Christmas in the Air

Incredible lakeside visuals, a charming small-town Christmas, and Jewel’s “Winter Wonderland” setting the tone - Hallmark’s Christmas in the Air (2017) knows how to make an entrance.

Eric Close stars as Robert, a widowed dad doing his best to hold it all together for the holidays, alongside Catherine Bell as Lydia, a professional organizer who brings a refreshing twist to the usual Hallmark career lineup. Rich is all in on Lydia’s poinsettia greenhouse and that bold outdoor holiday show, while Rene soaks up the festive lakeside holiday vibes and Robert’s heartfelt dad moments.

But not everything lands. Rich questions the chemistry between Robert and Lydia, and Rene believes the misunderstanding needs a rewriting. There’s love for the ice rink, the toy shop, and even some behind-the-scenes insight as writer Janna King shares a few favorite moments.

Of course, we ask the important questions: how is everyone affording those dreamy lake houses… and what exactly is going on with Robert’s all-in-one game box? The guys agree on the couple’s future (rare!), but can’t settle on an MVP. And that final kiss? Let’s just say… it didn’t stick the landing. 

Hallmark, if you’re listening - your new “final kiss consultants” are ready to start and we work cheap. Email below.

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

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Email: ForeverHallmarkChristmas@gmail.com

*** Not affiliated with Hallmark Media. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome to Forever Hallmark Christmas Podcast, where we only review Hallmark Christmas movies. Thank you for listening. My name is Renee, and I am joined by my friend and co-host Rich. How's it going, Rich?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

It's good, Renee. We are uh we're living the dream. We're almost into Maine. We're talking about Hallmark Christmas movies. So I I can't think of anything better uh I want to be doing.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

I agree with you. I'm gonna jump right into it. What new news do you have for us this week?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

So, first of all, we have 24 weeks until the S May to start to count down to Christmas 2026. And I'm gonna start off with some sad news. I want to get this out of the way and keep everything positive here. But uh actor Patrick Muldoon passed away on April 19th. Uh pretty interesting guy. He played football at USC and after that starred in shows like Save by the Bell, Melrose Place, and uh followed by a very long career in TV and film. And he definitely has a Hallmark background as well. Uh he starred in the Hallmark movie A Boyfriend for Christmas in 2004, and just last summer in the Hallmark movie Double Scoop. So um uh did a ton of Christmas movies, not all for Hallmark, some other networks as well, but uh Rest in Peace, Patrick Muldoon, uh gone way too early at the age of 57.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

For sure. I remember him from Starship Troopers, which is where I first saw him and a few other movies since then. Uh I like that guy. I'm sorry to sorry for his his law, his loss and his family.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Uh you and I are both big baseball fans, and we're big Hallmark fans. And there's some news. The Kansas City Royals, they are gonna move uh from their longtime home at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City to a new downtown uh Crown Center area there in Kansas City, and that's the same area where the Hallmark Christmas experience takes place every November and December. And the Royals are partnering with Hallmark on this three billion dollar project that includes a mixed-use development with a new ballpark at its centerpiece. So kind of cool. Uh the Royals, Hallmark partnering on this uh this project, and who knows, maybe we'll have Hallmark Field there in Kansas City.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

I have something to say about this. I was watching the Angels play the Royals last night. Coincidentally, we got our butts kicked. But if you the Royals had I mentioned like, look at that new logo on their head. It looks like a crown, and I think it might have been sort of the Hallmark crown on the new logo. I'm gonna have to check into that, or you can as you're a good researcher, but I I think that's what the new hats had on a crown on their logo, and it's the Hallmark logo.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Maybe they're moving to that crown center area. I yeah, I don't know. Maybe we'll see if we can poke around and and follow up with that on uh on a new segment here in the next couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Yeah, I had no idea that it was this was Hallmark was even involved with this, so it kind of ties in a little bit. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

And our last bit of fun news here in 2026, uh actor Tyler Hines will become only the second Hallmark channel actor to get his own Hallmark keepsake ornaments. Lacey was the first uh back in 2025, but the Tyler Hines ornament will be available in October, uh retailing for $24.99. So congrats to Tyler on getting his own Hallmark ornament.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

I was not aware of these things, I gotta look into them.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

