A Kiss Before Christmas

Hallmark’s A Kiss Before Christmas (2021) breaks just about every cozy rom-com rule. A meet-cute that takes nearly an hour to fully reveal itself. A misunderstanding resolved immediately. A real antagonist working against our leads—so refreshing! And two card-carrying AARP members with off-the-charts chemistry. 

With a gentle nod to It’s a Wonderful Life, James Denton and Teri Hatcher prove that TV flames from 2004 can still create magic at Christmastime. Add Marilu Henner into the mix and you have a top-notch cast that pulls out every emotion over 86 minutes. 

But here’s the twist: one of Hallmark’s best scripts in years took five years to make it to the screen. Thanks to insights shared with us by writer Mark Amato, we unpack the long road this movie took to reach Hallmark… along with the small but important assist from Mr. Denton that helped get it across the finish line.

Is this one of the best Hallmark Christmas movies ever made? Rich and Rene make a strong case.

We keep it fun, keep it real… and keep it Hallmark Christmas.

 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/foreverhallmarkchristmas

Email: ForeverHallmarkChristmas@gmail.com

Not affiliated with Hallmark Media; Image courtesy of Hallmark Media. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Welcome to the Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast. That's right, a movie review podcast where we talk about one thing and one thing only. That's Hallmark Christmas movies. We only talk about Hallmark here, no other networks or streaming services. We only talk about Christmas and no series or reality shows here. We only review movies. My name is Rich, and as always, I'm joined by my partner in crime, Renee. How's it going, Renee?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Very good, Rich. Good morning to you.

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Good morning. And uh we got a big one today, uh Kiss Before Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Yeah, we do.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

But uh as always, we uh like to start off with a uh a little Hallmark news here and uh estimated down uh date two countdown to Christmas. We're about 29 weeks away, so we're into the 20s now. Hard to believe. But uh first little uh note here Hallmark Rital Russell Hainline. We know him from the Santa Summit, the Santa class, Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper. And he's branching out a little bit. I mean, when you look on his uh his IMDB rating, it's it's all Hallmark rom coms and rom com movies for him uh around Christmas, but he's got a new movie out, and it's called MRI. And here's here's the uh the little synopsis because it certainly doesn't look like a Hallmark movie. It follows a broken-down hitman with a shattered family and a busted knee who must rescue a crime boss's daughter when gangsters take over the hospital during his routine MRI. Uh so it kind of sounds like sounds like diehard in a hospital a little bit, but uh I love that Russell Hainline uh is is branching out because I mean this guy that's written so many great like I say, he writes these Christmas rom comps and they're really heavy on the comedy. So I think it's gonna be awesome to see him uh write a movie like this.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

I'll watch it.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

I'll watch it for sure as well. He's absolutely been killing it with Hallmark lately, so I'm sure we're gonna get another Christmas movie in 2026, but looking forward to MRI. And uh Hallmark actor Luke McFarlane, he's gonna be returning to Broadway for the first time since 2011. He's gonna be starring in a play called The Little Dog Laughed. It was nominated for a Tony Award back in 2006, and the play is planning a full Broadway revival as its next step. So uh congrats to Luke there. Nice to see that for him. Let's talk about A Kiss Before Christmas. This is the most recent movie that we reviewed, only 2021. It stars James Denton and Terry Hatcher, and we get a nice little uh uh supporting cast there uh starring Marilou Henner. Uh, we have two writing credits on this. Markomato, he came up with the original story, and we have two script credits, both Marcomato and Tracy Andreen. And the holiday hook on this, Ethan, a married father of two teens, wakes up one morning shocked to find that he's unmarried, has no kids, and is a CEO of his company. His wife is the key to him being able to reclaim his original life and family. Uh this uh movie has an IMDB rating of 7.0. And Renee, how does that translate to our uh FHC uh rating scale?

