A Bride for Christmas

Kimberley Sustad’s first Hallmark movie. Andrew Walker’s Hallmark debut. Arielle Kebbel’s first turn with the network too. With an average age of just 28, our three leads bring plenty of youthful energy - but don’t expect perfection. This movie is packed with wonderfully flawed characters!

In A Bride for Christmas (2012) - Writer Barbara Kymlicka delivers a clever, sharp script that borrows a few elements from the 2003 movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and somehow turns them into pure Hallmark magic. Bonkers, ridiculous, outrageous... and completely impossible to stop watching.

And the "dog shelter kiss" in this movie is considered one of the best in Hallmark history… will it pass the Mistletoe Meter grading criteria? 

In this episode, we cover:

• Behind-the-scenes movie fun facts
 • The best moment
 • What we’d rewrite in 2026
 • Those supporting characters who deserved more screen time
 • “Are We Sure?” — much needed Hallmark logic checks
 • We know Aiden and Jessie get married – but would their relationship have lasted if the movie ended with them only engaged?
 • The multiple kisses (four in all!)… and the letter grades they earned – one was steamy!!!
 • The MVP of the movie
 • Our personal — and completely meaningless — final rating

For the love of Hallmark!

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

Email: ForeverHallmarkChristmas@gmail.com

*** Not affiliated with Hallmark Media. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hallmark Christmas movie fans. It's that time of the week. It's FHC Forever Hallmark Christmas. The only podcast out there these days that is reviewing one thing and one thing only. That is Hallmark Christmas movies. My name is Rich. As always, joined by my Christmas cousin Renee. How's it going, buddy? It's going very well. How are you doing? I'm doing well. I'm doing well. I mean, uh, we we're getting closer to Christmas in July every week here. So uh I'm I'm I'm getting pretty excited. We got some exciting news to announce at the end of this podcast as well. So yeah, I'm I'm having some fun. And hey, uh before we get started today, I've I've always wondered, Renee, do any actors ever listen to our podcast to see what we said about the episodes that they were in? And of course, we're hoping that Tyler or Lacey someday listen. Um, that's our our dream. But uh I do know one that has listened for sure, and I shared it with you because before we reviewed an unexpected Christmas, I touched base with Alison Wanzura, who played the character of Becca as one of our favorite characters in the movie for sure. And she really wanted to help out. She was in the middle of midterms. Uh, she goes, I really want to chime in and said what I liked about this movie. In the end, she just kind of ran out of time before we recorded. But after the fact, she got back to me, which was class acting. She said, Oh my God, you guys, you know, sorry, I just I ran out of time here. She wanted to let us know that uh Unexpected Christmas was her favorite hallmark experiences she'd ever done. And she's done a bunch. And then she said she also listened to the podcast and it was so much fun. So uh she had a blast listening. So thank you, Allison Wanzur, for listening to the podcast. Thanks for the good feedback. And uh we loved you in Unexpected Christmas. You were fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yeah, thank you very much, and thank you for correcting me on the pronunciation of your name.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Uh, of course. All right, so today's movie is A Bride for Christmas. My pick. Yep, here we go. A year 2012. So we're going back 14 years, starring Andrew Walker and Ariel Kebble. Uh, and our our girl Kimberly Sustad has uh a role in the number three spot in this movie as well. This was written by Barbara Kimmelika, who also wrote a very merry mix-up, which was the same, uh, was excuse me, the movie that we covered in episode number six. So uh one of the, I don't think we've covered too many writers more than once, but this is one we are. Uh, our holiday hook here: three broken engagements, one outrageous bet, and a Christmas