Ghosts of Christmas Always

There have been countless takes on A Christmas Carol, but in 2022, Hallmark writer Zac Hug delivered one of the most unique twists yet with Ghosts of Christmas Always.

Widely considered one of Hallmark’s best, the film gives Rich and Rene plenty to unpack - from its layered story to the chemistry between the three ghosts and a standout musical score.

Rene questions whether Peter would really fall for a ghost, while Rich wonders if a bolder ending - with Kat staying in the afterlife - might have made the movie even better.

A strong supporting cast adds to the charm, though each host has a ghost they wish got more screen time. And when you cast a Broadway-caliber singer? Let her sing — no lip-syncing needed.

As always, we decide if Kat & Peter last, rate the kiss, and name our MVP. But the final score? Let’s just say Rich and Rene have never been further apart… and may never be again.

Plus — all 20 “Ghost Rules,” fully broken down by Rich (check our socials).

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. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of Forever Hallmark Christmas. We review only Hallmark movies, only Christmas movies. Uh my name is Renee, and as always, I am joined by my co-host. How are you, Rich?

SPEAKER_00 0:22

I'm doing good, Renee. I'm uh I'm really excited to uh review uh the movie we're reviewing today. I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. I I think so too. This is gonna be an interesting one. It's it's definitely not your normal Hallmark kind of movie. Let's say it, let's say that.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

I agree 100% with you. Give me some Hallmark news.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Sure. All right. According to uh Hallmark Enthusiast 24-7, one of my favorite follow-ups on Instagram, there's a uh new movie coming in 2026, Count Down to Christmas. It's uh starring Wes Brown in Autumn Reaser, and it's currently titled Preber. Now, I have to think that's just a working title that's gonna change. I've heard people think that hey, it has to do with trees in December, the end of December there. Probably a working title, but it's shooting somewhere in Alberta, Canada right now, uh south of Banff National Park, and it's estimated for a 19-day shoot. So I love West Brown, uh, love Autumn Reaser, so that should be a fun Christmas movie in 2026.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Can't wait for that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

And this might be a little old uh news, but the Hallmark stars are going on tour if you haven't heard. For a couple weeks in July, a handful of your favorite stars are gonna be making a blitz through the East Coast and Midwest, traveling to multiple cities. The likes of Nikki DeLosh is gonna be hosting. Uh, she'll be joined by Andrew Walker, Jonathan Bennett, Ashley Williams, Paul Campbell, Kimberly Sustad, and more. And I know they're going to the East Coast and Midwest, but hey, Hallmark, how about coming to Southern California in the future? We got about 24 million people that live here in Southern California. You guys already got Christmas con in New Jersey. You got the Kansas City Christmas experience. Renee, I think we need a little bit of uh Christmas love from Hallmark here in California.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

For sure. I'd even be willing to drive into LA for this one.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

But uh Well, hey, we we know the population bases are LA and San Diego, Orange County, smack in the middle. This is the perfect spot, I think. Agreed. But but great for uh for all those fans. It'll be fun to see all those Hallmark stars for those couple weeks as they uh as they blitz through those cities uh in the east and the midwest. And uh over to you. What are we talking about today?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

This week I chose Ghost of Christmas Always. Uh this was released in uh 2022, starting starring Kim Matula, who plays Catherine. Uh she was in a few movies. Uh The Way to You. It's a uh movie that came out uh in this year, Love You Ery, and I'm not caught up with caught up with all my movies from this year since we started doing the podcast. I've slowed down on my Love Youary and spring into love and all that, but I will get to it. She was in the finish line and checking it twice. Those were good. I remember those. Uh Ian Harding, please Peter, he was in Lost in Paradise. Uh, I think don't think that was a Hallmark movie. And he's also in The Magic of Lemon Drops and Pretty Little Liar, so he's he's been around a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Lost in Paradise was absolutely a Hallmark movie back in January. I think you need to catch up and eat. It was with Lacey, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:10