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Our FHC hallmark equivalent is 8.2, which is a pretty good score, I think.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

That's a that's a great score. And we have a little kind of stories behind the story, if you will, for this uh movie. Uh I was really curious about this one. I really like the script. So I on a whim reached out or was able to have some correspondence with Mark Amato, one of the writers of the movie, and who had the original story. And I said, Hey, do you mind if I ask you a couple questions about this? And I didn't expect any answer. He said, Sure, let me know. And and basically I kind of wanted to know the whole collaboration, how long it took to make and the whole story behind getting this movie made. And he was so forthcoming. So basically, that's nice. This movie came out in November of 2021, and it was about a five-year journey to get this movie made. If you're what ever wondering how long a Hallmark movie, you know, from the inception of somebody having a story to actually getting it on the screen, about five years for this movie. Uh, A Kiss Before Christmas was 100% his idea. And somewhere around 2016, he took the idea to Hallmark, and they originally passed on the idea at the time, which is interesting, but for whatever reason, you know, every year they're looking for new stuff and new storylines. They passed. Uh so he kept doing his thing. And that same year, 2016, he worked with James Denton in a Hallmark movie called For Love and Honor. And about two years after that, he pitches that same idea for Kitts before Christmas to James Denton directly. James Denton loved it. He took it to the executives at Hallmark, and they quickly bought it and contracted and uh with uh with Mark to go ahead and start working on the script, which he did. Uh so then we're talking like 2019. Uh he wrote several drafts, and that leads us into early 2020, and we know what happened there. You know, the pandemic started, everything slowed down. Oh, yeah. Um, but obviously this was in the the the Hallmark pipeline at the time, and they brought on Tracy Andreen towards the end of the project for a rewrite of the script. Not unusual to have two Hallmark writers, uh, both credited with scripts, you know, have a second set of eyes, offer any suggestions uh on ways to improve the script. Uh, and then in 2021, November, we the movie hit the Hallmark channel. He said when all was said and done, the the final product ended up looking a lot like his original draft. And he said, quote, the end product turned out beyond my expectations.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Oh, that's nice.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Yeah, so but a five-year journey. I mean, a script this good, a story this good, it it still, I mean, it takes a while uh to finally get that thing made. Uh so just the kind of fun stories behind the story there about how a kiss before Christmas uh came to be.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Yes, I know you know, Jane, I gotta believe James has a lot of weight because he I've if I'm correct, uh The Good Witch was like the number one rated uh series on Hallmark of all time. So he's you know he's made them some money and got them some viewership. So I I'm glad that he stepped up to this movie because uh this was a great movie.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Yeah, well he like I say he he loved the script, and when Hallmark got it, they loved the title as well. Because before Christmas, and it made so much sense. So all right, Renee, what do you think of this one?

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Again, I was so engrossed with this movie. James Denton is so charismatic and likable. You know, and I remember him from Good Witch, as I said, and uh that show on ABC that I used to watch. Uh I'm drawing a blank on the name of that show. What was it, Rich? Desperate Housewives. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Nope, it's James Denton. This is the Desperate Housewives reuse, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Yes, it was. And uh friendship and the Christmas magic. You know me, I love when magic happens. I know we talked about that last episode, how you're coming on board a little bit about that. And you know, this is a movie that got me choked up several times. Really surprised me how much I like this movie. Obviously, it's kind of a nod to it's a wonderful life a little bit, uh, or kind of a lot, but this movie was a very nice surprise and how much I enjoyed it. And I like seeing a male lead. You don't get that as often. I mean, I don't know what the percentage is, but it's it's gotta be like 85% to 15% with a male lead on a Hallmark movie. So loved it.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

I absolutely love this movie as well. Um, and I'm gonna say right now, I am embarrassed that I never saw this back in 2021. I was fully watching Hallmark movies back then, and I remember this movie being there. I looked at the date that it came out, I think I was actually in my parents' place. This was right before Thanksgiving visiting them, and I probably didn't see it that night. And I meant to like, you know, DVR it and have it so I could watch it, and then I and I never did, and then I didn't catch it the next year, and then I've had Hallmark Plus for a couple years, and I've just gotten lazy and never seen it, and I'm embarrassed because it is so darn good. Um, but I'm glad I finally watched it, and uh I I really, really like this movie. Yeah, same percent, fame, 100%. So the meat cute on here, this was one of the more interesting meat cute that we might ever review here because we we see it at the very beginning, they're on it on an elevator ride that he jumps in the elevator thing, but we really don't find out how the whole meat cute really played out until about maybe halfway, two-thirds of the way through their movie. They kind of keep keep giving us little dribs of what happened on that elevator where they ended up being stuck for four hours, and he tells her jokes that you know that she won't hyperventilate, you know, on the but we don't even find that out, you know, it right then and there. It takes us uh a good way through the movie. So I I kind of really enjoyed that whole part of the meat cute cow, how they kind of gave us little, little, little bits of information throughout the movie uh instead of it all at once.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Yeah, I like the delayed gratification on that one. So I I addressed the second meat cute moment, which was when they met when their lives were separate after he made his uh wish or whatever you want to call it. And uh I just like seeing how confused he was about the whole thing and how Joyce was so hostile towards him. It was it was so much. I thought that was a yeah, it was hilarious. I really so uh, you know, the meet cute, the original moment was delayed, which was nice, but the second meet cute moment was really funny to me. Uh that's very memorable scenes to me.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

