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Episode 85: Dear Santa
82 Plays3 months ago
It’s the last of our Employee Picks for the Holidays and Anna has a sweet treat for us all, Dear Santa (2011). This Jason Priestley directed Lifetime movie stars Amy Acker as a woman desperate for a job or a man by Christmas Day. Intercepting a child’s letter to a Santa seeking a wife for her father, Acker proceed to stalk and then work for the man she’s pining for. Will they or won’t they? Can they save the non-profit soup kitchen from the bank? Will little Olivia get a wife for her father that isn’t Jillian? You know the answers to these questions, but you don’t know the true weirdness of this mundane little heartwarmer, so tune in!
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Transcript
Introduction of the Podcast and Guests
00:00:41
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and ho, ho, ho. Welcome to your favorite bad movie podcast. It's the only podcast that's brave enough to ask the question, if this movie is so jolly,
00:00:56
Speaker
but Why do you like it so much? ah i'm ah We're your hosts. My name is Chris Anderson, and with me, as always, I have the Olivia to my crystal, Mr. Greg Bossy. How are you?
00:01:11
Speaker
Yes. Hello, Chris. I am doing well today. I've dusted my Lego, so i feel productive. Okay. That's what we like to hear. Yeah. How are you? oh Not bad. I had some really good biryani for dinner.
00:01:23
Speaker
I don't know what that is, but it sounds good. It was. And we also, of course, have my wonderful wife and the selector of this week's movie, the Pete to my Derek, Mrs. Anna Anderson. Hello.
00:01:38
Speaker
hi there. How are you doing, my dove? Merry Christmas. Oh, Merry Christmas to you, my heart. I'm doing all right. We're recording this before Thanksgiving, but listeners, we're making sure to get the Christmas seat. It's not like I hope you have a shitty Christmas.
00:01:55
Speaker
No, none of us want that. No. and And how could I, when the tone has been set for me by your fantastic pick, Dear Santa.
Plot Synopsis of 'Dear Santa'
00:02:06
Speaker
Now, listeners, if you haven't seen Dear Santa, and this is the 2011 Dear Santa, not the Jack Black 2024 Dear Santa. Yeah. Yes. Here's a brief summary to hold in your mind.
00:02:27
Speaker
When Crystal Carruthers finds a stray letter to Santa wafting on the breeze, opens it to find contains a little girl's wish for a new mommy to marry her widower father.
00:02:40
Speaker
And so Crystal decides to seduce the grieving single parent. Yeah. Yeah, that's absolutely it. Yeah. yep fair Fair to say.
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah. And you also captured the the weird parts of it. There is a weird core in this one. Oh, yeah. I've got to imagine that's part of why you picked this one out, my dove. Why did you choose the US?
00:03:06
Speaker
Well, um I don't remember exactly when I first
Anna's Admiration for Amy Acker
00:03:11
Speaker
watched it. It would have been with you. You know, we would have seen it on a streaming service when we were looking at cheap Christmas movies. And um although this one isn't nearly as cheap as... ah some of the ones we've watched. Certainly The Boy Who Saved Christmas. Yeah. Yeah. It was much, much cheaper than this one.
00:03:32
Speaker
Yeah. I remember, i remember picking it because it stars Amy Acker and I've been a fan of hers since Angel. You know, it's not, it's not her fault that Joss Whedon is a creep. I think he was specifically like, well, I don't know. like He didn't treat the actresses who worked with him very well. And I think she was one of them.
00:03:56
Speaker
um But she stars in this and I think that she's just charming. um Yeah. And i also remembered that it had a premise that if you looked at it outside of the context of a romantic Christmas movie is insane.
Comparisons to Other Films
00:04:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. um That's true. It happened to be on our Plex show.
00:04:21
Speaker
on our plex it falls directly between dear Evan Hansen and death bed. And it's interesting how it doesn't, it doesn't not bear a slight resemblance to the the premise of dear Evan Hansen. From what I know of that, that movie yeah and musical. There is both letters and lies involved. Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:47
Speaker
Yeah, i did not remember this one, but we watched so many of like the holiday romances. a lot of them do tend to blend together. Yeah. ah and not necessarily in a bad way. i don't think you're watching, you know, your average lifetime Christmas movie for surprises. You're watching. They're very soothing, easy watches. Yeah.
00:05:13
Speaker
ah So I did not recall this one, but I had a great time watching it this time around. Greg, had you seen Dear Santa? do you have a background Dear Santa or Lifetime
Greg's Holiday Movie Experiences
00:05:22
Speaker
movies? So I i had thought that this was a Hallmark movie because i've watched a lot of Hallmark movies with my mom. So i was like, oh, it's a Hallmark movie. I know what I'm getting into. And then like halfway through at some point, I was like, this doesn't feel like a Hallmark movie. And was like, oh, right. I said Hallmark. This is a Lifetime movie. So this is cut from a slightly different cloth.
00:05:43
Speaker
And it shows, definitely. But I had no idea what this was. i don't I watch a lot of the Christmas romances with my mom. I've had like two time periods where i was like between states moving. And they just happened to be over the holidays, so I would be kind of on the couch watching Lifetime movies with her. So i'm familiar with the Christmas rom-com format.
00:06:06
Speaker
Fair enough. certainly This certainly falls into those patterns with its own...
Significance of Covering a Lifetime Movie
00:06:12
Speaker
Unique spins on things. Yeah, it's it's not entirely formulaic. No, I think it is a good example of the genre, but not, you know, not because of its slavish reliance on the genre.
00:06:30
Speaker
And I also, this is our first Lifetime movie that we've covered on the show. yeah And I do think that is worth shouting out. I agree. Yes. I have a whole segment on Lifetime movies later on.
00:06:44
Speaker
I'm very excited for that.
Jason Priestley's Background and Career
00:06:46
Speaker
Yes, I am too. Because I know you're going to slam dunk that research. Because you're incredible, my dove. Thank you. Do you guys want to hear the research I put into Dear Santa?
00:06:58
Speaker
Yes. Yes.
00:07:12
Speaker
I wish I had some context about the background of the film. Script director answers on set. What's going on on screen? I want to hear some details.
00:07:24
Speaker
Gossip stand to all that shit. Can't imagine all the time.
00:07:40
Speaker
So Dear Santa came out November 26, 2011 on the Lifetime Network, television for ladies. Do you think that was the day after for Thanksgiving?
00:07:52
Speaker
i wouldn't be surprised. No.
00:07:57
Speaker
It was directed by Jason Priestley. Yeah. Yes, it was. It certainly was. You can tell. It's got a sure hand behind the camera.
00:08:08
Speaker
That's not quite what I was saying, but sure. There are no taglines for this movie. Wow. First tagline-less movie.
00:08:20
Speaker
So Jason Priestley was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1969. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Filming Details and Budget of 'Dear Santa'
00:08:30
Speaker
ah He's most famous for playing Brandon Walsh on the primetime teen drama Beverly Hills 90210. But while he was there, he also directed 15 of those episodes. He did.
00:08:44
Speaker
I thought he was so dreamy in the first like. It was only the first couple of seasons that i watched any episodes. And it was like semi-fertive because it was too grown up for me. I don't remember how old I was. 12, 13. know, the age that you really want to watch Beverly Hills 90210. And Jason Priestley was so hot. And also I think it's weird that, ah I don't know.
00:09:19
Speaker
that Luke Perry and Shannon Doherty have both passed away because they're young, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Statistically, it seems unlikely. 90210 wrapped up in the year 2000.
00:09:33
Speaker
Since then, he's split his time and talent between behind and in front of the camera, sort of keeping a foot in both worlds.
