Hallmark's The Stars Between Us

On this episode of Pour The Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time, Garry and Amy look to the skies as they explore Hallmark’s The Stars Between Us. Kim (Sarah Drew) and Malcom (Matt Long) first cross paths at an eclipse festival, where a brief encounter sparks an undeniable connection. There’s just one complication: they’re both there with other partners. Fast forward seven years, and fate brings them back to the very same festival. Only this time, neither realizes the other is in attendance. Will the stars align for destiny to finally pull them together? Tune in now to find out.

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

Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/mood-of-summer

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:07

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_00 0:15

And I'm Gary.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

And I'm tired.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Yeah, it's been a week already, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 0:22

Oh my gosh, we're recording this. I did not sleep well last night. So we're gonna see how this goes today.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

All right. Well, uh, we are in the process of a goal of reaching 300 followers on Instagram. So if you're listening and you wouldn't mind telling your friends and family to follow us, we'd appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

We would appreciate it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

And if you want to watch us, you can hop on over to YouTube, click that like button and that subscribe button so you don't miss any of our new podcasts when they drop.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

That is true. You can also send us an email to pour the wine, it's rom com time, and let us know your thoughts about anything hallmark related. We are in the thick of Love You Wary right now. Love you are let us know what you think about how Hallmark has done so far in 2026, right? So we had Winter Escape and now we're in love, love you. Little Love You Wery. I told you, I'm tired tonight. I'm tired.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

We're gonna push through this one.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

We're gonna push through it. We're gonna do it. But shoot us an email and let us know what you think about all things Hallmark. Yes. And in fact, speaking of email, we received an email, and this is actually a pretty interesting one, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

We received one from Steven, and he's talking about because of Cupid, um, the movie that was just on. That was the last Lovey Mary movie that we reviewed. He said that he had one jir, and that jeer was the non-kiss that ends the movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

I missed it on my first watch, saw some online chatter about it, watched it again, weird camera angle, and an immediate panning out of the camera. Love to know why this occurred. And then he asked if we picked up on that. And I have to be totally honest, I did not. Did you when we first watched it?

SPEAKER_00 2:13

I did. And I just forgot to mention it. Well, the only reason I remember it, and this is funny, is because of Finding Mr. Christmas, where um they're always talking about find your camera, find your camera. And when that kiss happened, the camera went behind. Um, I can't remember now. Now I'm drawing a blank of the actress's name.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

But Amy Groaning is the actress and Evan Roderick.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

I was like, okay, was that meant to be? But yeah, and then I forgot. And then when we get received that email and you read it to me, I was like, Yes, yes, I guess you did. I remember that.

SPEAKER_03 2:50

You did. I read it to you, and you go, Oh my gosh, I noticed that. And then we, in fact, went back and we re-watched that last segment.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

And it is, it's a bizarre, it is de you don't actually see the kiss, which is fine. And I guess your brain just works when you see that happen. That it was an actual kiss. But when we rewatched it, I was like, Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

So I'm wondering, maybe someone was sick, you know?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, I mean, that's a good point.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Evan or Amy were one of them was sick, and they're like, We're not gonna kiss because you know, I mean, I don't know. I it was a little bit bizarre. I had not noticed that until we brought it up. So thank you, Steven, for shooting us an email because that's an awesome catch. You yeah, brought our attention to something that we had no idea. Well, I guess you noticed it, you said, but you didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

I just I forgot all about it.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Yeah, and I just went with it. I was like, oh yeah, they kissed.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

That's uh shows you how so if you're listening listening or watching and you have some information about that kiss, let us know.

