December 1, 2025 • 22 mins
Girls Gone Hallmark is gearing up for We Met in December, and we’re already buzzing to see Autumn Reeser and Niall Matter paired together. In this holiday romance, Annie and Dave share a once-in-a-lifetime connection during an unexpected mid-December layover, complete with a dream-worthy hotel, deep conversations, and a perfect first kiss. But when a missed morning meetup sends them home without swapping numbers, the universe turns into a full-on game of festive hide-and-seek.
Shop our latest Girls Gone Hallmark merch here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LongStoryShortShop
For full epsode shownotes click here: https://www.girlsgonehallmark.com/we-met-in-december-hallmark/
Check out this year's gift guide for Hallmark fans: https://www.girlsgonehallmark.com/the-ultimate-gift-guide-for-hallmark-movie-lovers/
Visit our website: www.girlsgonehallmark.com
Email us: girlsgonehallmark@gmail.com
Follow us on Instagram!
Check out our merch shop!
Subscribe to our Patreon for more Megan and Wendy
Shop our latest Girls Gone Hallmark merch here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LongStoryShortShop
For full epsode shownotes click here: https://www.girlsgonehallmark.com/we-met-in-december-hallmark/
Check out this year's gift guide for Hallmark fans: https://www.girlsgonehallmark.com/the-ultimate-gift-guide-for-hallmark-movie-lovers/
Visit our website: www.girlsgonehallmark.com
Email us: girlsgonehallmark@gmail.com
Follow us on Instagram!
Check out our merch shop!
Subscribe to our Patreon for more Megan and Wendy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is a bramble jam podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark review podcast. I'm
Megan and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We're kicking off our Merry Thanksgiving reviews with We Met
in December, which aired on Thanksgiving Thursday, November twenty seventh,
and is currently available to stream on Hallmark Plus. This
is a jam packed weekend of reviews. And if you
want to keep up with what's going on with us,
what reviews are dropping, when our real time reactions, please
follow us over on Instagram where we are Girls Gone Hallmark.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Hey, we have a Facebook group where people are talking
about these movies. It's called Girls Gone Hallmark in Facebook groups. Also,
come check out our website, Girls Gone Hallmark dot com.
We have tons of information over there about the movies.
About shopping for a Homewark fan in your life.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, we drop our gift guides.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, great stuff over there.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Speaking of gifts. In the show notes of this episode,
I'm also going to link our merch shop because we
have dropped some new merch items lately that we would
like for you to check out. They would make great
gifts for you to give yourself or the Hallmark holiday
fan in your life. Let's cick off our discussion If
We Met in December with a synopsis.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Annie and Dave meet in a holiday hotel. Falling in love,
They embark on separate quests to find each other, sharing
wisdom and making significant life changes.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Jonathan Wright directed We Met in December. This is his
twenty sixth directing credit. His pastwork includes The Perfect Setting
and True Justice, Family Ties, and he's also set to
direct the upcoming single on the twenty fifth. Nina why
Men wrote this screenplay. She's a longtime homework writer known
for The Perfect Setting, A Carol for Two, Haunted Wedding,
and Catch Me If You Clause Autumn Research. Stars as Annie.
(02:09):
This is her twenty first Hallmark movie. She last appeared
in Junebug in Summer twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Nil Mader plays Dave. This is his sixty ninth acting credit.
