Pour The Wine, It's Rom-Com Time

Hallmark's She's Making A List

• Garry & Amy

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On this episode of Pour the Wine: It’s Rom-Com Time, Garry and Amy dive into Hallmark’s She’s Making a List. Lacey Chabert stars as Isabel, a by-the-book naughty or nice inspector whose strict worldview is put to the test when she meets a widowed father (Andrew Walker) and his sharp, insightful 11 year old daughter. As Isabel gets to know them, she discovers that life isn’t always so black and white and context matters. Tune in now to find out if this one gets a lump of coal or gifts under the tree!


Be sure to also check out Hallmark Cafe's interview with She's Making a List writer, Joey DePaolo, and his wife, Veronica Brown (Executive Producer): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hallmark-cafe/id1661235034?i=1000740931680

Send us an email to pourthewineitsromcomtime@gmail.com! We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Music from #Uppbeat

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SPEAKER_01:

Welcome to Pour the Wine. It's romcom time, where we'll sip some wine and review all things rom com on the Hallmark Channel. I'm Amy.

SPEAKER_03:

And I'm Gary.

SPEAKER_01:

Should we get right to it?

SPEAKER_03:

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01:

All right, we're gonna get right into it. Today we're gonna be reviewing She's Making a List. It originally aired on the Hallmark Channel on Saturday, December 6th, 2025. But you can find it streaming right now on Hallmark Plus.

SPEAKER_05:

Yes, you can.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, you can.

SPEAKER_05:

And we would love it if you would push that button that says follow us so you don't miss an episode when we drop one. You can find us on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and all other social media.

SPEAKER_01:

All the places, all the places. You can also send us an email to pour the wine. It's romcomtime at gmail.com. So shoot us an email and let us know what you thought about she's making a list or anything countdown to Christmas or anything hallmark related because we are winding down. We are on the downward slope of countdown to Christmas. Can you believe it? We built up the excitement. We had our drawing, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, we did.

SPEAKER_01:

Of all the movies that we were going to discuss because we knew we weren't gonna be able to do all of them on the podcast. We're gonna try to get to them eventually, but um, you know, for time's sake for us and and what we do, um we just had to draw, right? Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_05:

We drew, we we picked the numbers or the shows, and those are the ones where we are reviewing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Uh interviewing. So drop us a line and let us know your thoughts. We'd love to hear from you, and we might even read it on the podcast.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, we will.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Oh, we will.

SPEAKER_05:

Yes, we will. So you want to tell us who this and this one?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I mean, this kind of goes without saying, right? Lacey Shaber plays Isabel. She is a naughty or nice inspector. And of course, Lacey is the queen of Hallmark. I mean, who doesn't love Lacey? Hello. Yes, she has been in dozens of Hallmark films. This year we saw her in Haul Out the Halloween. Yeah. So cute. Very good. The very first one. Or podcast review, I should say. Right. Just a few of her other films include The Christmas Quest, His and Hers, A Merry Scottish Christmas, The Hallout movies, of course, The Wedding Veil movies, of course, and Winter in Veil.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

And those were all great, great movies.

SPEAKER_01:

Great, great movies. Andrew Walker plays Jason, a man who is raising his 11-year-old daughter alone after the death of his wife. He, of course, has been starring in Hallmark films for more than a dozen years. This year he was in The Reluctant Royal, Three Wisest Men, and A Holiday Touchdown, a Bill's Love Story, where he made a brief cameo as a bartender.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

A few of his other movies include Jingle Bow Run, one of our favorites. Yes. Right. For Love and Honey, Christmas Island, and of course the other two three wise men movies. He's also Tom Schultz in The Curious Caterer Mysteries.

SPEAKER_06:

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01:

Ooh. Candace Compton plays Andrew Walker's daughter, Charlie. This is her fourth Hallmark movie. She was also in an Easter bloom sweeter than chocolate, and Christmas bells are ringing. Pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05:

She did a really good job in this one.

SPEAKER_01:

I'll round out the rest of the cast, or not all of them, but the key players. Steve Basic plays Rudolph, Isabel's boss. BJ Harrison plays Wanda, and she ends up being a friend of Charlie's.

SPEAKER_06:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

At one point, right? Larisa Tronco plays Heidi, which is Isabel's assistant. Alessandro Miro is Giuseppe. He was a fun character.

SPEAKER_06:

I think he was a funny.

