Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa

It’s Christmas in Evergreen… round two! In Letters to Santa, Jill Wagner and Mark Deklin lead the second installment in Hallmark’s beloved Evergreen franchise. Since the original Christmas in Evergreen earned a pretty strong grade in one of our very first podcast reviews, the big question is: does the sequel deliver the same holiday magic?

Rich is thrilled to see Allie — and her iconic red truck — return, loves the movie’s three “almost kisses,” and still considers Evergreen one of Hallmark’s all-time coziest Christmas towns. Rene falls hard for the flashback scenes, the story behind the Christmas letter, and of course… a top-tier cookie decorating montage.

But not everything sleighs. Rich wonders if the movie juggles one too many storylines and can’t stop doing the math on Kevin supposedly writing the letter 25 years earlier at age seven. Rene thinks the couple’s first big conflict feels forced and wishes Lisa and Oliver’s relationship had been defined more clearly.

The guys also debate the best supporting character, question Evergreen’s apparent shortage of contractors, and wonder why the inn lobby looks ready to host a symphony orchestra. Rene raises an eyebrow at Lisa’s mechanic skills, while Rich nitpicks the final kiss enough to keep it from earning an A-grade.

Add in an emotional reveal, a strong ice skating scene, an MVP disagreement, and one of the biggest score splits of the year… and you’ve got another festive Evergreen debate you won’t want to miss.

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

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hello everyone. Uh welcome to FHC Forever Hallmark Christmas, where we review Hallmark Christmas movies and only Hallmark Christmas movies. I am joined as always by Mr. Research Hurst himself. Rich, how's it going, pal?

SPEAKER_01 0:23

It's good, Renee. It's it's May, and we're talking about Hallmark Christmas movies, so uh we're living the dream.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

We sure are. Let's get right into it. Uh, I'm ready for some news.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Yeah, just uh a couple little bits today. Uh Hallmark actor uh Andrew Walker's been in the news a little bit. Not only did he have his uh Kentucky Roses movie just uh uh about a week ago, which was absolutely fantastic. If you haven't seen it, give it a watch. Um, but also he's announced that uh he's getting ready to film a Hallmark Christmas movie for 2026. Hallmark's uh asked for his availability. He knows he's gonna be doing it, so we will definitely be seeing Andrew Walker and Countdown to Christmas 2026.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

He's one of the better ones for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

He is, he's he's awesome. And this wasn't the third part about Andrew Walker was very interesting, though. There's there's a series on Hallmark, uh, a franchise actually called The Curious Caterer. Last uh episode was in 2024. It was very popular with the fans, but as we know, Hallmark's kind of been reducing their mysteries programming. Like for instance, this past Christmas in 2025, we didn't have a single uh mysteries movie when it came to Christmas. Well, Andrew Walker, he started in the series along with Nikki Delosh, he's gone directly to the fans and asked the fans to flood Hallmark message boards, online forums, even contact Hallmark directly saying, hey, we want this series back. He says scripts have already been written for a few episodes. And kind of interesting that an Hallmark actor that carries the weight that he does would literally tell the fans to go directly to Hallmark, demanding they want uh a franchise back. But I guess we'll see what happens with it.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

You know, I haven't watched too many of those. I don't I can't recall that I've seen any of them, but I like him a lot, so I will definitely put that on my list to catch up on.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Yeah, we'll see. We'll see if it happens or not. Uh but the other Pizza Hallmark news we have is Hallmark has recently announced that their uh series Hope Valley 1874, Bethany Joy Lentz, Benjamin Ayers, it's been renewed for the second season. So in uh 2027, we will have season two of Hope Valley 1874. It's a series that I've watched and uh really enjoyed. I like uh Bethany Joy Lentz and Benjamin Ayers a lot. So uh it's a good one. Congratulations to that series coming back next year. And that's all we have today. So let's uh let's get into the main event.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Not enough hours in a day to keep up with all the homework stuff, which is a good thing, I suppose. Our movie this week is Christmas and Evergreen, Letters to Santa. I've seen this one a while back, but it was nice to see it again. I enjoyed it again. Uh this movie's from 2018. It stars Joe Wagner as Lisa. Uh she's been in Christmas Cookies, Autumn Dreams, A Harvest Wedding, and the Angel Tree, and a bunch of other stuff that's also non-Hallmark related, but I'm not really mentioning that other stuff. I am waiting for her though, however, to come back to Hallmark. And it also stars uh Mark Declan, not too familiar with, but he's he plays Kevin and he's he was in Tidings of Joy, which will be reviewed by us sometime in the future for sure. He was in Switch for Christmas, Love and Sunshine at Meet Me at Christmas and The Wishlist. So he's been in quite a few movies. I I I I thought he did a good job acting on this one as well. I'm jumping the gun a little bit, but uh both of these are strong hallmark actors. This movie had one of the best uh supporting casts that I've seen in a while. Holly Robinson Pete, Ashley Williams, small part in there, Barbara Niven, one of my all-time favorites. Thomas, who is plays Colin Lawrence. Thomas, uh the character Thomas is played by Colin Lawrence, who's in Virgin River, and I like that series as well. It's kind of like a Netflix-y hallmarky show. Uh sans the Christmas theme.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Yeah, but a bunch of Hallmark actors in that series as well, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

