Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
I'm Jenny.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, I'm Carrie. We're best friends and new moms. We're
also the ogs of Hallmark Christmas movies. That's right. We've
been watching these movies since long before they became a
Christmas juggernaut. And now we're here to talk all things
Hallmark with you because we know you're watching too. Sit back, relax,
and get your Hallmark on.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
We are the Hallmark junkies.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Merry Christmas. Carrie here along with Jenny, we are the
Hallmark junkies, and we are back to talk about a classic,
a Hallmark staple movie, hall of Famer, hall of Fame
at like I mean, people love this movie.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And it's also it was a twenty fourteen movie, which
it seems like a lot of these classics are twenty
fourteen movies.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, what was going on in twenty fourteen? We were
just pumping them out one after another. Yep. Now we
are talking today about The Nine Lives of Christmas. I
love this movie. I've always loved it. Would you like
to share your thoughts?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Okay, I have not loved this movie in the past.
Part of that is because I specifically do not like
orange cats, except for Garfield.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I've known you for a while, and I have never
known that. I'm not a cat person either. But those
orange cats, I don't know why, they're just they're just
oh not man. I like kittens, but I wouldn't even
like an orange kitten. I like furry cats. So like Queenie,
I like that. I probably wouldn't like the shedding because
you know, Harry, our producer, he does not shed ycause
(01:59):
he's a poodle. But Ambrose the orange cat in question.
Ambrose is a family name from my mom's side of
the family.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Uh meant to be, I know. So this movie is
starring Brandon Roche.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
He played Superman. Yeah, he's only.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Ever been into Hallmark movie The Nine Lives of Christmas
and the Nine Kittens.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Anytime this movie is on and I get really excited.
My husband is always like, oh, the Superman movie of cats.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And also our other star is Kimberly Sestad, which we
both love.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Everybody loves her. She is everything. She is beautiful, and
she writes a lot of movies now, so of course
I love that. And she's just she's a good actress.
She's very believable, very very like just normal person. Yeah,
you know, your sister Katinka. Katinka and I have a
(02:56):
list that we keep on her phone of celebrities that
we wish we were friends with him. Really yeah, and
I would put her on it.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Oh, I would put her on it too, along with
obviously Elson Sweeney, well yeah, yeah, and Lacy. Pretty much
all the Hallmark starts would be on my list. Yeah,
except for those ones that you know left the channel
just getting CCB. You're still on my list.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, should we get this thing started. Let's do it.
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Let's go to our picture at segment, just a synopsis
of the movie named after our favorite golden girl, Sophia
and her fun stories.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Are you ready? Let's do it? All right?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Picture It, Oregon, twenty fourteen. Zachary Stone is a fireman
and a bachelor, and he's obviously then doing a photo
shoot to be the cover boy of the local charity
fireman calendar, because that's what firemen do, right right. He
is also a cynic about love because his parents' marriage
didn't last. In fact, his love life consists of a
(03:55):
revolving door of models and beautiful woman, all of whom
think they can change him and make him one to commit.
His fellow firefighters at the Christmas decorated firehouse seemed to
be a bit jealous of his lifestyle. They rag on
him a bit about it, and when Zachary, it's Zachary,
not Zack, never zach.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I hated that.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
When Zachary isn't saving lives or posing for calendars, he
spends most of his free time flipping houses. Meanwhile, we
have Merrily White, a veterinary student who spends most of
her free time studying or working at the local pet
supply store. She is overworked, and she is exhausted, and
she happens to be asleep in what I think is
a cat anatomy class, it sounded like it, which I
(04:36):
had a lot of questions about vet school after that,
like do you have to go to anatomy class for
each of the animals?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, I've heard that it's way harder to become a
vet than to become a regular doctor, because a regular
doctor just has to learn the human body. When you're
a vet, you have to learn the anatomy of all
these different animals. I had so many.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Questions about you know, veterinarians after this, and also where
do you stop, Like if you're going to be a
vet in a a regular animal hospital. Maybe you stop
at the pets, but like, if you're gonna work at
a zoo, you're gonna have to learn lines.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, Anyway, she fell asleep in cat anatomy class, but
she nailed it when the teacher woke her up and
quizzed her on cat ailment. Merrily's single. That's because she
doesn't have time to date, but she believes in love,
unlike mister Zachary, not zach no Zachary. Her super dramatic
friend Lucy, however, thinks that Merrily will die alone since
(05:29):
she's an elderly elderly twenty nine years old.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Uh yeah, are you about to say how? The friend
says that she's seventy nine years old, and then Merrily
responds with, like, stop counting your age and dog years.
But if you were seventy nine, I think you'd only
be like eleven and some change.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, maybe a little older if you're going with the five,
but I think you're supposed to go seven, right.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
That's what I was thought, like, Yeah, Devin, dog, Yeah,
she was sabe that's not accurate. They would know seven.