Amy Acker's Career Highlights
00:09:42
Speaker
Really? Yeah. He made his feature film directing debut in 1999 with the film Bare Naked in America, which is a rockumentary about the Canadian novelty pop group, the Bare Naked Ladies and their stunt tour.
00:10:00
Speaker
Oh, my goodness. ah
00:10:06
Speaker
Because they're a Vancouver band. Yeah. Yeah. And he previously directed a video for them called The Old Apartment. one Yeah. One of their music videos, I guess.
00:10:21
Speaker
So his other projects seem a little less personal. Between making Bare Naked in America and 2011, when Dear Santa came out, he made seven other made-for-TV movies with titles like Good Night for Justice and The Other Woman.
00:10:39
Speaker
Hmm. Yeah. So you could see him slowly working into that lifetime lane. Yeah. ah His first lifetime movie was Don't Cry Now, which he also starred in, which came out in 2007. Okay.
00:10:56
Speaker
okay Probably the fact that he could get a heartthrob like himself attached to the picture helped sweeten the pot for lifetime. Yeah. And helped Priestly get his foot in the door, you know, in terms of directing for them.
00:11:11
Speaker
Now, it might not surprise you to learn that there's very little information available about the production of Dear Santa, a 14-year-old lifetime original movie. What? I'm sorry.
00:11:23
Speaker
i couldn't I couldn't work it out. I can tell you that it was filmed in Alberta, Canada. And it was a Canadian production with a budget of 3.95 million Canadian dollars.
00:11:36
Speaker
Okay. It's all on screen. Yeah, and do you do you think this was supposed to be Alberta? Was this supposed to be New York? I was under the impression it was supposed to be New York. This was supposed to be New York for sure.
00:11:49
Speaker
I never thought that. I just thought of it as city. Interesting. Yeah. What made you think it was New York coded? What what what made you...
00:12:01
Speaker
I think because there were clearly ah um an American family and that were well off, you know, in terms of the, ah you know, the main character, Crystal. Sure, sure.
00:12:14
Speaker
And ah was there an establishing shot of stock footage at the beginning of New York, maybe? It feels like the kind of thing where they remember. I don't recall. For me, it was the designer store and the big Christmas tree slash the skating rink, which I put together to be Rockefeller's center.
00:12:37
Speaker
But it's possible that they were never in the same shot. And I just Kulish off them into New York. It's perfectly possible it wasn't really trying very hard to, trying even less hard than ah girls just want to have fun, try to be Chicago. now that i Now that I think about it, I remember the L-O-V-E sign.
00:13:00
Speaker
It's like L-O-V-E. I feel like that might be New York. I feel like I've seen that in New York, but nothing else seemed that way to me. Yeah, you can tell that it was shot in, it wasn't actually shot in New York, but it might have been playing the role New York. Or it might have been playing the role fucking Gotham City. Right, it might have been playing the role anywhere North America for whoever might happen to be seeing this.
00:13:25
Speaker
Yeah. Now, they needed a lead for their picture. And for this one, they got Amy Acker as Crystal Carruthers. Acker had mostly worked in television at this point. Her biggest role was a series regular on Angel.
00:13:42
Speaker
But other notable performances include a recurring character on Dollhouse, I guess working with Whedon again. She had a very minor character named Miggy in Catch Me If You Can.
00:13:57
Speaker
And she also had the leading role in a movie William Shatner directed slash starred in for Full Moon Pictures called Groom Lake. So that does make this movie technically two degrees of separation from evil bong.
00:14:10
Speaker
Okay. and I wouldn't mind. Was it called Groom Lake? I downloaded Groom Lake. I'm very curious about Groom Lake. yeah I saw a lot of reviews comparing it to Neil Green. That's William Shatner's Neil Green. Yes.
00:14:25
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So we'll be digging into that one. Listeners.
00:14:33
Speaker
Other there Christmas movies of 2011. You got ah the big hit from that year. As I recall, the Netflix original, a princess for Christmas.
00:14:47
Speaker
You got Arthur Christmas. I believe about Santa Claus's relative. I was hoping it was about the 1980s comedian or comedy, Arthur.
00:15:00
Speaker
Yeah. He should come back and have a Christmas special like Pee Wee Herman did. But it's Arthur. ah You also got a very Harold and Kumar Christmas.
00:15:10
Speaker
hung Harold and Kumar are still going strong. They should bring those guys back. I'd watch another one. Yep.
00:15:18
Speaker
Beethoven's Christmas Adventure. That sounds fun. And as we know, ah there's a Barbie movie every year. This time it was a Christmas movie. Barbie, A Perfect Christmas.
00:15:31
Speaker
I hope it was. Yeah, she deserves it. She does. She works so hard. yeah
00:15:39
Speaker
Yeah, she's a doctor. She's an astronaut. She's got to make decisions. When does she just get to be Barbie? Yeah. Hopefully at Christmas. You guys want to talk about the plot of Dear Santa? Yeah, let's do it.
00:15:53
Speaker
yeah
00:16:11
Speaker
Blood bumper, listen to me. I'm gonna give you the blood summary. Come on, baby. Here's the synopsis.
00:16:23
Speaker
Blood bumper, blood bumper.
00:16:37
Speaker
Once again, we find ourselves with a very plot-heavy movie. this is Yeah. Filled with incident. Well, that's what happens when you lie and deceive. Yeah, that's true.
00:16:50
Speaker
You create complications. There's also a lot of incidents around Christmas. Yeah. It's a busy time of year. It's hectic. I think that sense of hecticness does read Christmas. Oh, yeah.
00:17:04
Speaker
So we open on a city street, perhaps New York City? ah And our credits are looking cheap. That's our first sign that this might be kind of a cheap production.
00:17:15
Speaker
But we see our a heroine, Crystal Carruthers, and she has ah a shopping list with a bunch of expensive stores on them. Coach, Prada, a third store.
00:17:27
Speaker
And then we see a humble mail carrier. Collecting letters from out of the blue box. When this oafish amateur lets a gust of wind blow all of the letters all over the street.
00:17:44
Speaker
Truly an embarrassment to the story.
00:17:49
Speaker
So much so that he does not notice that one of the letters flies directly into non-postal hands. Yeah. And then locks up the box and just continues on his merry way.
00:18:02
Speaker
She stuffs a letter in her pocket because sales girl comes out of the store that she's in front of. She's like, you should buy this red dress. It's the last one and it's in your size.
00:18:14
Speaker
She's like yes, red dress and goes inside. and then she goes home and at home she FaceTimes with her mother. who is on vacation, I believe at hedonism too.
00:18:26
Speaker
And she's telling her daughter that she needs to either get a job or find a man by Christmas or else she's getting cut off.
00:18:37
Speaker
No more family money. It's a great, it's a great bit of exposition. Yeah. It's like, you're 30 years old and you blah, blah, blah. And this is what I need. And I'm doing this. And so you have to do this by this time or we'll do that.
00:18:51
Speaker
And it's just like, great. Thank you for setting it all up. Yes. And it it gives us the information that Crystal has never had a job. You know, she's never had a serious relationship.
00:19:03
Speaker
Her main interest seems to be shopping. She seems to be basically a 30 year old ah share from Clueless. Yeah. She's a flippered age of it. Yeah. She reminded me a lot of the sort of protagonist that, Anna, you always tell me you like in, like, fiction of, like, sort of a bad girl. Not like like a girl that's trouble, but like a girl who doesn't have a moral compass. I would say that she reminds me just a little bit of the heroine of Otessa Moshev's My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
00:19:40
Speaker
except that gal likes to date herself for a year. And then nine 11 happens. It's a weird book, but I loved it. Okay. Okay. Yeah. She is similarly checked out of reality in her own way.