Oh, that's right. I am falling behind. I am on my on since I'm still catching up on last Christmas still, so I am behind a bit, unfortunately. And we had uh Beth Levil, I think her name is. Um, she was her name, she plays Susan, uh, This Is Where I Leave You and a few others. I have to mention Lori Tanchin, she plays Arlene, she's in the orange as a new black, but I knew her from uh the Aqua uh Aquafina This is Nora something show. Uh that she plays the grandmother in that. She is beyond ridiculously funny in that. So I'm glad to see her. And Reginald Vell Johnson, who as soon as you see his face, you know. And arguably in the greatest Christmas movie of all time, Die Hard.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Well, we will have to make we'll have to maybe agree to disagree on that one. I'm not sold that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, so I know that's I know I'm gonna get a lot of hate mail too, Forever Hallmark Christmas at Gmail, but maybe someday we'll debate whether or not Die Hard is actually a Christmas movie.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

This might be the last episode of Forever Hallmark Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

But but Al the cop in Die Hard, absolutely, he's great.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Uh, this movie is written by Zach Hugg, and our FHC log line is a ghost of Christmas present is assigned to help a lonely, burned-out man rediscover joy. But when she starts feeling somewhere deeper herself, the mission turns into a romance with actual stakes. Uh, IMDB rating gave it a 7.4, and our Forever Hallmark equivalent rating scale that I use an AI to do gave us a 7.5. So that was interesting to me. So I asked it, why are you giving us a 7.5? And and when we usually go up a point when we do a Forever Hallmark review equivalent, she wrote back, the score is so close because Ghost of Christmas Always works both as a genuinely well-made movie and as a very strong Hallmark Christmas movie. So that's uh if you were wondering why those scores are that close, that is the reason. Uh Rich, do you have any more in-depth look at some of those ratings?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Yeah, so this movie's really highly rated. Uh, I put together a sheet. In fact, we put together an Instagram post a couple weeks back, uh, the top 25 Christmas movies of all time per IMDB ratings. And I'm estimating there's about 478 Hallmark Christmas movies since 2000. Wow. This is ranked this is ranked tied for eighth uh amongst those 478 movies. So really highly regarded. Uh, as you mentioned, 2022. That was a banner year for Hallmark Christmas movies. Uh, I think 2022, 2023, both incredible years. But in 2022, we had three wise men and a baby uh rated just a tenth of a point above the Ghost of Christmas Always, and you had other movies uh take him home for Christmas, holiday spectacular, Hanukkah Rye, all rated 7.2 or above. So just a great year. But yeah, the uh Ghost of Christmas Always, tied for eighth, all-time Hallmark Christmas movies.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

I'm I'm actually quite surprised by that. I'm very surprised by that. Okay. So uh give me some fun facts while we're at it.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah, so this movie was shot uh in Connecticut, and it was shot in March, and it was still really cold that particular year uh in and around the Hartford area in Connecticut. So there was actually really real snow on the ground in a lot of the shots that you see there. So the the actors were wearing jackets. You know, sometimes you hear in July they're all sweating underneath their clothes because they're they're shooting a Christmas movie in July, but yeah, they needed their jackets, it was chilly. The carousel that you see in the movie was filmed in Bushnell Park right there in Hartford. So it's still a carousel you can go and see today. A little fun fact the name of the company that the ghosts worked for is it's not necessarily stated in the movie, but it's called the Department of Restoring Christmas Spirit. And there's a quick shot through that big hall that they all go to when they get their assignments. And if you look on the window, it's you see that word, those words, the Department of Restoring Christmas Spirit as who they work for. And if you notice, the person assigning the ghost uh their different missions, her name is Charlie, and that's a reference to the television show Charlie's Angels from the 70s. So kind of a little fun fact about the about the movie and the Charlie's Angels kind of reference there. And that's all I got, Renee. Uh, let's talk about the movie.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yeah, I totally missed that Charlie thing, and that there's three of them, and they're the angels. Wow, good job, good pickup on that one. You know, we didn't really talk about this, but I think since I'm I'm you know, this was my movie that I picked. Overall thoughts on the movie, I'd like to hear yours first, please.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