SPEAKER_03 3:53

Yeah, let us know. I haven't done a deep dive on the old internet in that on that one. So maybe I should. We'll find out what actually happened. But that was great camera angle.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

The way they shot that. Yeah, I mean, you had me fold, that's for sure. That's for sure. So you know, we found out some fantastic news a few days ago before the stars between us aired and the stars between us stair star stares. Oh my gosh. Oh, Lordy. Put it together, put it together. Sarah Drew, and we got the fantastic news that the Sarah Drew-led mistletoe murders is coming back for a season three. Three finally, they got the renewal. Finally, finally, finally. And it's going to air during Countdown to Christmas of 2026, and we are super excited about that because we love mistletoe murders. Love, love, love. And if you haven't watched it, definitely um check it out. We we did podcast reviews of um season one and season two.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

The first season, we did each individual episode. The second season, because they did air two episodes at a time, we reviewed two episodes at a time. And if you've never seen it, you know, Mistletoe Murders does work on a two-episode arc. So one episode you have the murder, and then the second episode, you generally get the resolution, but then you also have a little romance. You have Sarah Drew plays Emily Lane, she's a little mysterious. We're not sure what her background is, but we're learning a little bit. Then you have the local Popo, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:40

The local.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

It was Peter Mooney, he plays Sam, right? He has a daughter, and so there's all these. So those kind of storylines flow through each episode in addition to the murders that happen. So you have six episodes per season. It's a very easy, fun watch, I think.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

And don't forget about Chimera.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Oh, and Chimera, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So check it out. If you haven't seen Mistletoe Murders, you gotta make sure you watch it before season three premiere premieres and just oh, I don't know, eight short months or so.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Man, it's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming so fast, it'll be here before we know it. Yeah, yeah, sure will be.

unknown 6:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

All right. Well, before we get into the stars between us, we have one more piece of news that is not really Hallmark related. But if you enjoyed the Stars Between Us, we thought we would mention that on February 28th, which is a few days away, every planet in our solar system will gather in the sky for a rare parade that will not happen again until 2040.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

2040.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I think that's pretty awesome. You know, you know, the the thing about our area, it seems like every time we have something like this, it's overcast and we never get to see it.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Every single time there's gonna be an event. Every single time.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Yeah, so many.

SPEAKER_03 7:10

Yeah, but that's pretty cool. So February 23nd.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

We're gonna be lined up for that in the sky. And I'm gonna take video. Yep. If it's not overcast.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

All right, shall we get into it?

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Let's see if I can do it, man. I'm struggling this first bit. We're gonna find out. Today we're gonna be reviewing the third Love You Wary movie of 2026, The Stars Between Us. It originally aired on the Hallmark channel on Saturday, February 21st, 2026, and it stars Sarah Drew and Matt Long. Now, Sarah plays Kim. Right, of course. She's a um a reporter, she wants to be a reporter. Right. She, of course, is Fab. You know, we just talked about how she's Emily Lane in Mistletoe Murders, which is coming back for season three. Hello, plug again. Um, she also executive produces mistletoe murders. Awesome. Gray's Anatomy fans will, of course, remember her as Dr. April Kempner on that show. And I first saw her in the series Everwood, which I would recommend everybody go watch. It's a great show. It was um uh Chris Pratt was in it, um, Treat Williams was in it. It's just it it it's a really, really great show that I enjoyed, and she she was on it. So that was the first time I ever saw her. Um Matt Long plays Malcolm, and he is a astrologist. Yeah, he's astronomist. Yeah, probably I know there's a difference between the two, but um, and we know Matt really from Manifest. I think he was in, he's been in at least one other Hallmark movie, but we really enjoyed the TV series Manifest.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

And he didn't look like he aged a bit. Not at all. That is crazy to me.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

Not at all. That man looks the same.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

So maybe he was manifest.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

Well, Manifest wasn't that long ago, I mean, but he still doesn't look like he's aged that much.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

It was before COVID, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

Yeah, yeah, it's been some years. So also appearing in the stars between us, Donna Benedicto plays Claire. She is the um The camera woman. What is her the camera woman? Thank you, thank you. Noah Paul plays Travis, he is a good friend of Malcolm's who ends up traveling with him to the festival. And Grayson Maxwell Guernsey plays Reed. He is the producer of Kim and so he works with Kim and Claire.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Yeah, he's uh nephew of Pete Peter. The yeah of the news uh the news station.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Station, yeah. Yep, yep. What about good director and writer info for us?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

