A Wicked Holiday Romance

Olivia and Shauna find themselves on the Naughty List (again) this holiday season, so this episode is all about those holiday romance movies - the kind where big-city girls visit their hometowns and fall for a hunky carpenter/baker/farmer (or whatever) and learn the true meaning of Christmas. These movies are often associated with the Hallmark Channel, but can be seen everywhere, really. Netflix in particular, is doing their best to put their own stamp on the genre, peopling the films with male strippers and sexy sentient snowmen and such. Then the Junkies talk about the holiday season's biggest movie, and whether or not it 'defies gravity'.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
♪ Entertain me, entertain me right now ♪

(00:04):
- Ho, ho, ho, and welcome to the Pop Culture
Junkie podcast.
I'm Shauna here with Olivia.
- And we have been busy wrapping up this year.
- Get it?
- wrapping, and presents.
- You sum up at that one yourself?
- No, it was on the script right here, right here.
- I mean, I, we don't have a script,

(00:24):
but I totally made that up.
- You can't see the mic paper.
- Oh, of course that.
- No matter what, we always have to spend time
with our dear listeners, no matter how busy we are.
- Or naughty, where this year?
- I know, do you think you're on the naughty list
or the nicest thing to--
- Oh, I'm definitely on the naughty list.
- I am too.
- Yeah.
- I'm just the naughty one girl.
- You're so young, girl.

(00:44):
(laughing)
- So what have you been up to?
- I, Shocker, was in San Francisco last weekend
on the hunt for a new place.
So it was raining for the first time there ever,
since I've been there.
- Never.
- Not ever, but since I've been there.
- What's this?
- Since I've been there.

(01:05):
(laughing)
- What's this?
What's this?
- That was a Christmas reference
that you couldn't figure out what we're talking about today,
you guys.
(laughing)
And I was running around, no one, Brela,
in the pouring rain, as a person from the desert.
I was so afraid, if you live in Arizona,
you will be happy to know that no one knows

(01:26):
how to drive in the rain.
- Okay, that's good, that's converting a lot.
- And you know, it was, it was torrential downpour.
- Every video you sent me from that weekend,
you were just so wet.
- So wet.
- And then you eventually stopped commenting on it,
but you were still wet in the video.
- Yes, and I was going on a date.
And I had very minimal time in the,

(01:46):
like, so from the time I ended my tours and work
to go on said date.
And then, so I got very ready in the morning,
not anticipating rain.
- And then by the end of it,
I looked like a wet friggin dog.
However, I used wet dogs.
- That's good, right?
- Yeah, maybe.
- I don't know if he likes dogs.

(02:07):
(laughing)
So that's good.
But, no, specifically, I used elf primer,
'cause I was like, okay, it's gonna be a long day.
I'm gonna go on all these apartment and play stores.
I need to make sure that my baby stays on point.
I use this elf primer.
- Is it the sticky one?
- The pink one, yeah, it's very sticky.
- The pink one, the Jennifer Coolidge just, wow.
- Wow.
- Oh, wow, just primer's amazing.

(02:28):
- Yeah, I don't know if it's that.
I'll have to post it on the answer, yeah.
But it was amazing.
Not a single bud, my hair on the other hand.
Did these bangs, baby?
- Dude, that's the struggle when you have bangs
is when there's a weather.
They don't stay where you want them to.
- Yeah, I've realized that I need to start

(02:48):
eyelash gluing them down at the tip,
so they don't move around.
- Go like this and put your hand here,
and then just push up.
- And then I always do a spritz of hairspray.
'Cause I still want them to look like they have movement,
but not actually move.
- Okay, that's smart.
And then if you go like that,
you make sure you don't get the hairspray on your face.
- Yeah, I think in that moment, I needed eyelash gluing.

(03:10):
There was wind, there was rain, it was everything.
- That's right.
- If anybody else with bangs has some hot tips, please.
- Yeah, that's fun.
- The bang girls, yeah.
So I toured so many places.
However, if you don't know anything about San Francisco,
there are a lot of homeless people in San Francisco.
The rain did hide a lot of the homeless people for me.

(03:30):
So I went on tours in places that are not, say,
first a woman to live in.
- Oh gosh.
- And I, like, thankfully asked the dormant.
I was like, what neighborhood is this?
And they were like, it's the tenderloin.
And I was like, okay, so.
- I think tenderloin is...
- You don't like the tenderloin if you live there.
- That's why you make that kind of beef.
- Yeah, I like the tenderloin cut of beef.

(03:51):
I don't like the tenderloin.
It's where all of them live.
- Well, I hope that there's some kind of good
housing community shelter program in place.
- Yes, well speaking of that.
- Oh yeah, I mean speaking of the unhoused.
- Oh gosh.
I got offered a job today.
- Yes, thank you.
- Thank you, thank you.
- Thank you.

