:24:58.559
That's awesome.
00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:02.240
That was a tender kiss that started getting really steamy, like you said.
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:03.039
That's as good.
00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:04.960
That was kisses as good as it gets for me.
00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:05.680
That's an A.
00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:06.880
Solid A.
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:08.240
You're right, could be an A plus.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.880
The final kiss for me was a B.
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:15.920
The camera pulled away too soon, but I did like the hands blocking the shot at the end.
00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:18.160
I thought that was a really cute, super cute.
00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:18.799
That was cute.
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:19.039
Yeah.
00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:26.160
So I gave the whole both kisses, overall kisses in this movie, an A-really, I really like those kisses.
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:28.880
But that first one at the ball was like fantastic.
00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:30.319
Who wouldn't want that?
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:31.920
Who or what won the movie?
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:33.359
I think we're gonna be the same on this one.
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:33.839
Maybe.
00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:36.240
So uh so honorable mention to Katrina a lot.
00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:38.960
I I loved her as Greta, she's so darn charismatic.
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:40.319
I wish we had her in more Hallmark.
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:50.160
But this this movie is about the story, it's about the dialogue, it's about great character development, you know, giving us a great villain, tons of twists and turns that I didn't see coming.
00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:54.720
The writer, Tracy Andreen, hands down, she is the MVP of this movie.
00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:56.640
First time she'd ever written for Hallmark.
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.960
She's she's on the Mount Rushmore of writers right now.
00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:00.079
Every almost every movie.
00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:02.880
I'm I'm I'm three movies last year were fantastic.
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:03.920
Countdown to Christmas.
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:05.759
I I think she's the only writer that had three.
00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:06.960
In fact, I know she is.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:09.279
She's just she's she's the MVP of this movie.
00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:10.720
Hands down, easy decision for me.
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:13.119
Yeah, she might be like the MVP writer of Hallmark.
00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:14.000
She's fantastic.
00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:14.880
She is great.
00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:15.200
Yeah.
00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.359
I also picked Tracy Andrew.
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:21.440
I thought Greta apologizing for what she did is incredible character growth and development.
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:25.119
There's some solid writing, and this could easily be a movie on any other network.
00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:25.839
Easily.
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:27.440
And that to me, that's a compliment.
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:31.119
I'm not knocking Hallmark movies, but Hallmark has its style, right?
00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:32.799
They don't get too crazy.
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:37.759
This is a really well-written movie with dynamic characters, really solid writing and dialogue.
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.720
Tracy Andreen totally won this movie.
00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:43.359
Okay, I think we're gonna be close on this one as well.
00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:45.279
Uh, our overall rating.
00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:46.240
What's your rating?
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:52.799
Uh oh, what what what symbol are we using to uh oh goodness, I um let's see here.
00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:54.559
I totally forgot.
00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:55.200
Hmm.
00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:57.599
Rich, let's do the overall moving rating.
00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:00.400
Uh let's do how many cars stuck in the snow?
00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:03.200
Five cars being stuck in the snow being the best, of course.
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:04.400
What was your rating?
00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:05.359
That's a good one.
00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:06.960
Cars stuck in the snow.
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:10.799
So uh again, I kind of sometimes I it just pops into being the number.
00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:12.160
This one I kind of went back and forth on.
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:16.960
I'm giving this 4.5 cars stuck in the snow.
00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:20.960
Now, give me more Christmas fives, more Christmas intrinsic to the story.
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:28.400
I think this easily jumps up to a 4, 7, 5, maybe into even into 5 territory, but I just needed that a little bit more.
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:34.079
So in the end, uh I'm going 4.5 cars stuck in the snow for Snowbride.
00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:35.759
So I watched this movie twice.
00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:38.799
I watched it on Friday night and then Saturday morning taking my notes.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:42.720
When I first watched it, my initial reaction was 4.25 cars stuck in the snow.
00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:49.759
But after I rewatched it while I'm taking my notes and looking at it more critically, I'm gonna give it 4.5 cars stuck in the snow.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.440
All right, we're on the same page.
00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:51.920
Love it.
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:54.799
Yeah, I picked a good movie, didn't I, this week?
00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:56.559
So yeah.
00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:59.759
So, Rich, uh, what is our next movie?
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:05.440
All right, so we're getting a lot more information about the 2026 Christmas movies uh that are coming.
00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:10.160
And we found out that writer Russell Hainline has written two of them.
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:12.960
Uh The Nights Before Christmas with Tyler Hines and Lacey J.
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:14.640
Maley, and it also just came out.
00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:17.359
He wrote one called Mistletoe and Mimosas.
00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:21.200
I think that's a working title, but it's Tamara Maori Housley and Chris Palaha.
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.119
So he's gonna have two movies.
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:27.039
And Russell Hainlein, I mean, we're talking Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper from 2025.
00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:29.119
That was my my favorite movie last year.
00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:31.519
Everybody knows my love of the Santa Summit.
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:37.839
Um, I thought it'd be fun to go back to his very first movie that he wrote for Hallmark, which was in 2022.
00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:40.400
It's called In Mary Measure.
00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:45.359
Uh, it stars Patty Muren and uh your favorite Hallmark actor, Brendan Penny.
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:46.079
All right.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:50.480
Yeah, so Mary In Mary Measure 2022, that's what we're gonna do next week.
00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:56.000
Uh, and again, just get getting ourselves even more excited for 2026, where we know we're gonna have two Russell Hain line movies.
00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:57.279
Uh I am excited.
00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:58.400
I can't wait to see this movie.
00:28:58.480 --> 00:28:59.359
That sounds like a good one.