I think it is, so yeah, but I wrote that
down because I was like, wait a minute.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, she also Lucy the Friend pressures her to join
a new dating site called Just Dessert. Merrily also has
a cat, cat's name being Queenie. We referred to her
a little bit earlier, but this is a top secret
cat because her landlord has a very strict NOEPET policy.
Penalty is immediate eviction, right, so, Arlene. Zachary is heading
(06:31):
home from the firehouse and he ends up saving an
orange cat from a barking dog, and the cat comes
into his little fixer upper house and he won't leave
even though Zachary tells him to.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Fun fact, my dog Harry, who is also Jenny's god dog,
he loves cats. Really yeah, I think that he thinks
they're dogs, Like I don't think he gets that they're
not like his own. Speed.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Feel like you're insulting Harry's intelligence right now.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Well, it's more that Harry, you know, is very kind
soul oh okay, you know, like he wants to have
a personality than an intellect. He wants to be best
friends with a cat, and he doesn't understand when they
like arch their back and hiss at him.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I feel like he would fit well with Zachary Zachary
didn't seem to understand cats either, because he let him in,
and he also gave him milk, which I think is
bad for cats.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Well, Merrily says later in the movie to him, No, no,
don't give him milk. I feel like I've heard that
somewhere before too.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
The cat has a tag. The name is Ambrose, and
Zachary the next day decides to take the cat to
the firehouse to try to find its owner, but he
finds out that the owner died and that Ambrose is
in need of a home. So Zachary has a new
little feline roommate. And now that Zachary is with pet,
he needs some pet food, and as chance would have it,
(07:46):
he goes to the local grocery store to get pet
food and he runs into our friend Merrily, and Merrily
does help him in choosing pet food, and she's buying
a vat of ice cream.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
I like their whole exchange when they first meet.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Also like when she kept putting back sizes of ice
cream and getting bigger ones. And they definitely they have
a connection, And I love that she also made it awkward,
like she was the one that was like, oh, your
warm eyes.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
And then She's like, why did I do that? Because
that would be me in that situation.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
That evening, Marrily has to go out to a very
fancy dinner with her sister Jacqueline and Jacqueline's husband Kyle,
and Zachary also has to go out to dinner with
his current fling, Blair. Blair is a fashion model who
is not a fan of Ambrose and dinner just so
happens to be at the same restaurant for both, and
dinner just so happens to be awful for both. Merrily
(08:40):
makes up that she's seeing a fireman named brown Eyes
during dinner.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I think she feels kind of like pressured to say
that because her sister and the and her brother in
law are like sort of on her life.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, they're grilling her about her love life, and so
she's like, I'm a fire named brown Eyes, Which what.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Did you ever believe that?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
And somebody's like if I was like, Kay, Carrie, I'm
dating someone new and you're like, what's his name?
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And I was like, brown eyes call him? I call
him brown Eyes. If you said that, I'd fall off
the chair exactly exactly. They're just like, oh, when can
we beat brown Eyes? So that's great.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
And Zachary, he's on a double date at the same
restaurant with I think they're just like yuppies and yeah,
it's like, so Marily and zach end up. Zachary, I'm sorry.
Zachary end up running into each other outside and they
get to chatting, and they chat about Ambrose and they
chat about their views on love. You know, he's the cynic,
she's the romantic. And it turns out that Jacqueline and
(09:38):
Kyle have tickets to the big deal Christmas party at
the Mayor's house, and now that Marily is dating brown Eyes,
they just so happen to have an extra ticket. Oh
my god, she can bring brown Eyes. Day after dinner, Blair,
the model, calls from her photo shoot and she can
tell that Ambrose is still at Zachary's house and she's
(10:00):
had enough. She's like, you know what, We're going to
take this cat to my dad's pet supply store and
we're going to rehome it. And if that doesn't work out,
Kittie's going to a shelter.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I like how She's just like, you know what if
we want to go to Europe for the weekend, and
he's less like are we going to do any Yeah?
He's like, are we going to do any of that?
And she's like, well, I don't know, but so I
like that aspect, but also like, out of all the
animals as pets, like cats are pretty much the easiest one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, they don't take a lot of effort.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
They could like stay by themselves for a couple of days.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, a weekend jaunt, you're a yeah. So they end
up going to the pet store, which of course is
the same pet store that Merrily works out, and Blair
thinks that Merrily was rude to her because she thought
that the cat was being vicious with her, and Merrily
did not agree. And she also was like, if this
doesn't work, we're giving him to a shelter, and Merrily's like,
(10:57):
you can't give this cat to a shelter, I think,
implying that would probably be put.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
To sit down. I don't think cats do well in
shelter situations.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
And so Blair's pissed. She talks to Daddy, and Daddy
fires Merrily and it's a Merrily's birthday. Oh gosh. Merrily
takes it hard, as one would, so hard that she
can't make it to the just dessert mixer that Lucy
wanted her to go to that night, which worked out
probably in her favor, and Lucy wanted her to go
(11:28):
so that she doesn't die old and alone in a
house surrounded by cats and dogs and shattered dreams. That
is a direct quote from friend Lucy that.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Sounds like something I would say.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
News of the firing actually makes it fast to Zachary
because he went to the pet store the next day
to find Merrily. She's not there and he finds out, well,
that's because she got fired. So he gets some advice
from his fellow fireman on the Blair Ambrose Merrily triangle
here and they're all team Merrily because she's wicked smart.