All right, you got it. I have no problems giving thoughts on this movie. I I really, really like this movie. Uh great script, great cast. I like the unique twist on a Christmas carol. Very different from any other Christmas carol that I've ever seen. I didn't find it formulaic at all, like so many Hallmark movies can be. That being said, this is not a movie that you can just. If you remember when we watched Finding Santa, I commented at that time, this is a very easy-to-watch, not have to think too hard kind of movie. Oast of Christmas always is not one of those kinds of movies. You can't sit on your phone scrolling IG and watch this movie at the same time and expect to take it all in. It's way too complex. It's got a lot of moving parts, tons of twists and turns, but those are the kind of movies I really like. Stuff that's really different. I really enjoyed this movie. And uh I heard a podcast with Ian Harding, who played Peter uh a year after the movie came out, and he made a comment that after he got the script from his agent, he spoke to the the director of the movie uh to ask him what about what he thought. And the director said, We're not necessarily making a Hallmark film, we're making an indie film that's going to air on the Hallmark channel. And I think that's pretty appropriate. This doesn't feel like a Hallmark channel, it feels like something you could have seen in the theaters. Uh a very different, a very different kind of movie for sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Boy, you and I are gonna be on polar opposites today, I think. You know, I had difficulty connecting to this one. Um, I liked everyone and I thought it was well acted. I think there were some moments where there could have been a little bit more romantic hints for me. I didn't I could not get fully engaged with this. I think you're right that this requires a little bit more mental effort. You know, and and I think as I watch these, sometimes I think about I gotta pay attention to my my mood and my day. That seems to be really affecting my my viewing experience, and I had to stop this one midway and finish it later, but I I did make sure to finish it the same, you know, within a few hours. Uh I did like the Christmas magic, and there's a message of Christmas spirit. I had a hard time with this movie. Yeah, I think we're gonna have a very diverse uh look at it today, for you and I.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

It it it's it's not an easy watch. It's I had to pause this multiple times to say, okay, let me find out exactly where I am, and then I keep watching. Okay, now I kind of get it. Yeah, it's it's you had to be 100% invested in watching this movie, and and I might have watched it more than once, to be honest. Uh, I did watch it a second time for a couple different reasons. Uh, but yeah, it it's a complex one for sure.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

I think if I had watched it twice, I would have given it more justice. And sometimes I I have I do watch them twice. This one was not based on just my week, but uh, I think I might look at this one later on, rethink it, but I'm gonna stick with what I wrote down today. What are some of the things we gotta keep it? We always keep it real. Yes, we yes, we do.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

So, what are some of the things you really like? The first thing that caught me was the music. I really enjoyed the different music through this movie, whether it be songs or whether they be instrumentals. There's one bit about the music that I wasn't fond of. I'll talk about some something that I didn't quite like during the rewrite section, but I I really enjoyed the music throughout the whole movie. I love the opening scene in the first second. There's no seeing all the city skyline as you see all the crash roll. They jump right into the movie. The first thing you hear is Ghosts, you've got to be kidding me by Susan Crane when they're scrooging her. I love that they just jumped right into the movie and didn't waste any time. I thought the movie breezed by in terms of pacing. Granted, there were so many twists and turns, the plot kept constantly changing. It wasn't predictable like so many movies. I liked all the snow, and we, as we said, it was shot in March when it was cold in Hartford, so a lot of the snow was real. Uh, I liked the shots with the carousel. I liked it when they went back to the 1950s. I thought the movie had great dialogue, great pulp uh pop culture references. Yep. And one more thing I'll note, I I like the ghosts and all of their rules. And one thing I did, Renee, because you know me, I I I go above and beyond what we need to on this one. When I rewatched it a second time, I literally wrote down every single rule that the ghost had.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Of course you did.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Dude, you want to try and you want you want to try and take a guess of how many rules there are? No, tell me. There's exactly 20 rules. And I'm sure I'll post them onto our Instagram uh Forever Hallmark Christmas so everybody can see the 20 rules that the ghost has.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I'll be looking at that myself. I'm curious now. Yeah, you know, the same thing I noticed as you did. The first thing was the music. I loved it. Uh a little bit elf Danny Elfman-like in some parts, kind of that wispy uh orchest, you know, singing in the background. I really liked. Uh-huh. And I and I noticed the same thing. The movie just jumped right in to the point where I was like, had I started this movie before and not finished it? Where I had to pause it and I went back, I rewound it to start the movie again. I did that twice because I said, What's going on here? This is this how it's starting. But yeah, it jumps right on in. So there's no, like you said, there's no scenery, there's nothing. The movie starts immediately, which is kind of cool, different. I like that. Um, I thought the the little text that would come up, the scroogie of and followed by a name, I thought that was really cute. I like the lots and red and greens that people were wearing, and I'll touch on that later. But it was very Christmas. Uh the costume designer people really did a good job. Everybody's wearing nice colors. And you know me, I like Christmas magic, and there was Christmas magic in this one, and I had you got lots of Christmas magic, my friend. A lot of Christmas magic. And I was a a little confused. Like, I tried to predict like who Kat was, and I go, like, oh, 35 minutes in. She's the grandmother, right? So this is not gonna be a romantic i thing between the two of them. But I was as we'll know later, I was totally wrong on that. The other thing, there was a lot of heavy, meaningful dialogue in this movie. A lot there was a lot of I gotta imagine if you looked at the script and just counted words, that this is one of the heavier word word counts in most of these movies. I don't even know if we have a way of looking that up, but I'd be really curious to know. I I think this had a lot of words in the script, so I I applaud the actors as doing a good job with their long conversations. That was nice. Yep. Are there any some things uh that you would fix in a rewrite?