Yeah, well, Michael Robinson is the he direct he directed this one. Michael's No Stranger to Hallmark, having directed a ton of movies for them, including a few of our favorites, which include Adventures and Love and Burning.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Oh gosh, we loved that one. Oh, one of our favorites, one of our favorites.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

And another one of our favorites and unexpected Valentine. Oh, yeah, very holiday crashers and an unexpected Christmas.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

Whew. We enjoyed all of those.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yes, we did. Yes. And this was written by Tim Huddleston. Tim also wrote 2024's Sense and Sensibility.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Very cool. Very cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

I think so.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

So do you want to drop the synops on this one?

SPEAKER_03 10:45

I will drop the synopse. Seven years ago, Kim made a connection with a stranger during an eclipse event. Now a fledgling news reporter, Kim returns to Illinois for this year's eclipse, unaware that their paths may cross again.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Ooh, like the sun and the moon, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Like the sun and the moon.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

And don't forget, we will probably drop some spoilers. So if you haven't seen the movie yet, I always suggest you pause that the podcast, go watch it, come back and let us know what you think.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

Yeah, let us know.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

So there you go. So let's dive into it. And why don't you tell me what you thought of this movie?

SPEAKER_03 11:24

Okay. This is kind of a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

This one is gonna be a tough one. Not I mean, it was enjoyable.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Yes, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

I'm not so much into the astrology, and you know, the eclipse is kind of cool, and I know some people are really into that and whatnot. Um but that aside, it really felt more like the Claire Travis show.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

I agree than the Kim Malcolm show.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

And I get where it was going. You know, you have um, well, we'll get into the meat cutes plural. There's more than one.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Three.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

Um, and I, you know, I just adore Sarah Drew. I I think she is just so stinking cute. I love, you know, practically everything she's been in. Um, and she was she was good in this. I mean, I I enjoyed it. It didn't quite it kind of missed the mark for me a little bit in terms of like I said, I feel like it was the Clara Travis storyline, which I I know it was supposed to be. And Kim and Malcolm have met and their their paths really don't clo cross. They cross at the beginning and then the very beginning and then really the end, right? But we see a lot of them throughout the movie, but there's not that connection until the end. And and that's okay. It just there was just something missing for me. I I enjoyed it, but it wasn't, it didn't like you know, knock me out, blow me over, oh my gosh. I'm gonna watch it again. It just didn't I didn't get that from it. So what about you?

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Um, I agree with you. I felt like the first part of the movie was all about uh Claire and Travis. And and it was like really good too.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

I I mean Yeah, their part was great. It yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

And I and I'm not taking away uh from Sarah or Matt, but the characters, I guess like the moon and the sun, just took a long time to cross paths again, right?

SPEAKER_03 13:29

Well, yeah, and that happens, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:30

And that happens, but I mean, throughout the movie, it was it was fun, it was interesting, and uh yeah, again, I love the astro astrology and these.

SPEAKER_03 13:40

So you really liked that part of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Right, and I and I really truly enjoyed the um festival director who was played by Michael P. Northy. Um, he was just it like he was doing a WWE or something. He was funny, yeah. He was funny.

SPEAKER_03 13:55

So you like the astrology or the astronomy? Because the astronomy is a study of celestial right, you like that part more than the astrology.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah, but like he said, without astrology, you know, there wouldn't be astronomy.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

So yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

So it it was I liked it.