00:19:56
Speaker
ah And so, yeah, she's about to get cut off. Has to figured it out by Christmas. Bad time to go job hunting. I'm going to say the week before Christmas, I think mom is really setting her up for failure here.
00:20:08
Speaker
Yeah. I think that sounds about right. It was only a week before Christmas? Something like that. i mean, it's already the holidays. That's for sure. People are already writing letters to Santa.
00:20:19
Speaker
Yeah. Just you saying that, I realize I have no idea of the time period that this film takes place over. The holidays. Yeah. A lot of it seems to take place at like night. like It's almost a perpetual night, really. Except for yeah when it's not. It's weird.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah. There is sort of that TV lighting where everything's sort of just sort of flat. Mm-hmm. Um, so at some point, Crystal finds the letter in her coat pocket and she decides, oh, hey, let me just open up this child's letter to Santa Claus. I don't give a shit about anything.
00:20:56
Speaker
I wrote that down. I was like, federal offense. What is she doing here? What is this? Crystal pops it open for her own nefarious purposes.
00:21:06
Speaker
Perhaps to her sick, twisted sense of fun. Hmm. And she finds in there a letter from Olivia, a little girl. And the little girl says that she doesn't want any presents this year. Classic thing to write in a letter to Santa in this type of movie. We saw the same thing in The Boy Who Saved Christmas.
00:21:27
Speaker
She doesn't want presents. She just wants a new mom for her widowed father, Derek. And Crystal thinks... ah yeah Yeah, a new mom. like if she does wife She doesn't word it as, I want a new mom. she's She asks Santa for a new wife for my dad, which is, I think, a weird way to word it.
00:21:51
Speaker
Crystal's perhaps a precocious child. She's a little more concerned about her father than herself. Yeah, she's probably the reason why their house is spotless all the time. But Crystal immediately thinks that this would be perfect for solving her situation. She's like, I need to find a man. Here's a single man. I'll go just marry him by Christmas.
00:22:12
Speaker
It's easy. Then I won't get cut off and I can keep shopping. ah So she immediately drives out to their return address, even though they showed the exterior of the envelope and there was clearly no return address written on.
00:22:31
Speaker
So I got to ask you guys, yeah is this a grotesque thing to do? So I think the fact that while she goes there, she has to keep ducking down in the car so that no one sees her doesn't really cast these actions in a great light.
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah. You know what I mean? Like she's like, I don't want to be observed doing what I'm doing because even I understand that maybe I shouldn't be doing this. Yeah, i I feel like even in the context of the movie, this is a little a little boundary crossing.
00:23:13
Speaker
Yeah. But it also shows that Crystal needs to grow, i guess, yeah that she has some growing up to do that she'll do throughout the course of the film. I think it's one of these things that's in a movie where it's just like, we're going to show someone doing something that's so that we know is so wrong that that it explains their ineptitude. But it also also crosses some lines.
00:23:33
Speaker
And I wish you could find a way to do it without crossing some lines. You know what I mean? Because feel like there might be a way to do that. I also feel like there's an easy way to get her to...
00:23:46
Speaker
Continue the plot without having to like stalk him while still getting the letter and keeping it a little like, is this a good or a bad thing? Is somebody going to be upset without it kind of actually moving into stalking, which is kind of where it goes a little bit. A little bit, a little bit. So you do you have a fix in time? Do you want to do a quick fix in time? Well, the thought that I had is it's just like, what if you have basically the same premise where like the letter blows up and she's trying to give it back and then someone talks about the dress. So she just stuffs it in and then she goes back to the restaurant or whatever to try to give it to, or to somebody to be like, you know, i found this. I shouldn't have it. I didn't know what to do with it. And then sees him and then maybe opens up the letter accidentally or at that point, like leaves is like, ah, I forgot. And then, you know,
00:24:32
Speaker
The opening of the letter is the tough part. Yeah. Yeah. you kind of can't accidentally open the letter. No, it's true. She does go and spy on them. She sees them coming out of their house, father and daughter.
00:24:45
Speaker
at this point I leaned over her to Anna and said that what they should have done is made the family Asian and then have her go. Okay. Uh, I think that would have been a funny moment.
00:24:59
Speaker
But we see that he runs a snow removal company because he drives a plow with his name on it. He's Mr. Plow. He's Mr. Plow. That's his name.
00:25:11
Speaker
It's great touch. So he takes Olivia out for some breakfast milkshakes before then driving her back home and leaving her with a babysitter so he can drive down to his other job, which is the soup kitchen that he runs.
00:25:27
Speaker
So Crystal follows him inside and he assumes that she's a new volunteer and introduces himself. It's like, oh, hi, I'm Derek. He's like, oh, I'm Crystal. I love soup kitchens. yeah And then he has her serving with him up front so he can keep an eye on her and show her the ropes.
00:25:46
Speaker
And, you know, obviously a spoiled rich girl. She's a real fish out of water in the homeless shelter. Obviously, she physically recoils from a a homeless man. Yeah.
00:25:58
Speaker
And Derek is like, you get used to it, which I also think is a strange thing. Strange way of putting it. Yeah, it was a little weird when Derek, I wrote down, he said, they're just like you and me.
00:26:14
Speaker
Yeah. It's weird that you said that. Obviously, they're just like you and me. They're they're just people. um Now, after service, Crystal goes back into the kitchen and she meets Pete Kennedy, the gay classically trained chef that works at the soup kitchen for some reason.
00:26:34
Speaker
Wow. How do you know he's gay? well well yeah. Well, well, well As soon as I saw the uniform, he was... So I write little notes so I know where I'm at in the plot. And as soon as I saw him, it wasn't like back in the kitchen. I just wrote, oh no, as the like place we're at in the plot premise. He's wearing a pink chef's toque and chef's coat. And he isn't he's also wearing lipstick, I guess. yeah like it's It's great. It it really reads.
00:27:06
Speaker
yeah He's what we used to call flamboyant. Yeah, and and he serves as sort of the gay friend character, saying things like, I know, isn't he scrumptious? And honey, don't get me started.
00:27:22
Speaker
That kind of vibe. Yeah. Oh, I also liked about Pete that he was very Canadian. He was clearly one of the local cast.
00:27:33
Speaker
So Pete reveals that Derek took over the soup kitchen when his wife died. So that's why he has two jobs. And that's why he's, you know, he's still grieving his wife through the soup kitchen.
00:27:50
Speaker
But it is very funny that our our heroine is so evil and this guy is running a soup kitchen in memory of his dead wife. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And that's that's a good part of the premise. I like that it gives her that much of a hurdle to overcome.
00:28:06
Speaker
Yeah. But I cut you off. Really good. Oh, no, he's comically good, ah which makes up for the fact that he's otherwise he's otherwise a cipher. But that's fine.
00:28:20
Speaker
He's all that he has to be because the movie's not about him. Yeah. ah It's interesting to me that they almost don't really interact for the first half of the film.
00:28:31
Speaker
Yeah. He mostly just gets stalked by her. Yeah, and or there'll be like a moment where he'll be like, yeah, that's good. Good job. And that's it. Yeah. But he is sort of, he's blandly handsome, and he can brood a little bit to appear more in full. And that's pretty much all you need from this guy.
00:28:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:55
Speaker
Obviously, Crystal is intrigued by this blandly handsome, mildly broody man. Who wouldn't be? So she keeps volunteering. The next time she's there, Olivia stops by after school to practice her flute in the middle of the kitchen during service for some reason.