(12:03):
She's pretty but she doesn't know it, which is the
best kind of pretty.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
My husband agrees with that statement.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
And she also has a heart of gold, which is
also a very good quality.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Things only get.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Worse with Blair after her non concern with the fact
that Ambrose went missing that evening and she's just like, oh,
I don't know Ambra, and Zachary's like, you know what,
that strike three? Blair's out. She's a pro model. She
cooked dinner and she even got new expensive highlights and
he's like, I don't care. You are out of my life.
(12:35):
And that's stung because she got the new expensive highlights.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Yep. So after Merrily got the axe at.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Work, her sister took her out for a day of
hair and makeup and dress buying for the big Christmas
party at the Mayor's house. And this is when we
find out that Merrily took care of Jacqueline when their
parents died. And as Carrie likes to remind me, nothing
says Hallmark Christmas like a dead parent. Yeah, and this
is two dead parents and a dead cat parent, so
(13:02):
we have really three dead parents in this movie. For
a while, I thought we might only have like back
in the day. I was like, oh, we might only
have a dead cat parent.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
But no, no, they went.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
All in on the way home in full hair and makeup,
and her dress that she purchased, Merrily has to end
up which she's wearing for soci Yeah, she ends up
walking because Jacqueline stopped at the firehouse and like, let's
go in and meet brown Eyes, and she had to
make up an excuse why Jacqueline couldn't go in, so
she had to get out and pretend that she was
(13:30):
actually going into the firehouse, but what do you know,
she finds Ambrose. So now she actually does have to
go in and face Zachary in her new dress and
hair and makeup.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
But it goes well.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
They head out for dinner at a hot dog cart,
and they go to a Christmas market. Their connection is growing.
She actually even wears his fireman coat. Yeah, like the
one you wear out to fires, not like the one
that says station sixty or whatever.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Like the actual is really heavy too. Coats really heavy.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
So I was like, what is going on this code situation?
And they chat about how they got into their respective careers,
which was kind of a downer because Merlye's like, oh,
I'm of that because my dead parents liked animals, and
Zachary's like, oh, my house burned down so his parents
got divorced and that really scarred him.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Unless Yeah, a little bit of a down.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
But despite the fun day out, Merrily had an anatomy
final next day.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I got to talk about this for a second because
when her so they're out to dinner, well, Merrily and
her sister are out to dinner. Her sister's like, for
your birthday, I'm taking on Sunday for a day of pampering.
We're getting many petties. I'm gonna get a new dress.
You never do anything for yourself. I mean, I'm you know,
I'm up for Manny Petty O, somebody buying me stuff.
But she's like, oh, I can't. I have my anatomy
(14:50):
final the next day and it's worth you know, like
a gajillion percentage points or whatever. That's stress. It's like
giving me anxiety right now, Like if I had that
final the next day and it was like, oh, we're
just gonna go waste all this time, but that's on
cart like now study, Like I can't. It's like making
me itchy right now.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I loved it, and I would also probably be like, no,
I got to skip the date and go study.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
But I loved Yeah that she did.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, but he actually met her outside of her anatomy
final the next day, which I couldn't decide if that
was would be creepy or not.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
No, I liked it.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, I thought my immediate reaction was creepy, but then
I tried to get past it. And he gets his
fire coat back, like.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
She's like, oh, yeah, you did leave that, like you
didn't notice taking off the heavy fire coat. Oh that's
just not part of my collection, and it doesn't get
with my new fancy dress.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
They make it to Merrily's home, but things take a
turn because her landlord found Queeneye and she gets evicted
due to the strict no pet policy. So now Merrily
really has nowhere to live, and he takes her in.