All right, things things we really liked about this movie. I'm gonna let you go first because I got a list of about 20 things that I'm gonna have to trim down a little bit. Uh, what'd you really like about it?

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Uh you know, I liked how kind of scatterbrained Ethan is in the in the beginning of the movie. I'm a little surprised, you know, because he's a he's a very good businessman. Uh I forget what he does. Uh project manager or something like that. For being that being the best project manager or whatever he is, you know, he seemed a little scatterbrained, but maybe he just had a lot of things on his mind. Uh I thought the Christmas tree was very nice that they showed. Uh it's supposed to be in Chicago, but it's filmed in Winnipeg. Correct. Lots of Christmas decorations everywhere. You know me, I like the magic, so I like seeing Santa in several different scenes and the Christa Santa magic happening. I love that. I'm just gonna say one more thing, because it's about our 100 followers. Mary Lou, who played Rona, is dressed amazingly in this movie. She is sophisticated, her posture is incredible. She just looked so classy, and I'm not just saying that. I mean, I thought she was really classy in this movie. Uh I liked her presence. I wish there was more of her for sure. You know, those were my my likes. I have more, but you know, I liked a lot of things about this movie. So what do you got?

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Yeah, I wrote down the Christmas magic as well. Again, years, and I'm talking years ago. I wasn't really into the Christmas magic. I was also into like the time travel or the or the going back to the 1940s kind of movies. Uh, I've really had a complete turnaround on all that. It's I mean the last five years, you know, where I really do now enjoy that kind of stuff. So I love the Christmas magic. I loved both Ethan and Joyce's when they were not together anymore. Both of their houses were amazing.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:48

Um, the decorations in both of them, there were Christmas trees everywhere in this movie. I mean, every party, every house, every office. I mean, Balsam Hill and Winnipeg, they must have just been like disordering up like by by the hundreds, like send them to Winnipeg because there were trees everywhere. I loved it. I loved the top the talking coffee maker. Uh I loved, yeah, I loved every one of the party scenes that they had. One thing I noted, you know me, I'm really critical about the misunderstandings. Uh sometimes they're really weak. I loved this one, how because they had the misunderstanding, they settled it right there on the spot instead of her running off and him have to chase her, you know, down the road somewhere to go find her. They settled it right on the spot. They figured it out. It was so refreshing to see something completely different uh that really kind of surprised me. And then obviously the chemistry between James Kent and Terry Hatcher off the hook on this one. I mean, just fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

I like that quick resolution as well, but it also goes to show like how his character was so honest and you know she believed him right away. I think that says something about the integrity of his character, which I liked.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

All right, you know me, Renee. I I always find something that I I could rewrite about a movie to improve it. I got absolutely nothing. I I I I I have nothing I would change about this script, not a single scene, not a single thing. It was so tight. I I literally went back and said, What would I would I rewrite a scene? Would I change a character arc? Would I change a relationship? I wouldn't change anything. I I I I wouldn't change a single thing about this movie.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

I need to make a note of this. It's March 15th. I mean, it's the eyes of March that I can't believe you didn't find the rewrite because you're so good at that. You always find something.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Absolutely. I'm shocked. I'm I'm I'm I'm kicking myself. I feel almost uh like a fraud in a way that I uh I'm I'm watching this thing. I just go, what would I rewrite? I go, now I I wouldn't write rewrite anything.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

