In Merry Measure

Every Christmas season, we tend to get a storyline involving a youth choir, a high school theatre production, or some other holiday competition. But what happens when you take that familiar Hallmark setup, add the Broadway star who originated the role of Princess Anna in Frozen the Musical, put her opposite one of Hallmark’s leading hunks — wearing glasses for a good part of the movie, no less — and give them a script from a first-time Hallmark writer who would go on to write favorites like The Santa Summit, The Santa Class, and Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper?

You get 2022’s In Merry Measure!

Darcy (Patti Murin) was a famous pop star back in high school, but she returns home to Dayton for the holidays to spend time with her sister Gretchen (Jennifer Robertson) and her family. When Darcy’s niece Megan is cut from the high school choir by Adam (Brendan Penny), Darcy decides to start her own choir and compete against the team coached by Adam — who just happens to be a former high school classmate.

But while the choir competition drives the story, it’s the script that really makes this movie stand out.

The banter between Darcy and Adam is funny, sharp and genuinely entertaining. The secondary characters get surprisingly strong dialogue and development. And there are more memorable scenes than we can count.

Writer Russell Hainline proves you absolutely can have both the rom AND the com in a classic Hallmark Christmas movie — and he does it in a way that is heartfelt, clever and incredibly entertaining.

In this episode of Forever Hallmark Christmas, we talk about:

🎄 Behind-the-scenes movie fun facts
 🎄 Our favorite moments
 🎄 Anything we’d rewrite?
 🎄 The best supporting characters
 🎄 “Are We Sure?” — our ultimate Hallmark logic check
🎄 With a potential move back to Dayton, will Adam and Darcy actually make it as a couple?
🎄 The Mistletoe Meter — we give those Christmas kisses a letter grade
🎄 Who — or what — truly won the movie
🎄 And, of course, our personal and completely unbiased 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

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SPEAKER_01 0:10

Hey everybody, welcome to Forever Hallmark Christmas, a movie review podcast where we talk about one thing and one thing only, and that is Hallmark Christmas movies. My name is Rich. As always, joined by my co-host Renee. How's it going, buddy?

SPEAKER_00 0:23

It's going very well, Rich. I hope you're having a lovely weekend, which we just talked about on the bonus episode, but still the sentiment remains. I am indeed.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

We just got through Christmas and July. It's Christmas and August now. Renee, my my wife and my oldest daughter and I, we had to stop at Costco yesterday, and there's a hobby lobby, right? There's a hobby lobby right next to it. So we we kind of said, do we think there's more fall slash Halloween decorations or Christmas decorations up yet, middle of August? And we we thought it would be close. They both said fall uh Halloween. Maybe in the Christmas guy. I said, you know what I think there's gonna be a little bit more Christmas, and they couldn't believe it. We walked inside, sure enough, Renee, there's more Christmas decorations in Hobby Lobby. It was close, probably like 60-40, and but there's they're literally actively putting up more Christmas as we were in the store.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

So you must have been crazy every in Hog Heaven when you walked in there because I know you like decorating.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

I I was there there's Christmas coffee mugs everywhere. I I was so excited. Uh decorations. I mean, I'm uh I'm just loving because it I mean it's it's just getting me. I mean, we're a Christmas podcast, give me more in the spirit of Christmas. I'm ready to go.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, I'm I'm ready for the Christmas spirit. It's been a challenging year in some points, but also a very nice year. But uh you can never have uh too much or too soon of Christmas spirit in life, I think.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

All right, let's do this a week's movie. It's called In Mary Measure. Uh the year was 2022, the stars, Patty Murin and Brendan Penny, uh written by Russell Hainline. And here's our little holiday hook. When a struggling pop star heads home for Christmas, she finds herself coaching a high school choir with the one person she'd rather avoid, her former musical rival. Can they make beautiful music together, both on and off stage? This one has an IMDB rating of 6.4, which, as we've said in the past, that is exactly the average Hallmark score. Uh uh, it's the average median score between over 480 uh Hallmark Christmas movies of all time, so right in the middle. And you know, I always ask the question, Renee, are you ready for some fun facts with Rich?