romance that proves love doesn't always stick to the plan. Funny. MDB rating on this one is a 6.6. And as we talked about last week, if you're wondering kind of what the average Hallmark uh rating is out of 478 movies since 2000, uh both the average and the median score is a 6.4, so a little bit above average on this one. If you're wondering where it ranked it back in 2012, it was third best. Wow. Uh, or excuse me, tied for third best. And uh the highest-rated uh film that year, in case you're wondering, 14 years ago was Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade. And uh ready. Are you ready for some fun facts on this one, Renee? I'm always ready for those. Everybody seems to love the fun facts. Uh Steph, it's one of the good parts about doing a podcast like this so long after the movie debuted, is there's been lots of interviews and and that people have done and talked about this movie since. So you're able to find out facts you might not have been able to find out right when the show first aired. But uh this movie was filmed in Fort Langley, British Columbia, and it just happens to be the exact same filming location as our movie from last week, The Nine Lives of Christmas. So if you'd see any of the same kind of settings in there, you know why. Uh uh same exact spot that it was filmed. A bri now, I I really found this interesting. I looked back, but A Bride for Christmas. This was Andrew Walker's very first Hallmark movie. It was it was Ariel Kebble's very first Hallmark movie, and it was Kimberly Sustad's first Hallmark experience as well. So yeah, so a lot of first in this. Uh Andrew Walker and Ariel Kebble also starred in the uh Hallmark movie Bridal Wave in 2015. So they uh reunited after after a bride for Christmas. Uh, if you uh you probably noticed some similarities to the uh the rom com How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, a 2003 movie with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. A lot of people compare this movie to that.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Sage uh Brocklebank, who plays the character of Mike in this. In addition to being a Hallmark actor, he is a professional poker player. Yeah, and he actually won a World Series of Poker International Circuit Tournament in 2023. So the guy, the guy's legit. He's a he's a real professional poker player. That I did not know. If you uh the true Hallmark fans out there will recognize this name, Peter Benson, who plays Mike, uh, because not only is he an actor, but he is also one of Hallmark's go-to directors. He directs on average about six to seven Hallmark movies every single year, and he likes to slide himself into the movies he's directing in just like a like maybe a little secondary character or someone in the background. So uh Peter Benson plays Mike in this. And the last one here, so there's been a lot of talk about this, but there's two lines of dialogue in this movie where Vivian, who's played by Kimberly Susted, hints that her character is gay. Um, and uh she kind of uh in an interview in 2020 kind of broke the ice on this, giving her two thoughts about that. And she said, yes, the character was originally uh written as gay, but it when the original script had actually had a larger storyline where Vivian had a partner who was supposed to appear near the end of the movie, but much of that was removed uh during production. And back in 2012, let's just put it straight out there, Hallmark wasn't nearly as inclusive as it was today, if at all. For sure. Uh obviously there was a big leadership change in 2020. Uh, we noticed right after that movies did become more inclusive. You see, you know, you saw a lot more comedy-driven uh uh plots in the movies as well. So, but yeah, that was kind of a big talk. And yes, her character was written as gay. And it it actually originally had a bigger storyline to it, according to uh an uh an interview Kimberly Sustad did about six years ago.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I wasn't sure if she had just said that to ward off the guy at the art exhibit. So it's it's interesting to know that her character was gay.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