00:29:12
Speaker
Great moment. and She's also terrible at it. Yeah. In her defense, I tried to play the flute when I was in fifth grade. We all had to take band and choose an instrument. was like, I'll go for flute.
00:29:25
Speaker
This hard. I couldn't know. Yeah, I think it's really hard. Yeah. And she she hates it. So she doesn't even have the motivation to try Yeah.
00:29:35
Speaker
But she's practicing, which is one of the hardest things to do. So good on her for that.
00:29:42
Speaker
And Crystal talks to Olivia about it. You know, she's like, oh, you you seem to not be great at that. She's like, yeah, it's because I hate it. ah And then Derek comes over and he invites Crystal to help unload the food truck the next day in the morning. She's like, I'll be there. But then she oversleeps and misses the shipment. She shows up late and Derek's like, we got it. It's okay.
00:30:08
Speaker
Thanks anyway. And then on top of that, Derek's girlfriend Jillian shows up. Hmm. Now, what did y'all think about Jillian?
00:30:21
Speaker
She's fine. yeah She was a good villain. Yeah. She does a good job with it. I feel like the two of them have fun kind of bickering with each other and fighting over him. So that was kind of fun to watch. Um,
00:30:38
Speaker
I also would, I say felt a little bit, I mean, obviously she's a little selfish, but I also felt a little bad for her that this is just kind of happening. Yeah. If Crystal hadn't shown up, she could have gotten her happily ever after.
00:30:52
Speaker
But it is very funny to me that the little girl was like, I'd like a wife for my dad, not the one he's dating. Can I get a different wife for my dad than that person?
00:31:04
Speaker
She's got bad vibes. Yeah. Indeed, she does. No, she does. And the little girl's right. like all they All she does is talk about their old relationship. Yeah, it's weird.
00:31:15
Speaker
It's very weird. You could see people who have relationships like that, though. i It's believable. ah Crystal is intimidated. This lady is a realtor. She does seem to like have her shit together and be an adult, which is one thing that Crystal is not.
00:31:31
Speaker
So later, Crystal commiserates with Pete while they go and grab a cup of coffee. She shows Pete the Santa letter, and he tells her that she's going to have to step it up.
00:31:43
Speaker
The way to win Derek's heart is to prove that she can be a mom. It's like, of course. yeah ah But also, is that something that I am ready for? she you know But she's rushing headlong into love or whatever her goal is. yeah That's one of the real problems. I don't understand what she's actually trying to do. Yeah, because it's like, I got to fall in love with this guy. It's like, are you falling in love with him or are you trying to fall in love with him? are you Are you just trying to date him? Yeah, what ah one of our what what counts as success?
00:32:17
Speaker
I don't know She's invested in the idea that this letter blowing into her hand must mean something. yeah So she's like, I'll fulfill this little girl's Christmas wish. And that ist the wish just happens to be like not really something you can fu fulfill yeah in that way.
00:32:39
Speaker
So the next day, Crystal runs into them at the skating rink. Crystal and Olivia bond over the mean girls at school and their corny cherry lip balm.
00:32:51
Speaker
And they both enjoy ice skating. And Crystal used to do some figure skating, so she teaches her a move. But then Jillian rolls up. And even though they're icesquating ice squing even though they're ice skating, Jillian's the real ice queen.
00:33:09
Speaker
She puts the freeze on this whole situation and starts boxing Crystal out.
00:33:19
Speaker
So the next day at the soup kitchen, we see that Jillian actually holds the homeless in contempt. m Crystal, however. That's why I say she's fine instead of she's great.
00:33:31
Speaker
Like she does have she does have ah flaws. And I think that while contempt for the homeless, while a very common flaw in society, it?
00:33:42
Speaker
more difficult flaw to have when, if you're trying to marry a guy who owns the soup kitchen. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. ah Crystal, meanwhile, gives her scarf to Frank, the homeless man that swore 25 years ago to never again go through a door.
00:34:05
Speaker
Old man MacGuffin. Yeah. yeah They say he doesn't go indoors anymore. Not since then. yeah She finds giving him a scarf so fulfilling that she runs home and she grabs a bunch of last year's hottest looks and gives them out to all the diners at the soup kitchen.
00:34:28
Speaker
it's It's weird because she's like wrapping sweaters around people's heads like they're hoods. And everyone's just like, yeah! It's just like, you just have like a fuchsia cashmere shirt now.
00:34:43
Speaker
Great. I mean, it's nice. It's just weird. The whole sequence is very strange. Everyone's very excited to have a woman wrap shirts around their faces. Yes, it's it's very strange.
00:34:57
Speaker
I feel like all of the clothing could better go towards helping the homeless by selling it and then giving them the money. Yeah, that would make some amount of sense.
00:35:09
Speaker
You know, I don't know how many homeless people need a silk blouse. you Right, exactly. yeah But maybe you put in your bag for when you get a job interview. Who knows? Who knows? it just It's not unnice to do it.
00:35:23
Speaker
No, it's just, it's it seems strange. But only if you look at it too closely. And this movie's not about looking at it too closely. No, don't look too close at this. Right, yes. ah It's not all good news, though.
00:35:37
Speaker
Derek gets an eviction notice. He owes $10,000 in back rent and it's due by Christmas. So I've got a question here and I want to sound like a fool, but how do you make a soup kitchen profitable?
00:35:55
Speaker
I think it runs on donations. That's what I thought. That's what I thought. And so it was very weird to me. It's like, we we can't make rent. It's like, are you charging people? Like, where do you get the money to run your soup kitchen? Because I would assume it would be like government subsidies or. Yeah. yeah Maybe that or community. Yeah. Something like this.
00:36:16
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and I would bet, I don't know. Pete, Pete has two, two businesses, right? I'll bet a lot of the money from the plow business is subsidizing the soup kitchen, but there's no way that it's enough.
00:36:31
Speaker
Yeah. Like an episode of Bar Rescue. Exactly. Exactly.
00:36:41
Speaker
Still, Derek's like, oh, nothing I can't handle. It is really funny, though, to imagine being the and I'm sure they would happily do it. But being the, say, sheriff's deputy that shows up on Christmas Day to evict you from your soup kitchen. If you were just there doing it anyway, be like I'm sorry, buddy.
00:37:01
Speaker
You are gone. You got to get out of here. Dump all the soup in the gutter.
00:37:10
Speaker
To add to Derek's worries, one of the plows at his plow business has broken down, and so he has to go take care of it. But luckily, Crystal's there, and she volunteers to watch Olivia while he goes out takes care of this.
00:37:24
Speaker
Pete volunteers Crystal to watch Olivia. Oh, yes. Pete, the the classic gay wingman, slam dunking it. So Crystal and Olivia have girl talk and Crystal orders a pizza for them after burning a can of SpaghettiOs.
00:37:42
Speaker
When Derek finally gets home, it's so late that Crystal ends up crashing on the couch. When Jillian shows up for brunch the next morning, she is visibly upset to find Crystal there. Understandable. Yep.
00:37:57
Speaker
Especially after the previous night, Olivia lied to her and said that they were out on a date together. I love that event never really came up again. Because i would have thought she'd have been like, were you two on a date last night? But it was just like, you slept here last night.
00:38:14
Speaker
And it was as though that didn't happen. Maybe she just understood that the girl was lying. Yeah, could be. Could be. She might have pieced it together. But then the next morning when she shows up and Crystal is there. It's intriguing. Intriguing.
00:38:27
Speaker
This ends up, the tension between the two of them leads to a whipped cream slash whipped egg fight in the kitchen. is of Two classic foods to fight with.