He tells her come live with me in this home
that I'm restoring. And I would generally say that's probably
(16:05):
a bad idea, but they end up kind of hitting
it off. They paint together, she connected the stove, they
cook together, she hung some Christmas lights. She's helping him
get ready to flip this house. Yeah, they get a
Christmas tree together. I mean, this is love. And you
know what Zachary's fellow fireman can tell.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Like, this is my favorite part of the movie, this
whole Like when they move in together. I just I
love all of that. I kind of wish that part
was longer. Hmmm interesting. Yeah, So Merrily feels the connection too,
but she's just like not sure what's going on.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
So over a cup of Folger's coffee, Lucy gets Merrily
to do the mistletoe test. So this is when you
put up mistletoe and if somebody walks past you, well
then you know they're not into you. But if they
stop and kiss you, it's gonna work out.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
I've never heard of the missletoe kiss. And I love
this movie, but that I remember the first time watching
this and being like what, yeah, I know, I was like,
nobody would ever do that. Spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
She puts the mescletoe up and it's really awkward, and
he walks right past it. But then he doubles back
and he kisses her, and he's like, I had to
there was missletoe.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
And then here's the thing.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
He freaks out about the fact that he kissed her
and he goes cold. He's like, I mean, just you
went off very typical. Yeah, and she keeps trying even
though she can feel it, and you can just feel
I felt bad for her in this situation. I really did, Yeah,
because like everybody's been through that where you're just.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Like and like, look at what she's been through in
her life, like a pair employed, had to give up
her dreams to go home to take care of her sister.
Now her sister's this like amazing real, Yeah, she's in
school unemployed, like.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Yeah, and so she, you know, trying to make this work.
She invites him to the party at the Mayor's house,
but he's like, no, I can't go.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I gotta work. So she ends up.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Having to go solo. Say brown eyes couldn't make it.
She wears her new black dress again. She puts on
a happy face until she sees Zachary across the room
show up and kiss a mysterious woman that's in a
red dress, and she's like, no, this is too much.
She leaves, and she doesn't just leave. She packs up
all of her stuff and the next morning she leaves
(18:27):
the house and she takes Queenie with her, and Zachary protests,
but his protests are that Ambrose will miss them. He's
just not ready to say that he will miss them.
So she's like, I'm out, And once she leaves, Zachary's like, ugh,
she was a total catch, Like she was meant for me.
He realizes that he's made this a big error and
(18:50):
he calls her, but she's not picking up his calls,
and then Ambrose tells him, guess what remember maryly said
she was working at a pet adoption of on Christmas Day,
so he puts his plans in the action. He shows
up at the event pretty woman style like, shows up
with the fire truck with the sirens on. He runs
over to her, he professes his feelings. They sort out
(19:13):
the situation. He was at the party to promote the
fireman calendar, right, and and that was the mayor's wife.
They both say I love you, and we close with
Queenie and Ambrose and knowing that our couple is now
together and in love.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
You know that I read that final scene was Kimberly's
favorite scene. Yeah, because she said because it was a
very pretty woman movement for woman.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I loved it. All right, do you want to rate
this movie between one in five CCBs.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I'm given it a five. Whoa, Yay, it's a Hallmark classic.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
It is a Hallmark classic. Okay, that's exciting. Yeah, I
will give it a three point five. Okay, Yeah, before
we rewatched it, I think I would have given it
a two point five to a three. But this rewatch,
I actually like I liked it a lot more. And
you know, we have the orange cat situation that's never
going to go away. Sure, And I have another thought
(20:13):
that I'll say for later on on just what I
think is keeping me from loving it.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yeah. I have a lot of thoughts, and I think
we should share them. But maybe let's take a break,
take a break, let's do it all right, we'll be
back after this break. We're back. We have lots of thoughts,
(20:39):
we have lots of things to say about Christmas.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah, so free for all, let's do it. Harry, I
mean Carrie. Harry is not Harry both literally, nor is
she her dog.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yeah, but we are codependent, so you know it works out. Carrie,
what is your first thought? Well, I have a lot. Okay,
so I'm going to start actually with one. I did
a little deep dive on something oo. In this movie,
there's a lot of talk about painting your walls eggs
(21:13):
shell and how you cannot get the color eggs shell
is not available, and the only way to get eggs
shell on your wall is you have to mix these
two paints together. Well, I googled that and I'm here
to tell you, my friends, that there is now an
egg shell paint. All of the major paint companies, paint
(21:34):
brands have it. Yeah, so you can get it from Valspar,
you can get it from Shirtwin William h TV. But
I mean this movie was twenty fourteen. Maybe they didn't
have eggshell, but I, like you said, it's common.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
It is.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
It's a common color. And also watching this whole paint
thing go down, I have painted on my walls before.
I have never made splotches. Is that what they're called?
Speaker 1 (21:58):
That big? I want to get behind?
Speaker 4 (21:59):
To me wrong?