SPEAKER_00 13:47

There, yeah, there's a few little question marks uh in terms of the rewrite. I had a couple things that in terms of the actual script that I I questioned if I would rewrite or not. And then there's a couple things that maybe not necessarily do with the script, but just some scenes with some let me explain. So, first of all, with the script itself, one question I had, and I kept going back and forth, would I change it is do you do you have Kat going to the future, or do you have a heart-wrenching thing where she makes a decision that she's gonna stay a ghost? They have one tender moment together at the end, and she doesn't go back to the future. I think being a Hallmark movie, you had to have the happy ending. Um, but I think in a different version, if this is a theatrical release or maybe a different streaming server other than Hallmark, I I I wonder if you could have pulled that off where she doesn't go back, she stays a ghost. And then you could actually have some sequels to the ghost doing something uh uh together in a future film. That's kind of the one thing I think that's right, though, uh, in terms of being a Hallmark that they do have to end up together. And the other last thing I probably would have rewritten was the last 10, 15 seconds of the movie when Peter finds Kat outside in the snow and asks her if she wants to dance. I would have danced right there in the snow, had attended her dance instead of going back into the Rudy, uh to the Rudy Tootie there. Um that's probably the little thing I had. But in terms of some scenes, one has to do with the music, and probably the other has to do with, I'm guessing, hair and makeup. First of all, when Peter's with his mom making the pies, they look the exact same age. Uh I would say they were brother-sister. I think they needed to make mom look a little bit older. And of course, mom's in the final scene there, the rootie-tuty as well. I think they needed to make mom look a little bit older. They look way too close in age. I think you know, if you look at a movie like Forrest Gump, what they did to Sally Field, making her look, you know, in her mid-30s towards the beginning of the movie, and by the end of the movie, she's in her 70s. I think they could have done that. The other thing I would have fixed with regards to the music was Susan Crane singing in those two spots. She sings to Robert, and then again she sings at the end at the Rudy Tootie. The lip syncing and auto-tuning was terrible.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

It was.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

And Beth Lavelle, she's a Tony Award-winning Broadway singer. You could have recorded those live to film. That's what they did in a Carol 42 just two years after that. They didn't auto auto-tune or lip sync an entire song in that movie. If you've got a Broadway singer, let her sing. I mean, there's there was no need for the lip syncing or auto-tuning there. Um, I the song was a little bit cheesy, fine. But but let her sing. I mean, uh that's the one part about the music I would have changed. So I didn't have any really rewrites. It's just those couple little little things that caught my eye in terms of changes I would have made with both uh Peter's mom and her age, and then again the uh the singing by Susan Crane there.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