00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:00.960
I have not seen it, so that's nice.
00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:09.039
So follow us on our Instagram, Forever Hallmark Christmas, or send us an email at Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com.
00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:10.559
That's all we have for you this week.
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:11.519
Thank you for tuning in.
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:12.880
We really appreciate it.
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:17.119
Uh tune in next week, please, and we'll leave you with For the Love of Hallmark.
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:19.519
For the Love of Hallmark.
00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:10.720
Hello everyone.
00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:13.679
Welcome to the Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast.
00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:19.280
We are a movie review podcast where we talk about one thing, and that's Hallmark Christmas movies.
00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.320
My name is Renee, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host Rich.
00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:23.039
How are you?
00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:24.719
I'm doing good, Renee.
00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:28.079
Living the life uh really warm out here in Orange County, California.
00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:32.719
Right now doesn't quite feel like Christmas, but hey, that's all we do is talk about Christmas on this podcast.
00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.039
It's it's Christmas 52 weeks a year for us.
00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:36.159
That's right.
00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:45.280
And speaking of that, Renee, I know we've uh, you know, we've been putting out some posts on Instagram about what's coming for Christmas 2026, getting a lot of a lot of traction, a lot of comments, a lot of views.
00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:50.640
And I started thinking, you know, we're really the only podcast out there that only talks about Hallmark Christmas.
00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:54.960
Uh, you know, there's tons of other great Hallmark podcasts, but they cover kind of the content year-round.
00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:56.799
They're doing the August movies right now.
00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:58.719
Um, they're not even thinking about Christmas.
00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.759
They still got fall movies to do, and you know, we're we're we're Christmas.
00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:03.759
It's like, hey, it's coming up, that's all we think about.
00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:07.920
And uh I think it's one of the cool things about our podcast is is being Christmas only.
00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.879
You know, we can get people jazzed up about what's coming here in a couple months.
00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:22.480
Yeah, as I always say, we can have Christmas spirit year round, but I'm glad the work that the other guys are doing, because uh I do like watching, you know, just like the fall in love and all like I like watching all that stuff.
00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:28.959
So uh I'm glad that someone can get me my my give me their takes on those movies that I watch as well sometimes.
00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:31.920
No, I I I've I've seen every single one so far this year.
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.959
Uh all three of uh of Lacey's Paris, it's always a good idea.
00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:37.280
I've seen the first three, so yeah, I'm really into all the call.
00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:40.079
And it's really fun hearing the other podcasters talk about that content.
00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:41.280
Yeah, I like that too.
00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:41.680
Yep.
00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:42.239
All right.
00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.000
So this week I picked a movie from 2013, uh Snowbride.
00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:52.000
It stars uh Katrina Law as Greta Kane or Kenable Insteinsky, if you prefer.
00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:54.959
You'll get good good job on that uh pronunciation there.
00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:56.159
That was a hard one.
00:01:56.400 --> 00:01:58.159
I think I had to spell it phonetically.
00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:03.200
Uh, you might have seen her in Twelve Gifts of Christmas with uh Aaron O'Connell and Christmas with the Darlings.
00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:04.159
She's been in those.
00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:07.439
Uh Jordan Belphy, uh, as Ben Tannehill.
00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:09.280
Uh I didn't find any other Hallmark credits.
00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:14.080
He has been in Entourage and appearances in Castle, Grey's Anatomy, and CIF, and a bunch of other stuff.
00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:18.800
Uh Supporting Cast, Patricia Richardson, who we all know from uh as Maggie Tannehill.
00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:19.680
Tannehill.
00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:21.439
Tannenhill, excuse me.
00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:25.039
Uh Supporting Cast is Patricia Richardson as Maggie Tannehill.
00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:28.000
She plays Ben's mom and is well known for home improvement.
00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:32.479
And there's a few other people in here that we have definitely heard of for sure.
00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:38.319
Uh this movie is directed by Burt Kish, who also directed Stranded in Paradise and Holiday Switch.
00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:43.520
And this is written by the one and really the only, the great Tracy Andrewine.
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:50.400
Uh she this is one of her first, if not her first, uh movie that got picked up by Hallmark.
00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:53.280
I wasn't sure if it was exactly her first, but it was a very early one for her.
00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:56.080
It's it's her first Hallmark uh ever, for sure, yeah.
00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:08.080
Yeah, so it's a very important break for her, and uh you know, she did several movies: Christmas Getaway, Switch for Christmas, uh It's Christmas Eve, which we've we reviewed here and we loved with Leanne Rhimes and Tyler Hines.
00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:12.479
She she worked with Mark Mark Amato on your favorite, uh, A Kiss Before Christmas, too.
00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:12.960
So yeah.
00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:14.800
Oh, I I forgot about that.
00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:15.199
Yep.
00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:15.680
Yeah.
00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:17.039
So she's pretty amazing.
00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:17.919
I like her a lot.
00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:36.319
So uh our FHC log line is a tabloid reporter chases a juicy Christmas scoop, gets stranded in the snow, and somehow ends up falling for the very guy she is supposed to be spying on because nothing says holiday romance like lies, rich people, and questionable journalism.
00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:46.719
Uh, this movie has an IMDB rating of 6.8 out of 10, which is a I think is a rather good score, 6.4 being the average, and the ever-popular Fun Facts with Rich.
00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:52.639
Yeah, we got a whole bunch on this one because this is a uh really popular movie of the uh the Hallmark fans out there.
00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:55.759
First of all, it's it's kind of a very much a family affair movie.
00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:00.639
You mentioned the writer Tracy Andreen, her first Hallmark script here, first Hallmark credit.
