It's Christmas, Eve

The same duo that brought us A Kiss Before Christmas — the rare Hallmark movie to earn a PERFECT score from both Rene and Rich - returns as writers Mark Amato (story) and Tracy Andreen (script) deliver It's Christmas, Eve starring LeAnn Rimes and Tyler Hynes - both working with Hallmark for the first time. And the chemistry? Off the charts!

Rich crowns LeAnn driving down Main Street during the opening credits - while her own song plays in the background - the ultimate “Boss Move,” while also deeply relating to John’s ongoing battle with bar chords during Liam’s guitar lessons. Rene comes away genuinely impressed by LeAnn’s acting chops and gives major props to one of the most creative Hallmark meet-cutes we’ve seen.

The guys also make the case that Tracy Andreen belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Hallmark writers… before boldly attempting to rewrite one of her scenes anyway. (Yes, it involves the big duet: “You and Me and Christmas.”)

Elsewhere, Rene wonders if the concert vocals sounded just a little too perfect, while Rich asks the real question: should Eve have taken the San Diego job… with Liam in tow?

There’s no debate that Eve and Liam are built to last, but while Rene calls the final kiss absolutely perfect, Rich somehow still finds a flaw in the smooch. Plus: Who actually won the movie? LeAnn? Tyler? Someone else?

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 0:09

Hey everyone, welcome to FHC. That's right, forever Hallmark Christmas. A Christmas uh movie review podcast where we review, like I say, Christmas movies and only Hallmark movies. My name is Rich, as always, joined by my Hallmark partner in Crime Renee. How's it going, Renee?

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Very good, Rich. How was your weekend so far?

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Uh it was good. I I went a little crazy yesterday, went out and played three sets of tennis, which I hadn't done in a long time with some pretty good players. Uh and the body's a little bit sore today, so but uh yeah, as you know, I I coach high school tennis. I played in college once upon a time. Uh got out there yesterday with one of uh one of my other coaches at the high school and two of his sons, and uh we had a really good match, but yeah, the body the body's feeling it a little bit today.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

I'm glad you got out there, though. It sounds fun. And a big happy birthday to you. Yesterday was your birthday. How did it go? It went very well, thank you. And my mom took me out to dinner and uh we had a nice time. Pretty chill day, but you know, I needed kind of a nice rest day, so I took the evening off and just watched uh I watched an old movie. It's not a Hallmark movie, but I watched Big Trouble in Little China again, and it's just a classic for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

That is a classic. Alright, let's do a little Hallmark news. Uh, we have 23 weeks until countdown to Christmas 2026, and Christmas Con 2026 in New Jersey. Names are starting to come out as to who's gonna be there. And I know you're gonna love this, Renee, because the first three names I saw is a little uh Good Witch Reunion here, James Denton, Catherine Bell, and Bailey Madison will all be a Christmas con 2026. And I have no idea what that means, but I know I know what you're hoping for.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

So you know, Bailey Madison being there is interesting because she left the show in the later seasons. So you know it's it'd be really nice to have her come back, which would be great.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

In addition to those three, Danica McKeller, Niall Mater, Ryan Pavey, Jen Lilly, Kat Burrell, Crystal Lowe. So those are just a few of the names, and I'm sure we're gonna have a whole bunch uh come. But one of these days, Renee, we need to make it out to ChristmasCon. That'd be a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Yeah, I think that needs to be on our Christmas wish list.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

And the Critics Choice Real TV award nominations have just been announced, and these celebrate reality and unscripted series. And congratulations because Hallmark's finding Mr. Christmas is up for three awards. So uh, no idea. Of course, we know that Hallmark is going to start cutting back a little on their reality series. Not sure what that means for finding Mr. Christmas, but congratulations to them, up for three awards, and uh hope they pull it out and uh bring a couple home.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