Yeah, I saw a bunch there. Uh, this one's directed by Sean McNamara. Uh directed oh, he directed the Sister Swap series, KL Family Ranch, The Wedding Gift, Just in Time for Christmas. I think I've seen that one. I wasn't sure how this was listed because it said teleplay by Zach Hugg, but then story by Rick Carmen. So I'm not sure who gets the full credit for you know written by on this one.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

So there's that Zack Hugg who would have done the the script for it.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

So Yeah. It's based off a novel written by uh Nancy Nagel. Uh she also wrote Christmas Joy, Hope at Christmas. I wrote Dalek, but it must be Dollar Cove and the Street Ingre Secret Ingredient. Uh I'm sure I've seen at least two of those on here. Uh our FHC log line for this one is when Lisa returns to Evergreen for Christmas, she sets out to save the town's beloved general store and find that old letters, small town magic, and one charming contractor may be pointing her towards home. This movie had an IMDB rating of 6.7. I would like to hear some fun facts if you have any about this one, Rich.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah, not many, but just a few. So as we know, we talked about the the first movie a couple months back. Uh I believe it was our second review we ever did. But Evergreen is a fictional town as much as we love it. Um but if you want to see the real Evergreen or kind of what it was in the movie, you need to travel to British Columbia, just outside of Vancouver, uh a town called Burnaby, and go to the Burnaby Village Museum. That is the backdrop for Evergreen. Uh filming also took place in a community outside of Vancouver called Maple Ridge. And if you see, this is a really beautiful movie poster. If you ever see the movie poster for this one, it was indeed shot in Vermont, at least the backdrop was. And the visual there is Church Street, a very famous street in Burlington, Vermont. I looked, I was kind of curious because obviously the first Christmas Nevergreen was a really popular. We talked about that, it made a lot of you know, top 25 lists, these different publications do top 25 Hallmark movies of all time, and it was on a lot of those lists. And I was wondering how come Rick Garmin, who wrote the first Christmas Nevergreen, didn't do the script for this one. I looked at his IMDB, and between 2017 and 2018, he was writing 12 different movies, uh, a whole bunch for Hallmark. Um, so I think that's probably he was just probably overloaded, and that's why they brought in Zach Hugg, another really good writer, uh, to go ahead and do the script for this one. But I I was I was kind of curious why Rick Garmin wouldn't have written it if he if he wrote uh the first movie that was so popular. And I think that's the reason he was just overloaded with 12 other movies that he was doing in those two years.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

That is a huge amount of work for him.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

That is that you when you hear writers talking that they're doing two or three projects at one time. I mean, yeah, so he was he was he was busting them out. And that's all we got for the uh for the fun facts.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

That was nice. I like that. Uh especially knowing that there's a little museum there that we can go check out if we're ever in that neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yeah, if you're ever up in Vancouver uh jumping on an Alaskan cruise or something, head on down to Burnaby and uh and check out the museum. Yeah, that sounds nice.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

So, what are your overall thoughts on this movie?