SPEAKER_01:

He's competing with Isabel to become partner of the Naughty or Nice Company. And Dax Bellinger makes an appearance as Santa Claus. Santa. I know Santa. I know him.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, she's making a list was directed by Stacy N. Harding. Stacy has several Hallmark directing credits, including three episodes of Holidays.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, we love Holidays, yes.

SPEAKER_05:

To Have and to Holiday.

SPEAKER_01:

We haven't seen that one. Maybe we should check it out. Yeah, to have and to holiday.

SPEAKER_05:

Yes. And two episodes of One Calls the Heart, Round and Round and Love Classified. Yeah, I know, right? Joey D'APolo is the writer, which I'm a dear yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. We're gonna talk about him a little bit more, right? We're gonna talk about it.

SPEAKER_05:

Um Joey has three writing credits. The other two are short are shorts, not the kind you wear. Okay. Just saying. Just wanted to throw it out there.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I wonder if he uh wrote maybe he didn't. IMDB doesn't have any other writing credits for him than those three, but I thought there was something about an Austin in Texas.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, it's uh I believe it was American an American in Austin.

SPEAKER_01:

Or an American in an Austin in Texas. Listen to me, I got that all I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_05:

Which I I believe aired last year.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Yes, go ahead. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, Joey and his wife Veronica Brown own the production company Purple Crayon Entertainment. So there you have it.

SPEAKER_01:

There you go.

SPEAKER_05:

Joey Dupalo.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, an American in Austin. That was that's the correct that's the correct title. I apologize. I apologize. Too much, too much on the brain these days with the holidays and everything we have going on and all the parties and all the everything.

SPEAKER_05:

So let's go ahead and drop the synopsis for this.

SPEAKER_01:

Alrighty. A naughty or nice inspector evaluating a girl's Christmas status falls for her widowed father, making her question the strict rules of her consulting firm and forcing her to choose between protocol and love.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, and guess what? Which one wins out?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I don't we'll we'll keep it a mystery until we're done with our review.

SPEAKER_05:

And we're at that point in the podcast where if you have not watched this movie, you might want to stop our podcast, go watch it, come back and listen. Or you can do it in reverse. Go wa uh listen to us and then go watch the movie.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Whichever one you prefer.

SPEAKER_01:

One way or the other, right?

SPEAKER_05:

One way or the other.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

You'll be satisfied. So, what did you think about this one?

SPEAKER_01:

You want me to go first, huh?

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, you go.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, to be totally honest, when we watched it the first time, because we do watch the movies, um, we watch almost every movie at least twice, right? Because we watch it the first time to enjoy it.

SPEAKER_04:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, as as as a as a viewer, and then we watch it the second time to sort of take our notes and kind of go through it. And we try not to discuss it during or after, though sometimes, you know, you can't help it if we laugh at the same time. Or, you know, something comes up and we have to get it out. Um, which, you know. Um, and I I was sort of confused a little bit after we watched it the first time. It wasn't quite was I what I was expecting, but I can't explain was what I was expecting. I just was kind of like, you know, I was a little bit in that gray area of I'm not, I I mean, it wasn't terrible, but I was sort of like, I it just wasn't, it wasn't what I expected. But then when we watched it the second time, and I know you're gonna talk a little bit about something that we um listened to, right?

SPEAKER_06:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And it it kind of gave us a different perspective. And when we watched it that second time with that new perspective, it changed things for me, honestly.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And watching it with that fresh perspective really made a difference for me, yeah, for sure. And I enjoyed it a whole lot more the second time around.

SPEAKER_06:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Once I gave it a second shot. And and I know, you know, a lot of people don't always get that chance, but if you saw it the first time and you didn't, you know, it wasn't quite a fit that you thought it was gonna be, right? Um, go back and watch it again after you listen to this review because I think you might have a change of heart. And I really enjoyed it the second time. I mean, I I thought it was okay the first time. I didn't hate it, I didn't think it was awful. I just was sort of a little confused, a little surprised. Um, but then I came around to it and then I really, you know, I get what they were trying to say. I, you know, it it's so true that there's a gray area, right? Kids aren't necessarily bad or good. You can't always put them in a, you know, in a box, right? Like there is a gray area, and too often we do do that. And I think this movie did a great job of really expressing that and giving kids a lot more credit, you know. And I I know I've been guilty of it, right? Right of not giving that credit sometimes, even to ours. And you really do need to. And so I I found myself, you know, enjoying it. What about you?

SPEAKER_05:

Um, I too went into this, I guess, thinking something totally different, something maybe along the lines of sugar plumbed.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, like a little suspended reality with some comedy.

SPEAKER_00:

Although you have to a little bit, I guess, here too.