Fans last saw him as Bail in the Providence Falls
mini series. Keana Teresa appears as best friend Kate, with
forty three acting credits. She's been featured in Flipping for
Christmas and Family History Mysteries Buried Past Nora. She hand
plays Gail David's mom. She's appeared in To Have Anti
(02:36):
Holiday and My Dreams of You, and this marks her
thirty six acting credit.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Tera Yellend plays Violet. She has thirty seven acting credits
and has appeared in Murdoch Mysteries, The Love Club, and
ten episodes of The Hardy Boys.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Laura Amercy plays Olivia. She's familiar to Hallmark viewers from
her recurring role as June in Mistletoe Mysteries. This is
her thirty first acting credit.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Valentina Capitola plays Cora, Dave's niece. This is her fourth
acting credit and her Hallmark debut. Let's take a quick
break and we will come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy,
what was your first impression? Have we met in December?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It's serendipity with a Hallmark filter.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Hey, my first impression is this was a perfectly pleasant
holiday layover with a frustrating number of delays. Let's talk
what we liked about we met in December. May I
start yes, I have a healthy list of likes and
(03:43):
wishes for me. I think the premise is good. I
like this idea every time, right place, right moment, wrong timing. Basically,
it's one of those concepts for me that works time
and time again. I like movies like this because you
want to root for the universe to push the people
back together.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Right. Yes, For the most part, I think the movie
honors that kind of framework. We have the magical night,
the repeats of almost running into each other, the reminders
of what they've learned about each other, like it's doing that,
but like you said, lots of delace getting there.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah. I liked the story telling method what telling the
story of their night together in flashbacks and just giving
us in pieces.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And I loved if I may jump, we see the
end of their night at the beginning of the movie,
but we don't see all of it. And I loved
what we get. The reveal of Nile's hand slamming into
that elevator door opening it and the kiss. Total highlight
(04:54):
in this movie. Everything about the choreography, the kiss, the
hand in the door, his face cupping, the way her
ha reaches up to grab his hand.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I thought that was great. Yeah, I thought that was
good too. I the flashbacks totally worked for me in
this movie. I thought it was my favorite creative choice
that they made with this movie. Yeah, drip feeding like
the night, putting it all back together for us to
watch it unfold. I really enjoyed that. And I liked
(05:23):
the remembering details thread through the movie of like, oh,
like he thinks of like is it Maggie's kettle? Like
you know, he remembers and then they have this whole
memory of the conversation. Whatever. I liked all the string
of tiny moments me too. And I did like that kiss.
(05:43):
I like that we the reveal of it like that.
I thought it was executed nicely. Yes, good good stuff. There.
Here is something that I liked that maybe maybe you
didn't clock on.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
It was giving like grief light a little bit like
the recent passing of their dad. I thought this was
kind of a beautiful heart of the movie here, you know,
this storyline about losing a parent and trying to make
the holidays the most special, Like kind of hit harder
with me than I expected it to, right. I thought
(06:21):
that was very relatable to a lot of viewers.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I think on a lot of levels.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Honestly, if I can tell you, we've been watching obviously
a lot of finding mister Christmas around here. Yes, And
Robbie's storyline of losing his mom has like set heavy
heavy on my shoulder? Has it not on my shoulders?
Set on your heart? Has set heavy on my heart? Yeah.
So I think I went into this movie like feeling
(06:47):
those feelings and then we get the storyline and I
was like, oh, I have regrets anyway. Anyway, So I
thought it was very relatable.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, And I think it's easy to relate to the
idea of like, if I do enough, like I can
control this, like I can I can magic this with
my to do list into the best Christmas ever exclamation point.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Directorial choice I liked was the side by sign screens,
and I liked that they used it several times, showing
that they were, you know, going through the same thing,
but they hadn't quite found each other yet. I particularly
enjoyed the one of them falling into their respective beds
and glancing off to the side as if they were
looking at each other. They're both looking at the empty space.
I thought there was a nice directorial choice there by
(07:35):
mister Jonathan Wright.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
We've seen that, we've seen that. Yeah, I remember you
talking specifically about liking it too. Was it a Nile
meter movie? Was it holiday hotline? Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Maybe maybe I have the memory of a goldfish, so
I can't say for sure, but that's a definitely good guess.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I know Bilmore does it too, but I can't recall now.
But that scene.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Stood out to me as well too.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
That's so funny you say that, because I was like, oh,
this feels familiar and I like it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
M m m hmmm.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I thought the supporting characters rounded out the cast nicely.
They had good friend and family dynamics here. It wasn't
just you know, two lonely hearts wandering the city looking
for each other. I thought Annie's best friend was MVP. I. Yeah,
there was a great line shout out Nina when basically
(08:27):
they're looking for Dave, her and her best friend, and
they're like, we're so not going to yoga. I was like,
I love it, I love it, I love everything about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I actually liked that bit about the several times they
missed yoga because I felt like that was quite relatable,
like let's find any excuse not to go and then.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Calling him layover Dave, I ever did really funny too. Uh.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
If I may say to round out my list of likes.