00:38:37
Speaker
While washing up, Crystal finds the engagement ring that Derek has been sitting on. Jillian sees her finding it and tells Crystal to back off. Crystal, however, does not back off.
00:38:51
Speaker
No. Instead... Instead, she uses Olivia to set up another hangout, this time shopping for clothes. Yay! We get little outfit montage. Woo-hoo!
00:39:05
Speaker
Not the best outfit montage I've ever seen, just because they don't really go crazy with the outfits. No. But the one good thing about is... think that's because... I think that's because Olivia's a child.
00:39:18
Speaker
That might be. But they still, they could put her in like different goofy type of cool clothes. You know, they could have done something more extravagant with it. This felt like they just got the best clothes they could find in this Canadian department store. do You know what I mean?
00:39:32
Speaker
and I did like that. He was always getting food given to him. And every time you'd be like, what the, what the, like, it was this huge reaction. Like, Oh, wine. Oh, cheese.
00:39:45
Speaker
And every time he was like, Oh God, food. ah It was just weird to see it happen like six times. Yeah, that was a good series of like gags that were very light. They weren't too extreme, you know, because you can't take big swings at comedy in a movie like this. Right. it would It would make it roll like an egg.
00:40:06
Speaker
It just has to be sort of lightly funny.
00:40:10
Speaker
Everyone is very happy though. Olivia gets some new clothes and she says, uh, today it really felt like I had a mommy.
00:40:21
Speaker
Oh, great stuff. You love to hear it. this little What did you guys think of Olivia? I thought she was pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. She's a cute kid. Delivered her lines. Hmm. Back at her house, Crystal gets another Skype call.
00:40:37
Speaker
This one from mom saying she and dad won't be returning from Hedonism 2 in time for Christmas. But it's there to remind us there is still a ticking clock about Crystal's allowance in the mix here.
00:40:52
Speaker
Then Olivia calls. She says that Derek is going out on a date and he's wearing a suit. But don't worry. Olivia's launched a plan to stop anything from happening.
00:41:07
Speaker
She calls the restaurant or she calls her dad on her cell phone on his cell phone while they're at the restaurant to say that she's sick. And so Derek rushes home before he can propose.
00:41:21
Speaker
Crystal has also come by. Olivia said that she called Crystal when she was worried she would be able to get a hold of her dad. And ah she asked if Crystal can tuck her in. And seeing how motherly Crystal is, Derek is now officially reconsidering proposing to the woman he planned on proposing to about an hour ago. yeah now and then You've not gone on any dates.
00:41:45
Speaker
No, no. but Not really interacted. Not very much. But he wants someone that's good for Olivia. And he's seeing how good Crystal is with Olivia. That's true. Pete's advice was on the money on this one.
00:42:00
Speaker
but There's also been a minor complication going on about Crystal lying about graduating from and nyu in 2003. Go Violets. You were so happy. yeah that was my year.
00:42:15
Speaker
Yeah. a But yeah, ah Crystal ah comes out about having lied about graduating from college because she's says like, oh I don't want you to think that I'm like a flake.
00:42:26
Speaker
And Derek says, that's fine, as long as you don't have any more lies for me. And she's like, well... I never said I didn't find you via a letter that your child wrote to Santa. It's true.
00:42:42
Speaker
Yeah, she yeah says she doesn't have any other secrets.
00:42:47
Speaker
So the next night, after closing up shop at the soup kitchen, this guy's at the soup kitchen seven days a week. It's true. He's doing a lot of work for that soup kitchen. I mean, when they're that deep in debt, I guess you have to. It's true.
00:43:01
Speaker
you should look into some grants. You should look into a grant program, probably. Yeah, he needs to spend less time in the kitchen and more time in the office. Yeah. But Crystal notices that her car has been towed.
00:43:14
Speaker
Her Range Rover. Yes. She does have a Range Rover with windshield wipers for the headlights. it's It's pretty good because she's like, somebody stole my car. and he's like, where'd you park it? She's like, right out front. He's like, you parked it in the tow zone? And she's like, yeah.
00:43:30
Speaker
and so That was a beautiful little moment. I enjoyed that little exchange. So Derek offers her a ride to the impound lot, but then he gets a call from a plowing customer while on route. So the two of them have to take a detour to plow a parking lot together.
00:43:49
Speaker
which they spend most of the night doing. They have a great time doing it too. they love it's It's such a funny scene to me where they're just having a joke and a laugh over like plowing because that is the kind of thing that two people who are actually falling for each other would joke and laugh about. But from the outside, you're like, wow, they really need it.
00:44:10
Speaker
And it does sort of speak to my theory that like anyone else's job can be interesting for an hour. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He invites her to a work party at his house tomorrow night.
00:44:23
Speaker
So the next day she picks out the perfect outfit, which is obviously the red dress from the window at the beginning of the movie. And then she goes to the party, but it's more of an adult's drinking wine vibe.
00:44:36
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. She is definitely in full on Babadook. No, everyone else there is, you know, in sort of jeans and hoodies. Yeah. And she's there in a bright red cocktail dress.
00:44:50
Speaker
But it does get her noticed. Yeah. By the appropriate parties. So kudos to Crystal. Yeah. And as she says, she'd rather be overdressed than underdressed.
00:45:02
Speaker
Jillian is full on hater mode. And after Crystal leaves her clutch in the bathroom, Jillian sneaks a peek and finds the Santa letter inside. She put the Santa letter in her clutch for some reason.
00:45:18
Speaker
I feel like she was going to like try to tell him about it. Like, I feel like that night she was trying to tell him about it. So maybe it was like, I got this letter. But yeah, it is a little ridiculous to bring it with her. Yeah, I think you're right, Greg. I think she might have been carrying the letter in case she found an opportunity to reveal what had happened to Derek.
00:45:38
Speaker
Meanwhile, while Jillian is finding that letter, Derek asks Crystal out on a date out on the front porch. Boy, a lot is happening. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:45:50
Speaker
So by the time Crystal meets up with Derek for their date the next night, Jillian has told him about the letter. He is understandably upset and confused. I don't know how I would react to this. Yeah. it It puts you in an interesting position ah because he doesn't even know about the stalking part of it.
00:46:07
Speaker
So I don't know if if we, if we could disregard that entirely. Like, I don't know how I would feel if it was like, so my daughter wrote a letter to Santa and this woman read it and then came to meet me. And it turned out that we both really liked each other is kind yeah okay, but is also kind of weird.
00:46:25
Speaker
i think I think he thinks that it's weird that she didn't mention it. And I think he thinks like going to his house and then going to the soup kitchen is inherently stalkery. Yeah, and it is. And it is yeah and I think especially because it's is because it's a small child involved, you know? I think that makes it worse for him.
00:46:46
Speaker
o Also, do either of you know what day it is and what its relation to Christmas is because I swore it was like, it's like Christmas Eve.
00:47:04
Speaker
I think not there yet. I don't think, I think it's the day before Christmas Eve right now. I think this is the 23rd, but I might be wrong. They could have done some like nice establishing shots of the dates with like an advent calendar or something. I don't know. Yeah. yeah titles You know? Yeah.
00:47:23
Speaker
Yeah. Something.
00:47:25
Speaker
So Derek calls Crystal a liar and calls off their date. Then to add to Crystal's misery, she gets a call from her mom saying, well, it's close enough to Christmas, so we're cutting you off.
00:47:38
Speaker
Other than one last $10,000 check, which you can find down in your mailbox.