We have a couple of birthdays to shout out as well. Uh Taylor Cole, uh just yesterday on April 29th, she turned 42 years old. And Robert Buckley, uh Ted Cooper himself, uh May 2nd, uh his birthday's coming up. He'll be 45 trips around the sun uh on May 2nd. So happy birthday to both Taylor Cole and Robert Buckley.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Uh that's a great day for a birthday for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Absolutely. All right, uh, let's go ahead and uh talk uh talk about Christmas in the air.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Okay, yeah. This week, as you said, uh I picked Christmas in the air. This movie was released in 2015, is starring the lovely Catherine Bell, who plays Lydia, uh, obviously from the Good Witch series. That's what got me into Hallmark. She was also in Jag for like 10 years, like 95 and 2005, Army Wives and several of Good Witch actual movies, not just the series. She has a she has a large amount of roles in movies and stuff and series, so you can check her out. And the other gentleman with her is Eric Close, who plays Robert Trent. Uh, I know him, I knew him from Nashville. I watched most of that series. I didn't quite finish it, which watching him again inspired me to go back and put that back on my list to finish off. He's in several other Hallmark Christmas, uh, a Christmas Love Story, Angel Falls, a novel holiday. Uh, he was in suits. I never saw suits, but he's been in tons of stuff, so you can look him up in his IMDB. This movie is directed by Martin Wood. He directed Uh Summer to Remember, which also starred Catherine Bell, coincidentally. He also did uh some all uh Aurora Teargarden stuff and a bunch of other stuff. Um the writer for this one is uh Janet King. Other hallmark credits are just uh Christmas next door and love. Of course, a Christmas next door is from 2017 and Love, of course, is from 2018. That's what I have for as far as a screenwriter. I do have our little FHC log line. Uh it's a no-nonsense professional organizer that helps a widowed toy inventor get his chaotic life and business together before a major Christmas presentation. And naturally, the boxes aren't the only thing getting sorted. Uh, this movie has an IMDB rating of 6.2. And Rich, why don't you give me some fun facts? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

So this movie was actually produced uh under the working title 12 Days, and obviously that ties into the plot. Robert basically has 12 days to kind of get his uh everything in order for before this big dinner uh it's gonna make or break his business, possibly. Uh, this is premiered as part of Hallmark movies and mysteries. Uh, and those movies tend to lean a little bit more on the emotional side, and obviously we have a widowed father here, so that makes sense. Uh, it was shot in British Columbia, as so many Hallmark movies are. And Renee, we have a few stories behind the story here. I was able to connect with the writer, Jana King, uh, on this movie just to get a little bit about her inspiration uh behind writing it. And she was great. She uh she gave me some fun facts, also kind of a few little uh a very heartfelt story about this movie getting made as well. But she said she had a great time writing it and she'd always been inspired by professional organizers. She joked because she's not tremendously organized herself. Uh and obviously Catherine Bell plays a professional organizer in this movie. Uh, but where it really gets heartfelt, this was her first produced television credit, and her dad got to watch it, and he passed away a few years ago. But when he watched this at the time, he was so very proud of her. And it's kind of one of those things that's always gonna stick with her. It's always gonna forever make her happy that her dad got to see this movie, you know, back when it was made in her first produced TV credits. So very cool there. Lovely. And Janet was great. She's actually gonna play along uh with our our episode here. Uh, I said, okay, how can I have her maybe join into one of the segments we do? And I figured an easy way would be her favorite moments of the film, uh, something that you and I always tackle uh when we when we do our different movie reviews. So when we covered that segment today, she's gonna jump in and tell us a few of her favorite moments of this film as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