SPEAKER_00 2:21

I'm always ready, a fan favorite.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

All right, I mentioned the writer Russell Hainline. This is his first Hallmark movie, and there is no doubt, if you like Hallmark movies, you know he is an absolute star the last five years. Uh, in addition to In Merry Measure, you know, he followed that up with the Santa Summit. Uh he wrote Hot Frosty on Netflix. It's uh the Santa class. Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper last year. Uh he's got two Hallmark Christmas movies coming this year. He's just an absolute machine. Um but this was his first movie. Uh in addition, Renee, did you know he's a fellow podcaster? I did not know that. I gotta add him. Yeah. So he so he's a Duke grad and he co-hosts a podcast called The Crazy Cast about Duke basketball.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

They were they were great, but I don't know how they are now, but I remember growing up, Duke was just a monster in in the they're they're still really, really good.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

So yep. Uh in addition to that, he's also a beer influencer. He blogs about craft beers from his travels all around the country, all around the world. Uh he's got over 1,200 posts and 16,000 followers on his beer, on his beer insta, his beer travel Instagram page. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So yeah, great guy. Writing Hallmark movies, uh, podcasting about Duke Basketball and blogging about beer all over the country.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

He's winning in life for sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

All right, I've mentioned uh another podcast uh on this show many times. It's called the Hallmark Movie Drafts Podcast. I absolutely love it. Every time a new episode comes out, I I like I am listening that day. They did, and I went back and listened to it, they did the best Christmas movies of 2022, which was a pretty great year. Ghosts of Christmas Always. The original Three Wiseman and a Baby, Haul Out the Holly, Honakon Rye, Holiday Spectacular. This movie ended up number two out of 42 Hallmark Christmas movies in 2022. Now who was number one? Uh Ghost of Christmas Always. Now, but keep it now keep in mind if you listen to this, there is a lot of gameplay involved. There's three drafters, they're trying to get different movies in different spots to match their personal list. Okay, spoiler, Renee, I did enjoy this movie, but did was this number two? Uh uh, you know, ahead of uh Hall at the Holly, Honak and Rye, Holly Spectacular. I'm not going there. Um, but uh if you listen to that uh that podcast, uh Hallmark Movie Draft podcast, this finished number two on the year. All all of all of the drafters pretty much had it in their top 10 personal list. I'm not sure this was the number two movie of the year.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

I think we're gonna have a disparity in our rankings.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Okay, Patty Murin, she played Darcy. Uh Patty Muren can sing. Uh she played Belle in a national tour of Beauty and the Beasts, also played Glinda and Wicked in 2012 and 2013, and originated the role of Princess Anna in Frozen the Musical between 2018 and 2020. Um speaking of Patty Murin, one week into filming, she found out she was pregnant with her second child. So she was filming this movie uh as she was pregnant. Uh the song that Darcy sang for Adam on the piano is called Peace of Mind, and it's by an artist called Amanda Girouf. Uh and there is a YouTube video out there of Patty Murin singing this song at a venue called uh 54 Below in New York City. So go check that out. But you can also listen to the song uh by Amanda. Uh she does it's very an acoustic guitar-based the original, but uh the song's called Peace of Mind. Uh this movie was filmed in Vancouver and it was filmed in August. And Russell Hainlein said the script originally had a sledding scene in it, but once it was filmed in Vancouver in August, no snow. So that scene got trimmed out of the movie. Last one here, uh the actor of Rick, he's portrayed by uh Garfield Wilson, and the role of Freddie is played by Jude Wilson, and they are father and son in real life. So uh uh Rick and Freddie, yep, uh uh father and son. And those are the fun facts of the day. Good.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Those are good ones. I like them. All right, what did you think of this one? I enjoyed the hallmark out of this movie. I found it so funny, so charming. I was totally engaged in this movie. I liked all the characters. There was no real antagonist, just normal singer career stuff. Very sweet movie. I recommend this if you have not seen it. I recommend this highly.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

Alright, so uh first thing I said on this one is this is a kind of a very formulaic kind of movie. You know, like every year we get one of those high school or youth theater or choir movies. Sometimes they're competing, sometimes they're not. And so that it does feel formulaic in that way. But what this showed me was if you get a really good writer and you get some really good music and some really good acting, you can still make these formulaic movies really, really good. Um, I enjoyed this movie, and like I say, yeah, I okay, I've seen this formula before, but also just yeah, like I say, man, you like I said, you got Patty Murin in there singing, you got some incredible music. Uh, I love the youth involved in this movie. Patty Murin, Brandon Penny. Yeah, it just all worked, and it kind of hit me on a personal level, Renee. Uh, I've mentioned on the show before, you know, uh my wife and you are our first cousins, so you we spend a lot of time together as family. You know both of my daughters very well. Uh, you're close to both, and you know they're both singers. They've both been in kind of high school choir for all four years, or my youngest daughter will be starting her senior year this year. Uh, my oldest daughter's at UCLA, but she was in four in four years of choir, so that kind of hit home for me as well, that whole choir aspect. Uh high school. Yeah, so they I really enjoyed this movie a lot. I'm glad that you did. All right, uh, let's let's uh there's a whole bunch of like about this movie. What are some of the ones you got?