00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:08.319
Uh her brother, Keith Andrine, he is the actor who portrays Doria's husband at the very end of the movie there in the wedding scene.
00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:09.919
He's uh Doria's husband.
00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:14.639
And in addition to that, Keith Andreen is married to Katrina Law, who plays Greta.
00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:18.560
So definitely a family affair here uh with Snowbride.
00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:20.399
Uh Jordan Belfi, you mentioned it.
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:22.480
This is the one and only Hallmark movie he's ever done.
00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:25.040
And I'm gonna say, Renee, right now, like, what the Hallmark?
00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:26.639
Uh this guy's only got one.
00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:27.600
I mean, he's great.
00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:33.279
So let's get let's let's get Jordan Belphy in a uh I know he's a few years older now, but let's get him in another Hallmark uh movie, please.
00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:35.279
And actually looks better, clean shaven.
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:40.959
He has a great jawline, so uh we should we'd like to have him back, but he's done some pretty big things himself.
00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:44.240
Renee, I I know you love all dogs in movies and broody in this movie.
00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:48.879
His real name is Max, and he starred in a lot of uh commercials for Greenies Dental Snacks for Dogs.
00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:52.079
So he's a uh he he's a media dog for sure.
00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:59.040
Uh we've mentioned a lot of the uh uh you know, some of the publications that have come out with the best Hallmark Christmas movies of all time lists.
00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:00.800
Uh, this is on a couple of the ones from last year.
00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:07.040
Variety, uh their top 25 lists is ranked number 23, and Entertainment Weekly is ranked number 25.
00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:08.879
So always up there on those lists.
00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:11.439
Uh 13 Hallmark movies back in 2013.
00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:16.319
In terms of rating, this is tied for number one with the movie we covered a few months back, a very merry mix-up.
00:05:16.560 --> 00:05:17.920
So they were the number one spot.
00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:19.920
Uh that was episode number six for us.
00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:26.399
Uh, the house, this movie was shot in Big Bear, California, 90 minutes from where you and I live in Orange County, Renee.
00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:35.199
Um, it's actually filmed at a place called the Edgewood Mansion, which has eight bedrooms and nine baths, about 12,000 square feet.
00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:41.199
And you can actually go and rent this house uh for a weekend, for a week.
00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:43.680
They do uh weddings there.
00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:47.839
Uh, if you want to go in the summer, it's about$2,000 per night.
00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:49.439
And that seems like a lot of money, I know.
00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:50.079
But think about it.
00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.160
This has eight bedrooms and nine baths.
00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:58.560
You get eight people who love Hallmark movies, maybe eight couples, and you split it, basically comes out to$250 a night.
00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:00.639
I was just fooling around this morning, Renee.
00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:02.959
I looked at one of the nicer hotels in Big Bear.
00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.920
For the same date I looked at, it would cost$300 per night.
00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:12.240
So, hey, if you if you want to go and stay in the house where Snowbride was filmed, this mansion at Big Bear, you can do that.
00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:14.480
That's pretty funny.
00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:16.800
Uh, as we mentioned, this was Tracy Andreen.
00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:22.560
Uh, if there's a Mount Rushmore of Hallmark writers, it starts with Tracy Andreen, Julie Sherman Wolf, and Nina Wyman.
00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:23.600
They are the big three.
00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:28.240
Uh, this was her first movie, and I heard her on a uh a podcast, Hallmark Movie Drafts.
00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.600
I've I've said before it's a podcast I love a couple months back.
00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:36.000
Um, the drafters drafted their top 10 Tracy Andreen movies.
00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:46.399
Uh, Snowbride ended up at number two, but at the very end, Tracy Andrine read her personal top 10 list, and Snowbride was number one on her personal list of all of all the Hallmark movies done.
00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:48.560
I think she's in the 30s now, so that's a lot of movies.
00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:52.160
Uh Tracy Andrine, when she was asked to write a Hallmark script, she had no idea what to do.
00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:58.480
So this was back in July of 2012, the first year they did uh countdown, or excuse me, the Christmas in July.
00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:08.399
So she binged watched 10 Christmas in July Hallmark Christmas movies to learn, took tons of notes, and kind of learn all the beats and rhythms of a Hallmark movie, the nine act uh structure.
00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:18.720
And that's how she kind of developed her writing style to write Snowbride uh by by taking notes and watching actual Christmas movies in the summer of uh of 2012.
00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:23.600
Uh if you look if you listen to our podcast, there's a chance you might listen to other Hallmark podcasts out there.
00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:27.120
One of the most popular, or the most popular, is Deck the Hallmark.
00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:33.759
And if you listen to them, you know that Dan basically dislikes about 98% of the Hallmark movies that he uh he watches.
00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:35.279
That's kind of their shtick.
00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:39.920
Um, and the first movie that Dan ever officially liked was Snowbride.
00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:41.680
He said, I really like this movie.
00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:46.000
Uh I saw the scene uh where they're playing football out of the field.
00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.560
I figured that was probably the Big Bear High School said, Home of the Bears.
00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:49.600
Like, oh, that can't be right.
00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:51.439
No one would call themselves the Big Bear Bears.
00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.800
I looked it up Renee, sure enough, they're the Big Bear Bears.
00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:56.879
That's funny.
00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.600
And of course, you mentioned Patricia Richardson home improvement.
00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:03.439
We also have another actress that had kind of an iconic role in the past.
00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:07.040
Doria, who who obviously is getting married there at the end.
00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:20.480
Uh her uh real name is Dana Baron, and she played the original Audrey Griswold in 1983's National Lampoons Vacation, Anthony Michael Hall's sister, uh, the daughter of Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo.