SPEAKER_03 14:12

Yeah, I mean, it was enjoyable. I I you know, yeah. So but like you said, I mean, there were some fun parts, and you know, I I was trying to just figure out because I think we even said out loud, wow, this is really about Claire and Travis. And and they had really good chemistry.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Yep, they did.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

I mean, Kim and Malcolm did a little bit, but I guess because it didn't really build up throughout it, it was like they had that, they have a missed opportunity, and then you have seven years later, and then they kind of they're you know, and it it does kind of show that it it's a small world, you know. You're you might be, you know, it's a big world, but it's also very small. You they're crossing paths, but they don't see each other. Right. One is in the background. Well, someone's getting something out of a van, or you know what I mean? They just they literally have all these like near misses throughout the movie. And I I kind of get where it was going, I just didn't get there totally.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

So I agree. Yeah, yeah. I agree.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

All right, so let's talk about the meat cute, right? And we talked about how we're gonna do meat cute, it's gonna be top shelf, middle shelf, or bottom shelf worthy, right? Yes, and we're talking in terms of wine people. We have top shelf wine, and it's just one, right? So seven years ago, Kim sees Malcolm up on up on a hill and he's got his telescope, and she approaches him and she's waiting for her fiance to come, and his girlfriend is there, but she's trying to get cell reception and she can't get it, and they're at this festival for the eclipse. Right. Right? It's in Carbondale, Illinois. I don't know if that place actually exists. It might. I didn't look it up. Um, and so they have this really good chemistry. They do have good chemistry right away. They talk, they're interested in one another. He kind of fumbles. She says she's, you know, she's really interested in the telescope he has, and he's sort of a little bit teeny tiny, eatsy beatsy little bit of a chauvinist in that moment because he's like a couple times. You know, a couple times he's kind of, and it's not in a mean way, but he's kind of like, wow, you like telescopes? And she's like, What? I can't like, you know, like my mom was really into it. So it's kind of cool. You learn he's studying to be a PhD. They chat about the difference between astronomy and astrology. Astronomy, of course, is the study of celestial events, astrology is the interpretation, the what and the why. And like you said, can I one without the other?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

Um, she tells him he'd make a great teacher. He's not so sure. She thinks that things are random. He says the universe is very purposeful.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Um, you know, and then her fiance calls and is back, so she leaves. And then she goes with her fiance and she's watching the eclipse, you know, from a certain location in the festival, and he's still on like the hill, and he watches the eclipse with the telescope. So that's the that's the meat cute. And I did enjoy when the eclipse happens, that's where the title of the movie comes up, right? Like over I thought that was actually pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

I enjoyed that.

SPEAKER_03 17:17

I yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. So so what do you think about the meat cute for you?

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Um I I I actually thought it was pretty good. And I enjoyed how he kind of innocently fumbled through when she asked, Can I look through your scope, the scope? And he was like, No, yes. I mean, you can look through the scope and no, I don't mind, you know. I and then he did it again when she kept saying, Who, you know, what's the focal range on this? And he was like kind of blown away, right? And he kind of fumbled again. And she's like, What I can't, you know, be somebody because I'm a girl, I can't enjoy astronomy or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

And then I enjoyed when they went for a walk and he talked about astronomy and the difference between that and and uh and astrology. And he also talked about when he talked about the chaos, or she talked about the chaos, and he said it's it's uh a purpose, right? He talked about how the sun is uh 400 times bigger than the moon, but the moon is four hundred times closer to the earth, and that's how they fit perfectly together when they cross. And then she has said, Oh, that's like romantic and a tragedy at the same time. So I thought they gave each other both a good schooling on something.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

And um, and they almost missed the the eclipse, right? So I guess for me, I enjoyed it, so I'm gonna give it a top shelf.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

I would too. I thought the Me Cut really worked.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Yeah, it did.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

You know, in that moment, and then of course that's when they separate for for seven years, and then seven years later they're gonna have another eclipse, and it's gonna be they're in the path of totality, right? That and what's funny is that just I mean, that literally happened the year they're talking about what in 2024, right? Where we had the eclipse where we weren't in the path of totality, but people traveled. I mean, we knew people who traveled to go and be in the path of totality. So kind of a cool phenomenon, I guess, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yeah. So do you want to you want to talk about the other meat cutes, the Travis and Claire? Sure. So I thought it was interesting because when Travis and Claire first met, they were standing in line to check into the hotel restaurant. Yes, yes, and and now this is present day. And this is present day, and you know, Claire's holding a camera, and Travis, of course, he used to be into photography, but then he became a professor at a local school. And he he turns around and goes, you know, he talks to her about the camera, and she's like, Oh, you're into the camera and everything. And he's like, Yeah, you know, and she was like, Well, why why did you stop? He's like, I couldn't stay focused.