SPEAKER_01 7:00

All right, I'm gonna preface this, Renee, by and I know we said this a long time ago that you and I do not discuss these movies before we review them. We want everything to come out natural.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

I I have a I know what a big Jill Wagner fan you are, and I have a feeling we could be on opposite ends of this one.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Sounds like it.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

I did not enjoy this movie. Um, yeah, I I I really struggled getting into it. I was watching it on Hallmark Plus as we always do, and and I was about 45 minutes in, and I just paused and I go, why am I not enjoying this movie? I just I couldn't get into it, and then I watched another 15 minutes. I paused again, then it hit me. There was just way too much going on. I in most Hallmark movies, you'll have an A storyline, your two leads, and in the romance between them, uh kind of a secondary B storyline, still pretty important, but not as important as the first, and maybe a kind of a small C storyline. Counted the number of storylines within the first hour. I came up with nine. Nine different storylines, and it was just jumping back and forth and back and forth. And I think that was my biggest struggle. I was just I was having a tough time getting into any of the characters, any of the storylines. I I kept coming up with the all these are Are We Sures that just weren't making sense to me. And I just I really struggled getting into the movie. And like I said, I just think there was too much going on. And let me just start by saying, and I'm not sure what I'm saying. The fact that this movie is a 6.7 and the movie reviewed last week, it's Christmas Eve, is a 6.6. These were one week apart on the Hallmark channel. Literally, one weekend, uh It's Christmas Eve, the other weekend, uh Evergreen Letters of the Sand. I cannot believe this movie is rated higher than it's Christmas Eve. That just blows my mind. So I I I struggled with this one. Your turn.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

This is gonna be a very interesting episode because we have uh different uh feelings. I found the movie kind of relaxing. I thought the leads had good chemistry.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

I found it stressful just because of the bouncing around. So you found it relaxing. I found it stressful, and that's what I liked.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

I put on there that I liked that there was I said two or three alternative stories going on. I didn't realize there was seven or nine stories going on. You know, I liked the backstory with Holly Robinson Pete, with the kid, with the dad. I liked that there was just a lot of stuff going on. It made it uh it kind of did justice, I think, to the supporting actors, the quality that that they bring to the table. So I thought it was good that they were utilized in that way. But I can see uh, you know, I can understand your point uh that you were just kind of stretched out too thin and too much going on. I I enjoyed that aspect of it. This might be a short section for you, but what are some of the things you really liked?

SPEAKER_01 9:38

You know, Renee, even in movies that I'm not enjoying for whatever reason, I I can always find things I liked. And in this movie, there there was plenty that I found that I enjoyed. Uh I I like that we had Allie's red returning and we sounded we found it really early in the movie. That was great. I think it was really funny when Kevin orders the black coffee instead of hot chocolate, and they looked at him like you just shot someone's dog. Like, you know, like what you're not ordering hot chocolate? I just the look on everyone's face was hilarious. Of course, we had a Christmas tree with a red barn. Uh, I know you love a good Christmas tree lot, and that was a really cool spot there. I really laughed at when Lisa and Kevin talked about how when they're traveling around from town to town, they always try to find the best burger spot in the town because my my youngest daughter's the same way when we go to a new town, she always wants to find the best burger spot. So I related with that. Uh it was great seeing um Ashley Williams come back in the character of Alley. I enjoyed that. Three Almost Kisses was pretty funny. Uh kind of back to back to back. They just couldn't get it across the line. And then uh, of course, Evergreen's a great town. So yeah, so there's even as much as I struggled with this movie and just the jumping around, there there was things to like.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

I'm glad to hear that you found something to enjoy. Um, I liked a lot of the cute flashback scenes when they went back in time and they showed them as kids, and then at the end, obviously there's a little bit of overlap there, which was a nice touch. I like Magic Snow Globe Wishes, and you know, I'm into that because that shows Christmas spirit, Christmas magic. Uh obviously the letter that they found that was not sent from 25 years ago belonging to um the dad.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

Well, I I have a I I have a big question about that letter that I'll talk about here in a second.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

So yeah, I now that you now that we're talking about it, for sure there that could be some are you sure things, but uh I did also like the Christmas cookie decorating scene, and I thought, you know what, can we make decorating Christmas like a year-round thing? Like I think every two, three months it'd be nice to just bake a bunch of cookies, Christmas theme, and bacon.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Let's get together get together with friends and family. Uh Christmas in May, we're gonna decorate some cookies. Love it.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah, and eating it. Yeah, so they didn't talk too much about it, but I did see a sign for a 49th annual Christmas festival going on there, and you know me, I like uh recurring themes like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Uh and they and they must be saving in the 50th for uh Evergreen movie number three, I'm assuming.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