That's so nice that you managed to get that. Good job, man. Yeah. You know, adding to your fun facts, I looked up uh Lake, it's pronounced Sh Shulan, Lake Shulan, and there is such a place, and it's in uh Washington State, and uh it's a Native American word, and I couldn't quite figure out which tribe came up with the word, but it means uh deep water. So just a little additional fun fact from me there. I I know I had some overall thoughts on the movie. What are yours?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Uh yeah, I I had some thoughts as well. Overall, I think this was a fairly considering it had a deeper storyline with like I say, a widow father, a man whose business is kind of you know make or break in this one big meeting. Uh, I find it to be a fairly easy watch. I I put this in the same kind of bucket as we did Finding Santa a couple months back. Um not have to think too hard. Well, I found it a slow watch. Uh I I also found it easy watching at the same time. Uh and then when I kind of look back and I kind of just did a little back research there, finding Santa, these movies uh were in the exact same year. They were only 19 days apart. Uh uh when they hit the Hallmark channel, uh they have almost identical ratings. Uh 6.3 for Finding Santa, 6.2 for Christmas in the air in the U.S. market, they were exactly the same, a 6.5. So I found very, very similar aspects to these two films. But I did kind of uh relate a little bit to Robert uh in a way. I mean, he's doing his best to juggle all the activities of these two kids. Right around Christmas time, I I remember when my two daughters were that age, and you know, my wife and I, we had there's two of us trying to juggle it all. So I kind of relate to Robert as well uh as a dad, trying to make it all happen. But yeah, those are my overall thoughts. Uh a little slow, but at the same time, kind of an easy watch.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

I agree with that. It was kind of it did have its slow moments, but it was easy watch. I thought it was the movie still charming, and uh the good acting of the two leads on the supporting cast made me like all the characters right away. And that hooked me in. It's just I liked everybody. You know, as I was watching, I couldn't quite place it. Something felt like it was missing, but I couldn't quite figure it out. And I guess I just wasn't wowed by the movie, but I'm glad I watched it. I enjoyed it. It's a lighthearted movie. That was it for me on there.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Yeah, I think it it's a catchy. I I I do agree kind of lighthearted way, but also you're dealing with kind of a serious subject matter here with a widowed father. So it was kind of juggling both of those aspects, kind of an easy watch, but it again, it's it's a little I think whenever you get a widowed father, you're you're talking about a little bit of a heavier storyline.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

So yeah, they they did manage to, and even you know, Catherine Bell's character, Lydia, had a mother who had passed away, and that was very important to her. So there was like you're right, there's underlying deeper themes, and but they kept it pretty light, which was good.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

What are the some of the things you really liked? I I had a whole list of things. I actually had to trim it down a little bit. But I love the opening credits. You get that that great winter visuals of that lake up there, uh, and you had Jules uh Winter Wonderland uh kind of playing in the background. Jewel's got an amazing voice. So it was a great way to open, and then all of a sudden you jump right into Robert uh flying uh his his sleigh, the drone there, the Santa Slay. Uh so very cute opening to the movie. I like the fact that we Jewel Joule was singing it. Jewel, yeah. Winter Wonderland by Jewel was the opening, uh was the opening credit song there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:47

I loved the song. When I heard it, I was like, this is a great song, great intro. I didn't know it was her.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

And sometimes it's hard to pick out her voice because she just has a very just a beautiful voice. And obviously, there's so many great singers out there, but yeah, that was uh that was Jewel. I like the fact that we had a professional organizer in so many of these movies, you know, we get the the lawyer or the writer or the event planner. It was a very nice, very nice change of place to have a professional organizer, something different. I specifically wrote down when I saw the hockey practice, there's like a thousand little mini Christmas trees on the rink, and you had all these kids dodging in and out these little trees on the rink. I thought it was hilarious. Um, I like Lydia's Poinsetta Poinsettia greenhouse, very cute. Um, I liked Robert's ugly sweater collection.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

You can't throw away his aunt's gifts, you cannot throw those away.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

He didn't just have one, she just kept holding him out one. And I also like the kids doing their play outdoors, Alfresco. I mean, in a winter night, everyone's bottled up. I do have an Are We Sure about this in this in uh about the play as well that I'll talk about in a few minutes, but I like the fact that they did it outdoors. And that's just I had a whole bunch of things, but that those are a few things I really liked.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