All right, so let's get right into it. What do you think of this one? It's kind of a a little bit of a wild one.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yeah, this movie has some seriously crazy moments. I think the main characters are out of their homework minds. Um, this movie made me laugh out loud several times. There's the writing is solid in this. I really enjoyed the writers' work on this. Um, I can see how like outside of a homework uh sphere, that I can see this movie being just a rom-com in the theaters for the most part. There's a few things that we can talk about in the Are We Sure or rewrites. But overall, I th I thought it was uh a well-done movie. Uh, there's a legit conflict scene, which I think made sense in this. But overall, this movie's bonkers and uh through and through, and you know, if you like that sort of zany stuff, it's it's it was an enjoyable watch.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

You know, I I I'd have to go back and look at my review of a of a very merry mix-up written by the same writer, Barbara Kimblick. And I might have said this exact same line, but I said this movie is bonkers, it's ridiculous, and I enjoyed every single second of it. Uh pretty stop by. Um, there was some stuff that really surprised me about it. But um, yeah, in terms of a rom-com, and uh, you know, it was just a lot of fun. I mean, I I I I really like I I really had a good time with this movie. Yeah, it was good. So all right, let's get into some things we really liked about it.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

So a few little things for me, you know, I always look at sort of the you always have a much deeper look at things, but I look at superficial things. You know, I like when Jessica broke the art sculpture and uh she casually tries to set it back on there, but that was hilarious. Uh you know, Viv and Jessica, a more serious scene, Viv and Jessica's talks during the Christmas tree decorating scene, and Jessica criticizing, of all things, Jessica criticizing Aiden for not being the commitment type guy, Herv, who has ran away from three engagements. I thought that was funny and ironic. Um one of my almost favorite scenes, didn't make my favorite scene, but the dog doing the dropkick on Mike in the park. He drop kicks him, and then the dog like flips almost backwards off of him. Like that's a really well-trained dog. That that scene, I had to rewind it and watch it like three times. It cracked me up. And Mike's a big guy. Yeah, because you know, Kimberly's 5'9, and I saw him standing next to Andrew, and he was towering. He's got to be 6'3, 6'4. I didn't look it up, but he's he's a big guy. And um another one I scene I like this when the dad explains why he calls her bolts because she bolts at weddings, and then him laughing about it. I thought that was so such a dad thing to do, and just his, you know, he when he starts laughing, it just made me crack up. Uh, some of the like little things like the pick of her at Mike's proposal, what like she showed a picture of the proposal, and then a picture of her in the background and her face, she just looks totally mortified. I thought that was funny. Um, and then the more serious side, the daddy-daughter talk, telling her that there are a lot of people you can live with and only one that you can can't live without. I thought that was really nice.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

That was a that was a great, maybe the line of the movie. I I I wrote it down, but I go, I know I know Ray's gonna bring it up before I walk. Because I get to go first this time.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

So, and one other thing, you know, there's a lot of little things that I like, but mom coming to Aiden's work and having a talk with him and telling him to marry Jesse, which I thought was I mean, it's bonkers, it's just insane, but you know, it works in Hallmark Land.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Putting on my writer's hat, I really liked Barbara Kim Lica did a really good job of laying out what this entire movie was about in the first nine minutes. I literally stopped it at the nine-minute marks to see where we were. In the first couple of minutes, we know that she's been been engaged three times. At the three and a half minute mark, she runs out on her wedding with Mike. And by nine minutes in, Aiden has met a bet with the other guys. So she really does a good job laying out everything in those first ten minutes, what we can expect for the rest of this movie. Uh I thought that was very well done. I'd like when, you know, uh Aiden says, Jesse, hey, let's go out for sushi or tie. But no, she wants a good burger. You gotta love uh gotta love a woman who who loves a good burger. Anyone.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Yeah, absolutely. Uh Vivian and Jesse uh dressed at that uh art event. They looked absolutely fantastic, uh, the two of them. Obviously, the the heartfelt moment when uh the picture of Aiden and his dog that Jesse made for his apartment. I mean, how do you not like that? And then I gotta talk a little bit about our our our three actors here Andrew Walker, Ariel Kebble, and uh in Kimberly Sestad. First of all, Andrew Walker, I don't know if you know this or anything, but he's founded his own skincare line. And I don't know what he puts in that stuff, but I'm thinking of investing because that dude looks the exact same as he did 14 years later. I mean uh so youthful. Um but I the other thing I want to mention is is the youth in this movie. I mean, Andrew Walker, Ariel Kebble, and Kimberly Sustad combined average out to 28 years old in this movie. And we I think you and I both we talk, you know, it'd be nice to see Hallmark get some younger actors into their slate. I mean, we understand you and I obviously we don't we love the Lacey's, we love the Chris Pala's, Andrew Walker's, Kimberly Sustads who are all in their 40s now. But it it it it was refreshing to see such youth in in the leading roles in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

So I agree with that. I I like seeing both. I like seeing like Barbara Niven a few years ago was the was a star of one, and and you know, she's in her 50s there.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Oh, and you know, and you and I had when you and I had James Denton and Terry Hatcher and A Kiss Before Christmas, we loved seeing it. So yeah, it's it's oh yeah, but I think you and I both agree we need to kind of blend a little bit of that, you know, 40s, 50s, whatever you want is your least, but also find some some really youthful characters like we had in this movie.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah, and I think the you know the demographic for Hallmark, you know, I think it's gonna be skew slightly older, sure, uh, and female, but you want to think about think about the next generation that's coming up.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

That's that's where we're here. Get people into it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

All right, we always put on our writer's hat and say if we would fix anything uh during a rewrite in 2026, 14 years later. Uh, what about you? What about you on this one?