I'm guessing so. So those were some of the things I like. Obviously, the Christmas tree lot, which you brought up, uh, and finding the exact key for the boxes, Christmas magic stuff, even though you know it's uh it's not likely to happen in real life, but uh, you know, it's Christm, it's a Christmas spirit, it's the magic of Christmas. You love the magic of Christmas. Let's get right into I'm sure this is where you're gonna shine today, into your favorite segment. What are some of the things you'd fix in a rewrite?

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Yeah, so the first one I already mentioned, I think there was there was I like that you took a deep breath.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

Yeah, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

I need to I need to I need to carb up for this section because it's gonna go a while. Oh, okay. First of all, as I mentioned, there's there's just too much going on. We needed to cut back maybe on a storyline or two or three, uh, but a little bit too much going on. Uh I I really found zero conflict or tension between Lisa and Kevin. I you always hear Hallmark writers, they you gotta have a little bit of conflict. You gotta have a little bit of tension to raise those stakes in their relationship. Uh you hear Hallmark writers talk about don't let your two leads get too cozy too early. I mean, they liked each other from the very first time she saw the red truck over on the side of the road. The only first bit of conflict we had was that kind of stupid argument about the water pipe and whether or not they should fix it right then and there seemed very forced uh and it was like 45 minutes in. So yeah, I think you needed that a little attention. I mentioned the letter, and I don't think this was any fault of Zach Huggs, but I'm sure when he was writing this letter, he was assuming Hallmark would have two lead actors, maybe in their mid-30s, let's say. But the problem was when this movie was shot, the letter is 25 years old, and Kevin was supposed to have written it when he was seven. That means Kevin would have been 32 years old.

unknown 13:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Well, when I look at Mark Declan, I'm looking at that guy and go, that guy is not 32 years old. He looks like he's 45, maybe 50. I looked it up, he was indeed 50 years old. Oh, wow. So after, you know, we have a huge difference there. So whoever got this script after Zach Hugg had already kind of given it and then they started shooting, and then they cast Mark Declan's role, they needed to rob revise that in the script and make the letter 40 years old to make sense. Um, so that is a rewrite, like I said, that's no fault of Zach Huggs because he had nothing to do with the casting of this movie. But it that had to have been revised, and why it wasn't, I don't know. And then my last one, the character of Ezra, who was my favorite supporting character in the first movie, they completely flipped him. He was completely boring in this movie. He was so neurotic, so uptight in that first movie. I loved him. Uh let's let's make Ezra more like he was in the first movie.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Oh, he was the mayor, right? He was the mayor, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

So uh I just didn't find him at all funny and and uptight. I I loved him in the first movie, didn't like him in this. So those are those are a few things I'd rewrite um that that caught my eye.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Yeah, I I wrote down three, and you hit on one of them, the that testy moment with the hole in the wall being discovered and trying to get that fixed. Like there was no need for him to get that snippy, and I guess they needed a conflict, but like you, like you said, I thought it was forced and it was an overreaction, it was outside of his character. I get that they tried to make him look like a perfectionist kind of a guy, but really that's that's I don't know. I think you talk to any general contractor, like, yeah, it's not a problem, we can fix that. No, no big deal. But and again, also I get you can open it up and it could be worse, you don't know, but you don't freak out until you see what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

It just it just felt like they had to force something in to give him a little bit of attention. I I just that's that was my problem with it.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Yeah, and the and the biggest uh rewrite that I had is why wouldn't Kevin keep the letter once they found it? He just gave it right back to them. Like I don't understand why he didn't keep it or take it to his dad. I I can see him not taking it to his dad, but I was shocked that he just handed the letter back back to her, and I was like, okay, like why aren't you keeping that letter? I did not understand that writing at all or that part of that scene.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

Yeah, I guess he could have gone back to his dad just to kind of explain what he saw. I don't know. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

And I was confused who Oliver was. In the beginning, I thought Oliver was her boyfriend slash business partner. It wasn't until later that I figured I was like, oh, it's not her boyfriend. It because at first I'm thinking, why is Jill being so flirty, Jill? I mean, I'm calling her by her name, but why is she being so flirty when she has a boyfriend? I was kind of like, this is not a good character, this is not a nice person. And then it turns out Oliver was just a business partner. Uh granted, they were friendly, but you know, business partner. So that was a thing I'd fixed in the rewrite. I think I would have liked to have seen that a little bit more clarified, just from you know, a dumb viewer like me when they're watching it from the beginning, thinking, what's going on?