00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:22.800
So you know, I didn't even put that together.
00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:24.480
That's a good that's a good one.
00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.560
I I wouldn't have either, yeah.
00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:27.120
It's a good one.
00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:28.720
So and those are our fun facts of the day.
00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:30.160
Man, those are really good ones.
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:31.759
Really outdone yourself.
00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:32.399
Thanks.
00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:33.759
So let's get to it.
00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:35.600
What are your overall thoughts on this movie?
00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:36.159
Okay.
00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:40.240
Um I I I saw this one back in 2013.
00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:41.360
I mentioned that before.
00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:46.960
I remember watching this, and it's kind of really when I started kind of consistently watching Hallmark Christmas movies.
00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:53.039
I really liked it back then, and I haven't seen it in 13 years, and it is still really, really good.
00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:55.519
It's so unique, it's so different.
00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:58.720
There's there's nothing cookie-cutter about it at all.
00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:01.120
Great plot twists and turns.
00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:04.320
Um, it's a really tight screenplay with hardly any holes.
00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:07.679
It's let's be honest, it's absolutely ridiculous.
00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:10.480
Some of the scenes of this movie in a great, great way.
00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:12.240
But so many rom-comps are like that.
00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:14.000
And it's it's just a wonderful movie.
00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:15.919
I I really like Snowbride a lot.
00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:16.559
Yeah.
00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:20.720
Uh, you know, this movie for me was like chaotic at times.
00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:23.840
It filled me with it was filled with questionable people.
00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:25.919
I flat out did not like the brother.
00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:32.240
I did not like his new girlfriend, uh, his brother's former girlfriend, and I did not even like the lead Greta.
00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:33.519
I just didn't like them as people.
00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:38.480
I would not want to be friends with any of them, at least not as they were presented to us initially.
00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:44.879
Um, there is redemption for two of three, two out of three of these, but the first half I dis I dislike these characters.
00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:49.039
I wanted Claire to just get what is coming to her the whole time in this movie.
00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:54.320
Uh having said all that, I like this movie a lot with its uncomfortable and aggravating moments.
00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.799
I really, really enjoyed this movie a lot.
00:09:57.039 --> 00:09:57.200
Right.
00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:59.120
Sounds sounds like we're on the same page, yeah.
00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:02.799
Finally, what are some things uh you really liked?
00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:03.840
Uh there's a bunch.
00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:09.679
I I uh first of all, I love the scene where the two of them are making up their fake stories about each other and how they met, you know, to be get on the same page.
00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:13.440
And then she hits him with that first kiss, which I didn't see coming at all.
00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:15.279
And but he has the best line.
00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:19.360
He goes, I just want to go on record that I'm a much better kisser when I'm not ambushed.
00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:23.919
And uh basically saying he already kind of knew, like, hey, I want this girl to think I'm a good kisser.
00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:25.440
He already kind of liked her in a way.
00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:32.399
You've talked about this before, and I kind of called you out uh during Unexpected Christmas, you know, that why they weren't sharing a room and stuff.
00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.200
And Ingreta sharing a room in this was something I liked.
00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:40.000
You just you just didn't see that back in Hallmark movies when Peters are all, hey, you guys are you guys are in the same room.
00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:41.919
Of course you are, you know, you guys are together.
00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:51.519
So I thought that was kind of different for that era because, like I can say, a lot of times kind of that wholesome Hallmark family values, you know, we saw a lot where they would actually sleep in different rooms.
00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:52.879
Uh, you mentioned Claire.
00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:55.840
Well, first of all, Claire Sinclair, what a great name.
00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:57.279
And she's a real villain.
00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:02.080
I I love it when we have a real antagonist in a Hallmark movie, and she's a good one.
00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:05.360
Um, and Wes too is kind of a secondary villain.
00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:09.120
So we kind of had two villains, but obviously Claire is a great, great antagonist.
00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:14.240
Uh Greta and the red dress looks, I mean, Katrina Law is just so charismatic and she looked great.
00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:19.200
Um, I like the Greta and Peter's relationship, and I also like the Maggie Greta relationship.
00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:22.080
They that great talk they two of them had out on the balcony.
00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:25.519
Um, we had a mid-movie kiss on this one, Renee, under the mistletoe.
00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:28.960
I'll I'll talk about it uh during the mistletoe meter, but it was a really good kiss.
00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:32.720
And if you notice on the mistletoe, they had white berries, so they got the mistletoe right.
00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:35.600
And then my then my last one here, I love the great twist at the end.
00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:38.559
Like I said, that this was not predictable at all.
00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:40.559
There's stuff I didn't see coming.
00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:47.279
Um, where you basically, you know, Claire uh with Wes in Pulse magazine office and then Maggie buying the company.
00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:48.159
Stuff I didn't see coming.
00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:49.679
I like it when I'm surprised.
00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:54.639
And the movie definitely uh kept me kind of uh, you know, not knowing what was going to happen there at the end.
00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:56.480
So yeah, those are a whole bunch of things I liked.
00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:58.480
I mean, there's more, but a bunch.
00:11:58.879 --> 00:11:59.120
Okay.
00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:01.120
Some of the things I really liked.
00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:06.720
I touched up, you know, you hit upon a lot of the same things that I would have picked myself.
00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:13.120
Um, I knew you would catch up on that uh mistletoe being actual mistletoe, which I learned from you last week.
00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:16.960
No, Renee, I think every movie we now see that has mistletoe, we're gonna call it out.
00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:17.519
I know.
00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:19.440
It's gonna be my focus.
00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:25.279
You had d deeper things, but you know, I really like hearing all the traditional Christmas music in this movie.