00:47:45
Speaker
Judging by her apartment, I'm going to say that's going to cover maybe three months rent. Makes sense. Yeah. That night, Derek seems prepared to propose again to Jillian.
00:47:58
Speaker
And Jillian is looking very much like the cat who swallowed the canary. She's like, I told you you couldn't trust her, Derek. Saying she graduated from NYU. I knew, what if she had done something to Olivia, this letter situation? Mmm, I'm wonderful.
00:48:14
Speaker
But then he leaves without proposing. He still doesn't pop the question. And on his way home, he decides to drive by the old soup kitchen. yeah And it turns out the lights are inside. So this must be Christmas Eve now at this point. Yeah.
00:48:31
Speaker
He goes inside and Pete explains that an anonymous donor paid all their back rent. So they've got at least another three months before they're back in this same situation. Wait, wait. But she had to turn the lights back on.
00:48:46
Speaker
It was closed. So it's Christmas. Yeah. So now it's man. Yeah. I think this is now Christmas Eve. I thought it was Christmas Eve.
00:48:57
Speaker
I think it's Christmas Day.
00:49:02
Speaker
That would be really strange if it was Christmas Day and they didn't... know no i'm I'm thinking they had closed that night because they're like oh, we're not going to do Christmas Eve because...
00:49:13
Speaker
so You know, we're already done. This was the way that I read it. He had to have the money in by the 23rd. And if it wasn't, it was going to be closed on the 24th. So the morning of the 24th, they close it. And then someone gives them the money.
00:49:27
Speaker
And then they're like, okay, well then it's back open. And so then they open it up I don't know if that timing works legally. feel like we've established that it's, it's confusing. It's sloppy. Space and time are can are unexpectedly confusing in this romantic Christmas movie. Yeah. It's sort of like they just kind of pushed out a script real fast without thinking a lot about it, I think. Yeah.
00:49:56
Speaker
And once again, this is not a movie that benefits from a very close reading. No, you put anything under a microscope and you're going to find faults. like Like they say in Dark Place, a pedant could see the strings. But...
00:50:10
Speaker
You know, Pete explains the anonymous donor paid back rent. So then Derek goes home, but Olivia isn't there. Where's Olivia? She's run off.
00:50:24
Speaker
Crystal, meanwhile, is wandering around forlornly listening to some very generic music that will be our outro today. Yes. Oh, great. They go to the big Christmas tree that they were all standing together earlier.
00:50:39
Speaker
And Olivia is there crying. And the two of them reunite. And then Derek shows up. And all three of them reunite. and they And they kiss.
00:50:50
Speaker
Derek and Crystal kiss. Then they go have Christmas dinner at the soup kitchen. And Frank, the man who never goes indoors, goes indoors. Boom.
00:51:02
Speaker
The end. Powerful. Powerful. I do feel like, though, I would like to talk just a moment about Pete ah explaining to ah Derek why the letter is okay.
00:51:17
Speaker
Okay. Please do. Because he's like he's like, how did you meet Jillian? He's like, well, I was in line for the whatever, and I turned around because she blah, blah, blah. And he's like, that was fate, just like the letter.
00:51:31
Speaker
And it's just like, I feel like these two things are different. Because yeah like if she had just found the letter and said, oh, I think you dropped this, that would be a similar situation. But he didn't turn around in line and then go to her house and follow her for a while and then get a job at where she works.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah. Those are two different stories. It's very strange. It's a yeah weird. Yeah. yeah But at the same time, I can see where Pete's coming from. Like, everybody has to meet somehow. Yeah, I mean, it's true. This obviously weird, but this will be a cute story. Just let it let it slide. You're being too uptight. Let it be.
00:52:06
Speaker
Yeah. Plenty of lies. I think Derek, by this point, by the end of the movie... is is waiting to be talked back into. um Yeah.
00:52:17
Speaker
Hanging out with this woman who he likes a lot and who his daughter likes even more. You know? yeah Yeah. You just need some time to process this to a point of understanding this. Yes.
00:52:29
Speaker
Because it's a complicated situation. It is very complicated. lot ins, lot outs. Final thoughts. Five star ratings. Greg, why don't you kick us off?
00:52:41
Speaker
Okay. So when talking about my ratings for this one, I, as I kind of have to talk about the way that I do ratings. So when I'm doing the ratings, when i'm talking about watchability for me. It's the idea of like you, you, the listener want to watch a movie.
00:52:57
Speaker
And so for some reason, if you were to look at my ratings of the movies that we've done, the ones that have the highest ratings are most likely to be the ones that I think will be the most watchable, At any time for any audience member, although I do sometimes make it personal or have like a little caveat to it. You know what I mean? So for me, I think that putting a watchability on this, put a watchability rating on this movie is,
00:53:24
Speaker
unnecessary because I think you already know based on the premise how watchable this movie is. It's not going to stray too far from what your idea of it is, despite the fact that it's a little weirder than you would expect it to be. You know, you know, already, if you want to watch this movie for me personally, I'm going to give it a two just because I've seen a lot of Christmas movies and this doesn't quite stray enough from it for me, for me to pop it on some evening. But I will say,
00:53:54
Speaker
That if someone's like, you want to watch that Jason Priestley Christmas movie, I definitely would watch it again. There's absolutely nothing wrong with watching this movie. It's just I've seen a lot of this formula before.
00:54:07
Speaker
And so it is a tiring for me. I can understand that. yeah But I think any listener here is just like, if you want to watch this movie, you're going to want to watch this movie. And if you don't want to see this movie, you don't want to see this movie.
00:54:22
Speaker
As far as weirdness goes, I'm going to say two, just because it's not that weird at all, except for the parts that are pretty weird. And I think that just raises it up to a two.
00:54:33
Speaker
You know what I mean? It just goes from this girl to two because of the whole stalker angle, there just some other weird little moments in it. But I had a very similar experience to you, Greg, but I graded it more.
00:54:47
Speaker
I think of watchability as like just how easily you can sit down and watch this from beginning to end without it being like, oh I'm having a hard time paying attention. Sure. You know, this to me falls then at about a four. I think this is a very smooth viewing experience. It's not something that's very watchable in like that you find yourself desiring to watch it specifically. This is more like something that you are in the mood for this type of thing. Right. And it delivers that type of thing.
00:55:18
Speaker
I'm going to say these holiday lifetime movies are relatively interchangeable as long as they are sort of equal quality. And this is one of the better ones. I'm going to say for weirdness. I only gave it a one. i think there's always something a little bit uncanny about a movie where no one seems to be particularly famous and where no particularly memorable choices are made, but it is entirely competent.
00:55:47
Speaker
It's like watching an episode of a sitcom that was made in a foreign country. You know what i mean? Yeah. Or like going to a regional fast food place in a different part of America.
00:55:57
Speaker
and you're like, I'll take that that happy shake. Yeah. And it's like, okay, this is, it's weird that it they call them happy shakes. It's not that weird. It's just mildly weird. Yeah.
00:56:09
Speaker
What about you, my dove? This was your pick. All right. Um, Yeah, I would give this about a four for watchability. i think it goes down easy, like ah like instant oatmeal.
00:56:22
Speaker
But I love instant oatmeal. m Like, that's one of the things that I love about the coming of cold weather, is getting to eat it's instant oatmeal again. All right. The little things.
00:56:39
Speaker
Yeah. I would say also a... for weirdness, I would agree. it's I would give it about a two. um i do think the premise is maybe... i don't know. I think that the... dead mother is... I mean, it's not weird.
00:57:05
Speaker
Really. Yeah, that's sort of classic. Like My Three Sons? Yeah, yeah. I don't know. It's not that weird. Except... As Greg said, when it is weird.