It's it's the script is so tight, it's so darn good. I have one one thing that I would rewrite and two things that are not rewritables, but they were more like uh you know that the there's always a consistency thing that there's someone in the movies that you know checks things to make sure that they make sense. I definitely think Ethan should have if I woke up and my life changed like that, I think Ethan should have freaked out way more than he did when he awoke to his new life. I I would have been so confused, I would have checked myself into a hospital, I would have just freaked out what the heck's going on in my life. But you know, maybe that's just a testament to how calm he is. And my little nitpicks, because you know me, I have always have little nitpicks, is that there was a Ferrari out there honk twice and he walked out there and there's no one in the car. How did the Ferrari honk twice? I don't understand. I don't understand how Joyce doesn't freak out on him either. You know, like if if I came up to you and said, Hey, by the way, you know, if you heard that story from your wife telling you that and you didn't know who she was, or you know, you weren't together anymore, I think you would think she was a crazy person.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

I thought they did a really good job of how obviously she wasn't believing him, um, but she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt somewhat because she wanted, you know, she wanted to get the U setter all fixed and everything. So she was able to she was playing along with it uh as much as she needed to. I think they I think they did a really good job of of her doubting him, but also going along with the story. All right, you got a favorite moment? I know I do.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yes, I certainly do. When he sees the adopted kids again for the first time, his face. That was one of the moments I got choked up.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

It was killing you.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Oh yeah. I I mean that moment really got me. I don't know why it got me. I was just he was just so much emotion in his face. That was so deep to me. He's such a good actor, so good. That was my absolute favorite moment, hands down. Not nothing came as close as that face when he saw those children. I mean, I have a couple other little ones, but for sure. 100% that moment was beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 14:36

It was beautiful. I have a hands-down favorite moment as well, but it is completely different from yours. My favorite moment is the whole scene at the Christmas Eve Company party towards the end of the movie. We have Ethan in his tux and Joyce in that black dress. And my God, for two people that both have their AARP cards, man, did they look good together. And the chemistry was just so good. And then, of course, you know, you go see the scene with Rona telling him that she's basically saved the center, and then you get the whole the title of the movie, A Kiss Before Christmas. You know, she gives him that kiss towards the end of that scene there. Everything about that entire party and and them looking so good and having so much chemistry, and Rona and the kiss, it just uh it was so good.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Yeah, I liked when she says, you know, uh, I think I'm happy for other me. And you know, go back. I'm waiting. Very good, very lovely, so beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

All right, so obviously we had some supporting characters here. Uh, you had the kids, you had people that worked uh, you know, with uh with both Ethan and Joyce there. Uh I I have a feeling we we might be on the same page here, though. But Rona. Every time Rona entered a room, she let everybody know who the Alpha was in that room. She was in charge, she was the smartest person in the room. Mary Lou Henner absolutely owned every scene she was in. I would love to have had more of her. We got we got a lot. Yeah, Rona. Rona's the uh the sporty character who I wanted more of.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Same. And I and I would have liked to have seen more of her, you know, because she saw things in a different way than the other guy. And you know, she said she'd kind of had that feeling for a long time, but I would think a person like that would have said something sooner. So I definitely wanted to see more of her giving that guy the look and then giving James Denton the look. Like, okay, this guy is more along my thinking. I did not get enough of her for sure. And we're not just saying that. I mean, I really liked her presence. Like you said, she commanded the room greatly.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

She was great. All right, we always have a little section, are we sure? And while I don't have any rewrites in this movie, I do have a couple are we sure. You have any?

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah. My first one is okay, you saw the house that they live in, which was a big house. Right. They can't afford a car radiator for the car? That made no sense to me. Like, come on, dude. They're not expensive. You don't have a credit card? What?

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Yeah, and if and if he's if he's as good at his job, I think Rona would have taken care of him financially that he could have afforded a radiator for the cars.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

That was um my my main, are we sure, which is a little, are we sure? Yeah, and the other one's actually would Rona give$2.1 million out of nowhere, you know? Uh that is a lot of money, but maybe she's in her retirement time, she just decided that it was a worthwhile cause. And I can understand that, but$2.1 million is not chump change.