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Well, um, like I like the the initial scene where Darcy's team individually starts singing, and some of them are just out of key and just awful. And I loved it. I like the the girl rapping and beatboxing. I thought that was really good, actually. That was that was hilarious. I loved it, and I thought, man, that's a cool different take on things. You know, I like that one a lot. That scene just cracked me up. Um, I really like the scene where the kids uh the two different choir groups took the initiative to join forces, right? Not the not the not the the leaders doing that, but the the team did that as a nice unexpected twist for me.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah, there were there was no way that Darcy and Adam were gonna join up by themselves.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Yeah, so I thought that was like really nice. You know, it shows like the the the youthful people can do things that sometimes we as adults uh don't think to do or will do. Um I liked when Adam picked up Darcy for the date and he says, I like your hair. And she replied, I like your everything. That was a weird thing to say. I'm sorry. I thought that was so funny, just cracked me up. I mean, I really, really enjoyed that scene. Uh, the relationship with Darcy and Gretchen is nice. They were so supportive of each other.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Fantastic. This movie, this movie's almost more about it's just as much about Gretchen and Darcy as it is about Adam and Darcy.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah, then I had a couple more things, but uh I'll put in that one thing that I thought was very sweet was when uh Adam giving Darcy the shirt that says Coach Darcy heralds angels with the note, I love your work, keep going. That was really sweet. They talk about that in that movie. So it was a really nice moment in that scene. There's tons to love tons to like about this, but what are yours?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

So I like that the fact that when Darcy brought home New York bagels because my wife was in New York a lot on business last year, and every time she came home, she brought home New York bagels, so that kind of reminded me of that because they are really good. I love the coffee shop scene about eight minutes in with Rick and Adam. Uh, when Darcy walks in, the dialogue between Rick and Adam was so sharp and and just I knew right away, I go, man, this is a good writer, and I'm gonna like this movie. Um, because you could just tell that it was really witty. Uh I really like that scene. Um, I like the meet cute, or she always say re-meet cute because obviously they knew each other before, but they don't they don't like each other, and that really comes across. I like it when Gretchen asked Megan if she and Freddie have a Danny and Sandy vibe going on, which of course Megan has no idea what she's talking about. That was wild to me. Yeah. Um, I love the banter, the entire film between Darcy and Adam. I mean, you can tell. I mean, Russell Ainine writing his first script, you could already tell he writes this very snarky, witty dialogue between his two leads. Um, I loved when Gretchen was helping Darcy get ready for her date. Very cute scene, and he had that little cute nod to Home Alone after the doorbell rings where they they throw their hands up on their cheeks. Um, and that same scene when Darcy calls Adam Dorky in a weirdly attractive way, really well, really well written. And you know, Renee, I don't know if you noticed we didn't have a misunderstanding in this movie at all.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Um, you know, there's just a slight disappointment, you know, that she had to go back.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Yeah, this you know, this is a first-time writer. I think probably a lot of first-time writers think they've got to have the misunderstanding or gotta have the almost kiss or whatever. And you know, he didn't put one in there, which is kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

So yeah, whole bunch of like about this movie.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