I was confused when Susan came into the picture. I was I was like, who who is this? Maybe I was not paying as much attention as I thought I was. I had no idea who she was. I thought, was she a person that was formerly Scrooged? I guess I forgot. I mean, I guess she was later on. I think we found out that she was because she had that they talked. But when they first came to her, I was like, Who is this? This was the granddad's favorite singer. I was so confused with her presence. And that might not necessarily be the movie, that just might be me being kind of dumb. But I I was confused when she came in. And then I didn't know what Catherine would think. If she starts liking Peter, like what what would she like? What does she think would happen? I never I would think a ghost, you know, because she'd been a ghost for 50 years at this point. Right. So did she what did she think? She could fall in love with someone, and I didn't even consider that walkway into the unknown that could bring them back or something like that. I didn't consider that while I was watching. I was just confused, like, what is she doing? What does she expect? So I think I was maybe a little bit dumb in this and I don't understand what's going on. I thought it was weird that even the guy fell for a ghost. I mean, she's pretty, she's nice, but I just did not understand it. I was kind of baffled a lot, and I didn't think their romantic chemistry was that present for throughout the movie, except towards the end it kind of ramped up. I think I would have liked to have seen definitely more of the those moments when they'd look at each other a little longer or maybe touch hands or something along those lines. I didn't so did you have a favorite moment?

SPEAKER_00 18:04

Yeah, and I guess I'm gonna disagree with you right away about the romantic chemistry because that that was my favorite moment was around the 30-minute mark, is when Peter and Kat are walking around downtown Hartford, kind of learning all about each other, and he's he's completely flirting with her. He's even talking, you know, like you're you're you're funny. I I I'd like to ask you out for a drink. And yeah, I was getting great chemistry from them. Um, that's probably my favorite moment. I I loved also when the the ghost first got to Peter's apartment, but I I think my favorite moment was was when Peter and Kat were walking around downtown in Hartford. Um, you know, he's you know, yeah, that I th that's my favorite moment.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

It's so interesting how like we I feel like we're kind of watching a different movie in a way, but I was just baffled by it. Uh but I did have a couple favorite moments, but the main one, typical of me, the speech between the father and son, showing more of why the dad was the way he is, typical of what I like, a real moment between them. Followed by the dad reading the letter, which was a powerful moment for him. That was one favorite moment. I had one more, if you don't mind me saying one more. Oh, four is when they told Catherine that she was the one being scrooged. And I gotta say, I knew it the whole time. I I called that one out early. I said, This is about her being scrooged. I didn't quite say the word scrooge, but I said, This is it's this is about her. And I was correct, and I really liked that moment because she was surprised. Though I found it uh, you know, I spotted it. Maybe other people didn't wouldn't catch it as quickly as I did.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Well, I mean, yeah, you when you think of a Christmas carol, obviously Scrooge is the one that goes through the big, the big change, you know, the big character arc there. Where in this movie it's you know, Zach Hugg has kind of flipped it on his head, where instead of the person being Scrooge, whether it be Peter, whether it be Robert, whoever, the person with the big character change and the big character arc is Kat, so is one of the ghosts. So he's completely flipped you know Christmas Carol on his head kind of in that way. That was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Uh that one, you know, even though I kind of called it, but sometimes I try to call out things that are unexpected and trying to figure them out ahead of time. But that was a good one. I liked it. Do we have uh a best supporting character who you think deserve more screen time?

SPEAKER_00 20:07

So yeah, this question is as we we say it, the best supporting character who who deserved more screen time. I thought the best supporting character was Arlene, the ghost of Christmas past, but the one who I wanted more of was Roy, the Ghost of Christmas future. Uh that's that's who I wanted more of. We got a lot of Arlene. We we still got we still got Roy, but I wanted more of Roy.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

Same thing. I I wrote down Arlene, the Ghost of Christmas Past, only because I've seen her in the Aquafina show, and I just find her just laugh out loud, funny. I mean, she's she's had brought tears to my eyes because her character there is so funny. So she's a big presence. But you're right, Roy would have been nice to get a little bit of I would have liked to have seen both of their stories as how of why they're ghost and things like that. Do you have a are we sure?