SPEAKER_02 17:17

Well we don't we don't know what Rona's worth. I mean, she could be worth half a billion dollars from Runo. So I mean, maybe maybe it's just a drop in the bucket for her, who knows?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

Yeah, she could get gain that an interest in a year for all we know. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Why are we sure is, and this is integral to the story, is is Joyce really gonna go back to law school in her mid-50s? Because when you think about it, it's probably gonna take her at least a year to study for the LSAT, and then she's got to go through the admissions process, and then three years of law school, another year to study for the bar, and then she's got to pass the bar taking five, six, maybe even seven years in her mid-50s. I don't think somebody would go back to law school in their mid-50s. I could be wrong, but uh that's that's my one R we sure that stuck out to me.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Yeah, 50s is a new 40s, you know, and people are living longer for sure. But yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Yeah, by the time you by the time by the time you pass your bar, you're 62. It's like, okay, I'm ready to retire. And I and I just spent uh, you know, 200 grand on law school.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

So yeah, that's funny.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

Oh well uh let's rate the kiss. Um, we don't need to talk about what this couple last 12 months, it's it's really not applicable to this movie, but uh let's go ahead and rate the the kiss. We got a couple there at the end.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Um I boy. The one thing I noted here, I go, there is a big difference between a married couple kiss and a couple kissing for the very first time, which we get 95% of the time in a Hallmark movie. I mean, he just came in, he grabbed her and just laid it on her. Um, and I loved it. Um, I'm giving it an A minus. I just just because that passion, that buildup, uh like he couldn't wait. Uh I I don't think it was an A plus. I think it could have been a little bit longer, but for the most part, really good. I'm giving it an A minus. Um, what about you?

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I gave that one a solid B plus. But there was an earlier kiss, if you recall. I think she did she kiss him on the cheek. Do you recall that? There was an earlier kiss that occurred. It wasn't on the lips, but I think she kissed him on the cheek.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Well, she gave him the kiss. She gave him the kiss after the at the par after the party, you know, um when they're in their their tuxes, she's in the black dress there. Um and that was on the lips, and it was it was just more of a tender, like we're gonna see each other again soon kind of kiss.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

So that kiss for me was an A because of the moment and the implications behind all that. And the kiss and the kiss at when he has her back at the house was a B plus, you know, it really could be an A as well because but I rated it a B plus just because it's um it wasn't a a romantic kiss, but it was a kiss of like, I'm back, I'm so happy to see you. With the A for the first one, I you know to me it averages out B plus A minus. It was really nice.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Perfect, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

All right, who or what won the movie? No question, James Denton won this movie 100%. He's so believable in the role, he played it perfectly. Uh his his acting was so good. I really just liked him so much. I can't say enough good things about him and his acting acting in this movie. Loved it.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Alright, I I need a huge favor, and I promise I will never ever ask you again. I I I need I need two MVP awards for uh for this movie. It's so good I need two. Okay. Tell you what, you're coming over for dinner on Friday night. Uh I'll I'll cook up some carne asada tacos for us both. How about that?

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Sounds good. You got my weakness. I want to say Terry Hatcher, but I actually said the set designers would be my uh my other person who won the uh thing that won the movie. It was so great as we talked about Christmas trees everywhere. The fashion and the clothing was really nice for everyone. Uh I couldn't think what they're called, the fashion designers or whatever the title is on the case. Costume designers, costume designers. I thought they were excellent. Yep. So it was close. But Terry, yeah, you could have gone so many directions with this. Yeah, but I went with the other thing that won the movie were the set designers because it gave us the full vibe of everything.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

All right, so thank you for my two awards here. The first one's gonna go to James Denton. I'm with you. He was absolutely amazing. It was nice to see kind of a male lead, the movie centered around a male lead there, and he was so good at every single scene. Um, yeah, James Denton, absolutely, you're you win this movie for sure. It uh amazing performance. And my other MVP award is gonna go to Marcomato, who came up with this very unique storyline, uh, got it to James Denton, who got it to Hallmark, uh, got this movie made, wrote the script. Um, the movie in the end up ended up being very close to his original script. It was so tight I couldn't poke a single hole in it. One of the best Hallmark scripts I've ever seen. Um, so Marcomato, you absolutely win this movie right alongside James Denton. I think the two of you combined ended up bringing this movie to life. I don't know if I ever would have got two Hallmarking. If it wasn't for both of you, obviously Mark's story and and an idea for the for the movie, and then James Denton taking it to Hallmark and them buying it on the spot. I mean, yeah, I mean it's the story, the script was so good.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Good call.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, I didn't even think that I could use the writer for that who won the movie. I'll have to factor that into my thinking that I can use anything associated with the movie.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Uh James Denton, Marcomato, co-MVPs. You guys win the movie. All right, rating. Who gets to go first? You or me?