(04:12):
- I haven't accepted it yet.
So maybe I shouldn't say where it's in a month.
- Yeah, we'll leave it at it.
- I will be working with people from the unhoused community
and victims of domestic violence.
- We love that.
- We stop getting back on their beaten.
- Helping women in a whole new way.
- Yes.
- So, you know, if I accept that million dollar job offer
for a non-profit.
(laughing)

(04:33):
- We don't get into that work for the money, do we?
- Yes, no.
Our social justice warrior over here.
- Honestly.
- He's bleeding heart.
- Yes, yes.
- I'm about to be bleeding money, so.
- I mean, that's just true.
You will be in San Francisco bleeding money.
- Well, I'm sick to stay with my bleeding heart.
It's gonna work out great.
We'll just send each other files of blood.
- Yes.

(04:53):
- Or we could wear little necklaces
like Angelina and her brother.
- It's very Bob Thornton.
- I thought it was her brother.
- No, she just made out with her brother on the red carpet.
- Okay, we could do that too.
- Okay, yeah.
- Yeah.
- That's all I've been up to.
I'm just kind of watching the regular shows.
I watched, I was like,
- We didn't saw wicked.
- We did.
I figured we'd talk about that at the end though.

(05:14):
- Okay, so you want to talk about it now.
- Yes, okay.
- We did see wicked and I enjoyed it.
- Yeah.
- We're just watching the usual stuff.
Me and Andrew, we're watching this anime called
"Dun-Dun"
- Don't drop that down.
- Okay, so "Dun-Dun"
and it is so over the top and funny.
And it's about this kind of nerdy kid

(05:34):
who believes in aliens.
And then this popular girl who believes in ghosts.
And they like run into each other
in a quirky set of circumstances
like most anime is and become best friends
who've been like hunt ghosts and aliens together.
- Okay.
- But then in like the first episode,

(05:55):
he's abducted by an alien and it steals his dick.
- Oh, wow, okay.
They don't probe him, they steal his probe.
- Oh, they try to probe her.
- But then yeah, they steal his penis.
- Okay. - Or maybe it was one of the ghosts.
- Somewhere.
- Okay, along the line is penis, the stolen.
And then he just help him get it back.

(06:16):
- Okay.
- And then he gets that back
but it's just a shaft of there's no balls.
So she, it sounds so absurd.
I promise it is so over there.
- What is going on over there?
- Okay.
- So then he has to go and find his balls.
So at one, the point is,
- This is an early enough episode of South Park,
but it's the penis.
- It's my penis when Mr. Karrison's penis.

(06:37):
- What's that they say?
If you love your penis, let it go.
If it loves you to come back.
(laughing)
- I am such a good one.
- Inspired a whole anime.
- It's it.
So where I'm at in the anime,
so far he's retrieved one of his testicles.
So he's got the shaft in one ball.
- Oh, so that's how I get in.
- And they're probably gonna fall in love at some point.
- Infinity stone style.

(06:57):
- He's kinda like all of the testicles.
(laughing)
- What's the name of this?
- Dun-da-da-da-da.
- Oh yeah, you just had that.
- I'd distract myself with a balloon.
- Yeah, oh.
- Oh.
- Okay.
- It's really funny and it doesn't take itself very seriously.
- I know.
- So, you just have like the most serious.

(07:18):
- I love my penis.
- And my ball.
- Well, yeah.
- Cup the penis back.
- Cup the balls.
- It was just the shaft, okay.
- Okay, Lance, I'm strong.
- That's what I thought of saying.
- What do people do with one testicle?
That's fine.
- It's a little lancy.
- It's fine.
- It's a little lancy.
- Yeah.
- So that's what I've been doing.
(laughing)

(07:39):
- I love that for you so much.
- Oh my gosh.
- Dines and Dines is not Christmas themed.
But there are balls like holly balls.
- Yeah.
- I don't know.
That's a terrible segue.
- Yeah.
- Today we're talking about holiday movies.
(laughing)
Yeah, so we're gonna take a quick break
and then stop talking about Chinatalia.
(laughing)
(dramatic music)

(08:01):
(dramatic music)
- So we've talked about holiday horror films
on this podcast and holiday films in general,
but we have yet to take a hard look
at the movie genre.
- A hard run.
- A hard look at the movie genre
that has become inescapable every year.
The Christmas rom-com.
These insubstantial cookie cutter romance movies

(08:22):
are like cinematic curpees.
You have to try very hard or be very lucky
to avoid catching one of them.
(laughing)
- Who doesn't think about curpees on the holiday?
- David Ewell.
(laughing)
- The gift of pizza and green.
It is the gift that keeps on going.
- Oh my god.