That'd be great for them.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

And this is an actress I know you and I know well from our youth, uh, Renee. Uh Hallmark actress Andy McDowell will be honored with the Gracie's Icon Award at a gala next month in Beverly Hills. And this award recognizes a single woman, one one woman, they only give one award a year, but whose career has been uh has had a lasting impact on the media industry and helped shape how women are represented. And I I absolutely love Andy McDowell. I mean, I go back to like movies like Sex Lise and Videotape, Groundhog Day, Four Weddings and a Funeral. So uh, but obviously she's become a Hallmark icon, and good luck to her. Uh, or I don't need to say good luck to her, I mean congratulations to her. She's getting this award. Uh and uh great, uh great for her.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yeah, big fan of hers for a long time since those same movies you said four weddings, Groundhog's Day, all those movies.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

All right, and we have a couple birthdays here uh just yesterday, May 6th. I mean, very ironic because the man who uh we are covering today's movie, Tyler Hines, has a birthday. And it's not just any birthday, it's the big 4-0. So uh Tyler Hines, uh, happy birthday. And I'm sure when you listen to this movie review, uh you'll enjoy it. You think Tyler Hines is gonna listen to this, Renee?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

On his birthday probably itself. He absolutely will.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

And uh and he shares a birthday with Jenna Claire Mason, who will be 36 years old, same day, May 6th. Uh so happy birthday to both of them. Uh also, Rachel Boston uh will turn 44 years young on May 9th. So a couple Hallmark birthdays. All right, are you ready to talk a little? It's Christmas Eve. I sure am. And uh we need to uh put this out there if you're looking for this movie. The way that it's uh it's spelled out, it's Christmas, comma, Eve. That's how uh it's put there. Everybody kind of likes to make a little joke about that. But this movie came out in 2018, and a very uh interesting pairing here. Leanne Rhimes and Tyler Hines are our two leads. This was written by the exact same duo that gave us a kiss before Christmas. Uh, Mark Amato came up with the story uh for this, and then Tracy Andrine, a longtime Hallmark writer. If there's a Mount Rushmore Hallmark writer, she's absolutely on it. Uh, she wrote the script for this one. And here's our holiday hook. A workaholic school superintendent returns to her hometown just before Christmas and must decide whether to cut a struggling music program only to rediscover her own passion for music, family, and love along the way. All right, yes. So IMDB rating out before I give the rating out, I just want to say, you know, we uh uh a while back uh we put together a spreadsheet. Basically, there's about 478 movies since 2000, Hallmark Christmas movies. And I was able to create a big giant spreadsheet and put an IMDB rating to all of them. And it kind of was really nice because I could then compare how different years stacked up with each other, but I could also see what the average score was between those 478 movies. And both the average and median score is right around to 6.4. So whenever we call out these ratings, you now know 6.4 is kind of the middle of the road. Uh it's Christmas Eve, 6.6. And out of 36 Christmas movies in 2018, this ranked number nine of out of those 36, so right at the uh the top quarter of those movies.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