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Uh well, are we doing an honorable mention or no honorable mention? Sure, we can do an honorable mention. Yeah. It's Terry Hatcher for me. She's really good with you know, not much to say about her. She just did a great job. Her character was lovely.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Hemistry between those two is fantastic. Yeah, absolutely. And obviously, we we've mentioned they do have a history together, desperate housewives, for for all those years between 2004, 2012. Um, and it shows you when you have two people that know each other well, and and yeah, they were so good together.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

So as far as rating goes, this is my highest-rated Hallmark movie for me of all time. It's a 4.5 for me. I could have even gone higher, but I just said I can't give it a five. It was so good. I mean, this is a 4.5, 4.75. I don't know if it just hit the right chords with me. It's not a silly Hallmark movie, as I generally like. I like my Hallmark movies to be silly and magically and Santay and stuff like that. But it was a powerfully emotional one. And as I said, there was at least three scenes where I got choked up, and that doesn't happen very often with me. 4.5 easily for me.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

So I've been thinking about this one all weekend. So I started off with a 4.75. And I was saying to myself, look, I need to save the 5.0 for my absolute favorite Hallmark Christmas movie of all time. There's there can only be one 5.0. This movie is not my favorite Hallmark movie of all time. Okay. Okay. But you know what? If I have to make a top five, top ten list, this is right up there. It's close. And I started thinking, you know, me not me sticking at the 4.75, that's ridiculous. I started looking back at this movie. You know, that that me cute movement that was so creative that basically led us through the entire movie having to find out what happened. I talked about the misunderstanding, you know, how they kind of solved it there on the spot. So refreshing, so different. We got a real antagonist movie. We haven't talked about Sean. He was a bad guy. And how often in a Hallmark movie do you get a real antagonist? It hardly ever happens. So I thought it was really refreshing to have somebody like Sean there, uh, kind of a guy with bad intentions. We already talked about the nod to It's a Wonderful Life, but they didn't shove it down your throat. It was just kind of in the background there. Right. And let's not forgot, we we have two leads here. One, Terry Hatcher was 54, James Denton was 57. We don't get that in Hallmark movies. Um it was so nice, and we don't need that every week, but it was so nice to see just Hallmark taking a chance, putting you know, two actors this age with this incredible background in a movie together. You put all of that together, the incredible script, Renee. I'm giving it a 5.0. I'm I'm not I'm not I'm not holding anything back. This is one of the best Hallmark Christmas movies you will ever watch. 5.0. I'll I'll I'll die by the sword on this one.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

That's my rating. I don't disagree with you at all. I mean, I don't I was really hesitant to go that high myself, but uh I agree the antagonist was fantastic too. We should he should have been an honorable mention because he was not likable at all. And when you don't like a character, that's a good job with that actor and the writing.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

In Hallmark, you just you don't you don't get bad guys in many Hallmark movies. I love the fact that people want you come in, oh this movie just had so much stuff that Hallmark doesn't usually do. It was so refreshing. And like I say, you're it's a it's a struggle to find a better Hallmark Christmas movie than this one.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Top three for me, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

All right, well, we got it out of the way. I think this is uh this is leading the uh of all the movies you review. This is easily leading the uh the pack there. But uh, what are we gonna review next week?

SPEAKER_01 25:51

I think the movie we're gonna review next week, just by the title of loan, might exceed 5.0 if you can believe that. This is called A Royal Corgi Christmas. I'm gonna give you a hint. It involves a corgi and royalty.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

And I'll bet it involved Christmas as well. Christmas, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

I think we're gonna have a drastically different movie than we just had.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Who doesn't like corgies? Come on. Yeah, come on, let's be honest. All right, well, if you don't follow us on Instagram, what's wrong with you? You absolutely should be. Uh our Instagram is Forever Hallmark Christmas. And Renee, we've uh we've actually got our own email now. So if you ever want to email us, tell us what you thought of the uh the show, the episode, Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com. You can be our first email ever. We haven't gotten one yet. So we just started the email address. Feel free to drop us a line. Let us know what you think of Forever Hallmark Christmas. Uh, if there's any movies you'd love to see, let us know that as well. Uh but Renee, until next week, let's uh let's keep it for the love of Hallmark, my man.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

For the love of Hallmark.

SPEAKER_02 26:51

See you next week, everybody.