I I agree. The first thing I I that caught my eye was the intro, the scenery of that intro, and the song, which I didn't know was Jewel. Right away, I felt like I'm in the Christmas spirit. I started feeling it. I was like, wow, I'm feeling Christmas right now. And and that I thought that was one of the best starts I've seen to a movie because I right away my mood, whatever I was feeling, shifted into like, this is nice, it feels like Christmas time. Other things I liked, I love an annual Christmas festival. A lot of Hallmark movies do that, and this is the 43rd annual Lake Shillan Christmas Eve festival. I like that. I like the office scene after the video call where you can see it's actually snowing outside. There's a few scenes where you could look, you look out and it's snowing. I thought that was really cool, maintained the setting. Robert Trent was such a good dad. Lovely. I have a few more, but those were the main ones. I also liked Lydia's body language with with Robert was very interesting. And she's, you know, I could tell right uh as soon as she's kind of started liking him. You could see her body language shift and she would lean into him more and give him that look more. Catherine Bell's pretty good at that, anyways. That's kind of her her general acting style, but I like seeing that as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Yeah, these are two really strong actors. I mean, they go back to the to big time TV series, you know, from 10-15 years ago. So they're they they're they're two good solid actors.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Now, one of our favorite sections, are there any things you'd fix in a rewrite?

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Not not one of my favorite sections. This is my favorite section right now, for sure. And I've joked before that uh this is also the section that makes me the most nervous because my biggest fear is that someday a writer of one of these movies is going to listen to our podcast and say, who the heck do these guys think they are rewriting a scene of mine? And I think my fear is gonna come true on this because I'm almost certain that Jana is gonna listen to this episode. She told me she's already listened to a couple other of our episodes, and I have no doubt she's gonna listen to this one. So, Jana, uh, as you know, we always keep it real here and we be as honest as we can. Uh but uh the one big I have one big thing that I would rewrite here, and I think we needed stronger chemistry throughout the entire movie between Robert and Lydia. I I I liked, I would have liked to have seen them really lean into his struggle if he was ready to date after his wife had passed, and the same thing with Lydia coming off of a bad relationship with her last boyfriend. I just I wasn't getting that chemistry between the two of them leading up to even when they had, you know, they were walking outside after that uh trial dinner that they were planning, the dry run dinner there, and they were looking at the stars. I I think we needed more buildup to that. Uh we didn't even get a mid-mo, uh, an almost kiss there. Um, I I I would have taken a step further. I would have literally had a mid-movie kiss there. Um I would have had them building up that relationship, a lot more flirting uh leading up to that moment. And then after that, you know, he can basically then have that internal struggle of oh my god, you know, I'm I'm having feelings for somebody for the first time since my wife had passed. Then maybe he has to have a talk with his daughter, Amelia, about Emil is old enough by then, I think, to kind of understand. And Amelia wants her dad to be happy, obviously.

unknown 13:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

I remember a scene in the American President, we're going back about 30 years here. I'm dating myself with when when Michael Douglas was a widowed uh president, he started having feelings for the character played by Annette Benning and had to have a talk with his daughter, like, hey, is this okay that I'm I'm dating a woman? I'm having feelings for a woman. And I think that would have been a perfect way for Robert. He obviously he had some great moments with his kids, but he could have had that talk with Amelia. Um but yeah, I think I think I would have improved the chemistry uh between Robert and Amelia, that romantic kind of slow burn chemistry.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

I thought their chemistry was good. I think going to what you say, the that conversation between, you know, that definitely puts a little bit more serious of a tone. And we had I had no idea how long, how long had it been since the mother passed away? How long had it been since Catherine Bell or Lydia got out of that relationship? I don't have a timeline. I'm not sure exactly, yeah. Yeah, so if it was like a year, a year and a half, okay. You know, but if it was like 10 years, but it couldn't have been that long because I I feel like it was pretty close, but you're right. Uh that could have been worked in there, but I think that would have definitely made it heavier. Um the thing I'd fix in a rewrite is there's always like an argument scene where something there's like a confusion or something. Uh and I felt very like male-centric on this one because you know she's talking to him and she says, Well, I thought you were gonna change. You know, when she sees she comes over and he's doing work at the house at night with a brother, and she says, I thought you were gonna change. And she mentions obviously she's talking about her ex that worked hard and would stay in the office and be late and not show up to things. That was all something obviously very personal to her. Um he had how would he know this? He had no clue how how that that would affect her. So he looked confused and blindsided, and that and as a guy, I think I would have been too. I'd be like, what's going on here? Like she's bringing up like kind of her baggage into this. I don't want to say this because I know mostly, you know, our our viewers are mostly uh females, and I just thought as a guy, like this makes this seems like such a chick thing to do, but I later kind of understood it, you know. I just as a dude, I was like, oh man, I'm dealing with uh uh you know, I'm being compared now to someone else. I thought that kind of put me off. That was the only thing I'd fix in a rewrite.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