That seems about right. I would even place it higher. Yeah. But uh you'll know you know more later.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yeah, we'll we'll talk more, absolutely. Fun facts about this movie, and there's a whole bunch because there was a it was easy to find a lot of uh interesting tidbits about this movie because so many of the actors did interviews. Obviously, when you had Leanne Rhymes in a movie like this, uh the media wanted to know about it. So they they they did a lot of interviews. So I was able to find out some good facts about this. But uh, as so many Hallmark movies are, this one was filmed in Vancouver. Uh there are five songs in the movie that were performed by Leanne Rhimes. And uh this was Tyler Hines. I mentioned this last week when uh when I this was my movie Choice, but this was the first movie that he'd ever filmed with the Hallmark Channel. Uh he filmed another movie, Falling for You, that came out two months earlier. Uh it came out in October, this one came out a little bit later in November. Uh, but this was filmed in uh Christmas Eve was uh filmed in the spring, and Falling For You was filmed in the summer. This was the first time he'd ever worked with the Hallmark Channel. And very interesting. I heard uh the writer, Tracy Andrine, on a podcast a few weeks ago who gave a little behind the scenes of this. And Hallmark really didn't know Tyler Hines at all. And they were kind of not sure that he was the right guy for this movie, but it was Leanne Rhimes who stepped in and kind of pulled her weight and said, No, no, no, this is the guy. And she fought for Tyler Hines to get the male lead opposite her. And obviously, she's a big, big no name. She was the star of the movie. Not only that, she was an executive producer on this movie. So she pulled rank on this and she got him in. And I just think, how amazing is that? Can you imagine if like she didn't do that? Tyler Hines might have gone on to do different stuff and never been part of Hallmark. I mean, because this was the I mean, this was this was the his very first movie, and she pulled weight and and got him into the male lead in this movie. So very cool story there. Eden Summer Gilmore, who played the role of Abby, uh, before this movie, she was training with acting coach Crystal Bublet. And if that name sounds familiar, she is indeed the sister of Michael Bublet. So uh a fun fun fact there between uh excuse me, uh with Abby. Uh and uh she had pretty good singing in this movie, and I imagine Crystal Bublet, if she is the sister of Michael Bublet, can probably hold a tune when it comes to uh to singing. Yeah. Uh in addition, Leanne Rhimes was very involved in the crafting of the story. Uh Hallmark was really open to what she wanted to talk about in this movie and what was important to her that was included in the film. And a couple of those subjects included including blended families and the importance of keeping music in schools. And the three Leanne Rhymes, or three of the songs, I mentioned there was five, but three of them, It's Christmas Eve, The Gift of Your Love, and You and Me at Christmas. Uh, Leanne Rhymes and the songwriter that she'd been working with uh for a long time, Daryl Brown, they wrote all three songs within two weeks before they began shooting of this movie. So they busted those things out. And Leanne Rhimes also said the song It's Christmas Eve still brings tears through her eyes every time she performs it. So uh obviously music is a big part of this movie, and uh, but those are some fun facts uh uh about this.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

Yeah, I I picked up uh one fun fact because I was watching uh Tyler Hines play the guitar, and I said, you know, I play a little bit of guitar, and I said, Those are the right chords, those are correct chord fingerings that he's doing. So I looked it up, and he he is a musician, he can play the piano and he can play the guitar. So that's uh I found that interesting, and I'd like to see that about him that he's a multi-talented guy. All right, right. Hey, what do you think of this one? Uh I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Leanne's acting is better than I thought it would be. I I didn't really know her as an actress, I know she's been in some other movies. Um I I thought she did a great job uh acting. Uh her emotions were great. Uh Tyler Hines, even though that was uh his first movie uh recorded, he seemed like a pro already. And it's interesting to see him uh you know nice and clean shaven. He looked had a baby face going on here. So that was because now you see him with a little bit of more beard growth. But uh I pleasantly surprised by this movie. I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Yeah, I'm on the same boat with you, maybe even a little bit more bullish on this one. I I figured I would like this one, but it really exceeded my expectations. I thought I thought the acting was great. The two the two leads had great chemistry, we had wonderful Christmas vibes everywhere. Uh the movie was well paced, it was well written. I mean, everything I looked for in a Hallmark movie, then you threw all the fun, the fun music uh behind it. Yeah, I I really I really enjoy this one. It it I I figured I'd like it, but I really liked it.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Same like total yeah, yeah, I say pleasantly surprised. I was actually like very surprised by how much I liked it.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

And obviously, we'll we'll do our final scores at the end. We'll figure out you know how much we liked it versus some other movies we've we've reviewed so far this year, but yeah, it was uh it was a it was a darn good one in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