SPEAKER_05:

But but like you, after we finished, I was kind of like, hmm. Two of Hallmark's biggest actors and actress, great supporting cast.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

I don't know what I think. But then you and I um listened to a podcast, uh Hallmark Cafe, who did an interview with um Joey DePolo and Veronica Brown. And his wife, right? His wife, and like you said, my perspective going into the second watch was way different.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_05:

And I ended up really, really liking this movie.

SPEAKER_01:

Much, much better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, because you know, the old saying, you can't judge a book by its cover, you don't know the context, you don't know people's situation daily situations, and if you watch it in that mindset, you'll realize this is this was really written very well.

SPEAKER_01:

Very well. Yeah, and I I think, you know, and and um Joey's wife Veronica, right? She executive produced it. Yeah. And if you go, I highly encourage you to go and listen to Hallmark Cafe's podcast about she's making a list and their interview with Joey and his wife, Veronica. And it was just, it was such a fresh perspective. And I because I think when I went into it, I was expecting, like you said, more of like the sugar plumbed.

SPEAKER_06:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, we're gonna get that magical. And I think for me, the confusion was a little bit of, you know, are we in fantasy? Are we not? Like, you know, can people see them Isabel played by Lacey? You know, can they see her? Do they know what's going on? And it is in fact grounded in reality, in the human experience. They made her human. I mean, she is, but you know, so I once you once you listen to them discuss their process and how they came up with the idea and what, you know, and I don't want to give too much of the interview away because I really do believe you should go listen to it because it is a great interview. And we'll post a link maybe in the comments to their podcast. I mean, I'm not you know, I'll do that, you know. It's a it's a great, it's a great podcast. And Michael and Diane from the Hallmark Cafe, they really get into the weeds of things of how movies are made. Um, and it's just it's it's a really, really good interview. And um, you know, like you said, we just both have a fresh perspective on it. Yeah. And uh, and now I'm kind of digging it, right?

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, it you know, that if you think about it, I was after when we started watching it the second time thinking, oh wow, look, Santa Claus, he went enterprised, he's farmed out the naughty or nice. He's farmed it out, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You kind of, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

I mean, you have to spend reality a little bit there, but yeah, you you he farms it to a uh company that you know is played by Steve Basic, Rudolph. He he himself, yeah, yeah. As a kid, received coal, right? And um it when I started thinking about that type of you know view on it, I was like, okay, I okay, I get this now.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and I think I think the point there was with Rudolph, right? He he received coal as a child, and then he tried to make he tried to to do to do better, right? Even as a kid, he tried to do better, and he kept getting coal because everyone saw him as that same boy who got coal. He was not allowed to grow, to change. He wasn't allowed to, you know, and so that's why he's what started the company because he really wanted because he sends the inspectors to look at kids who are maybe like on the fence, you know, or like they might they might change, or you know, there's some question about whether they are naughty or they are nice, and you know, so yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

And and and it's true today, even today, where if someone is seen as a bad person, when they actually do do something good, they're not credited with it. And it and it's pretty sad.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it's really hard. It's really hard to overcome that. And I think, and we'll talk about it a little bit more later, because Isabel comes because she's supposed to watch Charlie, which is um uh Jason played by Andrew Walker. Um, it's his daughter, right? And her mother has died, and so she's not really given the opportunity of, you know, her mother's died. She's she's trying to make changes. Like things, like you said, you you can't judge a book by its cover. There's more beneath the surface than you than you realize. And I think a lot of people don't don't get below the surface, especially with children. You know, you think it's one way or the other way. And like I said, I mean, I was like that. You know, we have a total of four between us. We're a blended family. And I mean, I know I was, you know, I may have looked at things black and white a little bit, you know, in my younger years, and and I wish maybe I hadn't so much, you know. Um, but you know, I was always sort of like, prove your innocence with the kids instead of, you know, you're innocent until proven guilty. I was like, you're guilty until proven, you know. And so I mean, everybody makes mistakes and everything, but this is just such a such a good look at that, and sort of flipping it on its head and and really giving you a perspective that maybe you haven't thought about, and it might change some people, honestly.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. So and and what I found interesting, it was her assistant that actually put her on the path to looking at these kids differently.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. And yes, that's a great point.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. So sometimes it takes somebody from the outside looking in to help you out, to help you see.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And Isabel is, she's very, she's kind of rigid, right? She's there's a structure, there are rules, and that's what you go by. And you're right. And so so her journey through the movie is how do you deal with going outside of that box?