SPEAKER_01 16:33

No, I I originally put that in my my rewrite as well, but I just have so many others I kind of cut it out. But yeah, because you don't want your audience to be confused. And I was confused on that one for I don't know, the first hour of the movie until you've really found out what their relationship was all about. And you don't want your Hallmark, you know, watchers to be confused about something like that. So now, did you have a favorite moment? You you must have had some a favorite moment. Of course, yeah. You know, I uh as I tell you, Renee, even in a movie that I'm not crazy about, I can always find out some stuff I liked. And and I really liked the the ice skating on that outdoor pond they had with that lit bridge in the background and and all of her you know doing the crazy ice skating uh out uh out on the pond there. But that was just a uh it was beautiful the way that it was shot. Uh at night, like I said, you have an outdoor skating, which and it wasn't even a rink, it was like a you know, kind of like this own this this really kind of quaint rural pond, and you had people selling hot chocolate out there, just a really cool scene. I I really like the visuals of it. That's my favorite moment of the movie.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Yeah, that was in one of my of my moments that I liked. But uh, you know, I I put in a bunch in case you know you hit them, so that way I don't have to, you know, be stuck without picking two or three things, and we might hit the same thing. But that was one of them too. I really liked that one. Uh my favorite moment, I think it was the moment when Lisa discovered it was the dad who wrote the letter. The whole scene was so sweet, and both of them being at the store as kids. Pretty easy moment to pick, but you know, it brings out the Christmas spirit and the dad and Kevin having their talk and the emotional power power of that moment, and the father and son bonding moment. I thought that was so nice. Uh I'm not saying that I got a little choked up, but a weaker man might have gotten a little bit choked up during that scene. But not me, I'm all I'm all man. Just letting the listeners know to that story.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Hey, I know you were bawling uh uh during a kiss before Christmas ego.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Oh you're not human if you're not crying on that one. Come on, that was a good one. That's like the best, but so that was my favorite moment. And I like little snow globe wishes stuff. I love snow globes and magic wishes on snow globes. For you, who was the best supporting character who deserved more screen time?

SPEAKER_01 18:39

I yeah, I struggled on this one for the pretty much the entire movie until Allie came back. Uh you know, Ashley Williams came back. She's so charming, she's so great. It was, you know, she she was in a few scenes, uh, but when she was in those scenes, she was absolutely awesome. She's the pro that she is. It was fun. You know, now we know that she and Ryan survived as a couple because uh they're still together. So if we go back to our uh our second episode ever, uh I think we both got that one right. And yeah, it was kind of cool just to have her back. So in obviously we say who deserved more screen time? I wanted more of Allie. I wish she came back about maybe you know, 40 minutes in, and uh we got her for half the movie, but I'll take what we could get.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Yeah, she was on I picked two people, but she was my second choice because we just like seeing her, but she's such a strong presence, you know. You don't want her overshadowing any of the main characters. But I put your guy, the Mayor Ezra. Like I wanted to see more of him, maybe not be the way he was, because he was a little bit different in the in the movie we reviewed uh earlier. So and then I thought, why couldn't he afford the store himself? I didn't know why he had to sell it, but I didn't quite understand that. But I want to see a little bit more of Mayor Ezra and understand a little bit more of that situation. And you know, he's a funny guy.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

He he he was much funnier in the first movie. Yeah, made him a little, I think they made him a little too serious in this movie.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

Yeah, and yeah, like you said, a little bit too neurotic. So what is your uh are we sure moment or are we sure's?

SPEAKER_01 20:02

How much how much time do you have this morning?