SPEAKER_01 12:33

I had small things. I mean, there's bigger things, but you know, I had to go with the story. The thing I liked is this thing that also I would fix in a rewrite when Jesse tells Viv that Aiden is the one, and the whole talk is funny when Viv says she should propose. Like, that is insane. Like, love is love, it's cool. You know, I love that scene, but it it's also for me, it goes like are like this is almost an are we sure or things I fix in a rewrite. Like, that is insane to me.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

This this movie is Balkers and Ridiculous. I mean, that's that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

It is, and that's part of its its wonderful charm. Yep. I would like to have seen more Christmas spirit. The time when he plays on the piano is lovely with the the restaurant or wherever that and he starts playing and and and that Christmas curl, that was lovely. But I would have, you know, it's Christmas in the title. There wasn't a lot of Christmas. I mean, there's one small Christmas decorating scene.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

I I agree with you. If you told me this was a 4th of July movie that he had to propose by the 4th of July, I I would say yeah. I mean I I think you're right on that.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yeah. I mean that was you know, I didn't want to because the movie's so because it works and it's craziness, I don't think that I would change too much more. And you're you're a little bit better at this than I am in picking out, you know, more plot line or things like that. I mean, for sure, like Mike is way out of touch. I get it. I mean, he's blindsided.

SPEAKER_00 13:55

And to think that he still has a chance with her after she ran out on him. It's yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

I mean, that's insane. Like, I if I was him, I'd be like, don't touch me, don't look at me, and I would have said some non-PG rated things that you cannot say in a Hallmark movie to her. Like, get away from me. Like him still trying was insane to me, but you know, the movie's insane.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

So I actually I'm not that far off of either. So structurally, I really don't have anything I would I would change in this in terms of plot, in terms of the characters. Um I'm pretty good with all of it there, but there are a few things I think needed to be fixed that I found. Let's just call them errors in the writing. And in first of all, we need to get our geography and our colleges right because uh Aiden says he grew up in Oakland, but then he moved to San Francisco for school, where he went to Berkeley. Well, that makes no sense because Berkeley is right next to Oakland. You wouldn't go to San Francisco for school and then commute to Berkeley. So if you if you want to say you grew up in Oakland, went to Berkeley for school, and then moved to San Francisco for work, that works. But yeah, that needed to be written just the way they said it. And here's my other one, and I wasn't gonna bring this up at first, but the scene where uh Jesse and Aiden and Mike are all playing poker with Jesse's parents. Um there's a scene in there where uh where Jesse's parents are it's uh Susan and Hank. Susan uh folds and Hank folds, one folds out the other, but they do it the wrong way on the table. Okay, because when when you're playing, okay, but here you go. So poker it always moves in a clockwise action. When I played a little bit of poker in my life when it comes to the action, it moves clockwise. And I go, you know what, I'm gonna let that slide. But I go, wait, hold on. Mike is a professional poker player in real life. He should have saw that and said, whoa, whoa, whoa, stop, stop, cut, cut, cut. No, no, no. We either need to change those two guys in their seats or we need we need to change that because that that's wrong. So that's the only reason I'm bringing it up is because we literally had a professional poker player sitting at the table. And I think that should have been caught by Mike there.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

You know, I gotta give props to Mike because to me, his character was such a big dummy. And the guy's obviously not a dummy at all. He's a very talented person, so good job for his acting. Because I was like, this guy's gotta be dumb. You know, I I thought he was so good that I thought he must be dumb in real life, but no, I'm totally wrong on that one. Favorite moment of the movie, what you got on this one? It's the craziest moment in the scene for me, but the surprise wedding on Christmas Day, like number one, who gets married on Christmas Day? That's nuts. And but you know, what the heck? Hallmark Love wins out. Uh his words to her there, to Jesse, were very nice and romantic to her in that whole scene. That was my favorite scene. Granted, it's crazy, but the whole movie's crazy. So if you like a crazy movie, that's another crazy scene that's just lovely to watch in here.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