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

How do you how do you learn to look outside of the box? And you know, and why aren't we looking outside of the box? You know, why why don't we do that? Why aren't we judging the kids that way? And so I kind of thought that that, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

And if you think about it, um Rudolph used an algorithm, AI.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

And if you it AI doesn't have a conscience, right? So basically it's learning what you you gave it to learn. And Isabel, she was trained almost kind of like AI, where she wasn't putting emotion into it, and she was just, you know, she was had them blinders on and was just wondering. You know, even though, and that's where her assistant came in and and helped her out, but I I just, you know, I I'm glad we listened to that podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

I am too, and I'm glad we watched it again, which we were gonna do anyway, and I think we probably would have come around a little bit. Yeah, but it really, it really helped, helped gain that perspective. So, do you want to talk about some favorite scenes?

SPEAKER_05:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, you go first with one.

SPEAKER_05:

I have my first favorite scene was the opening where Isabel, played by Lacey Schabert, was narrating the origins of the naughty or nice list. I thought that was so, so cool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it was really cool. And, you know, and you and I talked about this after how sometimes um, you know, narration, uh, you know, like film purists, if you will, narration and breaking that fourth wall, like you shouldn't have to do that if the story is that good, right? Like if the story's really good, you should. But I actually enjoy it. I think it totally works in this film, you know, whenever they used it. And then you do find out more that they used it to sort of give background and you know, they because you you can't fit everything in what 80 minutes or whatever it is, you know. So you gotta you gotta kind of fill in the gaps a little bit. And I thought that they did that really well.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. With and that's why books a lot of times are better than the movies, because you can put all that into a book, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, a book gets all the details, right?

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, or supposed to. Oh, you know what? We didn't talk about the meat cute.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh no, we can go back. You want to talk about the meat cute?

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, what'd you think?

SPEAKER_01:

I thought it was great. I I I actually, you know, when Jason, so Isabel is narrating, like you said, right? She's breaking that fourth wall, and she's she's talking about um I I'm losing what she was talking about in that moment. Um, she's telling us why she's doing what she's doing. Is that yeah, yeah. And then he kind of bumps into her and she's like instantly back in that scene. Right. Right. I just thought that that was that was pretty cool. And he kind of looks at her and she's sort of like, you know, I mean, it's Andrea Walker. Yes, you know, I mean it's Andrew Walker. So she kind of looks at him, and you know, and he's kind of looking at her, and you can kind of see a like a little brief connection, right?

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_01:

And then she drops the paper that she has taken a note on. And can we talk about that just for one second since we are there at that scene?

SPEAKER_04:

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_01:

So she had been watching some kids, she had been watching a a kid, right? And um, she had taken a note, and um, she's like naughty, you know. But the note, I I thought it was really interesting because she leaves the note and you know, and Jason picks it up and it just says broken tail light, naughty. And I was like, maybe, and you know, because I was like, that's all she wrote, like that's it. And then and then I started thinking, you know, after we listened to um Veronica and Joey, and you know, maybe it was that brief because she was that black and white, like broken tail light, right?

SPEAKER_04:

Right, you know, that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01:

He didn't he didn't own it, naughty. You know, there's no there's no reason, there's no it's like AI, and that's it. So maybe that's because at first I was like, that's really weird that that's all it was, but maybe maybe that's why. I don't know. I'm not in there, you know, they didn't say that.

SPEAKER_05:

I'm just it may it make sense.

SPEAKER_01:

So maybe not, but yeah. But what'd you think of it? What do you think of it?

SPEAKER_05:

I thought it was it was awesome because, like you said, she was walking down the street with with her meter maid outfit on.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, she was yeah, we got to talk about the difference.

SPEAKER_05:

And I have all of them listed because I thought it was funny, all the different uh um disguises she wore. Yes, and um, you know, she's walking down the street and she's narrating, like you said, breaking the fourth wall and Then they bump into each other and they she automatically gets brought back into the scene. And so did I. I was kind of like I was into what she was saying, and the next thing I know is like you know.

SPEAKER_00:

And then you're like, oh, we're here.

SPEAKER_05:

Right. And just the way that she looked at him and he looked at her. It was that that meet you was it was written well, really well.

SPEAKER_04:

I agree.