(08:42):
The Hallmark channel gets blamed
for the worst of these movies.
The formulaic big city girl returns to her small town home
to learn the true meaning of love.
- And her piece.
- And her piece.
(laughing)
From some honky hometown boy
who makes a gingerbread houses
or runs a Christmas tree farm
or some stupid shit like that.
Almost every network and streaming service

(09:04):
offers movies like this.
So we are gonna talk about the genre in general
and then talk about a movie that we both watched
that I actually really enjoyed.
It was nonsense.
- Yes.
- Frosty.
- Yes.
- Which sounds like something you shouldn't look up
on Urban Dictionary.
- Or that girl on Frosty.
- That's what I'm gonna do.
- Sure.
- You know, I'm trying something new for the holiday season.

(09:25):
We're all about experimenting.
- This is true.
- No, sexy, sentient snowman is not something
that I knew I needed in my life.
But yes, I went into it after you told me to watch it
because you were like, it was silly goofy.
- Yeah.
- I actually thought I was kind of cute.
Of course.
- It was adorable.
- The sexy sentient snowman delivered.

(09:46):
He was sexy sentient and it's not like,
well, for a little bit for a second.
- You know what?
Actually, I made a shit's creek reference
and I didn't even realize it took me like halfway
through the movie to realize that that's Alexis
like boyfriend vet guy from the shit's creek.
I didn't realize that I looked at it.
- He looked totally different.
- 'Cause he was long hair.
- Yeah.

(10:07):
- He looks a lot hotter with the long hair.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- I prefer him with the short hair.
- Oh.
- Yeah.
- I know.
- I'm like a long hair man.
- I mean, how'd you two, but there, I don't know.
- You know, maybe those Fabia romance novels rubbed off
on me more than I thought.
- Because I do love like a long hair.
- Yeah.
- As a date bald man all the time.
- You're super into bald guys.

(10:28):
(laughing)
- I know like a short hair man.
- I think you're a cute bald or Fabia, okay?
- Yeah.
- I think they give it to you.
- Honestly, it's very true.
- That it's very, very true.
- I like a beard.
Okay, but sexy, sentient, so man, man.
Hot frosty, as it's called on Netflix.

(10:48):
It has Gretchen Wieners in it.
- Lacey Schabair.
- Oh, Gretchen.
- I could not be bothered.
She's Gretchen Wieners.
I'm sorry.
- I'm sorry, not be bothered.
I think it's Schabair, but maybe I'm just saying
that like the Colbert report.
- Yeah.
- She says Schabair.
(laughing)
- So she's in it and her partner, her husband dies

(11:10):
of cancer. - He has been dies of cancer, yes.
- And she lives in this little rundown house.
- Because he used to be a contractor.
- And it's a very small town, like so small.
It's like what, like 100 people?
- Yeah, and there's one cop who is like the comic relief
slash antagonist of the movie,

(11:30):
because he wants to arrest hot frosty for streaking.
- Yes.
- Because when he got turned into a human,
he of course had no clothes on.
And he had to like rob a thrift shop
and he bought a jumpsuit that said Jack.
- I get it.
- Jack Frost.
- And my favorite holiday horror movie,
if you have any listeners about it.
- Every time you say that, though,
I think of Michael Keaton.

(11:51):
- I don't think that was a horror movie.
- I was talking about this in my office last week.
And they were like, like the Michael Keaton one?
And I was like, no.
- It's fair.
- If my deceased parent came back to me in the form
of a snowman, I would be horrified.
- You'd be like, no, you'd be like your mom.
- Yeah, but it would be horrified.
She's got like sticks for arms.

(12:13):
- But what if she was like--
- I'd like sticks for arms.
- What if she was like hot frosty version,
not like the sticks back at abs,
but like she looked like herself?
- Then that'd be fine.
And then I would, I guess, have to win her over
with love and turn her into a human.
- You'd have to get like a really big freezer.
(laughing)
So she'd stick around.
- This move is so stupid.
But if you don't think through it,

(12:33):
because yeah, he says snowman.
So he starts to like melt.
- Yeah.
- But it's basically just him being moist all the time.
- Oh.
- Mm.
- Which is--
- As Andrew said, is that just an excuse
for him to have wet abs for the whole movie?
And it's like, essentially, yes.
- Babywild that baby.
- Yeah, you know.
- And it's melting.
- And then when he gets thrown in jail,

(12:53):
it's very warm in the jail.
He starts to actually die.
- I actually didn't realize until this exact moment.
It's kind of like a, what's the,
I'm terrible Disney person, the one where they have to like,
be kissed.
Sleeping beauty.
- I was sleeping beauty.
- Yeah, snow white.
It's essentially both of them.
- To be like a real person.
- Yeah, to come back from like a coma.
- Yeah.

(13:14):
- Yeah, I guess that was kind of.
So, okay, questions about--
- Not for us to be pairing the hot frosty script
to Sleeping Beauty.
- I mean, they're both kind of nonsense.
- Yeah.
- Okay, my favorite thing about hot frosty,
is when he finds, okay, so he's learning everything
he can from TV, right?
She leaves him at home at one point.

(13:37):
Well, she goes works at her little diner,
of course, works at a fucking diner.
He goes into the basement and finds all of her dead husbands
stuff.
He finds death record or like the note from the doctor
and in comic sands, it says, "Doctors notes start chemotherapy,
"asap in comic sands."