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Well, my first are we sure is would Peter be single after all these years? The guy is the guy's smart, he's witty, he's kind, uh good-looking dude. He he can really wear a turtleneck well. But there there's no talk about any woman anywhere in his past like we hear in so many Hallmark movies. I'm not buying that this guy would still be single.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

He's a good looking guy and he's a nice guy.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah, he's like I say, he's super smart, he's just uh super kind-hearted, really witty. Uh yeah, I just I don't see it. And then my other are we sure is are we sure that the the Rudy Tweety would sit vacant, vacant for 35 years if his dad is this incredible businessman? So you know me, Renee. I looked up, you know I love my research. I figure Peter was born probably around 1985. So I looked at the uh Hartford commercial real estate market back in the in the mid-80s and it was booming back then. Slowed down a little bit uh in in the early 90s, but yeah, I don't think if dad was a brilliant businessman that the Rudy Tootie would have just been sitting vacant uh when Peter was born.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

So now when you heard the Rudy Tootie, do you think fresh and fruity from iHop? That's all I could think about every time I heard that. Rudy Tootie, Fresh and Fruity. Anyway. So why are we sure is I already touched on it. Like, would a ghost fall for one of the Scrooge people and vice versa? I wasn't sure. And are we sure that the dad would change rather quickly based on one letter? He spent a whole lifetime being this. But I will say that is a Hallmark Christmas magic redemption moment. So I even though I said, are we sure? And I think in real life, one letter might not be enough to change a person's ways. But in Hallmark Christmas World, uh, for sure it changes their ways. Those were my two armure.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yeah, that's what the arbeitures are all about.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Now, this one, I actually, you know, normally we just write yes or no. Would the lead couple last 12 months?

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Well, of course they are. I mean, we see the snapshots when Roy takes her into the future, she's married, she has a wedding ring on, she has a baby. So yeah, I mean, I think it's this is a no-brainer that they're they're lasting 12 months.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Yeah, I did see the future thing, but the future was always like a possible future, right? So it's like it was never set in stone. So I I put down in reality, I said, I have no clue. I really not that get a sense of their long-term viability. Like I felt like your guess is as good as mine. If I'm like if I have to pick in Hallmark World, of course they live happily available and they're they're they're together forever. In reality, I would not know how to call this one. It's like I don't know. So I'll say yes in Hallmark Land and keeping it real. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

So when they're we're in the there are there, they're in the Rudy 2D at the end. I I think that's what we have to go by. You see them in the Rudy 2D, are they gonna last 12 months after that?

SPEAKER_01 23:16

Uh yeah, I would say yes then. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

Good answer. I'm sure we're gonna be pretty close on this one. What would you rate the kiss? So I did a missile toe meter.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

You know, I gave it a B. I thought it was a good kiss. I just wanted more. Uh, I wanted uh I wanted more of it. I thought it was uh good, but not great. I gave it a B.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

I did a B minus. It was fine. I didn't find it memorable, but it was fine. One of our favorite sections is who won the movie?

SPEAKER_00 23:41

So for me, this movie is all about the story. It's about the script, it's about the dialogue, uh, it's just about this very, very unique spin on a Christmas carol that doesn't feel like a Hallmark movie at all. Lots of twists and turns, not formulaic, not predictable. To me, Zach Hug wins this movie. It's his script, it's his story. I I thought it was brilliant. Zach Hug, you win the movie.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Yeah, he he's he's my yeah, it's him, but I wrote down the set designer and the costume designers. I just everything was so pretty, you know, all the greens, all the reds, everywhere they were was so much designed for Christmas. Uh, I really enjoyed that. The buildings inside and out, all their clothes set a nice vibe. But you're right, the the writer, uh, you know, to me, the writer definitely won as well. I think we're gonna have a big difference here on our one to five rating.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

I have a feeling we're gonna have a this is by far gonna be our our biggest split, no doubt.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

The most controversial for sure. What did you rate it?