SPEAKER_05:

There you go. So let's get back to favorite scenes since I said one of mine. What was one of yours?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, mine would be I really there's a scene where um, you know, Jason sees Isabel lurking around his house, right? Because she's trying to get a look at Charlie, you know, and she lies and she's got a power company, you know, or whatever. Does she have like, is that her second like disguise-ish sort of right? And she's got and and she's like, you know, she's with the power company, and he's like, Oh, well, I need your help with something. And she's like, Oh, you know, because she really knows nothing, right? Right about, you know, how to fix anything electrical, but she has just lied and she's like, Yeah, you know, I'll take a look. And then she's like, Oh, I don't have my tools. And he's like, That's okay. Just, you know, I have some, I'll go get them. And she keeps trying to make up these excuses as to why she can't fix or look at what he's what whatever issue he's having, right? And she's so then she just finally she has to tell him, you know, I'm new. Yeah, like she doesn't come clean, clean, but she like and I just thought that that scene was really cute, really fun, really well written, you know, and you kind of see their their banter a little bit in that moment, and she's you know, trying to get out of it, and he's got an excuse as to why she can't. And I I just thought it was really, really cute.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, that that was a that was a good scene. Yeah, I agree with you.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, and that that's kind of like during the time, like you said, her assistant Heidi is looking at more videos of a kid that is uh Isabel and Heidi had reviewed.

SPEAKER_05:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

And Isabel was like, he's naughty, he grabbed the wrong, you know, spray bottle. He did, he did a you know, he did something on purpose. And Heidi's like, Well, no, I don't, I think it was an act, like I don't think he did that on purpose. I think so. Heidi's still reviewing, she's looking at the gray area, right? Right. So that's kind of why that's going on with those scene.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. So and you're right, because inside of that that file or that cabinet was the product that the child actually thought he was grabbing using. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. But she was she was her own AI. She was no conscience, no nothing.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. No humanity. Boo.

SPEAKER_05:

There it is, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_05:

Um an another one of mine was when um the Clark Kent reference came from. Yes, I have that also. They were in a market. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And it's funny because I didn't catch it the first time, but the second time I was he had said something about it, Clark Kent, because she was putting her glasses on and taking it off. And then she went into some kind of, you know, she was telling this story about how she's in the background and she loves helping people without getting the credit. And that's kind of like how Superman was or Clark Kent was, you know, as Clark Kent, he's just a newspaper reporter and as Superman, he's saving the world, but he doesn't get the credit for it. So having to live with that psychologically would probably over time probably bother me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Because you're like, uh, what were you gonna say?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I was just gonna say, and you think of that as you know, everybody always talks about how ridiculous it is that no one can recognize Clark Kent versus Superman just by putting on glasses, right? Like every like that's like such a known, and I thought it was so great that they use that in that moment, you know. So because he and he even says it's very Clark Kent, and she's trying to be disguised so she doesn't run into other inspectors, right? Right. So she thinks it's yeah, this is a disguise, no duh, you know, and it's just I I thought that was so cute.

SPEAKER_05:

So that was another disguise she was in.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the glass the well, a yeah, sort of yeah, yeah. So but also also in that scene, you know, he talks about his wife and like when his wife died, you know, he used to be a cynical, snobby food critic, and he was mean about things a lot. And then because I have that as one of my favorite scenes, also, that whole market scene. Right. And then, you know, he he had been really mean to people, and when she died, it just sort of gave him that new perspective. He didn't want to be that way anymore. So he went back to all those places that he bashed and he worked for them, you know. And I just thought that was just their conversation was great and it was fun and you know, kind of funny and quirky. And so I yeah, I I enjoyed that. And then, like you said, you know, she says she does something small even if nobody knows she's doing it.

unknown:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

Like she enjoys watching people, you know, she enjoys watching people, yeah, right? Try someone who's having a bad day, finds a way to be kind and it makes her feel like the world's okay. And I just so their conversation and that whole scene I I had as a favorite scene also. You do you have any more?

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, I got another one, and it was when um Charlie was faking being sick because Oh, yeah, that was so cute.

SPEAKER_00:

That was cute.

SPEAKER_05:

And um uh Andrew Walker or Jason was like, Oh my god, your fever is 105, and he's kind of freaking out, not knowing what to do. And and he so he leaves the room, and um Isabel can see that she's actually lying because she's the little heating pad, you know, that made her temperature go up. But instead of, you know, busting her, she actually, you know, stood up for her and said, Oh, it'll be fine. All she needs is some love and some snuggles, and she'll be okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and that was a good one. I really enjoyed that scene. Yeah, yeah, no, you're you're absolutely right. That was that was a really great scene. And another kind of signal to Isabel that there might be a gray area. You don't know why she's acting out, or you don't know why she's doing these things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So that was one of mine. Um what's another one of yours?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, gotta mention the pizza place. Sips and slices, you pick a pizza and we pick the wine to go with it. Got just love that just for the wine. That's an honorable mention.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, cheers, cheers.