I think Autumn and Nile both looked absolute stunning in
this movie. I'm not sure I've ever seen either of
them look better, although niall as Bail was pretty topp
tier and I particularly loved Autumn's red dress on their
layover date.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Oh yeah, cute, right. I have two more likes, but
I'm just gonna hit. I like the movie poster of
this movie too, the movie poster, but the movie art
for it. I think movie posters correct.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I do too.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
It's so dreamy and magical. Yeah, yeah, I really liked it.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I agree, she looks adorable in that red dress. To me,
it was it was giving a little bit like love
at the Thanksgiving Day parade. That's oh yeah level of.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah where she had that like vintag vibe. Yeah, a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
My final like was I thought their date was adorable,
like s'mores by the fire pit and cute cocktails in
Chicago at Christmas time, like these are all wins for me,
Like it was eye Candy, I loved all that. I
loved Chicago as the backdrop beautiful. I think about it
every time I see it on my TV. About you
(10:04):
and I being there and you wanted to go on
that like river boat cruise, and I was like, what.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, I suggested the riverboat cruise, and everyone's like, why
would we do that? And then at the end of
the week we saw the boats and everyone's like, why
didn't we do that? I was like, hey, bozos, you
said no.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I don't think I imagine that's what it was going
to be.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
But I really wanted that my best friend's wedding moment.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
If we ever go back, we're doing it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yep, Okay, I'll have a romantic boat ride.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I also in my legs, I must have at one
point taken the note. It's my note, say Nile Mater's
cute smile. He's got a great smile. That's all he does.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I'm going to talk about Nile and my wishes, not
in a bad way, not in a bad way. So
we just activated all I know the hills, hold off
on all the keyboard wires out there.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Just hold on a second. Let's talk wishes. Why don't
you go ahead?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Okay, I'm just gonna jump into it. We've seen devilish
Nile as bail bail forever for me. I loved him
in that character because it was so unexpected and we've
seen romantic Nile. For me, in this movie, he kind
of sat like right in the middle. I either wanted
like sexier or more comedy, like I needed like he
(11:28):
was just like nice guy, having seen like devilish Nile,
like I kind of want more of that.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I mean, look, team Rustin over
here wants the bad boy.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Always.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I guess I am kind of a.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Bad boy fan, no kidding, but I love him. I
think he's just adorable And you're right, he does have
like this great smile and I love everything about him.
He's under used in Hallmark movies. I think so too,
not enough Hallmark movies with n own mater. What are
(12:07):
some of your wishes?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Well, I don't have any patients, and so the many
near misses drove me a little bit to distraction. Yes,
I just I don't have any patience for it. And
some people love that like slow Bur unless I don't.
I don't really want to Slowbur and like give me
the goods. And so while I understood that we needed
(12:30):
that final reveal and that that was where we were headed,
I just was like, go back outside, turn around.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Just yeah, yeah, I just.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Wanted them to to get it together, to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
If I can piggyback on that, I agree, that's probably
my biggest wish. You know, I'm I enjoy a misconnection
type storyline, h But like you said, like I don't.
There were too many of them, and I think they
weren't big enough like I needed like remember when they're
at the they're at the choir show or whatever, and
(13:06):
they're literally just like missing each other and yeah, and
I'm like, come on, I.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Don't know it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Just I was like make it, make it bigger, like
make it like make me feel like, oh geez right there.
I wanted to feel like more stakes. I wanted to
feel like my life is going to fall apart if
these two do not find each other again. Of course
I know they're going to find each other again, but
like make it feel that way. Well, I think I
(13:35):
needed an additional wrench thrown in their path and not
just that they can't find each other. But I'm sitting
here thinking about like.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
What what would have made the waiting sweeter? And I
think maybe like one of them needed to meet someone
and have that moment of like, yeah, that was great,
but like maybe it's not meant to be because we
just keep missing each other. And so they have this
like and we're like, no, she's not the way right,
Like maybe we needed that, yeah, instead of this constant
(14:06):
like the only missing piece is there not in the
right place at.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
The right time.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I mean I did like it at the end when
he comes into the church and he's sitting right behind her, Yes,
like I like that. And then we get like the
perspective from her angle, like from in front of her,
we see him behind her. I liked that. I was like, well, finally,
as soon as you stopped looking, there she is. Yeah, exactly.
I mean that's how it always works out, right, mm hmm.