I agree 100%.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Tell me tell me some things you really liked about it. I I have a whole list of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Yeah, I I I wrote down a lot. Um I'll try to keep it sh uh succinct, but I love all the town shots. The the aerial shots of the town looked really nice, and um I thought the initial uh meet cute moment between the other couple was very cute that they showed, and then that translates into their meet cute moment. I thought that was a well done scene. A little bit of a different take. I like that. Uh I like Liam and Abby, uh general their parent-daughter relationship. That's really nice. You know me? I like a Christmas tree lot scene. There was one in here, very lovely. Uh singing while decorating the Christmas tree was a really nice. I liked a lot about this movie. The first almost kissed was a very good moment, followed by Are You San Diego going to San Diego? comment that he made. It was very well done. I I really liked their acting, the writing, the story. I I can't speak highly enough about this movie. And the cinematography was well done when towards the end you see um Abby talking to the lady about going to San Diego, and you can see her looking a little bit askew and looking through, and there's a little doorway, archway that they have out there, and she can see Liam and Abby over there, and you can see the conflict uh in her face. That shot was, I think it was a really well done shot. Um yeah, cinematography, the story. I liked lots of things about this movie.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, I liked a ton as well. Uh, I might use Leanne Rhymes and Eve, uh, mix them in when I when I call it their stuff because it's hard to kind of differentiate them because yeah, I keep thinking of Leanne Rhymes. But uh if I say her, think of her character Viv. But uh I I said the opening, I said I had great Christmas vibes. Uh uh when you had Leanne Rhymes, the visuals of her driving down Main Street and had her own song playing in the background. I said, Oh my god, what a boss move that is right there. You can be be the one driving and then have your song playing in the background. So cool. I love the daddy-daughter snowball fight in Abby with a really good arm. Uh I like you. I love the meat cute, how Liam called out the, you know, that hey, that's a classic meat cute while he's having his own meat cute with Eve. Yeah. Uh father-daughter stuff was great. I love that uh John, the stepdad, he was sneaking away for guitar lessons with Liam. And uh I I could relate to John struggling with bar chords, because as you know, Renee, I took up the ukulele a few years ago, and I too struggle with bar chords, so I could relate to John in that uh in that aspect. I liked Abby not knowing what grunge music was, so that was hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

I know.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Um, and yeah, you know, I kind of like there was really no misunderstanding. I mean, there was that disappointment that she might go to San Diego, but I I like it, you know, nothing really feeled forced. You know, you have that sometimes that forced misunderstanding, and you and I take you and I take up that misunderstanding not being great a lot of times. Uh, and we kind of like it when it is either really good or it's something different. And I like that we really didn't have one here. It uh they didn't try to force that into the script. So well done, Tracy Andrine, on that one. So yeah, just a whole lot, a whole lot I liked about the movie.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Yeah, and Liam even said, like, you said that from the beginning that you were going to San Diego. So that was very well, like very, you know, a very real character, very aware of things. That's I like that.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Yeah, he yeah, he knew it, he knew that it was coming, and he was still disappointed though, and you could tell, like you know, and and that's where you saw that you know that chemistry had really been building between the two of them.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Yeah, really nice.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Things we'd fix in a rewrite. Uh, my favorite section always makes me uh think outside the box. What you got?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

So this is not because I the things I'd fix in a rewrite is simply a preference versus that I thought that it was not well done.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Because it sure, I mean you and yeah, you and I when we call this out, I mean sometimes pipe people might agree with us, sometimes we might be in the minority.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

So and and it did re I wrote this as I saw it, right? So I I'm taking notes as I'm as I'm watching the movie, and it kind of resolved itself in the end. But I wrote down like the unfinished piano song scene when he's I would have I would have liked to have seen it where Eve works on the song herself, but can't quite get it or finish it, and then she gets a call and she has to leave and she's frustrated and she leaves the music sheet there. And then I would love to see him sit down and finish it for her and then present that for her as a surprise towards the end of the movie, right? I thought that would have been kind of a neat way to do it. They they did it a great way themselves. I'm not saying that that it wasn't well done at all. It was really well done, it's probably better than what I thought of, but that's the thing that I would have rewritten just to make it more of a surprise for Eve at the end that the song was finished. She knew the song was finished, she got to read it, but uh, I would have liked to just have it be a total surprise. Is that all you got? Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I didn't really I I just found myself enjoying this so much. I didn't I didn't want to critique any like little tiny things that you know I might have caught, but that was my main just like I said, it wasn't a fix, it was just of just a different take on a scene in this case.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