SPEAKER_01:

Cheers, cheers to that. Um, I liked when Isabel's following Charlie again and she is like the ice cream truck, or what was she?

SPEAKER_05:

The who's that cookies and coffee truck.

SPEAKER_01:

It was what?

SPEAKER_05:

Cookies, cookie, uh, coffee and cookie truck.

SPEAKER_01:

Coffee and cookie truck, right? And she's like the driver Isabel is. And so that theme throughout the whole thing, like you said, her different disguises that she was trying to, you know, you have to blend in, but you're not supposed to talk to the subject. And so I just thought that that was really funny. And she she thinks Charlie's being bad and she's breaking into a house, and she hears Isabel here screaming, so she runs in and her full, you know, right, cookies and coffee truck gear, right? And she goes in there.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And actually, Charlie is is um has become friends with one of her moms, someone who knew her mom, right? And so Charlie goes and helps this woman, and she's an elderly woman. You find out that Charlie's been running errands for her, right? And doing yeah, yeah, and that's where Charlie learned her magic tricks.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_05:

So And that's what this is.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I thought that that was really cute.

SPEAKER_05:

Is she she was laughing at the fact that Charlie had put a$20 bill in her back pocket.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes. It was, and it was that that was that was really, really cute. Right. Did you have any others?

SPEAKER_05:

Man, I had a whole bunch.

SPEAKER_01:

You did.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. But I'm just gonna hold off on them. What about you? Do you got any more?

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I the only other one would be not the only other one, but the the one I'll end on. Uh the driveway talk between Jason and Charlie. You know, they you know, they kind of talk about the the one year how the lights caught on fire, and Charlie ended up with ice cream because she said, you know, mom always took me for ice cream when she was mad at you, you know, because that was funny. So, and then Charlie mentions how she noticed Santa's writing change. You know, she she noticed something a little different. It was just a sweet conversation between the two of them. And then Charlie tells him that Isabel doesn't work right for the electric company. Right. And that's when he finds out. And it's interesting that Charlie kind of, you know, Isabel has told her by that point, right? That who she really is and what she's doing. And, you know, and Charlie at first, you she's she's a little skeptical, but she's a kid, so she's like, okay, you know.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, I I thought it was funny when she told her she she worked for Santa, and she was like, Oh, so you're gonna lie to me about this and that, and then you want me to believe that you worked for Santa on a naughty piece list. I thought that was like she's got a point.

SPEAKER_01:

She does have a point.

SPEAKER_05:

So right.

SPEAKER_01:

So we could talk about other scenes, the whole Santa scene, but I'm gonna get into that as one of my cheers.

SPEAKER_05:

So well, I just want to go over the different disguises because I thought they were pretty funny. I'm just gonna list them, we don't have to talk about them, but she was a meter maid. That's funny you wrote them all down.

SPEAKER_00:

The meter maid.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, that was and I didn't know if this was on purpose, but she was a bird watcher too. And I don't know, because you know Andrew was just in a movie about bird watching. Yeah. I don't know if they did that.

SPEAKER_01:

Or if they added that Ventures in Love and Birding, right?

SPEAKER_05:

Yes. Um, she worked for the power company, Clark Kent. Oh, she was the window washer, remember that scene? And then coffee and cookie truck driver owner. So those were the different disguises. Those were the four.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, they were and I I'm so glad you wrote those down because that was such a theme throughout. And now that you think about it, it really was kind of funny that she did that throughout the whole the whole movie, right? So it was cute.

SPEAKER_04:

So you want to get into your uh cheers? Cheers.

SPEAKER_01:

We'll do cheers and jeers now, right?

SPEAKER_04:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so yeah, I don't think I mentioned Adventures in Love and Birding when I talked about Andrew Walker from this year. Yeah, did I miss that? That was bad on my part because we loved him in that.