(14:32):
I have two more wishes. One is about Autumn. I
she's great. I enjoy her a lot. Also underused a
homewark like she hasn't been in movie since twenty twenty four. No,
I mean many of the actors have only been in
one movie this, you know, per year or two. But
to me, she's like super leading lady. I don't know
why she's not in like two movies a year. But
(14:54):
that aside, her role here was like very even keeled
to me, Like I wanted to see her like crack
in frustration or impatience a little bit something, Yeah, you know,
like it's.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Always incredibly well put together.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, like have her crash out a little bit. Yeah, yeah,
I don't know. And finally, for me, this is a
little bit like what you said, the pacing dragged a
little bit. For me, there were moments where it feels
like it's supposed to be very reflective, like that was
the best night of my life, this is the person
(15:31):
I'm supposed to be with, et cetera, et cetera. But
I feel like for me as a viewer, the movie
could have benefited from, like a little more like momentum building, yes,
high stakes tension, yes, And that's where I land on
the wishes.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Well, let's talk to you. Just see that I have
a few Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
First of all, this is not a true did you
see that? But I loved out loud because I feel
like I'm Internet savvy enough that I could have found Annie,
a lawyer who works in fashion on the internet in
like two seconds.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah. Yeah. How many Chicago fashion houses are there?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Right? I mean, Dave and finance a little bit harder,
but it's like fuing a needle in a stack of needles,
A great line. Yeah, but come on, Annie in fashion
a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
It would have been easy enough, except that that's not
her name, which we learned at the end.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yes, but professionally she goes by mary Anne. Mm hmm,
she goes by Mary Anne. Professionally.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
It seems like, I don't I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I feel like you could have you could have found her.
Somebody could have found I could have found her. My
true digity that is the bubble snow, Oh my god.
And it was just a little bit inconsistent, like once
in they're covered in it, like in the hair, and
then the next scene nothing.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It is constantly snowing in this movie.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
M hm.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Why does it need to be snowing every single freaking day.
It doesn't need to be snowing every day. And my
digity that in regards to the snow is it's snowing
in bright sunshine. It's snowing when the night sky is
absolutely clear. I mean, it's too much snow. We didn't
need the snow all the time.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
It's funny because you know, we don't live in Chicago.
I wonder does it snow all the time in Chicago?
I mean every single day the time, every single day,
every single moment of the day.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
It seemed like a lot of snow.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, but it was like the terrible bubble snow.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah. Yeah h that was just like getting our actors well.
And at one point they're out at drinks on their
layover and they're sitting like it's snowing on them. I
was like, I don't think they'd be sitting in the
snow outside.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Well, you know. That was my thought with that Melt
your Heart at Christmas movie, like are you trap seen
over feat of snow at a craft fair? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I don't know either.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I don't know. My last did you see that? Is
like I'm a softy for Silent Night? Anytime it plays
like I am a puddle. Uh huh, I don't know why.
So the end when they're in the church with the
silent night and the dim lights and the candles, I
thought that was a very moving, beautiful scene.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
You know, my mother in law's birthdays two days before
Christmas and we go to church with her. Her church
does a Christmas Eve eve service and they do a
silent night with the candles, and I always find it
very moving in spite of my complicated church relationship. That
is always a very lights off, candles on. It's a
touching moment. I agree. I really liked that about the
(18:29):
silent night scene though. If you watch at one point,
Autumn singing and she's not singing the part we're hearing
like her mouth is doing like ee, and there's no
movement for the consonants. Oh anyway, I'm sure they had
to shoot it many times, right, So it's they just said,
do something generic that we can clip it in here
(18:49):
and no one's going to pay attention except for Megan,
who's annoying. We touched on all the rest of my
I did just see that's oh no, we didn't. Their
layover lasted a proximately four Hallmark days. It's one night.
They go on like eight dates. Yeah, for sure, Like
she even has an outfit change. They decorate a whole ballroom.
I mean, there are multiple locations. It was a lot
(19:12):
of locations. You know.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
It was very relatable where he wakes up and he's like, oh,
I set the alarm for seven totally.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I know I wrote way well been there. However, this
is just a me thing. In the beginning of the movie,
when She's rushing for the airport and he Dave's not there,
and she's talking to the reception desk like can you
tell me his name? Can you tell me his room number?