SPEAKER_03 20:08

Which I thought. Like a little joke. Yeah, it was cute.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, so that that's how them two met. And I thought that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

That's when they were waiting in line to check in, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

To the hotel. Yeah, I thought that was I would put that at top shelf too.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Me too.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

I I would definitely I thought that that was really cute and and really fun and funny. And he was, I really liked, you know, the actor who played Travis and the actress who played Claire. I thought, you know, we we talk often about the supporting cast, and really they were almost-I know they weren't leads, leads, but they kind of were, you know, they were in the whole thing, and the story was about their relationship also, or their, you know, kind of getting together.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

What was cool about that that is neither one of them were supposed to go, right? Because it by chance, you know, um Malcolm's TA couldn't make it, so he filled in for him, and then um Meredith they weren't supposed to get this gig, but it happened, and Mer and Um Kim picked Meredith as her camera person.

SPEAKER_03 21:10

So Meredith or Claire?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

I mean Claire. No, Meredith. Um Kim picked Claire for her cameraman or person. So I thought that was pretty interesting.

SPEAKER_03 21:23

So all right, let's talk about a couple of favorite scenes. So you have seven years later and they're back at this festival, but they don't know one another's at the festival. But you have but you have Claire and Travis who have met and are talking a lot, but Malcolm and Kim's paths never cross.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:45

But but Claire and Travis are talking to Malcolm and Kim about the other. It's just it is a little bit wild the way it was written. I thought it was kind of it was fun in certain scenes in that way.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

But But um, all right, so one of my favorite scenes, um like what we just talked about, Travis is talking to Malcolm about Claire. Claire is talking about Travis to Kim, and their conversations mirror one another.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

Not only Travis and Claire's conversation mirrors one another, but Malcolm and Kim, their conversations mirror one another. And they start discussing some of the same things that they that Kim and Malcolm talked about seven years ago.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:32

But they're talking about it with the other. Malcolm's talking to Travis, and Kim, they're kind of giving advice in that way. And I just thought that that was a really cool scene. And I probably just did a terrible job of of describing it. But um, but it was kind of a cool, it's kind of like a grease moment, just you know, where you've got each one talking to their friend about the other.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

And um, yeah, and and uh both conversations paralleled each other in all the ways, right? For both people, all four people.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

So and I thought that was that was one of my favorite scenes. Yeah. Um, one of mine was when they first met Reed, right? The producer.

SPEAKER_03 23:09

Oh yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

And how they they got supposedly these are the B team, right? So they get a van, and Reed's sitting there talking to him, and he's kind of acting like he knows what he's doing because he's the producer, but he really doesn't because this is his first gig. And Peter, his uncle, gave him the job because of his his uh sister. So um it was a favor. And I just like that whole scene and the back and forth between uh Kim and Claire and him. It was just it was really well written.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

Are you talking about when they're at the van?

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Right, and then he locks the keys in the car in the van.

SPEAKER_03 23:51

Well, so we may have a different opinion about that scene. Okay, I got you, I got you.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

I just thought it was a fun scene. So that was one of my fun scenes. What about another one for you?