I I wrote down the exact same moment that you're talking about. I actually moved that to the are we sure column, so I'm gonna talk about that as well. But I it could be kind of an ar we sure or a rewrite, but yeah, I agree with you on that one scene for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah, and maybe it might take you know different because I'm a guy and you know. Anyways, tell me about your favorite moment.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

So I had originally written down two, and I know we have to go with one because it is favorite moment, not moments. Um I'll yell out my second place. It was the dinner with the Hennessy's at Robert's house. I just thought it was beautifully done, kind of uh that whole family atmosphere talking about how important family was. But in the end, uh, you know, since this movie was a little heavier, uh I went with the there were two ice skating scenes, and I went with the second one where he takes, you know, Robert takes Lydia out on the ice and skate. But I I you know the kids were all playing their little hockey game. Uh when they went back out, I mean there was Christmas trees everywhere in that ice rink. Um, they they put them on the ice as they started uh skating around as well when Robert and Lydia were skating, kind of teaching her how to skate. Uh it was just a really fun, you know, they're they're they they they were getting a little flirty. For sure. Um, but I just love the vi I love the visuals of that. I love whenever they do up an ice rink at Christmas time. And I I thought it was just kind of a nice, light-hearted moment there in the middle of the movie to kind of break up, kind of like I say, it was kind of a you know a heavier storyline with the with both the business aspect and and him being the widowers.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

That's a good one. Mine was when uh Robert was in his toy room or his office in his speech to Lydia there, he looked or in his toy shop and he looked like a little kid talking about it. And I saw, and he did a good job acting because to me it's like he's tapping into his inner child, his passion. He was following a passion that he had as a kid, and I could see that in his face when he was doing that scene, and I think that's every man's dream. Like every man wanted to be a dinosaur, an astronaut, a fireman, or something like that. And he's living his dream, right? He gets to make toys. I really liked that speech and the look on his face. It uh it made me think that guy's that actor's really this character really is doing what they love, and that is a dream for anybody to do. So that was one of mine.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Alright, so as I mentioned, Jan Jenna King, the writer, she agreed to play along with us uh during our favorite moments segment. She gave me a I let her pick more than one. You know, I only do one, I let her pick more than one and go with it. Of course. And you guys must be kindred spirits, Renee, because she says her favorite moments of the film were those scenes between Robert and his two kids, especially the moments with Amelia in particular. Oh, yeah. Uh, she says Robert is gentle and loving, even though he's not perfect. And at the risk of sounding corny, love is what matters most. So I I know you love those parents, son-daughter moments, and obviously those were her favorite moments as well.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

I almost picked one of those, so yeah, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

And uh in addition to that, she says she also loved the Snow Globe collection. She said, So special and pretty. Yeah. So in and I agree with her, the snow globe collection was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

And you know, at the end, they're taking the snow globe and showing it to her because that's what her mom would show her. That was lovely.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

But but thank you to Janet for giving us uh your favorite moments of the film and playing along with us a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

Yes, thank you so much. That's very, very kind. Best supporting character who deserved more screen time. I think you're gonna be surprised by me on this one.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

I don't know. We uh really, I think we might be going with the same one, but I I guess we'll find out. I went with her best friend Pam. We haven't talked about Pam much yet, but uh I loved when they were walking through the Christmas market and she just grabs Lydia's phone, starts like scrolling through her text messages, uh, reading stuff about some guy she went on a date with. Uh, I would like to have learned a little bit more about her and Lydia's backstory. Uh I'm going with her best friend Pam. That's a good choice.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

And I almost put that as well. But my honest answer is I can't really think of anyone that I wanted to see more of. I thought they were all very well represented, represented. Pam is the only one who there was even a remote, you know, it's either Pam or the Uncle, right? That have you would want a little bit more of. So for me, really, I was good. I like the distribution of everyone. Uh so I went with kind of no one. I I liked how it went down. One of my favorite sections is Are We Sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Yeah, I love this section as well. And I got I got two quick ones here. The first one has to deal with both the houses of both Robert and Lydia's Pam, a friend Pam. Those things are incredible houses. They sit right on the water of this kind of lake up in Washington State. I mean, Robert's house was good. Pam's house was even more incredible. Uh big glass windows, everything. Robert's uh he he makes toys, and Pam, it sounds like her and her husband owned like a little clothing boutique store in town. How the heck are they informing affording these two homes? I mean, you and where you and I live in Orange County, if we put a home like that on the water, five million, ten million dollars.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Oh, yeah, easily.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