Can you give me his information? And I thought, if
this were me, I would be like, maybe he just
(19:42):
left without me.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
If this hall Mark he ghosted me.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, it bounced absolutely. Maybe the first meaning intensity was
too much.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Maybe he's a married man and was like AFO out
of here.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yes, that would have absolutely been my thought. If he
did not show up, I was like, I would not
have been like give them my information. I'd be like,
oh man, I am embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, I also have to say
I'm I'm pleasantly surprised by some of the scenes, especially
when they go to he goes to the Christmas tree
farm and he's like, hey, does it did an Annie
come here? And blah blah blah, And the guy's like, yeah,
I'm not giving you that information.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And I was like, okay, good, good.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
We're not just giving out random information about people strangers
to you know, other strangers.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, Christmas magic does not trump all common sense. Okay,
what did you rate? We met in December?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I gave it three stars.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I gave it three point two five stars. Thank you
for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Homework, a
Bramble Jam podcast. We've got reviews dropping fast and furious
this week, of all of them Merry Thanksgiving weekend movies,
so check back for that. We'll see you next time. Goodbye, bye,
(21:05):
all right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
you're about to hear some ads. These little JEMs help
us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
So do with that info what you will, Grab a snack,
hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
and discover your new favorite product.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Bye
This is a bramble jam podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to Girls Gone Hallmark, a Hallmark review podcast. I'm
Megan and I'm a longtime Hallmark fan.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I'm Wendy. I'm a former Hallmark hater.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
We're kicking off our Merry Thanksgiving reviews with We Met
in December, which aired on Thanksgiving Thursday, November twenty seventh,
and is currently available to stream on Hallmark Plus. This
is a jam packed weekend of reviews. And if you
want to keep up with what's going on with us,
what reviews are dropping, when our real time reactions, please
follow us over on Instagram where we are Girls Gone Hallmark.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Hey, we have a Facebook group where people are talking
about these movies. It's called Girls Gone Hallmark in Facebook groups. Also,
come check out our website, Girls Gone Hallmark dot com.
We have tons of information over there about the movies.
About shopping for a Homewark fan in your life.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, we drop our gift guides.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, great stuff over there.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Speaking of gifts. In the show notes of this episode,
I'm also going to link our merch shop because we
have dropped some new merch items lately that we would
like for you to check out. They would make great
gifts for you to give yourself or the Hallmark holiday
fan in your life. Let's cick off our discussion If
We Met in December with a synopsis.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Annie and Dave meet in a holiday hotel. Falling in love,
They embark on separate quests to find each other, sharing
wisdom and making significant life changes.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Jonathan Wright directed We Met in December. This is his
twenty sixth directing credit. His pastwork includes The Perfect Setting
and True Justice, Family Ties, and he's also set to
direct the upcoming single on the twenty fifth. Nina why
Men wrote this screenplay. She's a longtime homework writer known
for The Perfect Setting, A Carol for Two, Haunted Wedding,
and Catch Me If You Clause Autumn Research. Stars as Annie.
(02:09):
This is her twenty first Hallmark movie. She last appeared
in Junebug in Summer twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Nil Mader plays Dave. This is his sixty ninth acting credit.
Fans last saw him as Bail in the Providence Falls
mini series. Keana Teresa appears as best friend Kate, with
forty three acting credits. She's been featured in Flipping for
Christmas and Family History Mysteries Buried Past Nora. She hand
plays Gail David's mom. She's appeared in To Have Anti
(02:36):
Holiday and My Dreams of You, and this marks her
thirty six acting credit.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Tera Yellend plays Violet. She has thirty seven acting credits
and has appeared in Murdoch Mysteries, The Love Club, and
ten episodes of The Hardy Boys.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Laura Amercy plays Olivia. She's familiar to Hallmark viewers from
her recurring role as June in Mistletoe Mysteries. This is
her thirty first acting credit.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Valentina Capitola plays Cora, Dave's niece. This is her fourth
acting credit and her Hallmark debut. Let's take a quick
break and we will come right back with our first impressions. Hey, Wendy,
what was your first impression? Have we met in December?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It's serendipity with a Hallmark filter.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Hey, my first impression is this was a perfectly pleasant
holiday layover with a frustrating number of delays. Let's talk
what we liked about we met in December. May I
start yes, I have a healthy list of likes and
(03:43):
wishes for me. I think the premise is good. I
like this idea every time, right place, right moment, wrong timing. Basically,
it's one of those concepts for me that works time
and time again. I like movies like this because you
want to root for the universe to push the people
back together.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Right. Yes, For the most part, I think the movie
honors that kind of framework. We have the magical night,
the repeats of almost running into each other, the reminders
of what they've learned about each other, like it's doing that,
but like you said, lots of delace getting there.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah. I liked the story telling method what telling the
story of their night together in flashbacks and just giving
us in pieces.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And I loved if I may jump, we see the
end of their night at the beginning of the movie,
but we don't see all of it. And I loved
what we get. The reveal of Nile's hand slamming into
that elevator door opening it and the kiss. Total highlight
(04:54):
in this movie. Everything about the choreography, the kiss, the
hand in the door, his face cupping, the way her
ha reaches up to grab his hand.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I thought that was great. Yeah, I thought that was
good too. I the flashbacks totally worked for me in
this movie. I thought it was my favorite creative choice
that they made with this movie. Yeah, drip feeding like
the night, putting it all back together for us to
watch it unfold. I really enjoyed that. And I liked
(05:23):
the remembering details thread through the movie of like, oh,
like he thinks of like is it Maggie's kettle? Like
you know, he remembers and then they have this whole
memory of the conversation. Whatever. I liked all the string
of tiny moments me too. And I did like that kiss.