(13:59):
And he's like, "Wow, I don't know what any of that means,
"but it sounds not good."
And then he goes, "What's cancer?"
- How can he read, first of all?
- Yeah, I guess--
- That's a good point.
- How does he read?
How does he speak English?
- That's a good plot.
- Oh, like?
That's a good plot, oh, I know.
- How do we know he's like an English speaking hot frosty?

(14:19):
What if she put like the scarf around him
and he comes to life and he's like,
"Joabella."
- Yeah, sexy, senty and snowman.
- I don't know.
- He said something, how he speaks English,
can't can read.
- How did we all speak a language at some point, you know?
- We would learn it though.
- I know, but how did the first person
learn a language?
- They, I guess they invented it.

(14:40):
- But like how?
I'm not even a smoking weed anymore.
- I know, I feel so hot.
(laughing)
- Like, how did words start out there?
- No, literally, as a kid, I used to ask my mom
this question like over and over and she just went,
"I don't know, man."
- Get going.
- I don't know, I don't know.
- Yeah, my mom shut up.
- You're so annoying.
- Just give me a moment of rest.
(laughing)

(15:01):
- I'm bad, I please.
I need to, mommy needs her special chase.
- Me and while I'm like,
- I'm also like, forging into the bathroom.
I'm like, "What are you doing?"
(laughing)
- That was me, my mom's on the phone with my uncle
at one point when I was little and I woke up to her.
'Cause of course when you're a kid, you have no,
you don't care if your parents are on the phone.
- Yeah.
- You're like, "I want I need to say more important."

(15:22):
I woke up and I'm like, "Mom, let's an orgasm."
And I just remember her going,
"She just asked me when an orgasm is."
I got her going.
- And I was standing there like,
"Yeah, so hung up."
And she's like, "It's the peak."
- How old were you?
- I mean, maybe 10.
- Oh my, how did you hear this?
- I have no idea.
I knew what sex was at a certain point,

(15:44):
but I didn't know what it was.
- Yeah.
- And so she told me and I was like,
"This is not the female experience."
(laughing)
I didn't know what an orgasm was until I was 25.
(laughing)
Anyway, hot frosty.
(laughing)
He doesn't have fingerprints 'cause he's a snowman.
- Yeah.
- But eventually he turns human.

(16:04):
- Yeah.
- Oh, no.
My other favorite thing about hot frosty
besides the comic sands and the he has cancer report
is she's at the cafe in the end and she's like,
"Jack is, you guys aren't gonna believe me,
"but he's a snowman and everyone might..."
Yeah, we know.
Yeah.
- He's, you guys all knew and he's there like,
"Yeah, it's a Christmas miracle."

(16:26):
- No.
- Yeah.
- Everyone was just fine.
- I am.
- It's a snowman.
- I thought I was really silly, really funny.
I thought it was good enough.
Like, "Gracian Weeners," again, that's her name.
- Sure, man.
- Um, she, I think she did well.
Like I think she's good.
- She's good.
- She's good. - She's good.
- She's good.
- She's good.

(16:46):
- She's good.
- Yeah.
It was fun enough.
I knew it was gonna be a terrible movie.
It's a Netflix Christmas movie.
- Oh, but I loved it when I entered it.
- I'm talking about a ship.
- I thought it was cute.
She had good timing.
I did love the Lindsay Lohan Christmas movie
that we talked about where Shauna and I literally muted it
and made up our own words while drinking instead.
Because it was such a bad movie.

(17:06):
They make a joke and she goes,
"Wow, that really looks like a girl I went to high school with."
- Yes.
- Which means, canonically, that Mean Girls was also in that town.
Right?
Because like, she's from that small town.
- Yeah, maybe.
Weird.
- I don't like that.
- Also, no.
- Maybe it's just the multiverse of Madness.
- Or maybe she married Mr. Contractor Cancer Man.

(17:30):
- Contractor Cancer Man.
- And then move there.
- Yeah, that's true.
- It's all the multiverse of Mean Girls.
- The man, I think we need to do a deep dive on this.
- I want to see, I want to see cool where
Caddy steals sexy sentience, no man man, in Hawaii.
- Oh, I thought you were gonna say steal something
with the multiverse of madness.

(17:50):
- Or something that steals the dark hole.
- Steal the infinity stone.
- Steal the girl.
- Don't touch the dance balls.
- Don't touch the dance balls.
It's just all in there.
It's the multiverse.
God, it's nonsense.
Anyway, yes, hot frosty was perfect.
If you just,
- It was just really stupid moving.
- Yeah, and that's what we needed.

(18:11):
I watched it like two days after the election, I think,
because I said, I want something that is just,
I don't need to think too deeply.
And of course, I spent the next two days like,
how did he know how to speak?
- She was not thinking too deep.
(laughing)
But I needed something silly.
And I was thinking on the level of five year old Olivia,
I thought about that.