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Or was he?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I mean they were literally like the size of massive pictures.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
On his wall. And I am kind of with Blair
like when he had like the big swatches up they
did all look the same. Yeah, I was not seeing
a difference, but yeah, eggshell. I would have been kind
of nice if they went with some like Rando color.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah, that he was really trying to get. But eggshell's
very common. All right, here's my first thought, and this
is I think why I really just will never love
this movie. And Carrie, do you remember a long time
ago and meaning pre COVID, we went to the Kennedy Center,
as we did frequently pre COVID and kids, Yeah, marriages,
(22:44):
and we saw an American in Paris, which is a
ballet about like a World War two veteran. Yeah, we
didn't know it was a ballot, No, I learned I
don't like ballets, but in that play, I think that
was my number one all time. Like the actor chosen
at that time for the lead male who was supposed
(23:06):
to be this World War two veteran who was becoming
an artist, he just did not fit the bill like it.
I didn't believe him as it. And there was like
some sort of weird thing that happened where they had
to take a break during the play and we all
just started laughing. I being like, this is just not working.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
This is my number two. He does not work as
a fireman for he works as Superman, but he I
think this is why I didn't like it is I
just didn't find him believable. It was like an American
in Paris level not believable that he.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Was a fireman.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
And I that's it, because otherwise it's a good movie
besides the Orange Cat.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Now, okay, so you're saying though, that he's believable as Superman.
I don't think I've ever seen that Superman. But do
you think it was he's not believable as a fireman
or he's not believable as a romantic lead.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
That's a good question because I feel.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Like back in the day, I used to think he
was a little bit stiff, and it was I remember
back in twenty fourteen when they were promoting this movie,
it was a big deal that he was in it.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
It was like Superman is in this movie, which actually
brings me to something. Okay, so I actually found this
on the interwebs. There are actually some subtle clues and
double entendres that they do in this movie that are
reminiscent of Superman. Ooh, I'm going to read the list.
I can see some of them, some of them not
(24:25):
so much. Okay, I think it's a stretch, but it
says the there's a camera angle that makes it appear
like he's wearing a cape that's floating about him when
he's scrutinizing the paint on the wall. Well, now I
need to watch it. I know I need to go
back and rewatch that part. This one kind of the
way it's worded is not good, but I'm going to
read it. When he on zips at the end as
(24:46):
he decidedly walks toward the camera, so I don't remember
if he on zip his cope, but I hope that's
what he was on zip in and I don't. I
just I guess Superman does unzip is stuff anyway. Okay,
the next one is he didn't lie? That's yeah. Does
he say this it's mistletoe? Is his kryptonite? Does he
(25:09):
say that? I think he says that. Oh gosh, I
just have to watch it again, certain other worldly stares
as the camera closes in on his eyes. I think
that's a stretch of when he rushes to save Merrily
from the shopping cart careening her way.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Oh yeah, that I did actually notice that far.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
It was the music. Yeah. And then this one I
like too. It's when Merrily tells him I believe they're
in the supermarket and she says, you're a hero. I
mean you're a hero, right, yeah, And then when he
says I'm not at all what I seem. I actually
don't remember him saying that. And then we have when
(25:52):
Sarah tells Merrily, how many more clues do you need? Oh?
But I thought that was I mean, if that's true,
and they put that in there, I think that's cute.
That is fun. I met you.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Some of it was in there, and some of it
is like a stretch, like you said, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
I like little little nods and wings and Easter eggs.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Okay, here's another. There was actually three moments in this
movie that reminded me of you. One was, gosh, I
don't even remember who said it, but they said smile
with your eyes and I learned that phrase from you.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Well, I got that from Tyra Banks on America's Next
Top Model. She smises smiling with your eyes is smiling,
And it's the photographer in the beginning.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Oh exit, yes at the firemine calendar.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Yes. Okay.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
So then when when Ambrose walks into Zachary's house and
he like tries to reason with him and then the
cat doesn't walk out, and he's like, well, I mean
I asked him to leave and he didn't go because
I could see you saying that, like, well, the cat
walked in and I said you have to leave, but it.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Didn't work out. That reminds you. Yes, with Harry, Yeah, like.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
I told Harry to do this, but he didn't want to.
So you know, what are we gonna do?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Well? Yeah, the part with amberus it reminds me of
Harry the most. And I don't know if you're going
to say this is when he's like, you were absolutely
not getting on my bed. You're not sleeping here, and
then the next scene is him like in bed with it.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I hear that from a lot of pet owners that
like they never intended I don't have a dog.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
I want one though, like I mean, I grew up
with one, but I don't have one. Now I'm working
on it. That was the one thing when I got
Harry I was like, he is not sleeping on my bed,
and like, by night two he was in my bed.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
J Blair was not happy about it either. This last one,
I know this isn't you yet, but it was an
older woman, So this is for when you get older.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
She was buying K nine leisure wear for her dog.
Oh yes, And I'm like, that is going to be
you will have matching leisure wear with your dog.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
I feel like I would be actually both people in
that scene, the older woman and Merrily, because if I
worked in pet supply, I'd be like, you know what
you need? I think Bootsy needs a new outfit.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
And there was one actually moment in this movie where
I was like, this is something I would do, and
that is when they go out to the fancy restaurant
and she wears her puffer jacket and they're like.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Oh, can I take your like puffer?