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Another one of mine was when there's another reporter that's at the festival in present day, and he's kind of an ass. Right. Right? Not kind of, he is an ass. And Kim and Reed run into him at the elevator. They're waiting for an elevator. And the other reporter, because Kim has gotten this, um she's gonna go live, right? It's her first time. And so this other reporter basically tells Kim that, you know, he knows she's new to this, and asks her, you know, are you really ready to do it live? And she's like, I'm a single working mom, and I deal with pressure that would flatten you. And she really, you know, gets him. And then she walks away, and her and Reed just walk right into the elevator. And I actually thought that that was funny. I know I didn't like the van scene that you just talked about as much as that one. I just that was I enjoyed that. That wasn't as slapsticky to me. It was just funny because here she is, like, oh yeah, you know, and she really kind of finds her voice and she says something back to him, and then she just walks straight into the elevator door, and she's like to read, you couldn't hold it open, you know, because the elevator had come down. So I thought that was kind of cute and fun.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Yeah, she says something like, I have two words for you, stay tuned. And then she turns and boom, ran right into the elevator doors. No, that was one of my favorite scenes too. I thought that was really funny. Because she did, she did give it to him about she's a single mother, and but that same scene when they get up to the room I think it was after it. I like the scene where Kim and Re have the talk because they're both kind of starting anew, and she was kind of upset with him because she, you know, she knew he was new, but in the same sense, she was struggling too, and they had this talk and they ended up like, you know, high-fiving because they started to, you know, I guess lift the lift the other one up.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

Yeah, they did, so to speak. Yeah. Because she she even says something like, We're gonna help each other.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Right.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Make this work. We're gonna because she was kind of mean to him at one point because he had made a mistake and she was really upset. And then and then she's kind of like, wait a minute, you know, this is my fresh start too, and I'm trying. And um, yeah, and she I think she says something like, We're gonna help each other, right? Like, you know, kill it basically. So yeah, that was a good scene. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

I thought it was a really good scene. Did you have any more?

SPEAKER_03 26:36

Um, the the other one that I would mention would be just, you know, towards the end, you have um Reed and Mer Meredith are starting to set up the shoot, and when they finally go to start, Malcolm and Kim this whole time they've been crossing paths, but when they're finally Kim is gonna interview Malcolm because another interview has gone awry for other reasons, and so they're kind of their backs are to each other, and this is literally right towards the end, right? And then she turns around to interview him, and yeah, she realizes um Malcolm is the same person that she met seven years ago. I thought the way they did that particular scene where they finally meet up again after all of that time, I thought that was shot really well. I enjoyed that. I that was probably that was probably my my favorite scene.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

And I agree with you because they had to go, they had to finish the interview with them knowing that, oh wow, we actually met here seven years ago, and here we are again seven years later.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

And yeah, and she's kind of fawning over him a little bit, you know, and read and then his assistant or who the student, the old student of Malcolm's, are kind of like, okay, yeah, you know, and even Claire's like, Oh, something's happening here. So it's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

Yeah, that was that was a fun, uh fun scene. Yeah. Um you want to dive into a few more. Any more from you, or no. That I think that was it. You want to dive into some cheers?

SPEAKER_03 28:05

I appreciated for a cheer for me, you know, I appreciated the notion of here she is. She's she's got this boyfriend at the very beginning. She's just starting her career as a reporter, but then you fast forward seven years and she has left to become a stay-at-home mom. You know, she got married and then she got divorced. Um, and but she stayed home. And so she's trying to get back into the workforce. And I think that's so relevant to so many women who who do do that. You know, you can have a career. And, you know, everyone says, oh, you can have it all. I don't think you can. I mean, you can you can have it all to some extent, but you do sacrifice one way or the other, right? And it's not a bad thing. I've done both. I worked, you know, when one of my kids was, you know, right after one of my kids was born, and I worked for a while. And then I also was a stay-at-home mom. So I have a little bit of both. And then I worked again. So it just kind of, I think a lot of women, especially, and sometimes it's men too, you know, men do stay home sometimes. Um, you know, it's just that that pull, you want to have a career, you want to do well, but you also want to be with your kids. And it's hard, especially like a reporter. I mean, that's not a nine to five job.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

You're trying to do that. Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

Like you're gonna be, you could be traveling, that's gonna take a lot of time, and you know, and that's okay too. I mean, if that's what you decide to do, either everything is okay. It's just a matter of of balance and what you want to do. And then getting back into it is hard because things have moved forward. You know, you're trying to jump in at an older age, you know, if you've left the workforce for a while and you get back in it, it's it's just harder. I do believe it's harder for women to do that. And I think they did a good job at at showing, you know, Kim really struggling with that, wanting to get back in, but not really great at it at first, but she knows it's what she wants to do. So I I, you know, I gotta give them praise for that. I thought that that was that was a theme that was well handled.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Right.