So my first one really doesn't have to do anything with the script, but just something I think needed to be changed, and it was the ice rink that they used in this movie. It it it looked like it was filmed like in a hotel lobby, like they floated a little mini ice rink that look like like 40 feet by 20 feet. I had no idea what I mean, what the heck were they doing there? I mean, look, Hallmark films in Vancouver all the time, and I'm and they use ice skating all the time in Christmas movies. Are you telling me they couldn't have worked with an ice skating rink? I'm sure they have relationships with ice skating rinks where they do their filming. It's like, look, let's get an ice skating rink here for spending this amount of money on Leanne Rhymes in a Hallmark movie. We can afford a few hours uh at a real ice rink. But that's the first thing I uh that I said this need nothing to do with the script, but just need to be changed.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

That's one of those things that I didn't notice it, but now that you've pointed it out, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

I had no idea. But it's and uh of course this is a tough one because I think Tracy Andreen is uh is arguably the best writer in Hallmark history. When you look at her credit, I mean incredible. So, Tracy Andreen, if you ever listen to this, you might think I'm crazy, but um, here we go. Okay, the the big song at the concert that Eve and Abby sang as a duo, you and me and Christmas. I don't think that Leanne Rhimes needed to be up there singing the song with Abby. I think that should have been Abby and Liam, that father-daughter moment there. Eve could have positioned herself right in the front there, smiling, maybe even kind of mouthing and singing along with her, but Leanne Rhymes up on the stage completely overpowered uh Abby's singing. And I don't think that was the real tender Hallmark moment, you know, the three of them singing together with Lianne Rhimes, just like I say, her big powerful vocals taking over the stage. The real Hallmark moment would have been Abby and Liam doing their thing up on stage, you know, Liam playing the piano, Abby singing her song. Because Eve gets her big song about five minutes later there, uh, when she has her solo, which was an incredible scene. I I I I'm not I'm not gonna back down on this one. I think Abby should have sung sung that song by herself.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Yeah, I I mentioned some of the I mentioned this in the Are We Sure section, so I'll leave it for for that for that part. But uh yeah, I didn't think about as a thing that I'd fix in a rewrite, but that's definitely I agree with you 100% on this one.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Favorite moments. Uh there's get by. I I struggled with this one and I went back and forth. What do you got?

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Uh I she sings a song with Liam that's been finished writing from um his dad to Eve. Um that I thought that was my favorite. That was my favorite part. Uh and his lyrics that he wrote. Because she sings the dad's lyrics and you know what those are. And then his sex his portion of the lyrics are are are it's a love song. He he he made it about his love for her, uh, and the way he wrote it, Be Here With Me, and those sorts of things. That was my favorite moment, the performance of that song and the implications of the lyrics that he wrote for Eve and what he was saying to her. Hands down, easily my favorite moment.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

So, my favorite moment, and this is it's kind of a long moment, I guess, if you will, but it was it was basically the the entire ending of the movie I thought was so darn good. It's basically the last six minutes, and it might be kind of an extended favorite moment, but hey, work with me on it. Um, but it's you know, she gets the cards from Abby and Liam, and then she gets the present from Liam, which I kind of saw coming, but it's still awesome. And then she sings a song, and oh my god, and she's singing and crying at the same time, and it was so well done, so well acted. And then, of course, she bolts you know over to their house in the snow, where she's you know, and then she has the fun, you know, the their meat uh cute comes full circle, she spills the hot beverage on them, and then they have their kiss, which was a very good kiss. That that entire last six minutes of the movie was was hands down my favorite moment. One of the better Hallmark ends of a movie that I've ever seen. For sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

It's really well done.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Another one I struggled with. Best supporting character who deserved more screen time. What do you think on this one?