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Because I feel like I love coats And that's one
thing I do love about these movies is they always
have so many coats. But like, once it's below forty,
I don't care where I'm going, I'm wearing a puffer
and I'm.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Going to have a coat like that, don't you.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Oh, I have like three that are like that. Well,
my mom when I told her we were going to
be reviewing this and I said, do you have anything
to say about it? And I know my mom loves
this movie, but she was like, just make sure to
say that I hate that big coat. I have that
written down ergo your mom hates my coat? Oh my god. Yeah,
(28:51):
we got to have her on the pod.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
I actually if we can go into it. I have
a couple other wardrobe comments.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Oh good, I have one too.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Okay, So what I really really liked about this movie
was that Merrily just seemed like a normal person like her.
She wore like a jeans and a top all the time.
So now it's like they're just so over the.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Top makeup, sleeveless dress in December, Yeah, yeah, I loved it.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
And also I thought, like Blair, who's supposed to be
this top fashion model, looked even more dressed down than
some of the actresses do current day Hallmark. So I
actually liked that about this movie a lot. And also,
did you notice this is Zachary really rarely took off
the fireman gear, Like he was pretty much always in
(29:37):
some sort of fireman outfit. I think maybe he was
very proud of being a fireman, but even when he
had to give his coat to someone, he gave her
the fireman coat. He rarely took it off.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Every once in a while he did, and it was
like jarring almost Oh, well, now that you're saying it, like, yeah,
you're right, it is super into the fireman. Yeah. Maybe
he just doesn't do laundry a lot.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Yeah, or maybe he really really wants to promote the
Fireman charity calendar so he has to walk around in
it because he's like, I'm the cover boy.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Yeah, and he's way cutter then everybody else that works
in that firehouse. Like, let's be honest, he really was.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Well.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
My two fashion things that I saw one like Blair.
I mean, I love Blair, but Blair is a model.
They live in Oregon, I know, and he's like says
something like, wow, that's quite the dress. But Blair is
a model who lives in small town Oregon. Yet she
is doing a Gucci editorial in Vogue. I know, an
(30:33):
editorial in Vogue wearing a Gucci dress. That's kind of
big time. I'm thinking, you're not gonna live in Oregon.
But maybe she just wants to be by the pet
supply store. Also, so they're going to dinner for Merrily's
b day and her sister shows up and she's just
I don't know if she forgets that she has this
(30:54):
dinner tonight or what, but she's just like, Oh, let
me just grab my big puffy coat. Why not? I mean,
I'm with you. I like that she looks like a
normal person. She's wearing like a sweater at that point,
which is what I would be wearing. But your it's
your b day dinner, Like you shouldn't have anything. She
was like putting herself through school. Yeah, but I mean
just three minutes, Like come on, like they're although, it
(31:17):
is your birthday, so you should wear what you want
to wear on your birthday.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yea.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
Yeah, So maybe I don't know, okay, So with with
Zachary and the fact that you always went by Zachary,
you don't remind me of Joshua.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Yes, I'm friends. That's exactly what it reminded me of.
When Rachel's just like, no, it's just Joshua.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
When she moved in with Zachary, which you know, that's
an awful idea, but it went okay. He was actually
okay with her making a lot of executive decisions, like
just moving in. So she like paints, She went and
chose a paint color and painted, and she was like, oh,
I mean he had he'd gone through like fifty samples.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I would not do that.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I would not paint someone's house, especially if they couldn't
find the right color.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
I would have just painted a samp on another sample, like
yeah about this one.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
And then she at one point she was nailing actual
nails Christmas lights up to help with the curb appeal.
And I just would never put nails in somebody else's
house without checking with them first.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Also, that house was nowhere near ready to be put
on the market, so like curb appeal at that point,
like maybe next Christmas.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
And then he also at one point he's like, oh
my gosh, you connected the oven. He's flipped houses before.
He's a fireman, so probably he knows like oven fires,
and like learned a lot about ovens.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
That was what I do. Like when Blair is there
and she's just like I slaved over this food, and
he's like, well, I know you didn't cook because I
can see the takeout containers and the oven's flair wasn't
the brightest I loved, Blair. Do you have any others?
(32:58):
I do? Okay, well, okay, I'm going to talk about
the chief at the fire station. Okay. He says, he's
like super stoked that Zachary has found this cat, and
he's just like, every fire station needs a cat, do
they like a true? Then that's followed up later with
(33:21):
cats can feel earthquakes, and they can smell smoke. So
can dogs. That's why firehouses usually have dogs, because they
serve a purpose. They can smell stuff and lead you there,
like search and rescue. Have you ever seen a search
and rescue rescue cat number one? I guess, So there's
(33:41):
that situation. It kind of makes me question his you know, chiefhood.