(18:32):
- Mommy, what's an orgasm in what her words
and how did they become things that we say?
- Like the word orgasm.
- Poor moms out there.
Respects all the moms, literally.
- But I think that's kind of what you get
with these like hallmark romcoms.
- Right.
- Do you watch the Chad Michael Murray one?
- No, but I want to.
- I have an eye bear.
- Oh God, what's it called?

(18:52):
- They're like male strippers.
- Yes.
- Mary gentleman.
- Yeah, that's a gentle man.
- Yes, I mean, it's on Netflix.
And this girl is a Broadway dancer
and she's trying to save her family's bar.
That's like a jazz club or something.
- Yeah.
- And again, we haven't, yeah, there are of us have seen it.
But I'm going to the ribs.
- In order to save the bar, she decides she's going

(19:14):
to host a male stripper.
- A male review.
- And Christmas Eve to save the bar.
And Chad--
- The way Jesus would want it.
- Yeah, so it's like magic, my Christmas style.
And I don't know, I don't really,
Chad Michael Murray doesn't do it for me.
- Dude, okay, he didn't do it for me back in the day,
but like watching the previews from this,

(19:34):
I think this man got fine or with age.
- Maybe it's because we're getting finer with age.
- Yeah, I don't, I think the opposite.
Like I think I think he was more attractive
when he was younger.
- Like Cinderella's turn.
- And then enough blonde Ben hurt me in my past,
but-- - I never trust a blonde man.
- No, no, no, no.
- We don't do it, sorry, blonde man.
No blonde man, or what's my name?

(19:55):
- It's me, I'm a blonde man.
And you listen to this, please, like just let us know.
- We like you a little bit more than the blonde man
that I've dated, 'cause you listen to us, but--
- Yeah, yeah, 'cause they definitely do.
- You earn some points by listening to this podcast.
We'll put it in the plus column.
- But I don't know, there's something about him.
He does it for me.
- Yeah, okay.
- Maybe it's just the abs.
I think it's the abs.

(20:16):
- He released a calendar as well.
- Like it's really full blown going into this now,
where it's like every month he's stressed
like in a sexy little costume.
- Like sexy male stripper.
Have you ever been no male stripper?
- A gay club, yeah.
- Okay, but not like a gay stripper club, yeah.
- So they're not like girls there?

(20:36):
- Magic Mike, I mean, there were women there.
- Okay. - I got you, I got you.
- But like the audience was men.
- Yeah.
- We, I used to go to this one in Phoenix called Dick's Cabaret.
- I love that.
- So let's go.
- I have no idea of Dick's Cabaret still open.
I haven't gone since I was maybe like 18 or no.
- Okay.
- It means Stephanie and Jessica used to go

(20:57):
and I remember calling for the hours once.
I haven't, this is how long ago this was.
- We were 18.
- Yeah, and we were like,
- I was just, I was like,
- I was calling seven years.
- We had to call them from the yellow page, let's see.
We wanna know what time the dicks are here.
- And it's in the phone with Dick's Cabaret,
home with the biggest cock in the Southwest.
(laughing)

(21:18):
- I love that.
What a child.
- I'm better not be closed.
- I hope there's still life.
It was in like the industrial part of downtown Phoenix
where you're driving and you're like,
maybe we shouldn't get out of the car ladies.
Like, we're teenagers.
- Yeah, it was a manly woman there.
Was it also a lot of men?
- It was a second mix.
- Okay.
- And then for my bachelor at party,
we did thunder from down under.
- Oh, was that fun?

(21:38):
- Oh, it was.
- Oh, fun dude.
- Yeah.
- I had like the sash and the tiara or the,
not the tiara, the fucking veil.
- Yeah.
- It's how they brought me up on stage.
- The sticker kissed me.
- Ooh.
- So I can tell you that's no.
- Oh my God.
He was so fine.
He was a fire man.
- Ooh.
- I mean, I don't think professionally.
He was a fire man.
I think that was probably his costume.

(21:59):
Anyway.
- Yeah, maybe.
- Maybe, I don't know, maybe.
- Maybe he'd be a volunteer fire fighter.
- He's fighting that fire in my heart.
And he's all strallian because it's thunder from down,
down, down.
- Oh.
- And he's like,
"Oh, right."
- You don't like Sam?
(laughing)
- I think it's about as real as you're an ass.
- Holy.
- An ass and a toy key.
(laughing)

(22:19):
- He smelled so good.
- I hope so.
- He's whipping me around in an office chair.
I don't know why he's a fire man with an office chair.
- Yeah.
- He's fine.
- Don't ask questions.
Just like with hot frosty.
- And it was so confused.
I don't know what to say while I'm up there.
Like everyone's staring at you.
So I just went,
"He smelled really good."
- He's like, "Sounds."