I'm going, I'm I'm going a little more heartfelt here. Um, it's it's the wine bar and Aiden playing the piano. Um obviously it was just beautiful, you know, him playing and everything. But the way she was looking at him when he was playing, I mean, she was just like she was all in. You could tell that was the moment where she said, Is this the guy? Um, because like I say, she just had this incredible look on her, just and and he was playing, kind of smiling back at her. And that's the moment where I really saw connection. Obviously, he was beautiful inside that uh wine bar and everything. And I was kind of wondering, was Andrew Walker really playing the piano? Because it looked kind of when he sat down, they kind of showed a full frame of him playing it. It turns out his mom's a pianist and he did take lessons when he was younger. Um, but I'm I'm curious if that was really him playing. I think it was, but uh, I really like that scene.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

I don't think it was, but it'd be it'd be interesting to find out if it was or not.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

So the scene back in in Jesse's house where he plays the little duet with Jesse's mom, you you don't see their fingers in their faces at the same time at all. But in that one scene, if you go back and look at it, there is a scene, a shot where you see all of him playing. So maybe, I don't know. Maybe. All right, we always uh call out, we love our best supporting characters, and we always call out one who we'd like to see uh a little bit more of. And I have a feeling I know who you're going with on this one, but let me let me see if I'm right.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

Well, I was gonna say Kimberly Sustad because who can I can never get too much of her? She's just beyond lovely. Just love her. But I actually went with Hank, the dad. Yep. Uh his name is Eric uh Keenley Side, I think is his pronunciation. Uh I thought he was funny and dispensed great wisdom. You know me, I always like a father figure or a mother figure who gives wisdom to the child, kind of as it should be in life, or you know, if all things go well for us. Uh I liked Hank. Uh the mom is absolutely hilarious with her interaction with Jesse. Crack up. Um, and Aiden's coworkers and friends were funny. So, you know, those were I liked them all, but ultimately I had to settle on Hank the dad.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

I I knew you were gonna go with Hank. I I I called that. I said he's absolutely going with Hank, especially for that one talk that they had. I go, that Hank's gonna win right there. Uh you can imagine I went a little okay. I'm going with a duo on this one because they're kind of inseparable. I'm going with Charlie and Stu as poker buddies, his office buddies.

SPEAKER_01 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Uh they were when they were in the scenes, they were absolutely hilarious. We didn't get a ton of them, but what when we did get it was really good. So I could use a little bit more of Charlie and Stu. So all right. In in any movie, this bonkers, this crazy, this ridiculous, we are gonna have some uh some are we sure our logic checks, maybe a little suspection of disbelief that we have to call out because they are so outrageously obvious. Tell me a few you got on this one, because I have a few uh as well.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Yeah, my my first one was okay. I would say, would she be so I use a different word in my writing, but snippy when she is at his place talking about redecorating, he's trying to hire her for a job. And even though he was kind of hitting on her, she he was still kind of you know giving her work, she was being really unfriendly. Like I would have been like, I'm not giving this girl this job at all. Right? And I thought, like, would he like her after the first interactions? Right, and after hearing she has three fiances, he still likes her. I mean, just to win the bet, like right. She has three massive red flags, massive. And that just like, are we sure he he would like her? I mean, maybe if he's like, well, I'm single and I just want to find a good time. Okay, I can understand that. And the other one is like, guys sitting around poker tables table talking about commitment and marriage. Uh, I've never had that conversation. I've played many poker games. Not once has has my friend said that, hey Renee, uh, you know, any plans on getting married or how's it going with so-and-so? Not once has that ever come up. Usually it's a dumb sports talk, you know. Yeah, yeah, those were, I mean, what little thing is like, would he have shared his fries? I wouldn't, but you know, that's just me. And Mike is so out of touch with Jesse, I would have given up. He's not listening to her. I wrote a lot, and the big one was Mike would bet his 57 classic Chevy against Aiden's, I forget what his car was, an Audi something. Yeah. Like, no man would bet a. I mean, unless he has like a royal flush in his hand, which we never saw what he had. But that escalation seemed like, are we sure that would happen? No way. Even if I had a really good hand in my hand, no way my betting my truck or anything like of that value. Those were one of my, you know. And also, like Aiden calling out the guy at the pet shop. The guy's like, Don't you tell me how to talk about my kid? That could have gotten like in real life now, like you would not do that. You don't know if you're gonna get punched in the face. Or worse. There was a few, are we sure is here for me? Yeah, but that one was like a big one. It's like, whoa, dude, like we would not do that.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Yeah, I'd want the exact same ones you did when Aiden Mike really bet their cars in a poker game. I don't think so. Um, so Jesse uh says Mike asked her to marry him in front of 50,000 fans at a basketball game in a stadium. Are we sure about that? Because first of all, I've never seen basketball played in a stadium. It's played in an arena. You don't play basketball outdoors like that. Even if it's college basketball pros. And and again, are we sure? Because if they meant arena, there are no arenas that hold 50,000 people. So yeah. So are we sure knowledge right now? Are we sure about all that?