SPEAKER_03 30:11

What about you? Um cheer for you.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

I like I like that, of course. Um, but I also like you have to say that, right? You know, to and I also like the the chaotic and the actual preciseness of it all, right? Because, you know, a lot of people think the big bang theory, it just happened, boosh, here we are. And then there's a lot of people that think there was a a divine person or thing that put everything together, and you have to think about it because things happen, and in in order for those things to happen, if you think about it, you're like your mind's blown, like, man, what did it take for that to happen, right? So I kind of like that concept of it.

SPEAKER_03 30:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

That was one of my cheers.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

Yeah. So I mean, I enjoy like looking at the stars and stuff, but I'm not, you know, totally into it. And that, and that's, you know, not the basis of the movie. I mean, you can, you know, not really get into that. I'm just saying for me personally, but right. Um, yeah.

unknown 31:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:18

So do you have any more cheers or um I enjoyed, I mean, I like I said, I always adore Sarah Drew. I thought, I thought that the supporting cast was great. I thought the actors who played Travis and Claire, I really did thought think that they had really good chemistry. Right. I enjoyed Matt Long in it. I mean, these are big cheers for me just because I haven't, you know, I haven't really seen him a lot in other things, other than manifest, really.

SPEAKER_01 31:44

Right.

SPEAKER_03 31:44

Um, so I I enjoyed, I enjoyed him also. And you find out that he did become a teacher, he kind of did go that way. And that's something that Kim told him at first, and he's like, no, I'm not gonna do that. You know, but he did do that because he was really good at it. And um, I yeah, I mean, I just I would give a shout out to all the actors just because I, you know, enjoyed them.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

Me too. Any other cheers from you?

SPEAKER_00 32:11

No, that was it for me. So, what about Jeers?

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Jeers, one of the scenes for me, the Jeer you talked about it as something you really liked was when we first met Reed. I thought it was too like corny, like of course he left the keys in the car. It was sort of just too over the top for me. And I know you have to suspend. Yeah, I just that particular scene, I was like, I don't know about that. Right. Um when she when Kim is trying to record her first report and she keeps messing up, and it's I just felt like for someone who really wanted to be a reporter, right? I thought that was a little too overplayed, also, even though I love Sarah Drew, but that particular scene, I just was kind of like, yeah, you know, yeah, and that's where a little much, like it was it was too much, you know.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Yeah, and that's where we meet Mr. Uh Mr. Arrogant, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:06

Right, that's the first scene. Yeah. Right. Did you have any jeers? What about you?

SPEAKER_00 33:10

I just felt like it was more about Claire and Travis, yeah, you know, the majority. And their scenes together seem more like they belong together. It was genuine than the scenes with um uh Kim and Melbourne. Malcolm and Kim.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

So that was my jeer.

SPEAKER_03 33:30

And I think I think you can I just I didn't feel the spark really between Malcolm and Kim. I didn't get that. I it just didn't I think there's a way that you can build it up, and I just don't think it it quite made it there in this film between the two of them. But you're right, between Travis and Claire, I thought their spark was great. Yep, a hundred percent. And their magic was great. I mean, I yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

So that was it for the Jeers for me.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

Yeah. Are we gonna so there were a lot of near misses though that were kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Did you you thought of something that didn't you say so?

SPEAKER_00 34:12

I I was counting the near misses and it came out to seven. And I don't know if that was a coincidence with how long it took for Malcolm and Kim to meet again, which was seven years. So I don't know if they did that on purpose or what, but there were seven near misses.

SPEAKER_03 34:30

Seven seven near misses. So, like one of them, Malcolm and Travis, walk behind Kim while she's trying to do her first report, right?

SPEAKER_00 34:37

And Travis drops a piece of equipment.