(22:39):
- He's like, "Sounds."
- He's like, "He did that thing,
retab, his cheater."
And you like go into KISS and he turned and kissed me
on the mouth.
- What a cheater.
- I know.
I'm my bachelor at party.
I'm kissin'.
- He's so late, dude.
- I say so late.
- He's so late, dude.
Good name.
- I was, I've never been, that was my first kiss.
(laughing)
My husband and I were saving it.

(23:00):
- I was saving it from marriage.
- Dugger style.
- Oh god.
(laughing)
- Oh my god, this is a rant heavy episode.
I am A okay with it.
- Yes.
- Did you watch anything else besides Hot Frosty?
I've seen, I watch one with my grandma
because she loves those home-marked romance movies.
- And gosh, it was one of the girls from The Walking Dead.
I don't remember the actress's name,

(23:22):
but she is a sports therapist, like physical therapist.
And her client is a professional athlete.
And at first, they don't like each other very much
'cause they got very different attitudes
about Christmas and life.
And then in the end they fall in love.
And it was delightful.
- How can people fall in love if they don't like Christmas
and one loves Christmas?

(23:42):
(laughing)
- Yeah, I think that home-marked movies traditionally
are very formulaic, very standard of big city girl
goes home, falls in love.
I don't typically like those movies.
I think I was able to watch Hot Frosty
'cause it was like a silly like sentient snowman.

(24:04):
- Any talk.
- Yeah, any time, that didn't hurt.
- So I wanted to go on a mission to find a
Christmas movie that actually did not fit
the formulaic Christmas romance movie.
- Did you find what?
- I did, I ended up crying in the middle of the day
because I was also working.

(24:25):
I was like, let me find this Christmas movie.
- I'm gonna turn off my brain a little.
- So it was last Christmas with Amelia Clark
and Henry Golding.
- I'm not crying yet, but I heard it sad.
- Oh my God, it's so sad.
- It came out 2019.
- And it is, it's very sweet.
It's got a very good message.

(24:46):
I think I identified with,
so I had seen it before in COVID times, actually.
And my brother and his wife are like literally falling
in love and I'm over here like drinking everyday,
single alone in COVID, like a total mess.
And I remember like resonating with the movie a lot

(25:09):
because Amelia Clark is like this, not put together,
I think she's 26 or 27 in the movie.
She's very, like, yeah.
- So she's very like unkempt, not put together,
like struggling in life.
And I really remember like resonating with movie,
but the end of the movie is so frickin sad.

(25:30):
I cried my eyes out, I don't wanna spoil it.
- I need to watch it, yeah, I don't wanna spoil it
for anyone who hasn't seen it.
- But it is such a good movie and it's all about life
and like helping people and appreciating what you have
and the character in it, Amelia Clark, you know,
was really sick at one point

(25:50):
and I kind of went through a similar journey
when I was younger and I really, really liked it.
But I was trying to rewatch it
so I could re-talk about it on this podcast.
And I just accidentally traumatized.
- She's trying to frighten my eyes out.
- I had like 330 today.
- Today?
- Yeah, I watched it today.
And I was like, God, why am I crying in the middle of the day?

(26:10):
- Thankfully.
- I got the client in the client at the club.
- And the Tuesday.
- Thankfully I wasn't a busy work day,
but there are some really good movies.
And I think like not being formulaic
makes a good Christmas movie.
Like you look at like elf and that is just,
no one had any idea that elf would work.
Like it was just a little feral.
- And it's to have a little romance in there.

(26:31):
- Yeah, it's like fun.
- But it's just mainly wolf feral running around New York.
- In a freaking like elf costume.
- Yeah, and tight love Christmas movies.
I make me feel happy.
And like if you're watching the "Homark Ones" more power to,
you know what you're getting.
Sometimes we need those like no surprises.
- Traditional typical.
- Yeah.
That's interesting.
You like those, but you, I don't like seek them out

(26:53):
unless I'm in the mood for something that's like,
no brainers.
- Yeah, no brainer.
I do appreciate that they're getting a little more diverse.
- No, like yes.
- I remember seeing those graphics
where it's all like a white couple,
a white straight couple, we're all in like their 20s or 30s
and they're all wearing the green and red sweaters.
It's like every single cover of the same.

(27:14):
- Like a repeat.
- Spock the difference in these images.
- So now they're starting to have more like people of color,
more like LGBTQ people in there,
which I like.
I really did like happiest season with Kristen Stewart.
Did you not see this one?
Oh, it's so good.
So, "Homark" maybe?
- No, it's on, it's a Netflix original.
I think it came out in 2020.