00:57:18
Speaker
Yeah. Well, with that, let's move on to Ag 3 of the show. My lovely wife has got a segment for us this week, and they're going to be talking about TV.
00:57:31
Speaker
Yeah. TV! We talk TV! New Jocs and TV!
00:57:41
Speaker
Talking about TV. Talking about TV. Talking about TV. Oh, can't you see?
00:57:58
Speaker
this week I'm talking about Lifetime. Yes. All right. Lifetime was initially launched in 1984 as a women's network. At first, that was a mixture of talk shows and, like, health programming. Okay. It rebranded under the Television for Women tagline in 1994. Okay.
00:58:24
Speaker
Yeah. As of November 2023, it's still available to 63 million pay television customers in the US. s Like, a lot of people still watch it. um And it's currently 50-50 owned by Hearst Communications and the Walt Disney Company.
00:58:43
Speaker
Okay. That makes sense. Now... They have a lot of different type of programming, but obviously we're here to talk about Lifetime movies. Yeah.
00:58:54
Speaker
The first ones were created under executive Patricia Feely. who became head of programming in 1988 and um changed 60% of the channel's programming over the next three years. She was apparently responsible really for bringing it out of the, it was kind of a cable backwater, one of the articles I've read said.
00:59:21
Speaker
The very first movie was 1990's Memories of Murder, starring you Terror in the Isles alum Nancy Allen. Nice. As a woman with amnesia trying to figure out why a female killer is after her and her family.
00:59:40
Speaker
o Ooh, great stuff. So this does obviously share a title with a 2003 Bong Joon-ho movie. Yeah.
00:59:53
Speaker
I'm guessing it's probably not as good, but you can see that Lifetime hit upon the kind of movies that would make them famous, you know, pretty much right away. Yeah. yeah it's It was harder than I expected, actually, to find a list of the movies, I think, probably because...
01:00:14
Speaker
I think probably because they're theirre TV movies and hence a lot more um disposable. And also, you ah you know, there there'll probably be books, you know, or, you know, if I if i did serious free research. But, you know, was Yeah, we have constraints. yeah Yeah, we have constraints. But since their debut...
01:00:37
Speaker
Lifetime movies have become so popular that they have a dedicated channel, Lifetime Movie Network, which spun off in 1998. Oh, that's early. Yeah, yeah.
01:00:50
Speaker
ah They've had their own streaming service, Lifetime Movie Club, since 2015. who ah They aired their 500th original movie in 2023. That was a two-parter called Murdaugh Murders the Movie. Murdaugh Murders the Movie? Yeah. yeah That's tough. I'm assuming this is about Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced lawyer. yeah That's a wild story. so Starred Bill Pullman.
01:01:22
Speaker
Oh, God, I need to see this. yeah yeah like Yeah. The murder thing about these movies is that they do sometimes bring in an actor where you're like, want to, that's probably a cool performance, you know? Did they did they do the um the John Travolta, O.J. Simpson trial movie? No, that was FX, I think. Okay.
01:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. um So that movie... was part of their, they have a regular true crime series called Ripped from the Headlines. They'll be like, you know, here's our upcoming Ripped from the Headlines slate of four movies, you know, airing on Fridays. um They have other...
01:02:05
Speaker
sort of sub franchises within lifetime originals. Like they do a lot of biopics. They do a lot of programming aimed at black women specifically. Like they did a remake of steel magnolias. When I was researching this, I learned that they also did a remake of single white female. Yeah.
01:02:27
Speaker
Oh, obviously called Single Black Female, but that's also ah a fun idea. Yeah. And of course, they do Christmas movies under the ah annual slate called It's a Wonderful Lifetime.
01:02:42
Speaker
no i have one more factoid about Lifetime Christmas movies, and that's their first one was called ebbie in 1995, starred Susan Lucci as a gender-swapped Ebenezer Scrooge.
01:02:59
Speaker
okays Okay. Nice.
01:03:03
Speaker
Now, did anyone notable ever come out of the lifetime system that either you guys, anybody's aware of? I don't think I've ever heard of anyone. Not that I know of. Yeah, I don't know. i don't hear of it as like a breeding ground for talent. Yeah.
01:03:19
Speaker
Well, I feel like, and I don't, I'm basing this kind of on Hallmark, but they have a tendency to like reuse the same people. Is that the case with Lifetime? I think so, because we're going to talk about that a little bit in this week's game.
01:03:32
Speaker
fair Fair enough. All right. We're going to be doing a little bit of guess the title with the writer of Dear Santa, Barbara Kimlicka. Sure. Sure.
01:03:54
Speaker
Let me tell you about this brand new game, where you guess the movie's name. You just tell me what the title is, prove you know about showbiz.
01:04:09
Speaker
Guess the title. Whipper, whipper, whipper, whipper. Guess the title. Gooby, gooby, gooby, gooby. Guess the title. Come on, honey.
01:04:23
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:04:32
Speaker
I got to say, this is my favorite game and that's my favorite bumper. but Uh, so yeah, we're doing films written by Barbara Kim Licka. She's written over 60 films, a lot of them for lifetime, a lot of them for Hallmark. Okay. So I think they share talent or maybe they poach from one another or have in the past.
01:04:54
Speaker
But what I'm going to do is I'm going to read you a plot description of a film and I'm going to give you three titles. I want you to tell me which one is the real title of the movie and You'll buzz in by saying your own name. And if your opponent gets it wrong, you will have the chance to steal. Everybody ready?
01:05:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. All right. Question number one. When journalist Julia goes back home to find inspiration, she discovers her childhood friend has built a giant snow maze, which prompts her to find her way to true love. Ooh. Okay.
01:05:32
Speaker
Is that a Christmas maze, amazing winter romance, or love in the labyrinth?
01:05:44
Speaker
Greg. I heard Greg first. What was the second one was amazing Christmas romance, amazing winter romance, amazing winter romance. Correct. Oh yeah. When I saw that title just listed amazing winter romance, i was like, what could that possibly be? And then when I saw there was a maze in it.
01:06:06
Speaker
Yeah. Barbara, you're on another level. She sure is. Question number two. A jealous rivalry between three high school girls leads to a shocking crime.
01:06:21
Speaker
Is that Deadly Was My Classmate, the Lana Cowan story, Third Period Betrayal, or Death Click?
01:06:33
Speaker
Anna. Anna? Death Click. You've got it, my heart. Wow. Wow. I really thought you made that one up, Chris. No, no. She has got some great titles. This is really exciting. And I think that's a real tradition in Lifetime movies. They always have really punchy grab you titles.
01:06:56
Speaker
Question number three. Following the mysterious disappearance of her husband, a woman gives up the trappings of her wealthy lifestyle to move into an isolated tiny house.
01:07:08
Speaker
But that's where the real terror begins. now Is this tiny house of terror stalked by my architect or a small plot?
01:07:24
Speaker
Oh, man. Anna? Tiny house of terror.
01:07:32
Speaker
Correct. Why complicate things?
01:07:38
Speaker
i'm i'm I'm really glad that I was able to trick you almost trick you guys with stalked by my architect and a small plot. I wanted both of those to be it. I wanted all of them to be it. small plot is really good. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
01:07:54
Speaker
Question number four. Inspired by a story idea following random acts of kindness at Christmas, a journalist reconnects with an old flame in her hometown.
01:08:06
Speaker
Is this random acts of Christmas, Christmas in Rhode Island, or re-gifted? Greg. Greg?
01:08:18
Speaker
Random acts of Christmas. You got it. You guys are on fire today. With the spirit of Christmas, that is. Yes.