SPEAKER_00 20:04

About 10 minutes. All right, I'll see you.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

Okay, so Evergreen has five Christmas tree lots. They also have a town doctor and a town vet, but they don't have a single contractor in this town. Are we sure that are we sure that literally they would have no contractors? Because we know that Kevin's only there for one week, so he he doesn't count. But yeah, five Christmas tree lots, a doctor of that. Are we sure that they don't have a single contractor in town? That's my first ever sure. My second, are we sure that the little inn would have a harp player, a cello player, and a violinist playing in their lobby? Seemed like a little overkill to me. Um are we sure that Oliver, who he says was a bronze medalist, which I'm assuming she meant Olympic bronze medalist. I don't know what else she would have meant, that he wouldn't be doing something else other than being now. I had to look up what I thought their job was. He's a visual merchandiser. That's what I found online. Are we sure he wouldn't be like, you know, touring around America on Disney on ice or being a commentator for NBC when it comes to ice skating or coaching? Uh yeah, I uh are we sure that Oliver would really be doing what he's doing if he's really an Olympic bronze medalist? Um I uh are we sure that Lisa would go to Evergreen for Christmas? I mean, she hasn't been there in 30 years. She has no friends, no family there. Are we sure that she'd really go spend Christmas there? I don't know about that one. And then my I'll I'll cut it county. You give me 10 minutes, but I'll make it fast. So are we sure that Ezra really has to be worried about some national chain store coming in and replacing Daisies? Because I'm starting to think, like, what is he worried about? Is he worried about a target coming in that space? No. Walmart? No. I go, okay, what could fill that space? I go, okay, maybe something like a Trader Joe's, right? A lot smaller footprint than a big store. So I looked how many. There's one Trader Joe's in the state of Vermont. So I go, okay, I don't think it's going to be Trader Joe's. So are we sure that Ezra really has to be worried about some national chain coming in and taking Daisy? He's taking over daisies.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yeah, that was kind of a funny little plot thing. Yeah. Speaking of uh Oliver, that actor, he's in Chesapeake Shores. That's where I first saw him, and I enjoyed that series uh quite a bit. I didn't finish it. It's another one of those of my unfinished uh watching things, but uh he's a good actor.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Oliver is pretty great. He was pretty funny in this. I I enjoyed Oliver.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

If he's got chops.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

I think it wasn't for Ali, is my supporting character Oliver would have been next. He he was pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

So my are we sure is a are you sure that a combination wrench is what's gonna get that truck running? Like one combination wrench? Absolutely I get it. We're not, you know. I work on cars a little bit, so I'm gonna nitpick something like that. I don't know what she did, I don't know what he did, but just turning an adjustment on something makes no sense that would fix that truck. But okay. Uh I kind of went like a little light, are we sure? I put are we sure that Kevin would just leave just because he saw Lisa hug Oliver? Like that seemed dramatic. Yeah, that misunderstanding was a little bit on the weak side for sure. I mean him bailing after all that they went through to get this done is just even if even if he's like okay, she's with this guy, you still go say bye. I mean, just the like to wimp out of there and just bail is like I thought I found that ridiculous. You know, and and and I I tied those two in, like he would just not leave without saying goodbye. That's great. Those two. Like Kevin would just I guess I duplicated my sentence here, but uh yeah, him not leaving without saying goodbye blew my mind. I like there's no way you would do that. Those are so I thought I had three, but I guess I only had two because I kind of made two of the same thing, but uh that's all I had on the Are We Sures. Okay, so let's get to uh something that we can check when they have follow-up movies. Like, would the lead couple last 12 months?

SPEAKER_01 23:47

All right, so these two kind of jump around from town to town. They don't stay in one place. She's been in Boston, she's kind of a big city girl, but no, they're not gonna last, and here's the reason why. Kevin is disqualified from having a relationship with Lisa, and here's why. He, Lisa asked him out for a dinner date. He went to choir practice instead of going out on that dinner date. And he's only in town for a week, he's not even part of this choir. Who would turn down a dinner date with Lisa? That automatically disqualifies him in being in any sort of long-term relationship. Nope, they're not gonna last.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

So I said yes. Of course you did. Because, well, you gotta believe in the love, um, power, and Christmas and Hallmark, Rich. Uh, I get it though, we keep it real. And the reason I think the the realness of where we're because they liked each other so much, their careers and occupations work well together, right? There's a match there. He's a contractor, she gets buildings and uh uh spaces and stuff like that. That works. They could travel together, and I mean she's gonna take over the shop, but she could have somebody running the shop, go do some projects, take him with her. So I thought that was a good, you know, match for them. It'd be one thing if she was traveling and he was stayed there, or he traveled and she stayed there, that might put a little bit more conflict there. They both love Evergreen. To me, like it's no question. They they they mesh well despite him going to a choir practice and avoiding a dinner date with her.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

So that's I say yes. If Lisa asked you out on a dinner date and you had choir practice, uh which one would you have chosen?