SPEAKER_00 19:49

I struggled as well because the daughter got a good amount of time. So I went with the stepdad, maybe. Uh he seemed nice and romantic. He treated Eve with respect and love, and he treated uh I can't remember the character who played Eve's mom's name, her the mom's name, but he treated her his mom very well. So I would have liked to have seen a little bit of more. You know, it's kind of nice that they didn't put any conflict between Eve and the stepdad. Sometimes you see that. Um I wanted to see a little bit more of him, maybe how he just a little bit how he met the mom and how he came into that uh and into getting to know her and fall in love with her. Just a tiny bit, just to get a little bit more background, just from my own curiosity. But really, I kind of had a hard time like, who do I really want to see more? I mean, I was I had a good dose of everybody. So the stepdad would be the closest one for me.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Yeah, I had originally written down John the stepdad as well, and but then I kind of I went a different direction. I I went the one who I wanted to see more of, who I didn't get, because I think most of the the supporting characters were pretty evenly spread out. But his best friend Rick, Liam's best friend Rick, we really we only got like two scenes with Rick, maybe a couple minutes of overall screen time. He seemed like a really cool guy. Uh, I'd like to have heard a little bit more about his backstory with Liam and the band and all. I love the name of the rock pen, Bingo Jones. Um, but I'd like to have had a little more Rick just to find out a little bit more about him, and like I say, kind of you know, how he and Liam went back all those years and formed their band. That would have been uh kind of a fun aspect. So I'm I'm going with Rick because again, he he got seemed like he got less screen time than all the other supporting uh characters, and I'd like to see a little bit more.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Solid choice. I thought about that too when I saw him. I was like, oh, there he is again. Hardly saw him. Your favorite section, are we sure? So this goes back to what we were just talking about a few moments ago. Number one, are we sure the sound would have been that amazing? When I get it, it's Leanne Rhimes, she's singing. As soon as she starts singing, it is a professional studio quality recording, it's not a live sound. And to be singing with the girl, I I could hear her voice in there lower in the mix. And maybe the girl's not as good of a singer, but I would have liked to have seen they could have just recorded this and get their natural singing voice, no mixing, no processing, just nice and clean. I mean, there I didn't I didn't think. Detect any auto-tune or anything like that. But no, no. Because she can sing. But I would have just liked to have seen it like a pr like you're seeing it in a live.

unknown 22:08

Right?

SPEAKER_00 22:09

And it sounded like you're hearing it on the radio. And I would have definitely liked to have seen the girl. Like, so I don't think number one, the sound would not have been that good at that kind of production. Uh, you and I have attended several musicals and things like that, and you see the production as different. I would have liked to have seen that. There's no way the sound would be that good. Uh I would have just liked to be a little bit more natural and just more like you're no, you're there live, not listening to it on the radio. So are we sure? No way it sounds like that. You only have one are we sure? That's it? Yeah, that was I just went with the one. I'm sorry. I I feel like I'm now you're making me feel like I'm slacking a little bit because I only had one on the other on the rewrites and one of the things.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

I joked with you last night that I had a whole bunch of R we shirts.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

No, I mean uh overall, I was I think I enjoyed this movie so much that I had a hard time being, you know, finding stuff to pick at it. Yeah, I only had one R we shirt. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 23:09

That's okay. You can you can let me know if you agree with my I I wrote I had more than three, but uh, I'm gonna go with three here, and you can let me know if you agree or not. So so my first is are we sure that the mayor of a small town doesn't know that her nephew Dwayne, who is a high school senior, has been in the music program at the high school for four years? Like she wouldn't have gone to one of his uh musical uh concerts. Uh I'm not buying that one. And I'm all are we sure that they could really raise $162,500 in a couple hours after the concert? That's uh that is a big number there. Huge number. Yeah. And then my last are we sure? So let me preface this by saying uh Eve turns down the job in San Diego, right?