unknown 22:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Are we sure there would be a punching bag hanging right next to the kitchen table in Aja's apartment? It's like it's almost like it's like a foot away. I don't know about that one.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

I missed that totally. Good catch.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

And are we sure that Mike would just walk into Jesse's parents' house in the middle of the night without even knocking on the door, ringing the doorbell? Like he like he just shows up and they're like shocked. Like he just walks on in uh before they play their poker game. So a few times he just walks right in, which is crazy. So uh those are my those were my are we shirts. But yeah, the big the probably the biggest one I had was that whole basketball 50,000 people at a basketball game at a stadium. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Yeah. I love that picture though with her in the background just going, oh cracked me up.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

All right, here's our tricky one because they kind of ruined our with the lead couple last year. You got anything to say on this one? Because I do a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah, like in the real world, no way. I don't think so. They're both impetuous. But in the Hallmark world, sure. This is a crazy movie, but crazier things have happened in life. Uh they need to fight, he needs to move. He needs to find a place now and quickly. And she does too, because that her sister's allergic to the dog, and he and dogs aren't allowed in his building, so he immediately has to move. What are they gonna do with the dog? Which was almost my my want to see more of choice. Uh, but you know, but there was a there was a spark for them both. And uh this is kind of in my kissing section, but when uh she saw him, you know, stick up for the dog, and that's when she that's when I felt that she really started liking him. So, you know, I don't think in real world it would happen, but in Homework Land, I'm gonna say yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Yeah, I mean they literally got married in the movie, so I I'm gonna say yes. I'm I'm not about to put bad karma to anyone's marriage. So yeah, I'm gonna say they're like but I'm gonna I'm gonna put this out there. Had the movie ended where they were just engaged, I would have a very different answer because they really haven't even been out on a single date yet. So so yes, I'm gonna say yes, they got married. Like I say, you know, good luck to you guys, but uh had they just been engaged or something, yeah. I'm not so sure. But uh good luck on the marriage there, guys. Wishing you all the best. You're gonna make it the the 12 months it lasts, but yeah. I'm surprised. I thought you were gonna go the other way. Okay. I can't. If they actually get married, what I I'm never gonna say there they're that marriage isn't gonna last a year, so no. I understand. So I did not know that. Okay. All right, so the mistletoe meter, Renee. That's why I picked this movie because I'd heard so much about the kisses being one of the best top ten maybe Hallmark kisses of all time. All movies, including Christmas and non-Christmas movies. Um, and that's why I picked this movie. So let's get right to it.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

Yeah, so there's three kisses.

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Actually, four, but okay. Oh, there is four. There's there's two, there's there's three at the end, and then the one at the dog shelter.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

So Ah, okay. All right. So the mid-movie kiss was at the dog shelter. That's the one I was thinking of. Super unexpected and steamy. I mean, you could see her face, and the music changes, if you notice, right? They're having a conversation and it pan, and it the music's changing, and their their voices fall into the background. And that music means she's like like falling in love music, you know? That kiss was one of the steamiest kisses I've and in the context was the steamiest kiss I think I've seen on Hallmark. That kiss was an A plus for me. It was fantastic. Like, I mean, I think it was even better than that Jill Wagner kiss, and that's hard for me to say. It was a good kiss. Uh the second movie kiss was short. Well, there's four, so I'm trying I didn't write down where this one happened, but there was a second kiss that was short, but it worked for me. And what I thought was the final kiss at the at the wedding, I originally gave it a B plus or an A, A minus, because I it's not what I would like to see for a wedding kiss. Does that make sense? Like it was a little bit more like you're making out. Like to me, a wedding kiss is a little bit more, I don't know, more polished, a little bit more. It's it's it's love versus you know steamy. And I thought the kiss was a little steamy for a for a wedding kiss, but overall, this is a solid A, maybe even an A plus. It was really fantastic kissing in this movie.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