All right, things we'd rewrite. I only had one thing because I thought this movie was so well done. And I think I would have liked to have seen Darcy's group struggle more and progress in their improvement a little bit more naturally in their singing. Because if you heard their singing, you know you're you're around people who sing. You know it takes a little bit more than just like a day to get on track with each other. It's okay if they get amazing. You know, it's okay that they got amazing like they did so quickly. I just would have liked to have seen a little bit, a little bit more of a struggle for them for us to not know if they would really be able to make it by the time the the final performance came around. I would have liked to have had that suspense of them struggling and then struggling and getting a little bit better and but still not quite right. And then at the final performance, it all comes together. That was just my own little rewrite. Uh, but I really couldn't find too much else in this. This is so well done.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Yeah, I think I would have liked to have had a little more competition between the two choirs. Uh basically they they joined for I looked at it 38 minutes in, that's kind of when they joined forces. We still had 45 minutes left in the movie. I I like to have had a little more competition between them. Um, Brendan Penny in glasses. When I started watching this movie and he's in glasses, my wife, you know, I was watching with my wife, she looked up, she goes, Wow, Brendan Penny in glasses, she was like into it. But if you notice halfway through, when he goes on the date with Darcy, he loses the glasses and you never see him again. I wish he would have stayed in glasses the whole movie. I would have kept that in there. And here's a big one for me. I don't know what happened here. But the last 30 seconds of the movie before the final credits, they kind of go to these little one-second flashbacks uh of moments throughout the movie. And they're moments we've already seen. I I would put those 30 seconds somewhere else. I mean, we'll talk about the kiss in a while. Give me give me 30 more seconds uh towards the kiss if you want to, but uh I don't think we needed those 30 seconds uh in between that last snapshot of uh Gretchen Megan and Darcy in their Green Christmas pajamas, which work should have ended, you know, and then final crits. I didn't need that little montage of those one-second flashbacks. But that's it for me. Yeah, I mean, obviously a really, really well-written script. So all right, favorite moment of the movie?

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Uh for me it was their dinner together, which was so nice. They genuinely had chemistry and were cute with each other. Uh, I like when they said to each other, I love what you're doing, keep going, as I talked about a little bit ago. And he says, And I love your work, you should definitely keep doing what you're doing. Uh look look look at us, high school rivals to adults on a date, you know, just little funny little lines, and she and she replies, Rivalry implies competition, which I thought was very funny, right? It's like saying you're not a competition to me. Uh, that was a nice Tosa. Very endearing scene, a nice date, very good dialogue. Uh, really, the actors just did so well in that scene with obviously great writing. And I just want to throw in an honorable mention in the dinner with everyone where she announced she was not going to make the show. It was a very powerful moment. It was very well acted. I really liked that scene. And one little last thing, I have to mention it as well. I like Brendan Penny's dance when the kids are singing. That was the dorkiest dance I've ever seen. It was Laugh Out Loud, Funny. I was cracking up with this stupid dance. It was great.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

I kind of think that wasn't in the original movie. They probably did a bunch of different takes and they saw that and they left it and they're thinking, we gotta leave this. It's so crazy. So I thought the same thing, too. I'm like, that's an improvised scene. Yeah, no, I can't I can't imagine Russell Hainlein wrote that into the script.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

So right.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah. All right. Uh my favorite moment, and well, it's actually gonna be two, but they're very similar. So it's the two spying kiss scenes uh where they were placing the bets. The first one with Megan and Friday coming home, and Darcy and Gretchen are watching out the window. And then when Darcy and Adam come home, Gretchen and Megan are checking them out and placing their own bets. So it's it's kind of those two scenes together. I just thought they were both hilarious. But then they would actually do that. I'm just the fact that they were looking out the window is one thing, but then they're placing bets if they're actually gonna kiss or not was just absolutely hilarious. So yeah, those I like that one a lot. Yeah, those those were good. All right, we always called our we'd love our best supporting characters who deserved a little more screen time.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Uh Rick, Adam's best friend, played by Garfield Wilson. He was hilarious. And you know me, I love football, and I loved all his football analogies. When he said, I never heard a more powerful, soulful meditation on what it means to be a contemporary woman in today's society. That line was the best line of the movie. It I rewound it like three times. It was it came out of left field for me. I was like, What? I thought that was so funny. The brilliant writing, just really unexpected from that character. I I could take more of him all day long. He was great.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

So I kind of okay. I I went with Rick as well, but yeah, I kind of noted down. I go, obviously, Russell Hainlein wrote some really witty banter with Darcy and Adam. I go, but he wrote amazing dialogue for Rick as well. Um, he he I love the fact he acts all tough, but in that very first scene, she's ordering a coffee drink called a minty Christmas Megamint Latte. And also, he's like, he also in that first scene basically lets Adam know that he is like a Darcy fanboy. You know, he wants to go and take a selfie with her. So he got this really tough football coach, but in the end, the guy's a total softy and he and he shows it so really well written by Russell Hainline, that uh that character for sure. So I'm with you. Rick is is my favorite as well. Yeah, that's it's hard not to like him. All right, we also we always call out a couple logic checks here in any movie. Something we're not quite sure would really happen. We call the segment Are We Sure. Do you have any on this one?