(05:43):
I like that we the reveal of it like that.
I thought it was executed nicely. Yes, good good stuff. There.
Here is something that I liked that maybe maybe you
didn't clock on.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Let's hear it.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
It was giving like grief light a little bit like
the recent passing of their dad. I thought this was
kind of a beautiful heart of the movie here, you know,
this storyline about losing a parent and trying to make
the holidays the most special, Like kind of hit harder
with me than I expected it to, right. I thought
(06:21):
that was very relatable to a lot of viewers.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I think on a lot of levels.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Honestly, if I can tell you, we've been watching obviously
a lot of finding mister Christmas around here. Yes, And
Robbie's storyline of losing his mom has like set heavy
heavy on my shoulder? Has it not on my shoulders?
Set on your heart? Has set heavy on my heart? Yeah.
So I think I went into this movie like feeling
(06:47):
those feelings and then we get the storyline and I
was like, oh, I have regrets anyway. Anyway, So I
thought it was very relatable.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yeah, And I think it's easy to relate to the
idea of like, if I do enough, like I can
control this, like I can I can magic this with
my to do list into the best Christmas ever exclamation point.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Directorial choice I liked was the side by sign screens,
and I liked that they used it several times, showing
that they were, you know, going through the same thing,
but they hadn't quite found each other yet. I particularly
enjoyed the one of them falling into their respective beds
and glancing off to the side as if they were
looking at each other. They're both looking at the empty space.
I thought there was a nice directorial choice there by
(07:35):
mister Jonathan Wright.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
We've seen that, we've seen that. Yeah, I remember you
talking specifically about liking it too. Was it a Nile
meter movie? Was it holiday hotline? Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Maybe maybe I have the memory of a goldfish, so
I can't say for sure, but that's a definitely good guess.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I know Bilmore does it too, but I can't recall now.
But that scene.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Stood out to me as well too.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
That's so funny you say that, because I was like, oh,
this feels familiar and I like it.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
M m m hmmm.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
I thought the supporting characters rounded out the cast nicely.
They had good friend and family dynamics here. It wasn't
just you know, two lonely hearts wandering the city looking
for each other. I thought Annie's best friend was MVP. I. Yeah,
there was a great line shout out Nina when basically
(08:27):
they're looking for Dave, her and her best friend, and
they're like, we're so not going to yoga. I was like,
I love it, I love it, I love everything about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I actually liked that bit about the several times they
missed yoga because I felt like that was quite relatable,
like let's find any excuse not to go and then.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Calling him layover Dave, I ever did really funny too. Uh.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
If I may say to round out my list of likes.
I think Autumn and Nile both looked absolute stunning in
this movie. I'm not sure I've ever seen either of
them look better, although niall as Bail was pretty topp
tier and I particularly loved Autumn's red dress on their
layover date.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Oh yeah, cute, right. I have two more likes, but
I'm just gonna hit. I like the movie poster of
this movie too, the movie poster, but the movie art
for it. I think movie posters correct.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I do too.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
It's so dreamy and magical. Yeah, yeah, I really liked it.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I agree, she looks adorable in that red dress. To me,
it was it was giving a little bit like love
at the Thanksgiving Day parade. That's oh yeah level of.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah where she had that like vintag vibe. Yeah, a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
My final like was I thought their date was adorable,
like s'mores by the fire pit and cute cocktails in
Chicago at Christmas time, like these are all wins for me,
Like it was eye Candy, I loved all that. I
loved Chicago as the backdrop beautiful. I think about it
every time I see it on my TV. About you
(10:04):
and I being there and you wanted to go on
that like river boat cruise, and I was like, what.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah, I suggested the riverboat cruise, and everyone's like, why
would we do that? And then at the end of
the week we saw the boats and everyone's like, why
didn't we do that? I was like, hey, bozos, you
said no.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
I don't think I imagine that's what it was going
to be.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
But I really wanted that my best friend's wedding moment.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
If we ever go back, we're doing it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Yep, Okay, I'll have a romantic boat ride.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I also in my legs, I must have at one
point taken the note. It's my note, say Nile Mater's
cute smile. He's got a great smile. That's all he does.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
I'm going to talk about Nile and my wishes, not
in a bad way, not in a bad way. So
we just activated all I know the hills, hold off
on all the keyboard wires out there.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Just hold on a second. Let's talk wishes. Why don't
you go ahead?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Okay, I'm just gonna jump into it. We've seen devilish
Nile as bail bail forever for me. I loved him
in that character because it was so unexpected and we've
seen romantic Nile. For me, in this movie, he kind
of sat like right in the middle. I either wanted
like sexier or more comedy, like I needed like he
(11:28):
was just like nice guy, having seen like devilish Nile,
like I kind of want more of that.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I mean, look, team Rustin over
here wants the bad boy.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Always.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I guess I am kind of a.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Bad boy fan, no kidding, but I love him. I
think he's just adorable And you're right, he does have
like this great smile and I love everything about him.