01:08:30
Speaker
Question number five. A teen's life turns upside down when her boyfriend impregnates both her and a new student at school. Oh,
01:08:41
Speaker
Wow. Is that three's a crowd? who Double daddy? ah Or we're both pregnant? No, Greg.
01:08:53
Speaker
Greg? We're both pregnant.
01:08:58
Speaker
Needed to it. I'm sorry. Needed to say it.
01:09:02
Speaker
Anna, can you steal? Three's a crowd? No, I'm sorry. That was Double Daddy. I was going to cease this cry say Double Daddy. You know what it should be called? What's that? Two girls kill a guy.
01:09:17
Speaker
I believe a year later, she also wrote a movie called Double Mommy. Oh, that's a nice pair. Question number six. A 30-year-old woman takes on a teenage identity and goes back to high school.
01:09:33
Speaker
Oh. Is that Young Again, the Vicki Patterson story? The Senior Senior? Or Identity Theft of a Cheerleader?
01:09:47
Speaker
Anna. Anna? Young Again, the Vicki Patterson story.
01:09:54
Speaker
Oh, I'm sorry. It wasn't Young Again, the Vicki Patterson story. Greg, can you steal? Can you read the other two again, please? Yes. The seniors senior senior or identity theft of a cheerleader?
01:10:06
Speaker
I mean, both of these. I can't believe one of them is the actual answer. ah So I'm going to go with the one I keep forgetting, which is the the first one that you said. The senior senior? Yes.
01:10:19
Speaker
ah No, I'm sorry. It was identity theft of a cheerleader. Wow. Wow. That's wild. It must have been part of some of a cheerleader series. It could be.
01:10:34
Speaker
Or an identity theft series. Or a crossover. too Question number seven. After swearing off dating for a full year, weather girl Leah quickly learns her new commitment has made her a magnet for men.
01:10:50
Speaker
Ooh. Is that love in the forecast? Cloudy with a chance at love? Or dry spell?
01:11:03
Speaker
Greg? Yeah, no. Greg? Love in the forecast? Correct. just
01:11:14
Speaker
Did I get you with dry spells? I like that one. Yeah. Question number eight. When a travel agent up for a promotion is directed to forget her tropical vacation and instead visit the world famous ice hotel, she discovers that her sacrifices are more than compensated.
01:11:37
Speaker
Is that cold hotel warm heart? Hmm. Baby, it's cold inside. yeah Or Christmas in Reykjavik.
01:11:50
Speaker
Anna. Anna. Christmas in Reykjavik? No, I'm sorry. It wasn't Christmas in Reykjavik. Wow, I thought that was going to be it. What were what was the first one?
01:12:04
Speaker
Cold Hotel Warm Heart. Yeah, we'll go Cold Hotel Warm Heart.
01:12:11
Speaker
No, I'm sorry. It was baby. It's cold inside. That is unbelievable. That's really good. right i got to give it up for Barbara for that. That's very good. It's too good to seem real.
01:12:27
Speaker
i mean, she's a pro. You got to say. She is. All right. Last one. Greg is up by one point. It all comes down to this. Oh, boy.
01:12:37
Speaker
Two school teachers take their rivalry to a new level while they scramble to win a holiday baking contest and the affections of a handsome single father. Is that the Christmas contest, holiday rivals, or a cookie cutter Christmas?
01:12:59
Speaker
Anna. Anna?
01:13:02
Speaker
A cookie cutter Christmas. Here it is. Yeah. Correct. It's all tied up. Hey-oh. All right. I'm going to have to do a tiebreaker. How do we resolve this?
01:13:15
Speaker
I'm pulling up Barbara Kimlicka's filmography right now. Good. I was afraid you were going to get some knives and some handkerchiefs. No, no, no, no, no.
01:13:27
Speaker
All right. I want you to tell me which one of these three movies... It has the highest rating. Oh, okay. d b Okay. Okay.
01:13:39
Speaker
One of a kind love. Death saved my life. Ooh. Or Christmas on wheels.
01:13:52
Speaker
Okay. And we're picking which one is the highest rated. Yes. Anna, that was your movie. So you can go first. Okay. Christmas on wheels. Okay. And what greg what was the death one?
01:14:05
Speaker
Death saved my life. Death saved my life.
01:14:10
Speaker
All right. Greg was closest. The highest rated was one of a kind and with 6.3. Death saved my life with 6.0 and Christmas on wheels with 5.8.
01:14:20
Speaker
Congratulations to Greg. You won the tiebreaker in a squeaker. Yes. And on top of that, it's time for the Batty Awards.
01:14:36
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:14:47
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:14:52
Speaker
Congratulations to all the nominees.
01:15:01
Speaker
That's right. Congratulations to the nominees. It's the Batty Awards. But a bigger congratulations, obviously, to the winners. ah Greg, don't you kick us off?
01:15:13
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm going to give my Batty Award to ah the line that genuinely made me tear up a little bit. And that was ah like somebody said something like we're all together now. And i they said, which is exactly how Santa planned it.
01:15:31
Speaker
And I like teared up a little bit and I ah took me back so much that I didn't even attribute it to a person. I just attributed to got me. So whoever said that you got me.
01:15:42
Speaker
Good work. Yeah. I'm guessing that was a nice moment. I think that's Derek coming in at the end. Yeah. And she's talking to Olivia.
01:15:52
Speaker
Yeah. Olivia's like, and then the letter wound up in my hand because of, and then Derek's like, because that's how Santa planned it. Yeah. And that's what like. Yep. And it was just like, you can get through it. You can get through it.
01:16:08
Speaker
We're through it. But okay. Okay.
01:16:11
Speaker
Well, I'm going to give my baddie award to Brooke Hesselm, who was the costume designer who looked at the script and saw that there was a gay chef character and then went out and bought a pink chef's jacket.
01:16:25
Speaker
Yeah. I was like, got it. Got a new one. Kudos to you. Let's be real. She bought a white chef's jacket and some Rit dye. Yeah, it could be.
01:16:36
Speaker
Could be. Anna, do you have a baddie award? I have two. They're small. First, Jillian, ah played by Gina Holman, an actress, another in the series of people who were on Supernatural.
01:16:55
Speaker
Carry on my wayward son.
01:16:59
Speaker
I imagine she's probably like a Vancouver local. Yeah. And the other one goes to the actor who plays Pete, Patrick Freary, who is cutting carrots in one scene. And unlike every actor who's ever cutting things in a movie, he has good knife skills. Nice. Yeah.
01:17:21
Speaker
So good knife skills, Patrick. Kudos to you. And kudos to you, listener. You've made it to the end of the episode. What a wonderful time we've had celebrating the holidays. Hopefully you've joined us in the Discord watched a couple of Christmas movies with us.
01:17:40
Speaker
And hopefully you'll join us next week. Even though it'll be coming out after Christmas, we're going have one last dose of Christmas for you. We're going to be talking about Mixed Nuts with Mallory and Rebecca Rine together at last, the Rine sisters. Very excited.
01:17:56
Speaker
Yeah, Greg almost picked Mixed Nuts for his pick. I'm very curious. Yeah. So hopefully you'll be there for that. ah And in the meantime, you got your phone in your hand. Give us that five stars. Give us a comment. Give us a subscribe. Share this episode on your social media and say, boy, I loved it. I listened all the way to the end.
01:18:17
Speaker
And ah until next week, be good and goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.
01:18:38
Speaker
There is music. Yeah. Instantly forgettable.
01:18:55
Speaker
yeah. I'm so stuck in all that seen. I'm not even feeling