I don't like sequels for many reasons I like continuations
of stories, and I guess The Nine Kittens of Christmas
is supposed to be a continuation, but for me, it's
just yet, like much like Christmas under Wraps. To me,
this story was complete, like I knew what was I
(34:05):
knew it was gonna be a happy ending, and it
was fabulous. So in this movie, when Zachary is kind
of like, you know, if you hay Chief, since you
like cats, why don't you take Ambrose home? And he's like,
I can't. My wife's allergic. In the second movie, the
Chief I believe, adopts two cats with a workout with
the wife. And then also in this movie, the sister
(34:27):
can't take the cat because she's like, we have our
four big dogs, oh right, right, and they'll eat it.
In the second movie, which is I think about seven
or eight years later, there are no dogs in sight.
Oh that's that, I know. I know, like you think
at least one of them, know, I start to question her.
Spoiler alert, she gets a cat kittens everywhere, So I
(34:49):
don't know. I think my big takeaway is stopped making
sequels for fabulous movies. They don't need them. Yeah, yeah, okay,
here's one. Merrily loves Christmas.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
She said this she likes and so why one, why
would there be a pet adoption event on Christmas?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
That's a really good point And to why would she
work it?
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I mean, I know she doesn't have a lot going
on right then in her life, but she still has
a sister that lives nearby, and her parents died a
long time ago, and she still loves Christmas. So why one,
why is there a pet adoption event on Christmas? That's
gotta be I would say the worst day of the
year that you could hold a pet adoption event.
Speaker 4 (35:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
I thought about that a lot too, because then I'm like,
you have all these kids there, so was it like
they woke up on Christmas morning and their present was
We're going to go to the pet adoption thing and
you get to pick out a dog. But what if
you go there and there's not a dog that you
connect with? Right, So now your Christmas is ruined? Yeaheah,
I didn't get. I didn't get. You're right, that's the
worst day. It has to be. It has to be. Yeah,
(35:49):
I'm trying to think of a like one that's even worse,
But no, I think that's it. Yeah, because typically those
type of events. I don't know that that many too
many pets get a opted or is it more of
like like meet and Greece. Like that's what I thought, because.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's a process to adopt right and.
Speaker 1 (36:06):
Around here, like you're like, oh, I'm very interested in
this dog I saw on your website. Could you bring
him to the event that you're gonna have. Yeah, and
they'll bring the dog so you can meet and interact.
We live in a very big dog rescue kind of area.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
It's true, it's true. It's a dog haven.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
Yeah. I don't know what's going on in Oregon.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Maybe Christmas is not big. An organ still merely loved Christmas,
so it was odd.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Yeah. Yeah, So I think that's everything I have. Okay,
so I have a question for you.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Yes, what did you think about the premise of the
Just Dessert dating site?
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Oh my god, I do actually have something about Just Dessert.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Because we have it's just lunch. I've heard a lot
of ads for that.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
I feel like I would do that website like back
when I was single, and much like the friend, I
would have not met anyone but gained eight pounds.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
It made me think they should have is just coffee.
That should I would love it's just coffee, like go
out meat for coffee. Yep, I don't know that I
would love.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
It's just dessert.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
That's probably what I would come home and eat after
a date went bad.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, and I did many times come home and eat yeah. Yeah,
save that for after the bag date goes back, which
like most dates, off the big tub of ice cream,
like Merrily got.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Wait, did you notice when she got that tub of
ice cream that was the only thing in her cart?
And Zachary was like having a party, Like wouldn't you
have more than just a tub of ice cream if
you're having up? But there's not many parties you go
to where it's like, hey, everyone, come over, I have
ice cream.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
I really wanted her to say, like, I'm in vet school.
We're having study group. I thought that would have been
a better yes, right for some you.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Know you we were gonna say I'm in vet school
and we're feeding it to the animals. I don't know
why that, Like, I thought that's how you were going
to close that. Okay, let me see if I have
any other things. Oh, along with the lines with like
I really liked her wardrobing Gunder Earth. I also like
that her apartment was pretty modest and believable to me
as apartment of someone who's putting themselves through school, because again,
(38:08):
we have people down on their luck, lost their job,
got divorced, and live in amazing yahn does.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Now you know what, that's a really good point because
on homework, Yeah, they have kind of gone into There's
one movie. I think it's one of those cookie movies
where she's a public school teacher. We know public school
teachers are severely underpaid. She's lived in a amaze Ball's house.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Yeah, and you're just like, that's like a lot of
TV shows in general. Like I don't want to just
call Hallmark out for that, but I did appreciate that
about this movie.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Yeah, I would live in that apartment. That would have
been one of my apartments. Yeah, it was just like
a you're trying to starting out type apartment. It felt
like her decorations were more like of that point in life,
Like they seemed almost like they were homemade or like
I bought this at the dollar Store or you know wherever.