He's under used in Hallmark movies. I think so too,
not enough Hallmark movies with n own mater. What are
(12:07):
some of your wishes?
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Well, I don't have any patients, and so the many
near misses drove me a little bit to distraction. Yes,
I just I don't have any patience for it. And
some people love that like slow Bur unless I don't.
I don't really want to Slowbur and like give me
the goods. And so while I understood that we needed
(12:30):
that final reveal and that that was where we were headed,
I just was like, go back outside, turn around.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Just yeah, yeah, I just.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Wanted them to to get it together, to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
If I can piggyback on that, I agree, that's probably
my biggest wish. You know, I'm I enjoy a misconnection
type storyline, h But like you said, like I don't.
There were too many of them, and I think they
weren't big enough like I needed like remember when they're
at the they're at the choir show or whatever, and
(13:06):
they're literally just like missing each other and yeah, and
I'm like, come on, I.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Don't know it.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Just I was like make it, make it bigger, like
make it like make me feel like, oh geez right there.
I wanted to feel like more stakes. I wanted to
feel like my life is going to fall apart if
these two do not find each other again. Of course
I know they're going to find each other again, but
like make it feel that way. Well, I think I
(13:35):
needed an additional wrench thrown in their path and not
just that they can't find each other. But I'm sitting
here thinking about like.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
What what would have made the waiting sweeter? And I
think maybe like one of them needed to meet someone
and have that moment of like, yeah, that was great,
but like maybe it's not meant to be because we
just keep missing each other. And so they have this
like and we're like, no, she's not the way right,
Like maybe we needed that, yeah, instead of this constant
(14:06):
like the only missing piece is there not in the
right place at.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
The right time.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
I mean I did like it at the end when
he comes into the church and he's sitting right behind her, Yes,
like I like that. And then we get like the
perspective from her angle, like from in front of her,
we see him behind her. I liked that. I was like, well, finally,
as soon as you stopped looking, there she is. Yeah, exactly.
I mean that's how it always works out, right, mm hmm.
(14:32):
I have two more wishes. One is about Autumn. I
she's great. I enjoy her a lot. Also underused a
homewark like she hasn't been in movie since twenty twenty four. No,
I mean many of the actors have only been in
one movie this, you know, per year or two. But
to me, she's like super leading lady. I don't know
why she's not in like two movies a year. But
(14:54):
that aside, her role here was like very even keeled
to me, Like I wanted to see her like crack
in frustration or impatience a little bit something, Yeah, you know,
like it's.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Always incredibly well put together.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Yeah, like have her crash out a little bit. Yeah, yeah,
I don't know. And finally, for me, this is a
little bit like what you said, the pacing dragged a
little bit. For me, there were moments where it feels
like it's supposed to be very reflective, like that was
the best night of my life, this is the person
(15:31):
I'm supposed to be with, et cetera, et cetera. But
I feel like for me as a viewer, the movie
could have benefited from, like a little more like momentum building, yes,
high stakes tension, yes, And that's where I land on
the wishes.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Well, let's talk to you. Just see that I have
a few Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
First of all, this is not a true did you
see that? But I loved out loud because I feel
like I'm Internet savvy enough that I could have found Annie,
a lawyer who works in fashion on the internet in
like two seconds.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah. Yeah. How many Chicago fashion houses are there?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Right? I mean, Dave and finance a little bit harder,
but it's like fuing a needle in a stack of needles,
A great line. Yeah, but come on, Annie in fashion
a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
It would have been easy enough, except that that's not
her name, which we learned at the end.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Yes, but professionally she goes by mary Anne. Mm hmm,
she goes by Mary Anne. Professionally.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
It seems like, I don't I don't know.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
I feel like you could have you could have found her.