So yeah, so obviously I think the big kiss that everyone is talking about is the one at the shelter when when they're talking. And so basically I'm comparing that to the only other A plus we've given, which was Crashing Through the Snow, um, with the uh the the one Christy and Amy Acker kissed there at the end of the movie. And I I was juggling between an A and an A plus for the shelter kiss because I didn't see it coming. Like it was like you say, it was so unexpected, it was hot, it was passionate. Um, it lasted 10 seconds, which believe it or not, I was longer than the other three kisses combined. They were all pretty short kisses. In the end, I gave it an A instead of the A plus. It's it's a high A, though. Like if an A plus is 99%, this is like a 98. It's borderline A plus. I think the reason that the crashing through through the snow got the A plus because there was so much, it was the music, it was the ambiance on that lit staircase, it was the dialogue they had, it was the way they looked. Um, but this is really close. Um borderline A plus on that kiss. The next three, though, they were all very short. So we had one after the proposal. Uh another hot kiss, but only four seconds, and then the camera kind of panned away. I could have used a little bit more if I did. I think it comes to a solid A. After they say I do, uh, another another really great kiss, but only three seconds long. I mean, really short. Again, I gave the kiss an A minus, but just needed a little more. And then we had one last kiss right before the closing credits. It was like two seconds, and then we got a freeze frame, and that's basically how the movie ended. I gave that one a B plus. So considering we had a uh a borderline A plus and then A minus, A minus, B plus, I'm gonna give the overall an A just because that shelter kiss is gonna basically carry the weight of the three kisses on the strength of that kiss all rounded out to a good solid A.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

That's what I did.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

But I I I I do not think it was better than crashing through the snow. I think that someone still is at the top.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Yeah, I think I'd have to watch I'd have to put the clips together side by side and look at that again. Yeah, but it was a really I mean that shelter kiss to me was an A-plus.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Because you didn't see it coming, she just grabbed him, and there it was.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah, it's like every guy's dream. So yeah. Or what won the movie for me? This was easy. Uh Barbara Kimlika won it. Such a wild story. It's so different. I laughed so many times, and unexpected things were happening. While we had some rewrites for our own personal taste, I loved the story. It was just absolutely zany and bonkers and thoroughly enjoyable, really, really well done. For me, Barbara's writing was uh fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

I'm gonna go with Ariel Kebble in the role of Jesse. I thought she was just so charismatic. Uh again, her first Hallmark experience, she's done a bunch. She's now on uh on Marshall's on Paramount, she's a lead female in that movie, kind of a Taylor Sheridan spin off of Yellowstone, although it's it's not his, but it's it's but she's kind of found herself uh obviously a big huge show there. Um I just thought she was great. I mean, so well acted. She is the one that had such a big character arc in the movie. Um I I I really liked her character. So I'm like some some great ones to choose from here, but I'm I'm gonna go with Ariel Kebble in in the role of Jesse in this movie. All right, rating. We always give it a one to five. Quarter points, half points, perfectly acceptable. I'm curious to see. I think we might be pretty close on this, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

I'm I'm having like seconds, you know. I always have a feeling when I'm watching, and then when you and I start talking about it, I kind of like, oh yeah, that makes sense. Keep it real, keep it real. So I almost feel like this should be higher. But I gave it a 4.25. The writing was so good and so weird. I love that writing. And maybe I should fact I didn't factor this in, but the characters to me, for the first half hour of the movie, both of them, I did not like them. I didn't like these two characters at all. I was like, these guys are jerks, they're crazy, you know? Yeah, but like testament to the this is why I gave it up to I had a 3.75 initially because I just did not like the characters, but I bumped it up because the writing's so good, and at the end, the writer brought back the story, made me I I found myself liking the characters at the end. So that's a tribute to her writing, and that's why I gave it a 4.25. And you know, if you twisted my arm, I could go higher, but uh yeah, 4.25. I'm gonna stick with that, and that's just really based on this the good writing for this.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