unknown 23:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

I looked up the base salary for the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District. You want to you know this is gonna blow you away, uh blow you away, Renee. Okay, for $440,000 before bonuses, before benefits, before car allowances, any of that. So probably total package of around a half a million dollars. Oh my gosh. So my my are we sure is are we sure that even Liam, if they if they make it, and we'll talk about that here in a in a in a in a minute, but if they make it, are we sure that they're gonna stay in Franklin Ridge and not say, hey, you know what? San Diego's looking pretty good, uh, great weather. As you and I both know, really good carneus auto tacos down there. Get a little uh get a little place down in Pacific Beach by the water. Yeah, my are we sure is are we sure they're staying in Franklin and uh and not moving to San Diego?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

I think what happened to me with the are we sure is you know, when you watch a movie, you always have to have suspension of disbelief. And I was just in the movie that I didn't start, I didn't even pick like those things that don't make sense didn't even pop out at me in this case. I think it's because I was just enjoying the movie so much.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

It was super enjoyable. I I can't lie, but I always find fun stuff like that, and uh they're just kind of you know stick sticks in the back of my head.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

So yeah, it makes total sense. Now that now that you say your your things, I go, Oh yeah, why didn't I see that? But I was just watching it with a different lens, I think. Are they gonna last 12 months? Liam and Eve. I said of all the Hallmark movies that we have reviewed, this is the most Hallmark, yes, that they will last. 100%. No question, hands down, they're happy as a clam in high tide.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

100% they're gonna last. If if they're in Franklin, they're gonna last. If they move to San Diego, even even better chance that they last. Uh, but yeah, I I'm with you 100%. The this was a no-brainer, they have great chemistry together. Um, yeah, they're they're absolutely gonna last.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

Yeah, uh, I was as I was watching this, I I said, you know, she they get along, they meet, but they're not that flirty at the beginning. But the progression and how you could see them start looking at each other and start falling for each other was very well done in this movie. One of the best ones I've seen in a hallmark or any movie. I said, now you can see that these this moment caught her attention, that moment caught his attention. They're they're ranking the rating up or ranking up of their attraction and like liking each other was very visible to me. Uh I really like that. And that's part of showed me like as to why they would last, because it just wasn't like all of a sudden there's a kiss or something like that. No, you could see a nice steady progression on this. That's why I think that's another reason why I think it will last because it seemed their their falling in love seemed just so natural uh and a nice pace. It was great.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

Okay, the mistletoe meter, we rate the kiss and a letter grade A to F. What do you got on this one?

SPEAKER_00 26:52

I gave it an A. I thought the kiss was perfect, and then there was a second kiss that surprised me that came in right after that. It was A. It's almost an A plus. I mean, it's it was to me, it was a perfect kiss. Uh, you know, it was good. And no, what else can you say? It was a perfect kiss between the two of them.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

Okay, we we joked last week that maybe Hallmark should hire us as uh to help them out with these final kisses, and I kind of put out on our Instagram on a post that maybe uh if they needed to hire us as final kiss consultants, you know, they knew where to find us. So now I feel like I have to nitpick every kiss and be a little more technical when I put that out there. But here's what I give this. I gave this an A minus. I almost gave it an A, but uh because I love the buildup. I love that he had his hands on her face and then kind of the back of her head. But I I struggle when it's when they're basically just face on in the kiss. I just needed I needed a little more head tilt. I mean, if they're both at 12 o'clock, just give me to 1230. Give me 12:30, 1 o'clock, just a little bit. Yeah, exactly. Give me a little head tilt, but it was a really good kiss. I mean, I can't. I what am I doing nitpicking? But A minus, give me a little more head tilt. It's an A plus all the way.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

All right, that's funny.

SPEAKER_01 28:05

All right, this this was a tough one for the for me. Uh, who or what won the movie? Who's the MvP on this one?