Somebody could have found I could have found her. My
true digity that is the bubble snow, Oh my god.
And it was just a little bit inconsistent, like once
in they're covered in it, like in the hair, and
then the next scene nothing.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
It is constantly snowing in this movie.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
M hm.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Why does it need to be snowing every single freaking day.
It doesn't need to be snowing every day. And my
digity that in regards to the snow is it's snowing
in bright sunshine. It's snowing when the night sky is
absolutely clear. I mean, it's too much snow. We didn't
need the snow all the time.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
It's funny because you know, we don't live in Chicago.
I wonder does it snow all the time in Chicago?
I mean every single day the time, every single day,
every single moment of the day.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
It seemed like a lot of snow.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, but it was like the terrible bubble snow.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah. Yeah h that was just like getting our actors well.
And at one point they're out at drinks on their
layover and they're sitting like it's snowing on them. I
was like, I don't think they'd be sitting in the
snow outside.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Well, you know. That was my thought with that Melt
your Heart at Christmas movie, like are you trap seen
over feat of snow at a craft fair? I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I don't know either.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I don't know. My last did you see that? Is
like I'm a softy for Silent Night? Anytime it plays
like I am a puddle. Uh huh, I don't know why.
So the end when they're in the church with the
silent night and the dim lights and the candles, I
thought that was a very moving, beautiful scene.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
You know, my mother in law's birthdays two days before
Christmas and we go to church with her. Her church
does a Christmas Eve eve service and they do a
silent night with the candles, and I always find it
very moving in spite of my complicated church relationship. That
is always a very lights off, candles on. It's a
touching moment. I agree. I really liked that about the
(18:29):
silent night scene though. If you watch at one point,
Autumn singing and she's not singing the part we're hearing
like her mouth is doing like ee, and there's no
movement for the consonants. Oh anyway, I'm sure they had
to shoot it many times, right, So it's they just said,
do something generic that we can clip it in here
(18:49):
and no one's going to pay attention except for Megan,
who's annoying. We touched on all the rest of my
I did just see that's oh no, we didn't. Their
layover lasted a proximately four Hallmark days. It's one night.
They go on like eight dates. Yeah, for sure, Like
she even has an outfit change. They decorate a whole ballroom.
I mean, there are multiple locations. It was a lot
(19:12):
of locations. You know.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
It was very relatable where he wakes up and he's like, oh,
I set the alarm for seven totally.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I know I wrote way well been there. However, this
is just a me thing. In the beginning of the movie,
when She's rushing for the airport and he Dave's not there,
and she's talking to the reception desk like can you
tell me his name? Can you tell me his room number?
Can you give me his information? And I thought, if
this were me, I would be like, maybe he just
(19:42):
left without me.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
If this hall Mark he ghosted me.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, it bounced absolutely. Maybe the first meaning intensity was
too much.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Maybe he's a married man and was like AFO out
of here.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yes, that would have absolutely been my thought. If he
did not show up, I was like, I would not
have been like give them my information. I'd be like,
oh man, I am embarrassed.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, I also have to say
I'm I'm pleasantly surprised by some of the scenes, especially
when they go to he goes to the Christmas tree
farm and he's like, hey, does it did an Annie
come here? And blah blah blah, And the guy's like, yeah,
I'm not giving you that information.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
And I was like, okay, good, good.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
We're not just giving out random information about people strangers
to you know, other strangers.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, Christmas magic does not trump all common sense. Okay,
what did you rate? We met in December?
Speaker 1 (20:35):
I gave it three stars.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I gave it three point two five stars. Thank you
for listening to this episode of Girls Gone Homework, a
Bramble Jam podcast. We've got reviews dropping fast and furious
this week, of all of them Merry Thanksgiving weekend movies,
so check back for that. We'll see you next time. Goodbye, bye,
(21:05):
all right friends, before we go, just a quick heads up,
you're about to hear some ads. These little JEMs help
us keep the show running and the Hallmark love flowing.
So do with that info what you will, Grab a snack,
hit the skip button, or maybe just maybe listen in
and discover your new favorite product.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Bye
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.