00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:37.200
This is one of the movies of late that we've watched that, you know, even though we've been watching Christmas movies, I haven't gotten a sense on some of these movies of Christmas time and Christmas that feeling that I like.
00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:44.080
And this one had a lot of classic songs in it, and I started feeling like, ah, this feels like a Christmas time to me.
00:12:44.480 --> 00:12:45.759
Like a Christmas movie.
00:12:45.919 --> 00:12:47.360
Um, I like that a lot.
00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:49.360
I like that she eats bacon.
00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:52.720
Uh I thought it was really funny when he called her Snowbride a couple times.
00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:54.159
That cracked me out.
00:12:54.320 --> 00:13:00.080
Um, as you said, it was filmed in Big Bear, and I, you know, and I recognize the street because I've I've stayed in Big Bear.
00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:09.440
And I said, geez, I hope I'm not say this like, oh, it I recognize that street, and then Rich go, well, this was actually filmed in Canada or something, but it thinks like it was filmed, it was filmed in Big Bear.
00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:09.919
Yep.
00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:16.480
So, and I of course I love Patricia Richardson, such a great presence, and is like an every mom in this movie.
00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:18.639
Uh, just love seeing her in a Hallmark movie.
00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:19.759
She looked great.
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:23.759
I hope uh we see more of her again in Hallmark.
00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:26.879
Uh, there was lots that I liked, but you pretty much hit on a lot of them as well.
00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:29.600
Some of your where you excel at, I think.
00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:31.679
What are some things you'd fix in a rewrite?
00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:36.080
Okay, so with the script itself, I don't think there's really much I'd fix at all.
00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:38.480
I think the script is absolutely sensational.
00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:44.240
I just I am blown away that this was a first-time Hallmark writer at the time putting out such a fantastic script.
00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:50.639
Other than the Christmas music, which I really liked as well, the one thing I think this movie could have had more of was Christmas vibes.
00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:54.799
I think the actual Christmas itself felt a little secondary.
00:13:54.879 --> 00:14:03.279
Like if you would have told me this was a January movie, you know, you had they have the kind of the winter escape movie, sometimes they're at a snow lodge or something, but Christmas really isn't part of it.
00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.000
Kind of like Winter and Vale with with Lacey and Tyler there.
00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:10.480
There's you know, it was a shot in at a winter lodge, but no Christmas really in the movie.
00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:12.480
And I think that kind of felt like this could have almost been.
00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.240
I just don't think Christmas was really intrinsic to the story.
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.240
That's really the only thing I can knock on it, though.
00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:25.360
The script itself, I there's nothing really I would rewrite other than trying to maybe, like I say, just make me feel a little bit more like this is centered around Christmas.
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:26.559
Yeah, I felt the same.
00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:31.279
I mean, she's such an excellent writer, and for this being her first movie, it's really, really good.
00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:35.360
So I just kind of picked a couple of scenes that I would have liked to have seen differently.
00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:35.919
Sure.
00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:45.120
And the first one for me was like Ricard being boxed in and having to go back and forth to get it out, sort of like in Austin Powers when he's in that hallway with that little golf cart or whatever.
00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:51.600
I would, I know it's silly, but I would have liked to have seen that scene drawn out to its conclusion.
00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:57.440
Like just dig into it and make it like a one-minute scene of her just going back and forth, back and forth.
00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:02.000
I think it would just been frustratingly funnier as it as you watched it.
00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:04.240
That's just my sort of sensibilities.
00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:11.039
The other one was when they showed the car being stuck in the snow, when they showed the tire spinning, it was going in reverse into the embankment.
00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:12.240
It makes no sense.
00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:13.440
Like, that's bad.
00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:15.840
Like, that's just like a continuity thing.
00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:21.039
Like, I could see the embankment was behind her, and I could see the tire spinning in that direction.
00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:22.960
Like, okay, that's fine.
00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:25.519
That was really that was really kind of it.
00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:31.919
I think I put something in here that was from a scene I liked, but uh can't really think of too many more rewrites.
00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:38.000
I I hated Claire so much that I would have liked to have seen a nicer character, but that's not a rewrite.
00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.720
I mean, she did such a good job in writing a a villain.
00:15:41.039 --> 00:15:41.600
No, man.
00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:43.120
I I loved having Claire in there.
00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:46.720
That's we're not rewriting that at all, Tracy Andrine.
00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:47.600
No, I know.
00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:54.639
Yeah, I I didn't have much this week, but uh, you know, it's hard to find anything with with uh Tracy Andrine writing.
00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:58.240
Also, let's move on to what is your favorite moment?
00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:10.559
So my favorite scene, and and you've just talked a little bit a little bit, but it's the entire sequence of when her car gets stuck, and then she's running outside, and basically her gym gear, she's wearing shorts and a tank top, obviously, it's freezing outside.
00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:17.039
Then she runs out of gas, she puts on the wedding dress, and then she falls down the snowbank.
00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:20.320
It is so absurd, so ridiculous, but I loved everything about it.
00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:21.679
It's just so classic.
00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:25.759
And I think, you know, I think we're like at maybe eight or nine minutes in the movie here, and that all happened.
00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.559
So just that was just a great all-around scene.
00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:29.360
That was really good.
00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:31.759
For me, it's a very quick scene.
00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:39.360
It's when Claire says to Greta, you may think that you are now in the catbird seat, but that is a temporary position.
00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:42.720
And Greta says, Well, you would know, and walks away.
00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:47.919
I was like, Burn! I was cracking up so hard that I rewound it like two or three times.
00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.759
I just love that sort of right back into your face.