So my so my first question is how how how are they able to afford those incredible houses? Um, but uh my other second are we sure is are we sure that a school play would really take place on Christmas Eve? Uh I I don't know about up there in Washington, but once my kids are done uh and they go on Christmas break, they don't want to go anywhere near her school, their schools. So uh obviously I have one daughter in college now, another still in high school. But I remember when they were doing these school plays and everything. Yeah, I didn't think a school play would take place on Christmas Eve. But those are my two are we shirts.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

That makes total sense that you would pick up on that. I didn't even pick up on Chris on the Christmas Eve part, the plays going on, but since your girls both did musicals and plays, you know, kind of like no way Christmas Eve would happen. I love that the play was outside. I just I don't want to be on Christmas Eve. My are we share is am I sure that a professional organizer can make a living in Lake Shillan? Like, how many people live in Lake Shillan? I don't know. Didn't seem that big of a it wasn't like a city city, so I was curious about that. And then the other one was that towards the end, that game box that he brought out, and it there's 11 games in it, and it holds 11 different piece sets of game pieces for these games. That box at most would hold two sets of pieces. So I know they were doing some uh editing there and putting different things in the box, but aside from that, I I kept it pretty simple. These were like light ones for me. My main one was like, How is how is Of making this much money. But you know, it might have been from her mom. Her mom after the house or something like that. And same, you know, we don't know what the wife did for for Robert either, so she could have been making bank too. Now, would this lead couple last 12 months?

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Uh I absolutely I think they are gonna the last. I like them together. I think she'll keep working on his time minute management a little bit at a time, and he'll keep working because she is a little uptight sometimes. He'll work on mellowing her out a little as well. In the end, I think they'll make a nice couple. Uh those kids I can say will be super organized as they grow up. Uh but yeah, I'll I'll go ahead and give them the 12 months for sure. We'll see how things go after that. But I like them together, I like them together.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Yeah, I said yes. They both compromise and appreciated their own differences. Uh, compromise is important in any relationship as I see it. So 100%, they're gonna make it. And this I think this has got to be another. How many sections can be my favorite? But this is another one that's my favorite. Uh we do we rate the kiss, we call it the mistletoe meter. What did you rate this one? I know I know we got to be on the same page on this one.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Oh boy, Renee. Uh, this one was this so many things I liked about the movie. I did not like this kiss at all. In fact, I I think this might be the worst kiss of the movies we've read so far. Okay. First of all, the ambience, they're they're doing their first kiss, sitted basically shoulder to shoulder with all these other parents and students in a school play. That didn't work for me.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Um, and then the kiss itself, I mean, it's so awkward because when you're sitting like that, like I say, you're you're basically side by side, kind of having to turn to kiss. He looked like he he didn't even hit her lips. It looks like he actually I I I reround that same beautiful home, the beauty of Homark Plus. I reround it. It looked like he kissed between her lips and her nose. It was just it was just very awkward. Um, I gave it a D, and I I mean instead, let them let them finish the play, go outside. You know, Uncle George can take the kids for some hot chocolate or something, and let them have their moment, just the two of them better kiss where they're not shoulder to shoulder in, like I say, in in in the middle of a school place surrounded by other parents. I'm sorry, this uh I liked a whole lot about this movie. I I definitely didn't like this kiss. I can't give it any higher than a D for for both those reasons. Not a good kiss, and then the ambiance didn't work.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

Yeah, I was in the low C range, and then I think I I ended up with a D plus. Okay. Like I wrote down the same things. Like they didn't even kiss properly on the lips. It was weird to do it at a kid's play. I would have liked this kiss after the play. Exactly. Where the uncle takes the kids home, right? Oh, I'll take, you know, can we go home with Uncle Robert to get whatever? And Robert and Lydia are chatting outside, a kiss in the snowfall or something more romantic. That would have made this a lovely kiss. No, the way this went down, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

It was a D plus. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely every everything about it just didn't work.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

And it's a shame because I like I like both of the characters so much, but yeah. We have to talk to the could have it could have been much better. I think we need to be part of the just the kissing department. We need to be brought on, hired on as that department.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Paul Mark, if you're listening, Rich and Renee, we're we're uh we're hired guns. We can help out with the kisses whenever you need us to. That's right. We work cheetahs.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

So who won the movie?