(27:35):
I'm sorry, it's Hulu.
So she is dating this woman, McKinsey Davis,
his character named Harper.
And Harper's not out to her parents yet.
So, Brings Kristen Stewart's character home for the holidays,
but just has to tell everyone they're just friends.
- And they were roommates.
- And they were roommates.
Aubrey Plasas and she plays a lesbian too,

(27:56):
which just kind of makes everyone gayer.
- Oh, I've seen the clips of this,
but I've never actually seen it.
- Yeah, give it up.
- Yeah, watch it.
Watch it, it's definitely, I mean, it's a rom-com,
but it's about finding yourself and being sure
to yourself over the holidays and finally,
and I enjoy it.
- I love about it, yeah.
- I love about it.
- Yeah, it's good stuff.
- We definitely need more representation within it.

(28:17):
Again, we talked about this last Christmas.
I'm more of like a holiday horror person.
- I do like a good holiday horror.
- I love the silliness, the campiness,
the goofiness of it, all deep down.
But if you had to do like,
only watch one Christmas movie for the rest of your life,
what would it be?
- Jim Carrey's how they grudge still Christmas.
- Damn it, that was gonna be mine.
- Okay, to be original, I would say,

(28:40):
the nightmaribow for Christmas.
- Really?
- Is that a Christmas movie or Halloween movie?
- It's a Christmas movie in my mind.
- Yeah, my other one would probably be home alone too.
- Ooh, yeah, but Trump's in that.
- How fuck you're right.
- I know, I ruined everything good.
- Man, we just digitally did it.
- Yeah, in my mind, he's gone.
- He's gone.
- In my mind, he's gone.
- He's a Christmas miracle.

(29:01):
- That's the real miracle.
- Coming out of Timout.
- Somebody please send us a copy of the non-Trump.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- That's a great one too.
- That's all we want for Christmas.
- We can replace him with some other millionaire.
- Yeah, let's take a quick break.
And I wanna talk about a movie that's not a holiday
specific film, but something that is going to be

(29:21):
very popular and I'm sure a lot of people
are gonna be watching this Christmas in theaters.
(dramatic music)
(dramatic music)
- So Olivia and I went on a little movie date last night.
- We did.
- I mean, this is coming out like weeks later,
but that's fine.
- At some point in the not too distant past,
we went on a movie date and we saw Wicked.

(29:44):
- Yes.
- You didn't have, like you've never seen the musical
neither of I, and you were like,
I guess we can see this, yeah.
- Yeah, Shawna texted me and was like,
can we go see Wicked?
And I was like, I am not a musical person
or a theater kid.
Did you do theater as a kid?
- A little bit.
- Okay, interesting.
- Yeah, I mean, I was definitely like a competitive dancer

(30:07):
and I'm not much of a singer.
I know that's Shawkin, right?
(laughing)
- Who'd have found this voice?
- Just Creed.
- Just Creed, that's the only thing I'm good at singing.
(laughing)
- I'll say karaoke every time.
- Every time.
- But I do really like musicals.
I love Lone Rouge and Chicago.

(30:27):
- Lone Rouge's classic.
- Yeah, the greatest showman, all of that.
I love her solo movie.
- Really, it's me.
- My husband's favorite movie.
- So random.
- What?
- Okay, I'm gonna put him out a little bit.
That song, there's a song from it.
I don't remember what it's called,
but he gets a little teary eyeed every time it comes off.
- Oh God.

(30:47):
- I'm like, I caught him watching YouTube videos
and it was just like,
(laughing)
just a little, just a little misty eye.
I'll just send it to you.
It's a beautiful song.
- Okay, I'm gonna make fun of him forever.
- Absolutely.
- Absolutely.
- But I left wicked.
It was a little long.
- Yeah.
- But I think that I'm not a huge Ariana Grande fan either.

(31:08):
I think she's a little problematic,
but she did a great job.
- Yes.
- I can't believe that that voice comes out of that.
- I need a new body.
- Oh, emphasis on the tiny little body.
So I would say--
- It's a body-shaning here obviously, but--
- Yeah, yeah.
- So I'm gonna say, here's my quick spoiler for review.

(31:28):
Goddamn it.
Why can Jonathan Bailey not be bisexual
just for my own personal fantasies?
That would be amazing.
- Oh, he's seen by.
- So he like, he's not.
- Oh, I can't even be bisexual.
- I got so hopeful.
- Yeah, same.
That's why I said, why can't I be bisexual?
Just so I could dream that one day I would have a chance.
- Oh my God.

(31:48):
- I would be very happy for him.
- So many times throughout the movie.
- He's so handsome.
- Yeah, the only reason I said yes to going was
because I wanted to stare at Jonathan Bailey more.
- He's so good looking.
- Dancing, singing, he's even hotter
than he is in Bridgerton.
Two, every time SpongeBob was on screen
and told frickin' jump scare.

(32:09):
- We both went, "Boo."
- Yeah, no, he makes this comment about family
not being sad in the very first five minutes of the movie.
And I went, "Sure, your family doesn't feel that way."
- I was like, "I bet your family misses you
and you said, I bet your kids miss you."
(laughing)
- And I was like, "So good."
- The editors did him so dirty, keeping that in there.