00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:59.279
And one of the things about that scene, it was just a quick little moment for me, but I watched it because I was like, Did she say captain's seat?
00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:05.039
I wasn't sure, so I rewound it and put it on the subtitles, and it says cat bird seat.
00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:06.240
I'd never heard that expression.
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:07.200
So I looked it up.
00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:12.240
Uh, I channeled you and looked at some research, uh, and it means being in a favorable position.
00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:19.599
And it was known from it was it was a famous expression, but it was really made famous by a baseball broadcaster named Red Barber.
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:24.240
His n his nickname was Red Barber, from the 1930s and 60s from the Reds, Dodgers, and Yankees.
00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:25.359
So I thought that was kind of neat.
00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:32.559
I might look up some of his old um, you know, ball games casting and see if I can hear him say, you know, you're in the catbird seat.
00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:34.640
I thought that was an interesting expression.
00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:36.160
I think we should bring it back.
00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:38.799
Who's your best supporting character who deserved more screen time?
00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:42.160
Yeah, I think I think most of the main casts got got the right amount.
00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:44.400
So I'll went back and forth on a couple ones.
00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:50.799
In the end, I'm gonna go with Wes, uh kind of her antagonist there at the uh at the gossip magazine.
00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:52.319
Yeah, I thought he was great.
00:17:52.480 --> 00:18:01.039
I love the scene where Greta pulls him into the janitor's closet and she's holding a toilet toilet plunger up to his face, like interrogating him.
00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:04.720
That was so good, and obviously him and Claire at the end.
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:08.079
Um, so if there's somebody I could have used a couple more Wes scenes in there.
00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.640
I I liked Wes as a supporting character.
00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:13.119
Well, for me, it's Brody the dog.
00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.759
His acting was perfectly timed in this movie.
00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:17.359
No, I'm just kidding.
00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:24.240
It was uh it was a Maggie, Patricia Richardson, uh, with Peters, them them together.
00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:26.960
I would have liked to know more of their backstory with Peters.
00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:35.599
Uh she has a great presence, and it's one of the few times where, like, you know, the unrequited love Peters has for her is isn't fulfilled.
00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:41.039
He's he honors his place as her friend and friend of the husband.
00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:45.759
That is a um really nice sign of integrity from Peters.
00:18:45.920 --> 00:18:58.880
I really enjoyed seeing that I really admired him and and had a respect for that character because I thought, oh, they were gonna do the trope thing where the butler or the family helpers was always in love with the with the matriarch or something like that.
00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:02.559
But no, Tracy Andrine that threw me a curveball, a very nice one.
00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:04.960
And I was really glad for that writing.
00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:08.240
And uh I wish I would have known more of their backstory.
00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:09.599
We did get a lot of time with them.
00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:11.039
I think your pick is great.
00:19:11.359 --> 00:19:12.640
Is this your wife's favorite?
00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:13.920
You said the Are We Sure's?
00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:15.279
I forget which one was her favorite.
00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.440
My wife my wife loves loves Are We Sure.
00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:20.640
I think she likes the creative part of it, how we can pull some of these things out of a movie.
00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:22.160
Yeah, for sure.
00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:31.440
And my first Are We Sure, are we sure that somebody is who is really super smart, which she is, would drive from LA to Big Bear, which you and I have both done that drive.
00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:35.680
It's a mountain drive at night in the snow, no gas, no clothes, no tire chains.
00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:37.440
Yeah, that's my first Are We Sure.
00:19:37.599 --> 00:19:41.759
Are you are we sure she just wouldn't wait until the next morning and get up at uh at sunrise and go?
00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:44.240
We've got the Kennedys of the West Coast here.
00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:46.559
These are the really polite elytical people.
00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:49.119
Are we sure there wouldn't be security at this fundraiser gala?
00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:56.319
Because Wes literally comes up shoulder to shoulder with Jared as he's proposing and just at least one inch away from the guy.
00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.920
I'm well, where is security at this place?
00:19:58.000 --> 00:19:59.200
This is a private event.
00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:01.200
So that's another are we sure here.
00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:05.359
Are we sure that Greta would send Ben's manuscript to a publisher without asking him?
00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:12.079
I I gotta think herself being a journalist understands how personal that would be to somebody.
00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:13.839
I'm not sure about that one.
00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:23.839
And my last one here are we sure that the caretaker's cabin would be half a mile from the main house in kind of a mountain community like Big Bear, where you can get snowed in really easily there.
00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:25.680
Roads close, uh unaccessible.
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.880
If that's a half mile from, there's a good chance they get a lot of snow.
00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:32.720
That the caretaker literally can't get from the cabin to the main house.
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:34.640
So that's my last, are we sure?
00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:39.839
So my big one, I even bolted it, is like that Jared would propose to Claire.
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:41.519
He's out of his hallmark mind.
00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:45.519
His brother should have walked up to him right then and there and told her what she had done.
00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:46.720
How could he keep quiet?
00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.559
I don't understand how he could keep quiet at that moment, as Susan Powers would say.
00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:51.839
Stop the insanity.
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.920
Like that was insane to me.
00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.240
Like, well, forget, forget, forget about him.
00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.400
What about Maggie who knows that Claire hit on her husband when he was alive?
00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:07.200
I mean the moment he arrived, she arrived, I I would have gut-punched my brother, like if that had happened.
00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:09.359
I was like, no way at all.
00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:10.720
I did not understand this.
00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:18.079
Yeah, my mom would have if I showed up with my brother's ex-girlfriend, my mom would be the first one to smack me across the face.
00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:19.680
And my mom's not a violent person.