SPEAKER_00 16:07

Yeah, and that's one you mentioned already. It's like Megan would not have known who Sandy and Danny are. I mean, Greece is old, but most people know this, and especially if you inquire. She should know Greece. I mean, she's not in the musical theater, but like, come on, she should know that. And uh and I also mentioned this too, that in one or two days would the kids be able to sing that well? It's an astounding change. Should she go on a date if she's going back to New York? I guess she didn't know they would connect so well or something, but I'm not sure what her line of thought was there to going on this date with him if she knows she's gonna go back to New York. Like, why? Like, what do you date for, right? To to pair up eventually. That's that's how at least how I see it.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

But thought that romance gets in the way sometimes, Renee. Right, romance gets in the way.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

And the last ones, it just really bothered me. The crowd was clapping out of rhythm at the end. It just drove me nuts because you know I'm into music, and I was like, come on. Even if the music wasn't playing for them, if you just get them to clap together, you can time it into the beat. That's the that's my little rewrite things here. That one was funny to me.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Yeah, I got the same one into the first one. I wish that Darcy could take these kids who couldn't really sing much at all, had no confidence, and within two days, make them really good singers. Um, yeah, that's uh that's a no-brainer. You really had to put a little uh suspension of disbelief aside for that one, but it's it's part of the movie. Are we sure that Darcy couldn't have flown into New York City the night before, had her meeting with the record label CEO in the morning, and then flown back to Dayton in plenty of time for the choir competition? I I think so. And this is the big one. I started thinking about Renee. Are we sure that Darcy's manager would really dump her? I okay, I started thinking who is a comparison for Darcy? And I came up with Tiffany. Remember, yeah, I think we're alone now. She's kind of our age in her 50s now. I looked at what Tiffany could make for a single event. She makes about $25,000 for a one-night concert for like, you know, a big business, a corporation or something that's doing some kind of event. So I started thinking about it, let's say Darcy did 20 of those a year. That's half a million dollars. And an agent that would get 10% of that. If I'm her agent, I'm not giving that up at all. So I'm not sure Darcy's agent would really uh dump her. That's my that's my last, are we sure?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Oddly enough, Tiffany's been touring. She showed up on my feed somehow, and she sounds great. I love seeing her.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

I mean, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, they're all out there. They're they're they're doing their thing, you know, uh for sure. And they're and they're still making really, really good money doing it. So I think Darcy could still be making a ton of money, and she would have managers or agents lining up at her door.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

All right, are they gonna last 12 months?

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Yes, no question. They are like-minded, they click so well with each other. Even her going on tour won't leave their love flat. Get it flat. So I think easy. They're gonna last 12 months. I'm full on board with this homework spirit on this one.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Yeah, they are, um, for sure. I I I really I really like the kind of the slow buildup of their relationship. Um, I do think they need to improve their kissing, which I'll talk about here in a couple seconds. But yeah, as long as she stays in Dayton like plan, they're in it for the long haul. These guys are great together, no doubt. They're they're they're definitely lasting as a couple. All right, everyone's favorite segment, the mistletoe meter, where we rate the kiss. So letter grade. And uh what do you think on this one?

SPEAKER_00 19:15

So the first one, they're at the school. I gave this kiss a B. It is an appropriate kiss considering their environment. Right? So I'm looking at it more with your lens, is looking at it in the scene, uh, where they're at. You know, before I just used to grade the actual act itself. But considering where they are, that first kiss is a B. The second kiss, it's a little quick peck. There's also a B considering the scene and where they are. Totally appropriate. Again, I like that. The final kiss could have been better and longer, but this is a very wholesome movie overall. I give the kisses a B as a whole, keeping in mind that this movie did set sort of a wholesome theme through it all. So overall, I gave these kisses a B, even though that last one could have gone a little lower.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yeah, the I'm with you. Kind of the first couple, as I said, I put I wrote down kind of B, B minus, kind of middle of the road. They nothing fancy, but like you say, they're kind of right for the moment. The last kiss kind of disappointed me. I'm not gonna lie. I thought it was way too short. It was almost like, okay, let's just get this thing out of the way. You know, it's been building up, let's just do it. Um, I didn't see a lot of passion in it. I I said, you know, it was okay, see it best. I'll give everything overall a B minus. So, but I I do think, like I say, we had 30 seconds in that little one second montage there at the end of the movie before the final critics. Give me that 30 seconds and let's let him have a really, really good kiss there at the end. So um, but yeah, that that was my only if there's one disappointment in this movie, it was that final kiss.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