SPEAKER_05:

We that was another good movie.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely loved him in that. Yeah. So I apologize, Andrew, but that was really good. That was like, you know. Um, cheers for me. If we start with a cheer, just the overall theme. I did come to really just enjoy that we can't put kids or people in a box, and sometimes people do change and they should be allowed to change. Now, I mean, you know, depending on the offense, you know, we're talking about less than you know, the horrific things. But um, and there can be circumstances and reasons why people are behaving, acting, doing, saying something. And most of the time when you get below the surface, it's hurt, right? And or or sadness, grief, you know, and and all of that. And so, and you do need to take that into consideration. And I really liked the there's a scene um at the pizzeria where Andrew Walker's trying to help Jimbo open up, right? He's trying to, I think, help him open up a pizzeria. And, you know, and Andrew has the sips and you know, yeah, what is it? What did I just say, slices and sips or whatever. And and you know, and and Jimbo's like, you know, that's too frufu. Am I saying the name right? Is it Jimbo? Yeah, it's too frou-fru. And and then he gets, and then Jason, Andrew Walker, gets um Charlie's opinion about that. And she's like, you know what? No, that is too, that's too bougie, you know, that's too fru-fru. And then she has some good ideas and it sparks another idea for a dessert for the owner of the pizzeria. And so I just thought that that was such a great way to say, hey, you know, I know we kind of dismiss kids a lot of the time, but sometimes they have excellent feedback, right? And I mean, they're gonna have wild stuff sometimes, but you don't have to take it all. But sometimes they do their input is valued and valuable and can be, and we dismiss it too much. And so just that overall, you know, the black and white of it all, don't put people in a box, you know. We really need to, you know, children are people too, you know. And um, I just I enjoyed that. I yeah, I I that would be my biggest cheer for the movie. How about you?

SPEAKER_05:

Um, my biggest cheer, and then it's playing off of yours where don't put people in a box because people can change. I like how in the end they did where uh Rudolph and Giuseppe um both got what they didn't get when they were little.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_05:

So it kind of came full circle, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

That was really cool.

SPEAKER_05:

That was I thought that was really cool. And just to see the reactions on their face when they opened them up.

SPEAKER_00:

They give some it was so good, it was so good.

SPEAKER_05:

And I just have to say, you know, um Rudolph or Steve Um Basic. He played that part really, really well. He really did. I I really enjoyed him in that one.

SPEAKER_01:

He was he was so great in it. He really was. He was and he's not really in it that much, right? But but he is in it enough, you know. And then you do learn, of course, I think that didn't they say in the interview um that a lot of his parts were cut, or yeah, didn't they mention that? So he had more scenes, um, but he was fantastic. Yeah, he was really, really good. He was, yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

So do you have any more cheers?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, the the cheers, you know, I really liked the Santa when they go to see Santa. You know, we're Christmas fanatics over here, and um, I love that Santa works in Delaware, by the way. He's, you know, Santa's got a office in Delaware, right? Um, and you know, there was we we kind of talked about it, we didn't really talk about this too much, but there was some of that magical music in certain parts. So that was when you were supposed to sort of suspend. Um, I wrote them down, I won't go back and uh I'm trying to find them now, but there were there were parts where I was like, oh, there's the music. Like when they go into the control room when Isabel is at her office and she goes into the control room, there's there's that magical, and that's where you're like, Oh, okay, this is where you're supposed to suspend, you know, this is where it's not re reality, right? Like it's and I thought that that was a good way to do that.

SPEAKER_05:

And and of course, there was that, you know, with Santa and um, you know, he lets them oh the Santa, the Santa that was oh, yes, weren't you gonna mention the impersonating Santa?

SPEAKER_01:

Um the impersonating Santa, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Yes, and he was played by Kurt Long, who was also in the three wise men movies.

SPEAKER_01:

And I think all of them or just oh he was in all of them. Oh, okay. He was in the first one too.

SPEAKER_05:

Uh I think so. I know he was in the last two, but definitely the second one, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you recognized him, yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

And in this one, he he plays, he impersonates a Santa, which Charlie. Ooh, that was a good see because Charlie kind of, you know put him in his place because he's like, You want to get on my lap?

SPEAKER_01:

And she's like, No, thank you. I will stand. Yeah, and then I'm like, we make children get on Santa's lap. Why do we do that? I know I mean, like, why don't we make children get on strangers, strange men's lap?

SPEAKER_05:

And when she when he asked her what she wanted, she was like, hmm, let me see. I don't know if you could really do this one, but world peace. The look on his face was like, whoa.

SPEAKER_01:

But then he ends up being Santa's like assistant, right? Like he's the his Santa's assistant. So he lets them in the office, and Santa tells Isabel he's been expecting her, right? And she's kind of shocked, and he has a book for her, and she looks through the book, you know, and and then they he brings he magically what snaps his finger and Rudolph. He brings Rudolph there, like traveling through space space and time, right? So Rudolph is golfing, but he appears there because he wants to talk to him about what did they want to do?