00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:21.519
So just saying that.
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:27.759
And the other one was like, are we sure Ben wouldn't just unplug the phone in the cabin instead of disabling it to where he cannot use it at all?
00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:28.559
That's nuts.
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:29.119
Right.
00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:31.759
Um he's taller than she is.
00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:33.359
That couch did not fit him.
00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.640
Why doesn't he just take the bed and let her stretch out on the couch?
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:37.599
She fits on the couch.
00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:38.079
He doesn't.
00:21:38.400 --> 00:21:44.319
I know it's like a gentlemanly thing to do, but I'd be like, hey, I'm six feet tall, you're five five or whatever.
00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:46.000
You can fit on this couch, I can't.
00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:47.279
My feet are hanging off the side.
00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:48.160
Let's trade.
00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:50.319
But he's he's he's got the hots for her, Renee.
00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:53.039
I mean, he he's into her and he's being the gentleman here.
00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:53.680
I I get it.
00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:55.039
I know I get it too.
00:21:55.599 --> 00:22:03.039
And my last one is that are we sure that when Greta walked into the room, he Would offer to change the bowl game channel that he's watching?
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:12.160
Like, no, no guy who's watching a bowl game, even if it's not like it's Minnesota and whoever it was, like I like he's they're from California, it doesn't matter.
00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:19.680
But no guy is gonna watch, and then the whole family was coming to watch the bowl game too, and they would have showed up and had he changed the channel, they'd be like, What's going on here?
00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:25.519
Like, no way does any guy, I don't care how cute the girl is, I'm not changing that football channel when it's a bowl game on.
00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.079
I don't watch college bowls, but you know what I'm saying.
00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:32.319
So you know, those things were just like crazy to me.
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:34.000
Will this couple last 12 months?
00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:35.680
See, one year, boy, Renee.
00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:40.640
I I have never been so conflicted of the I think we're number 26 now.
00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:48.960
I thought long and harder about this one because part of me says no, because look, she deceived this entire family for so many days.
00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:52.079
And you gotta wonder, like, are they ever gonna be able to trust her?
00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:53.200
But you know what?
00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:55.359
By the end, everyone's crazy about her.
00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:58.000
Maggie, Jared, Peters, they all love her.
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.319
Um, Greta and Ben have great chemistry.
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:02.319
I mean, he's a writer, she's a journalist.
00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:06.480
He went to Harvard, Stanford for Greta, got a lot in common.
00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:12.400
Um, toughest call since we've been doing this podcast, but I'm gonna say yes, they're gonna make it.
00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:13.759
I agreed with you.
00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:16.319
Um, I'm feeling the Hallmark spirit this week.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:22.960
You gotta feel, yeah, I mean, because like I said, that that deception was real for a big part of this movie, and I think you gotta all you gotta feel the Hallmark spirit on this one.
00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:25.680
Yeah, because he's a he's genuinely a good guy.
00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:26.000
Yeah.
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:26.880
Sounds like, right?
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:29.119
Sounds like he's a good, nice moral guy.
00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:40.720
And she did something bad, but she fessed up to it, and when it came down to it, you know, she confessed, she did it, she did the right thing, and you're gonna allow in Christmas spirit, you give people grace.
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:46.079
Now, if she did it again, that's another thing, but she came, she apologized and she said she was wrong.
00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:49.119
In the end, her her morals won out for her.
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:51.759
She I, you know, she was conflicted about it.
00:23:52.000 --> 00:24:00.480
So yeah, they're gonna make it because I think she's uh she's a good woman and she's now living as the good woman that she knows she is, which I like.
00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:02.160
All right, we're we're on the same page.
00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:06.720
I think is this is really the one that people tune in for the mistletoe meter.
00:24:06.799 --> 00:24:07.920
Rate this kiss for us.
00:24:08.079 --> 00:24:11.440
So I I'm gonna rate two kisses here because I think they were both really good.
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:18.400
So under the mistletoe, the kiss uh after the gala there, that was an A and is creeping into A plus territory for me.
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:24.240
It it started out kind of tender for the first few seconds, but then it got hotter and hotter as kiss went along.
00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:26.960
An A 13 seconds for the kiss.
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:27.599
I timed it.
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:28.079
Woo!
00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.119
That is a long hallmark kiss.
00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:33.279
That you we we don't get kisses that long.
00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:35.279
So absolutely an A for the first one.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:39.039
Like I say, kind of creeping towards an A plus, maybe not quite there, but it was really good.
00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:40.079
And then the final kiss.
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.279
Uh, first of all, we didn't get an I Love You or Will You Marry Me.
00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:45.599
Great job by a first-time writer.
00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.359
Um, also an A.
00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:50.559
Not as strong as the mistletoe kiss, but still really, really good.
00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:52.319
It's it's an A all around for me.
00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:53.119
It's pretty good.
00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:57.920
My first kiss, the one at the after the ball, as I wrote down, under the real mistletoe to boot.
00:24:58.000 --> 00:24:58.559
That's awesome.
00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:02.240
That was a tender kiss that started getting really steamy, like you said.
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:03.039
That's as good.
00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:04.960
That was kisses as good as it gets for me.
00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:05.680
That's an A.
00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:06.880
Solid A.
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:08.240
You're right, could be an A plus.
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.880
The final kiss for me was a B.
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:15.920
The camera pulled away too soon, but I did like the hands blocking the shot at the end.
00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:18.160
I thought that was a really cute, super cute.
00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:18.799
That was cute.
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:19.039
Yeah.
00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:26.160
So I gave the whole both kisses, overall kisses in this movie, an A-really, I really like those kisses.