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Uh I would go with Lisa.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

I'd punch everybody at the choir practice in the face two times. My point exactly. Kevin, you're gone. You're out of the picture, buddy. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

It's a good point, it's valid. Hey, uh, write us at Forever Hallmark Christmas at Gmail. Tell us what you think about that comment. Both sides, both ways. Who's right? Um, so let's rate the kiss. A to F.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

You know, this was a pretty good kiss all around. Um I gave it a B plus, but again, Renee, we're coming back to these directors. Listen up, directors, when you're shooting this. That first kiss, it looked like it's gonna be really good. They everything was going good. Then, like maybe one, two seconds max. Somebody, Thomas or somebody jumps in with some dumb comment, and they they have to it breaks up the kiss. And I'm going, what are you doing? Let them have their moment. And then, of course, we got two smaller kisses after that. But again, directors, no, no panning the camera up, no panning the camera out, no other characters jumping in with a with an irrelevant comment, interrupting their their first kiss. Let me have it. That's why it got the B plus. I think it would have gotten an A if we could have just gotten that full first kiss and let them have their moment. But again, I mean, Hallmark Directors, I mean, Renee are here, final kiss consultants. We're here if you need us, you know where to find us.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

We are available.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

What do you got?

SPEAKER_00 26:43

So I gave it an A-, and I'll tell you why. The first part is that she went in for the kiss, which is cool. I mean, I like that. That was nice. I mean, as a man, I go in for the kiss, right? But I like it's lovely to get a girl going for the kiss. That shows a lovely interest. Then the second kiss that they did, because it was three kisses. The second kiss, I have to believe it's one of the steamier kisses ever seen on a Hallmark movie. Like, they were kind of like making out a little bit. That was a really good kiss. Like, if you go back and look at that, like you're gonna go, like, whoa, that's pretty steamy for a Hallmark. And the final Merry Christmas kiss was just a wholesome sort of family loving, really just kind of a really wholesome kiss. You know, I gave it a minus, maybe an A because of the three kiss combination. I agree with you on the first part, the guy interrupting it. It's like, what's going on with that? Why are you guys doing that? No guy would do that, number one. No guy would do that to a friend.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Exactly. I think it would have been a solid A if it wasn't for that.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

But it just ticked little things are ticking me off when it comes to the final kisses. So, and that that did tick me off.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

Yeah, we're we're critical of them, but I think we have a right to be. Yes. Because we're we're fans, we're watchers. So who won the movie?

SPEAKER_01 27:55

I I really wasn't crazy about any of any of the characters. I really wasn't I really wasn't crazy about any of the characters, I wasn't really wasn't crazy about any of the filmmakers here. I'm I'm gonna go a little rogue on this one. I think the town of Evergreen won this movie. It it's still such a charming place, it is so visual. Uh you love the Christmas spirit, and look, I love the Christmas spirit as too. In Evergreen, we talked about in the first movie. If you want a town that just watching a Hallmark Hallmark movie will give you tons and tons of Christmas vibes, it's the town of Evergreen, and that didn't change here. Uh, it's obviously given us a little mini franchise here with four different movies. I I think the town of Evergreen won the movie.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

That's a pretty good choice. I mean, that's another it's a lovely town. Uh for me it was pretty kind of an easy choice. Uh I thought the Christmas letter itself and what came of that letter, you know, how it was used in the story, though this the letter being found, like and still being intact and being lost the way it was lost, like makes no sense to me. Having said that, the plot line of the Christmas letter being found and everything that came after that was the winner of the movie for me. It was nice, it it made the father and the son get together a little bit better. It made the town bond together. It was really very cr it was a very critical part of the story. I mean, obviously it's called uh Christmas letters, but it really should be called the Christmas letter, right? So winter and evergreen Christmas letters. That's what it should be called to me. Not Christmas, not letters to Santa, you know, but um or one or the letter to Santa, I think would have been a better name for it, not plural. Because it was really one letter that to me did it. Right. So that's who that's who won it for me. On your rating. I can't wait to hear this. On one to five, what did you rate this one?