SPEAKER_05:

She had mentioned the his his program, the 2.0 AI, and that it it can't, she said we can't use that because it it does not uh catch the context or the situations that kids grew up in, right? Why some of them act out the way they do. And so Santa brought him there to, I guess, kind of fire them.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, to say they have a different idea. They're gonna go a different route, right? Because Isabel's like, it's not always black and white. We need to guide them, not judge them, you know. And she says they're finding their way through the world, and we need to be like you said, you know, like naughty and naughty versus nice doesn't incentivize children, it just makes them mean adults. Yeah, I thought that was really good. Yeah, it was so I mean, there was a lot of profound stuff in this too, I thought.

SPEAKER_06:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, you know, and Santa decides he wants to go in a different direction and he wants, you know, Isabel to lead it. And it was kind of a cute scene too when Santa's like, you know, I want you to lead it, and she's like, Well, I don't know. And then she looks at, you know, Jason and um Charlie and Charlie, and they're like, Yes, yes, yes, you want it. Yeah, you know, I thought that was really cute the way and she's like, Yes, I'll take it. You know, I'll take the job.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So I just thought that that whole I loved that whole scene. I loved the magic part of it. I love the reality part of it.

SPEAKER_06:

Right.

SPEAKER_01:

I loved um, I absolutely adored when Santa touched the side of his nose to leave and disappear because you know, and 'twas the night before Christmas, he touches the side of his nose, right? That is part of that classic book, which I love, you know. So um I just I love that little nod there when he did that. I mean, I almost teared up.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm not gonna lie, I was like, that is so good.

SPEAKER_01:

And Up the Chimney Heroes, right? So um I just I thought that was I thought that was really cool. And then the end how they talk about it, you know, it changed Christmas forever, you know. So um yeah. Any more cheers from you?

unknown:

No.

SPEAKER_05:

So let's dive into some. Did you have any jeers?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, I didn't really have any. I don't think I had any jeers. I probably would have after the first watch, just because I was confused. Right. Um, I wasn't I I was expecting it to be more, I want to say magical. I don't know what the right word is here, but um, you know, I didn't expect that they would be walking amongst us, you know, like the naughty and nice. I thought it would be more like you said, sugar plumbed ish kind of, you know, where where they appear okay and it wasn't or angel-ish, you know, but it wasn't like that. And because I wasn't expecting it that affected because we're so ingrained with naughty or nice and you know, Santa and you know, the whole magic of it all. So um, but I don't have any jeers. What about you?

SPEAKER_05:

Nope. I do not you either.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Because like you, if we hadn't watched it a second time, maybe maybe, but no, I didn't have any.

SPEAKER_01:

What about tinsel top moment? Let's move on.

SPEAKER_05:

Did you when I have to go with when Santa Claus said and you had already talked about it, but he had said he was expecting Isabel and he had a book of her wishes when she was little. And she was reading them as she was flipping through them. And she had talked about it earlier in the in the movie. Um when she was little she would you know write these little wishes.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh I think I missed that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah because she was she was home not homeless, but you know, her her mom had died and her dad really wasn't wasn't around. So she moved from foster home to foster home. And I just thought that they brought that full circle. And I can't remember what the last one was because it kind of wrote itself on the page when she opened it up. Oh I don't remember I don't remember I wish I would have written it down. Yeah. But that that was my tinsel top what about you?

SPEAKER_01:

I would probably have two. I would have the driveway scene between Jason and Charlie just because I thought that that was just that was a good one too. Wonderfully acted and just a wonderful moment between the two of them with her mom passing and them acknowledging it, talking about change without talking about you know it was sort of just an easy conversation and flow and I just I thought that that was great. And I also love the side of the nose on Santa. I just got to throw that in there because that would be a tinsel top moment for me personally. This is nothing you need to do with the story but I just I adored that. So so out of five ornaments how many would you hang on the tree for for this one if she's making a list I'm so glad we watched it a second time.

SPEAKER_05:

I'm gonna give it a four and a quarter.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh okay what about you? I'd give it probably three point seven five almost a four almost a four I mean you know out of five that's pretty good that's pretty good. Yeah yeah yeah that was no I mean I it's it's worth the watch I think everyone if you watched it the first time and you were kind of uh on the fence about it go watch it again go listen to Hallmark Cafe's interview right and then go back and rewatch it yes and I would be shocked if your opinion didn't change yeah me too yeah I agree so is that a wrap that's a wrap well we want to thank you again for listening and now watching yes follow us wherever you get your podcasts and on social media so you don't miss a thing. Until next time cheers