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:28.880
But that first one at the ball was like fantastic.
00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:30.319
Who wouldn't want that?
00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:31.920
Who or what won the movie?
00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:33.359
I think we're gonna be the same on this one.
00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:33.839
Maybe.
00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:36.240
So uh so honorable mention to Katrina a lot.
00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:38.960
I I loved her as Greta, she's so darn charismatic.
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:40.319
I wish we had her in more Hallmark.
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:50.160
But this this movie is about the story, it's about the dialogue, it's about great character development, you know, giving us a great villain, tons of twists and turns that I didn't see coming.
00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:54.720
The writer, Tracy Andreen, hands down, she is the MVP of this movie.
00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:56.640
First time she'd ever written for Hallmark.
00:25:56.720 --> 00:25:58.960
She's she's on the Mount Rushmore of writers right now.
00:25:59.039 --> 00:26:00.079
Every almost every movie.
00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:02.880
I'm I'm I'm three movies last year were fantastic.
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:03.920
Countdown to Christmas.
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:05.759
I I think she's the only writer that had three.
00:26:05.839 --> 00:26:06.960
In fact, I know she is.
00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:09.279
She's just she's she's the MVP of this movie.
00:26:09.359 --> 00:26:10.720
Hands down, easy decision for me.
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:13.119
Yeah, she might be like the MVP writer of Hallmark.
00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:14.000
She's fantastic.
00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:14.880
She is great.
00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:15.200
Yeah.
00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.359
I also picked Tracy Andrew.
00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:21.440
I thought Greta apologizing for what she did is incredible character growth and development.
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:25.119
There's some solid writing, and this could easily be a movie on any other network.
00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:25.839
Easily.
00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:27.440
And that to me, that's a compliment.
00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:31.119
I'm not knocking Hallmark movies, but Hallmark has its style, right?
00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:32.799
They don't get too crazy.
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:37.759
This is a really well-written movie with dynamic characters, really solid writing and dialogue.
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.720
Tracy Andreen totally won this movie.
00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:43.359
Okay, I think we're gonna be close on this one as well.
00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:45.279
Uh, our overall rating.
00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:46.240
What's your rating?
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:52.799
Uh oh, what what what symbol are we using to uh oh goodness, I um let's see here.
00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:54.559
I totally forgot.
00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:55.200
Hmm.
00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:57.599
Rich, let's do the overall moving rating.
00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:00.400
Uh let's do how many cars stuck in the snow?
00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:03.200
Five cars being stuck in the snow being the best, of course.
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:04.400
What was your rating?
00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:05.359
That's a good one.
00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:06.960
Cars stuck in the snow.
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:10.799
So uh again, I kind of sometimes I it just pops into being the number.
00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:12.160
This one I kind of went back and forth on.
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:16.960
I'm giving this 4.5 cars stuck in the snow.
00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:20.960
Now, give me more Christmas fives, more Christmas intrinsic to the story.
00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:28.400
I think this easily jumps up to a 4, 7, 5, maybe into even into 5 territory, but I just needed that a little bit more.
00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:34.079
So in the end, uh I'm going 4.5 cars stuck in the snow for Snowbride.
00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:35.759
So I watched this movie twice.
00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:38.799
I watched it on Friday night and then Saturday morning taking my notes.
00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:42.720
When I first watched it, my initial reaction was 4.25 cars stuck in the snow.
00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:49.759
But after I rewatched it while I'm taking my notes and looking at it more critically, I'm gonna give it 4.5 cars stuck in the snow.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:51.440
All right, we're on the same page.
00:27:51.599 --> 00:27:51.920
Love it.
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:54.799
Yeah, I picked a good movie, didn't I, this week?
00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:56.559
So yeah.
00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:59.759
So, Rich, uh, what is our next movie?
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:05.440
All right, so we're getting a lot more information about the 2026 Christmas movies uh that are coming.
00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:10.160
And we found out that writer Russell Hainline has written two of them.
00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:12.960
Uh The Nights Before Christmas with Tyler Hines and Lacey J.
00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:14.640
Maley, and it also just came out.
00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:17.359
He wrote one called Mistletoe and Mimosas.
00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:21.200
I think that's a working title, but it's Tamara Maori Housley and Chris Palaha.
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.119
So he's gonna have two movies.
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:27.039
And Russell Hainlein, I mean, we're talking Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper from 2025.
00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:29.119
That was my my favorite movie last year.
00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:31.519
Everybody knows my love of the Santa Summit.
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:37.839
Um, I thought it'd be fun to go back to his very first movie that he wrote for Hallmark, which was in 2022.
00:28:38.000 --> 00:28:40.400
It's called In Mary Measure.
00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:45.359
Uh, it stars Patty Muren and uh your favorite Hallmark actor, Brendan Penny.
00:28:45.599 --> 00:28:46.079
All right.
00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:50.480
Yeah, so Mary In Mary Measure 2022, that's what we're gonna do next week.
00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:56.000
Uh, and again, just get getting ourselves even more excited for 2026, where we know we're gonna have two Russell Hain line movies.
00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:57.279
Uh I am excited.
00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:58.400
I can't wait to see this movie.
00:28:58.480 --> 00:28:59.359
That sounds like a good one.
00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:00.960
I have not seen it, so that's nice.
00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:09.039
So follow us on our Instagram, Forever Hallmark Christmas, or send us an email at Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com.
00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:10.559
That's all we have for you this week.
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:11.519
Thank you for tuning in.
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:12.880
We really appreciate it.
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:17.119
Uh tune in next week, please, and we'll leave you with For the Love of Hallmark.
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:19.519
For the Love of Hallmark.