SPEAKER_03 34:39

And Travis drops something. Kim is standing behind Malcolm and Travis to check into the hotel, then she gets a call and she has to leave. And that's when um Claire and Travis meet.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

Right. Right. Yep, correct.

SPEAKER_03 34:52

Um, Reed is trying to fix the van because he left the lights on or something, didn't he leave? So that yeah, yes, he did. And Malcolm asked Reed if he needs help, and it happens to be right when Kim has gone in the van to look at something. Then we see Malcolm and his student in the background.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Right.

SPEAKER_03 35:10

So that was another the masquerade ball. I mean, can you really not tell who people are with just a thing over their eyes?

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Well, you never know. I mean, it was been seven years.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

Well, I understand the two of them, but I mean, I'm like in general, we always have these masquerade balls and are like, oh no, I don't know who you are. You know, and it's like, I do you really if you just have something over your eyes, do you really now? Like I said, I understand Kim and Malcolm because they haven't seen each other in seven years.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

Right.

SPEAKER_03 35:35

So I understand that. But there's there's scenes they actually, Kim and Malcolm actually talk to each other, but they have the masks on, they don't know who one another is. Right. Masquerade ball. Do you have any others?

SPEAKER_00 35:45

The other there was when uh Claire took a selfie with um Travis and and Malcolm, but her arm was in the way, so when she went to go show the picture to Kim, her arm was blocking Malcolm's, so she couldn't tell. So that was a near miss.

SPEAKER_03 36:04

Well, does that count as like a near miss? Like I count it as when they're actually in the same because then there'd be more than seven.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

I I no, that's what I cut. And then then my next one was um when Kim gets out of the van, and Malcolm and Meredith are talking. So they had to park the they had to park the van.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

Oh yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

They get out, and of course, you know, Meredith um Malcolm is talking to Meredith, his assistant, and they miss again there. And the seventh time was um Kim kind of has a deja vu when she looks up on the hillside and sees him, but doesn't really it doesn't really register. She just has kind of a flash.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

Right. She kind of like deja vu moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:51

So those were my seven misses.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

If I missed one or you know, you said Malcolm is putting his and his student stuff in the car. That's what you talked about, the car. They just missed them. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, she sees them on the hill, but it's one of those things where you're like, no, that can't be him. I mean, I get that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Yeah, that's total total understanding.

SPEAKER_03 37:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

But um, so you got any more stuff? Or that's it. Or is that a wrap? I think I think that well we gotta We gotta talk about the corks and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 37:22

Uh corks, yeah. How many corks? How many quarks out of five would you give this one?

SPEAKER_00 37:26

I'm gonna give this a three and a half.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

Oh, I'm gonna give it a solid three for me.

unknown 37:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

I mean, I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_03 37:34

I mean, I enjoyed it. Three is still good, right? You know, right.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

And and I enjoyed the the uh the acting. I thought it was great. Um I just felt for me, it just felt more like Travis and and uh Claire than it did.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

So if it would have been advertised as that, you would have given it like a four or four and a half, or maybe.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

I mean, I thought their chemistry, I thought their chemistry was great.

SPEAKER_03 38:01

So yeah, I did too. It just it and it wasn't really I don't know what I was expecting, but it it just sort of fell flat for me a little bit. I think that's why I'm giving it a three. So looking forward to seeing Sarah Drew, though, in season three of Mistletoe Murders, that's all I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

All right. So you what do you think? A rewatch or not?

SPEAKER_03 38:23

I probably would not myself.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

I wouldn't sit down and watch it, but yeah, you know. But if it was on in the background, yeah, because I mean we we always have hallmark on when we're doing things, so yeah, yeah. I mean, I and I may, you know, me stop and sit there and watch it for a second and then move on. But yeah, yeah, I wouldn't, you know, schedule time to rewatch it.

SPEAKER_03 38:45

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

There you go. So is that a wrap?

SPEAKER_03 38:47

That's a wrap. All right.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Well, we'd like to thank you for listening and also watching.

SPEAKER_03 38:53

And be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts and on social media so you don't miss a thing. Until next time.

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Cheers.