SPEAKER_01 29:39

This is gonna be hard for me to actually say, but you remember the movie Christmas Cookies? You remember what a problem I had with that movie. That was that was a tough one for me.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

I would rather watch Christmas cookies than watch this movie.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

This is getting a 2.75. Christmas cookies got a three, 2.75 for this one. I just I I have no desire to watch this one again. Uh, it just like I said, it it just was jumping so all over the place, I just never could get into it. Uh, I'm sorry. And you know what? I know the fans enjoy this one. The rating is a 6.7. People liked it more than it's Christmas Eve. I I'm definitely ending the minority on this one, but it didn't do it for me. I'm sorry. It's it is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

I think we're gonna have to have a new metric, and that is which Christmas, like what is the biggest gap between Renee's rating and Rich's rating?

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Well, I we know for sure Ghost of Christmas always, we had two full points, so that's big.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Yeah. So I gave this one a 3.75. Okay, one point. All right. I think a four and above really has to be a movie that's above and beyond, you know, a Christmas, a good Christmas movie for Hallmark. Really good, like to me, a four or above, especially four point two five, starts getting like you're an elite movie.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

You're yeah, but I still point two five. I think you're one of the best Christmas movies of that given year, let's say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Yeah. So I don't think it's quite there, but well, I didn't, you know, I'd have to I would have had to remember how I watched them that year, but I still love, I still love the movie. I enjoyed it. And maybe it's just because I'm such a Jill Wagner fan and I like the guy too. He was he was a good actor in it, so 3.75 for me. So you're up to bat here. What's our next movie?

SPEAKER_01 31:14

All right, so we are gonna go to 2021. This was actually a Christmas in July movie, and it's called Crashing Through the Snow. And there's a couple reasons I want to watch this one. First of all, people talk about the kiss in this movie being one of the better kisses in Hallmark history. And since I've been pretty critical of the kisses lately, I want to check out this kiss and see if uh if it's worth what everyone's talking about that it being so darn good. We'll be the judge of that. But the main reason I want to watch this movie is because of the writer. Her name is Tamar Laddie. She only has two Hallmark credits, and the other credit is the movie Round and Round from 2023, which a lot of Hallmark fans will tell you that is the best Hallmark movie of the last five, 10 years. People, it's a Hanukkah movie, people absolutely loved that movie. And the other movie she wrote was this movie, Crashing Through the Snow, in 2021. And I heard her on a podcast called The Torah Smash back in December. And she says she has written another Hanukkah movie and has gotten it into the hands of Hallmark. And she says it's it's kind of like round and round, obviously very different thing, but but very out of the box, very different, very unusual. And now it's up to Hallmark to say when it's ready to go. So if it was anything as good as Round and Round, and Hallmark has a pretty good track record of Hanukkah movies, Round and Round, Hanukkah on Rye, uh Hanukkah on the Rocks. So I would love to see her next Hallmark movie. And like I say, she's only got two Hallmark credits, uh, Round and Round. And now we're gonna check out Crashing Through the Snow and see if it's as good as uh as I hope it is.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Wow, sounds amazing. I can't wait to see it this week. I don't I feel like I've seen it, but I'd have to check my app and see if I've checked that off or not. But I don't recall it at the moment.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

All I really know is I know Warren Christie is the lead. We covered him in our very first uh first review ever, uh the most wonderful time of the year. So yeah, Warren Christie's the lead in it.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

So well, thank you everyone for listening to our podcast. Uh write us at Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail with comments, movie suggestions, praises, and critiques. Tell tell Rich why he's wrong on his scoring sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

I have a feel I feel I feel I might hear from some of the fans on this one, but uh all right.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Follow our podcast on uh our Instagram at Forever Hallmark Christmas, and you can follow me at ReneFHC on Instagram as well. We hope you tune again. Bye for now. For the love of Hallmark.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

For the love of Hallmark.