You know, four and a quarter, that's exactly what I gave it, the exact same score you did. Um and I agree with you, the the first third half of the movie. I mean, Mike and Aiden, they're bad guys betting on right now. That's awful. Yeah, it's terrible. And and here you got Jesse, you know, she's already run out on three guys, and she's like what in her mid to late 20s. I mean, people in this movie are are they're they're not the most likable people in the world. But you're right, in the end, uh Barbara Kim Lika with a great script and a great story kinds of brings them all where they are very likable. Um, I so after I do my review and I put my score down, I go back and I try to look online and see what I'm looking at what what people complained about a certain movie. And I went back and one thing that people complained about this was they said it was just a blatant ripoff of how to lose a guy in 10 days. And it is a very similar storyline. And you know what, Renee? I don't care because we met in December last year. Great movie, uh, Nina Wyman movie completely rips off serendipity, okay? Round and round, a hallmark favorite of a lot of people. It it borrows from Groundhog Day.

SPEAKER_01 31:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

How many, how many Hallmark movies borrow from It's a Wonderful Life, A Kiss Before Christmas, and a bunch of others?

SPEAKER_01 32:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

A Christmas Carol, Ghost of Christmas Always, and every time travel movie, you know, rips off Back to the Future. Yeah. So I don't care that they're they're borrowing from How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. I mean, yeah, it was fun, it was a wild ride, it was bonkers, ridiculous, and and I'm all in. So 4.25, exactly what I gave it.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Yeah, and it and you know, I I thought Runaway Bride for a moment too, because when she's walking up to the altar and then she just keeps going, you know, I just I just if she had just hopped on a horse and started riding away, it would have been Julia Roberts just riding away from that from that movie. I thought it was so funny though. But it did give me that vibe as well.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

All right, so before you announce the uh the next movie uh that we're gonna do, I just want to make an announcement that uh the next movie that we will be putting out there for you guys to hear, we're actually doing a collaboration with two other podcasters, Gary and Amy from Pour the Wine. It's RomTom time. Uh, we are going to review the four of us, a holiday spectacular from 2022. Jinnaclaire Mason, uh Derek Klenna. Uh, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Uh hopefully we'll uh we'll have some really good fun facts and behind-the-scenes stuff about this movie, but we're gonna collaborate with with Gary Name on this one and have a lot of fun uh kind of reviewing a really great movie from 2022, kind of uh something that Hallmark really had never done before, uh, collaborating with the Roquettes and Radio City Music Hall. So keep an eye out for that one. But Renee, after that we have Christmas in July, and but once we get through all that, what's gonna be the next movie you want to go with when it's just the two of us back to our normal broadcasting schedule here?

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Well, I think we're gonna have to settle down because we're having a busy time this next month or so. Gonna settle into something enjoyable. I'm gonna go in with a sequel, Christmas in Evergreen, Tidings of Joy. Tidings of Joy. Uh that's uh 2019. So Maggie Lawson, Paul Green, uh Holly Robinson Pete, which we love, and Barbara Niven, which I love. I'll give you a hint. Joyful tidings will occur in Evergreen.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

Yep, sound sounds like we've got some of the uh the evergreen cast of characters back with Barbara Niven and Holly Robins, Pete, and everyone, probably a few others. So uh yep, let's let's get through that. Let's get through that series.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

So yeah, we got a few to go through there.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Okay, uh yeah, I think you guys know where to find us uh by now. Instagram Forever Hallmark Christmas, Forever Hallmark Christmas at gmail.com. If you want to drop us a line, tell us what you thought about uh a bride for Christmas or any other movies you'd like us to review in the future. And the next time you hear us, we'll be collaborating on a holiday spectacular in 2000 from 2022. But until then, Renee, let's keep it for the love of Hallmark.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

For the love of Hallmark