So, all right, who or what won the movie? Again, for the second week in a row for me, I'm gonna go with the writer. Uh Russell Hainlein, such a great story and real dialogue, a lovely sister relationship, mother and daughter relationship, niece and aunt relationship, and them as a family unit were just the beesnies for me. I it was such a well-written story. I it's hard to say anybody else but him uh won this movie, Russell Hainlein, all the way for me.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Yeah, I want to give a huge nod to Patty Murrin because I loved the acting, I love her voice. Um, she played the Darcy character so great. She was so charming. Obviously, we love we love Brendan Penny as well, but I really like Patty Murin. Um, but yeah, the winner of this movie is Russell Hainlein. And for the second week in a row, you're right. We had Tracy Andrine with her very first script last week in Snowbride, Russell Hainlein, his very first script uh in Mary Measure, and he has become an absolute star. You could just tell in this movie that's that this guy he knows what he's doing, and Hallmark better keep him around. Um he's never written anything for Hallmark other than a Christmas movie. Every single movie he's done. He hasn't done any fall movies, any summer movies, every single one's been a Christmas movie. And Russell Hainlein, just keep writing these Christmas movies. Uh, you're hands down, the winner of this movie. You are my favorite Hallmark writer of the last five years. I love me some Julie Sherman Wolf and Tracy Andrine and Nina Wyman. But he has just been absolutely killing it. And I can't wait to watch both of his movies this year.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Oh, me, me either.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

I'm so excited for his work. All right, time to rate the movie, Renee. This year, or this excuse me, this week, we're going how many sugar rushes uh does this get? Because that is, of course, Darcy's big uh high school pop song there, the sugar rush. So, how many sugar rushes is this movie getting?

SPEAKER_00 22:17

So I enjoyed the hallmark out of this movie. It was just a delight for me through and through. And I'm gonna preface this by saying uh this is not exactly the same for me as a kiss before Christmas, but I'm giving this movie five sugar rushes, nevertheless. Whoa! Yep, I I loved, loved, loved this movie so much. I knew I was gonna shock you when you said you wouldn't put it as your number two. I I would have put that as my number one. I thought that movie, this movie was so great. I I I really I just enjoyed every minute of it. I just loved, loved it to pieces. Five sugar rushes, hands down. I really liked it as well.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

I wasn't I wasn't quite willing to go as a five. I'm not putting it in the same category as an unexpected Christmas and ghost of Christmas always, um, a kiss before Christmas. I gave this 4.5 sugar rushes. Um I absolutely loved it. I mean, this is right there along with Snowbride, uh, the Nine Lives of Christmas, uh, other really good writers. Uh, but I I mean, taking nothing away from it, I mean, I love the heck out of this movie. Um, so well written, great acting, great music, 4.5 sugar rushes for me. And you know how much I love Russell Hainline. Um, so I'm I have no problems with you throwing the five out there for it.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Yeah, I just you know, I watched this movie outside of my normal. Normally I watch it like the weekend that we're gonna do the podcast. I watched this a week ago, and I just had plenty of time to sit and enjoy it. I wasn't under any pressure, and just caught me at the right moment. I loved it. It was great.

SPEAKER_01 23:43

All right, so uh 5.0 sugar rushes from you, 4.5 from me, and Renee, the next movie is all yours. What are we uh reviewing next week?

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Uh, I know everybody's been waiting for this. I'm not gonna keep you in suspense any longer. Christmas and Evergreen bells are ringing. We're gonna wrap up the series. Oh god. Uh what kind of bells do you ask? Sleigh bells, wedding bells, jingle bells? Tune in to find out next week.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

All right, so until next week, we get uh we get part four, right? Evergreen part four. And the final, yes. All right, so until until next week. Uh this has been a lot of fun. I'm I'm glad we we both really liked in Mary Measure. And um, yeah, well, uh I think uh I think Zach Hugg wrote this last one uh as well, if I remember correctly. So until next week, uh you know where to find us. Forever Hallmark Christmas is our Instagram and Forever Hallmark Christmas Gmail.com. Renee, let's keep it for the love of Hallmark. For the love of Hallmark.