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Um, I for me, I I didn't really have to think too hard on this. I'm I'm giving the MvP of this movie to to Eric Close and his character of Robert. Uh I think he it kind of centered around him, both his relationship with Lydia and his relationship with his kids, his relationship with his brother, the big business deal he had coming that was so important to him. And yeah, I I I think I think he won the movie.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

I almost picked him, but as I was watching this, I just kept saying, I love the scenery, I love I love it, I love it, I love it. So I picked the incredible set designers. So I looked them up because I wanted to give them credit. Production designer was someone named Rick Richardson, uh, the art director was Fraser Hagen, and set direct decorator was Eric Carberry. So I wanted to give them their props because I they did a fantastic job as I was watching it. I felt like I was in Christmas, I felt like I was there. I want to live in this town, though probably not forever because I can only take so much snow. But it was one of the best set designs I've seen in a Hallmark movie. For me, set designers absolutely uh own this movie.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

They were great. Yeah, there's Christmas vibes everywhere, great visuals. It uh yeah, it's hard, it's hard to go wrong with uh with that choice as well.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

So we're coming down to it. What is your rating, Rich? One to five, we do.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

So you know what? I'm giving this the exact same. I I I I mentioned I found this very similar to Finding Santa, same exact year, 19 days apart. I'm giving it the exact same score. A very just middle of the road, easy to watch, Hallmark movie. I give it a 3.5. Um, and yeah, that's that's some that's my score. I think it's just a a a good middle of the road hallmark movie. If anybody can enjoy this, it's it's not a difficult watch. 3.5.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Yeah, so I gave it a 3.25. I like the movie, but I did find it slow at times, and that kiss really bothered me at the end.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

But it's amazing. You and I, I mean, we can we can we can really enjoy a movie all the way through. That last kiss can kind of sour us a little bit like it did in uh uh The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Um but yeah, I I get it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Yeah, so I mean I wouldn't have gone lower just because I have such a love for Catherine Bell from The Good Witch, I just you know she's endeared to me. Uh so you know I can't I can't go lower. I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't feel right. 3.5 would be fine, but 3.25 is what I ended up. I did not dislike the movie, but I just wasn't blown away by it. I enjoyed the movie a lot. So what is our next movie?

SPEAKER_00 27:11

So our next movie. So the in terms of Hallmark, Hallmark actors, there might not be anybody more popular than Tyler Hines. And when this podcast drops, about five days ago, he will uh uh his movie I'll be seeing you hit the Hallmark channel, hit Hallmark Plus the day after that. And man, he has such a loyal following all over. I mean, he the Heinies are just uh they're forced to be reckoned with. That's what his fan crew, they call themselves the Heinies, and uh they are everywhere. So we are gonna do a Tyler Hines movie, uh, and it is a movie from 2018 starring Tyler Hines and Leanne Rhimes. So we're gonna get some good music in this well. It's called It's Christmas Eve. It's Christmas Eve. And that's what we'll uh we'll tackle next week.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

I look forward to it.

SPEAKER_00 27:56

And uh a little fun fact about this movie, I'll say it right now. This is Tyler Hines' first Hallmark movie that he ever filmed. So he uh he did another one that actually aired on the Hallmark channel one month before It's Christmas Eve, but this was the first one he filmed. He filmed this one in the spring, the other one they filmed over the summer. So first Hallmark movie that he ever filmed, it's Christmas Eve 2018.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

I look forward to seeing that one. Uh thank you everybody for listening. Follow us on Forever Hallmark Christmas on Instagram. Uh, you can follow me directly at ReneFHC, also on Instagram. Email us at Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com. Uh that's all for this week. Uh let us know what you think for the love of Hallmark. For the love of Hallmark.