SPEAKER_00 28:10

So I kind of made this like sort of a combined Leanne's acting surprised me so much. To me, it's the s this Leanne's acting within this story. So to me, the the the writer and Leanne's acting together won this because the story was really well done, and Leanne acting within the story was so so great. I really couldn't nitpick her at all. I really I bought into who she was, she seemed like a real person, very relatable. She was honest and kind. The writer and Leanne's acting with that combination, those are the winners of the movie. I know we try to pick one, but uh, I have to give them a combo here.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

It's okay. I'm I'm I'm okay with it. Uh yeah, she was incredible, and Tracy Ann Green wrote a fantastic script, so yeah, absolutely. Uh so I yeah, I was stuck between the two leagues, Tyler Hines and Leanne Rhimes, because they were both fantastic. Obviously, this started Tyler Hines' Hallmark career. Here's the way I looked at it: Tyler Hines, he's been a professional actor his entire life. He got he got his first aid acting job at seven years old. So he is first and foremost an actor, and I really don't want to upset the Heinies here. Oh, who might be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

I have a comment about that as I was watching this with my girl. She declared that she's now a Heine herself. She's a Heine. I I think I'm a Heine.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

I love Tyler Heinz, fantastic. And I and I and I the last thing I want to do is upset the Heinese because Tyler Hines was fantastic in this movie. He was incredible. Yeah. But as I mentioned, he's first and foremost an act, you know, an actor. He's been doing it his whole life. Leanne Rhimes is first and foremost an entertainer, a singer, worldwide, known worldwide as a singer, her whole life, right? But she more than held her own in this movie. I mean, that scene with her singing and cry-I mean, incredible. The fact that she was an executive producer on this movie, the the music in this movie, the fact that she got Tyler Hines opposite her lead, kind of pulled her weights. Yeah, I Leanne Rhimes, you are the MVP of this movie. As much as I I think Tyler Hines was incredible. You take everything that Leanne Rhimes brought to this this this film, she's the MVP.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Yeah, and you couldn't go wrong picking Tyler, but Leanne Rhimes is fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

They were they were two great leads. I mean, like I say, you you had both of them had never done a Hallmark movie before, and you have us and singers haven't always worked out. Hallmark has brought in other worldwide known singers, and they they haven't always worked out, and this one absolutely did.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

100%.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

The big time, we rate it one five.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

What you got this one at? I gave this one a 4.5. I just enjoyed it so darn much. It was great.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

I have the exact same. This is rare. We I have the exact same score, you uh a 4.5. Uh I looked at some of the other movies. I mean, movies like Crown for Christmas, Christmas and Evergreen that we gave a four and a quarter to. I think this movie's better than both of them. I think I think it's very re-watchable. If I if I have the Hallmark channel on, uh, you know, and I'm kind of flipping around, I'm absolutely leaving this movie on and just having it in the background and enjoying the heck out of it. Just a really, really good.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

I would say if it comes on, I'm sitting down to watch it. I'm not gonna have it on the background. I would sit down and watch this one again. I just enjoyed it so much.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

All right, the moment of truth, next movie, it's all you.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

What do we got? So I have another Joe Wagner movie because, like, why not? I'm gonna do Christmas and Evergreen. Not the movie we reviewed, Christmas and Evergreen Letters to Santa. I'll give you a hint. Christmas and Evergreen Letters to Santa. Okay, uh give give me a hint on this one. I'll give you a hint about what it's about. Aside from Renee wants more Joe Wagner movies, this movie is about Christmas letters and one of our favorite towns, Evergreen. Number two in the series, by the way. And now that I know it's a series, guess what's gonna happen? We're gonna be reviewing the series here, all of them eventually, pretty soon.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yeah, I guess we are, and uh okay. So we're are we doing them in order, basically?

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Yeah, we have to do them in order. I I randomly picked this one and then I saw, oh, it's number two in the series. I guess there's like I don't know, five or six.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

I think there's four total, the original plus three more.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

I want to say you you can kind of guess what my next six or seven picks are gonna be now because of this. I know what I'm doing through July, basically. Christmas and Evergreen.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

All right, everybody Santa. Christmas letters of Santa, I'm ready for it. Thanks for joining us today. You know where to find us forever Hallmark Christmas at Instagram. Uh, you want to send us an email, Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com. And until next week, let's keep it for the love of Hallmark.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

For the love of Hallmark.