Whereas now on Hamewark they're all at Balsam Hill, which
(38:58):
costs five good year. The tree yeah, man, I would
love to have that stuff in my house. Yeah, there
are storage products alone, I would like to have. Oh yeah,
that's a lot of wind type product.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Yeah yeah, same day. That's all I had. All right,
Should we move on to our final segment?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
All right, let's start Romance one oh one and start
off with our resident romance author Carrie giving us some
insights into the movie and this movie. Carrie, if I
can start off, actually cut in. You know this is
based on a book, as many of these are. Yes,
so it's based It's one of the ones. It is
(39:38):
based on a novel of the same name. And I
think you have read this right, I did read it,
And what did you think? Did you like it better?
And also did you like it better as a movie
or a book?
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Okay, so this is based on a Shila Roberts book,
and you're right, it's the same name, The Nine Lives
of Christmas. Sheila Roberts is pretty famous in the romance
writing world. She has a lot of books, and she
has a lot of Christmas books and they always have
really pretty covers. Oh yeah, okay, that's a random fact.
I've read quite a few of her books. I like them.
(40:09):
So I want to say I'm pretty like ninety five
percent shore. I read this book after I saw the movie,
which I very rarely did. Yeah, same here, Yeah, almost
always if I read a book, I don't even like
to watch the movie exactly. So I'm the same way
and I but I think I liked the movie so
much that I wanted to read the book. And in
(40:30):
this case, I actually liked the movie more than the
book because it just was the perfect book to translate
into movie. That doesn't always work. Yeah. Yeah, and the
book was good too, So nothing against Sheila Roberts because
I love her, But it was either the prologue of
the book or maybe the whole thing. Something in that
(40:51):
book is from Ambrose the cat's point of view. I
just remember the cat, you know, because cats have nine
lives and Ambrose is on his ninth life. That's interesting.
It was like when that dog was going after him,
He's just like, oh, yeah, okay, I get out of this.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
Do you recall and I know this has been out
for a long time, but do you recall if they
cut out a lot of the book, like could you.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
They condensed it? I would say, like, there's a lot
more in the book about Zachary's background, like his parents
divorce really impacted him and his relations I want to say,
and I hope I'm not mixing this up, but his
relationship with the chief was very very strong and very
paternal because the chief was the one who got him
(41:36):
out of the house when it was burning down. That
came up very briefly. Yeah, and he was very very
close to the chief, just like the movie was the
one who had this sort of come to Jesus talk
where he's like, look, what are you doing with your life?
Him knock it off. It was also a big deal
or there was a lot of time spent on Merrily
being in that apartment where she was not allowed to
(41:57):
have the cat. It was like they do like one
line they see something about She's like, I would never
break angel arms rule. There's something about that that place
where she's staying. Like they talked about that a lot.
I remember because I was kind of like, Okay, I
get it. No, cat's interesting and she and I think
they talk as well a lot about her upbringing with
(42:20):
her parents and oh like go into that. Yeah, stuff
they wouldn't have time for. But yeah, I mean I
liked both but like I said, I think it was
a really good choice for them to translate this into
a movie.
Speaker 2 (42:31):
I like that you say it was condensed because if
I'm thinking about this movie, there was no like glaring
plot holes where you're just like, what that's going on?
So that makes sense that they just condensed it instead
of just cutting things out, all.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
Right, Carrie.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Last, and of course, most important question of the pod,
is this couple gonna make it?
Speaker 1 (42:51):
To see again? The sequel ruins everything because I know
what happens next. But if I'm just taking this movie
and back in twenty fourteen when I watched it for
the first time, I thought, yes, yes, yes, like they
are absolutely staying together. They're going to finish fixing up
that house, but they're going to live in it, and
they're going to have two or three kids, and it's
going to be amazing.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
How many cats always too always too always too any dogs? No?
I know, Okay, yeah, I think I see them making it.
I see them staying together. You both seem to be
on the same page about everything. They had a great connection.
As we know, she actually changed Zachary, which most people
(43:32):
couldn't do. So were staying together. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, good,
good couple.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
All right, well I think we just got through the
nine Lives of Christmas. We did.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Thank you for listening. Please remember to subscribe to our
podcast and give us a rating if you get a
minute or two.
Speaker 1 (43:49):
And if you have a cat or dog or any pet.
I think you should visit our socials on Facebook or
Instagram at Hallmark Junkies and show us picture. We love
past luss. You know, I don't have any right now,
but you will source pop. Yeah all right, well that's it.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
And this is Jenny Saint cheers.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
And this is Carrie saying we'll see Yin's next time.
Mary Business.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Hallmark Junkies is a part of the Seneca Women Podcast
Network and iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, check
out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.