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Oh, boy, René, you're not gonna want to hear this one. I so as I've started to think about these ratings and how high I will go on any movie. And uh, you know, I talked about this a little bit, you know, a kiss before Christmas is do you have to have your all-time favorite Christmas movie that that one and everyone's got that one. Does should that be the only five? And I said at the time, no, you know, it's I think if we have a great, great, great movie that you shouldn't be afraid to give a score of a five. And I think this is a great, great movie. And I have no problem saying this movie is a five every every day of the weekend and twice on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Okay, so I almost gave this a 2.75, but I I gave it a three because I think I need to watch this again. I think there was something wrong with me because I gave this a three. I like the acting, uh, but the way the story connected just felt off for me. I I believe this is one of those I'm gonna have to watch again and give it a uh an honest, you know, review again, which brings us to our new once every 10 episode segment. Uh, when we go back and we pick one movie of the last, is it of the last 10 that we reviewed? Yeah, or just overall of the last 10, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Of the last 10, I think that's every 10 we'll do it. We'll kind of go back and we can kind of pick one movie that maybe now that we've rated a whole bunch, and a lot of these are older movies we're comparing to each other. I think it's maybe in the presence a little easier for us to compare apples to apples. But yeah, we're gonna go back and review one of the 10 that we've done before, and we can either move it up or down a quarter point, basically based on kind of everything else we've seen.

SPEAKER_01 26:18

Yeah, we said quarter, maybe half if we wanted to, really. Sure, but no no more than that. Quarter to a half a point. So this is our revise rating section, which is new. What did you pick to revise?

SPEAKER_00 26:28

So I'm going back to our very first movie that we did, the most wonderful time of the year. I I think I was a little low on that one. I think you and I were a little bit both harsh about the ending of the movie, those last two minutes, and them not kissing uh at the airport and then having kind of a lackluster kiss in the door. I think it kind of left a sour taste in our mouth. But you know what? The other 84 minutes were fantastic. They were great. Brooke Burns, Warren Christie, Henry Winkler, great cast, great movie. I I think I was a little harsh with the 4.0. I would bump that up to a 4.25. It's every bit as good as Christmas and Evergreen, maybe even a tad better. The completely different movies uh both had their their pros and cons. But I think I was a little rough on that one. I'm gonna bump it up to a 4.25.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

That sounds fair. Uh, my revision was A Kiss Before Christmas because I was really hesitant to give it such a high score, but it really is a movie that I love the heck out of. So I'm gonna do a full half-point revision from my 4.5 to a 5.0. I love that movie. It is the best Hallmark movie I think I've ever seen. Uh so I'm moving that to a 5.0 for uh a kiss before Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Well, when we do our 20th episode, Renee, I have a feeling we're gonna be coming back to this one maybe, and uh and saying, hey, this was my 3.0 a little low. I I do think you need to re-watch it. I will do that because I when I rewatched it a second time, so I did catch as I said, it's got a ton of twists and turns, a lot of complexity. And when I watched it a second time, I caught things I didn't catch the first time around. So I I I think it'd be a good rewatch for you.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Very valid. And usually, like I said, I try to watch the movies twice, but this week was a little rough on time. But uh yeah, I have a feeling that in on on our 30th episode, no, our 20th episode, we'll review this. I'll be reviewing this one again. So having said that, what is our next movie?

SPEAKER_00 28:16

So, Renee, we are gonna go to 2015 and we're gonna watch a movie called Crown for Christmas. And I'm gonna give you a hint. It has to do with a crown, and it has to do with Christmas. You're taking my my my patterns, that's hilarious. And one more thing, it has to do with Danica McKeller. So we haven't we have we haven't done one of her movies yet. So 2015, Crown for Christmas, Danica and McKeller. That's the next movie.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Yeah, criminal that she's not been reviewed already. We love her. Thank you very much, Rich. You did a good job getting gathering all your information. Follow us on Forever Hallmark Christmas. Is it Forever Hallmark Christmas or Forever Hallmark Christmas podcast?

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Forever Hallmark Christmas on Instagram and Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

And you can follow me directly, Renee FHC at Instagram as well if you want to tell me how dumb I am with this review. Uh thank you every very much, everyone, for listening. For the love of hallmark. For the love of hallmark.