(32:32):
And then, you know, unfortunately,
I think that Ariana did an amazing job in the movie
both singing, I think her comedic timing was amazing.
I had a very hard time looking at her,
purely as someone coming out of being a teenager

(32:53):
in the 2000s.
- I got you.
- And it really triggered like a part of me
that reminded me of that picture of like Lindsay Lohan
and Nicole Richie when, like in the tabloid.
- And it was jarring at certain points.
And, you know, everyone is on their own journey,

(33:16):
but you could definitely tell like when certain scenes
were filmed just by how skinny she was getting
throughout the film.
- Yeah, I could say that.
- And, you know, she's commented on having health issues
and things like that, whatever they are,
wish her love and light.
But it being a PG movie really scared me
because you could see how it could be like triggering.

(33:39):
- Yeah, she's promoted as the most beautiful,
the best, like the most popular.
And like, you know, as someone coming out of the Y2K generation,
like those images stick with you,
even to the point where you're in your 30s
and you're like, oh my gosh.
- Totally did.
- Like, yeah, immediately was like jarred.

(34:00):
- Yeah.
- But I think her singing was amazing.
I mean, she acted as funny.
- She was so good at it.
- Her and Bo and Yang have such good chemistry
who plays whenever best friends.
And then at one point when she's like faints
and he like lifts her and carries her away.
I'm like, yeah.
- I imagine that's how Ariana Grande leaves every room.
- Yeah. - I do think the personality of Glenda

(34:22):
is very close to Ariana's actual personality.
- Very like self-centered and like,
thinks that she's just hot shit.
- Who knows if this was ever true,
but there was a rumor that for a very long time,
Ariana would not let anyone photograph
the left side of her face.
Like, to the point where all of the people
at her concert, it's like the professional photographers

(34:44):
would have to be on the right side.
- So but they couldn't capture it.
- So Ariana's always had a very big diva vibe
follow her from the donut looking all the way to.
- The donut looking is what put me over the edge with her.
I was like, this is just so like looking down.
Like that was felt very classist to me.
And that's where I was like,
which is my head of my hair.
- Yeah.
- Sanderriva did amazing.

(35:06):
I think that the acting that she did
was so amazing.
The singing she did, she's a Broadway person.
- She was wonderful.
I mean, she's been a little over top of the top
in the press.
- Oh my god, the press story has been so--
- It's been so funny.
They're just like all over each other.
- They're all over each other.
- And then just bawling their eyes out the entire time.

(35:26):
- But you know a lot of people are listening
to divine gravity and holding space for that.
- Yeah.
- And they're just like grasping hands and weeping.
- No, not grasping hands and grasping hands.
- They're just like the nail.
- It's literally--
- They shot like shot, something's holding space for you.
- They're holding space for you.
- I didn't know if they were doing that.
- No, that's too much.
It's holding the nail.

(35:47):
She's only holding her nail.
She's not even touching her fingers.
- She's just holding her nail.
- She's so comfortable.
- Huh?
(laughing)
- Yeah.
- It's been a little over the top
and I'm glad that this press tour is gonna be ending.
- For now, it's a part one.
- It's a part one.
- It's a part one.
- Jeff Goldbloom's in it.
He's wonderful as the Wizard of Oz.

(36:08):
Michelle Yo is mad and morrible.
I didn't realize this, but Peter Dinklage
plays the voice of Dr. Dillamond.
- Oh really?
- Yeah, which makes sense 'cause I liked him.
- You couldn't figure that out?
- No, I'm really bad at that.
- Oh, okay.
- So she faced--
- Yeah, and then sometimes I'm face blind,
like with hot frosty.
(laughing)
I'm just not good at human interactions.

(36:30):
But yeah, I would pop wicked.
It's got a 90% I think on Rotten Tomatoes,
I think it's just gonna be kind of like a cultural thing.
Like everybody's gonna be talking about for a long time.
Like Barbie Grasp Dissolve or, you know, months.
And I think it's wicked right now.
- It's wicked cool.
- It's so wicked.
- It's two non-theater people,

(36:52):
or two, you like musicals, but like not a theater kid,
not a musical person.
I actually really did enjoy it.
- I do think it could've been a little bit shorter.
- I got a little long in the two there.
- Yeah, in the middle of the neck.
- Yeah, you know, I think it could've been two hours
and 20 minutes, but you know, I think from everything

(37:14):
I've read online for people who are theater kids,
musical obsessed, like it is just such a love letter to.
- Right, it's everything that they wanted.
- Yes, and I'm glad that we didn't have any singers
in the audience in our theater.
- Oh, yeah, I think so.
- We did have a standing clap at the end of the time.
- We did have a standing nomination.
- And I was like, okay.
- I wish she had that note.

(37:34):
- Yeah.
- Yeah, a lot of people are saying that they actually
like Cynthia Areva's rendition of "Define Gravity"
more than Adenum and Zell.
- Adel de Zeein.
- Is that it?
- No, it's Adenum and Zell.
- John Schruppelter was introducing her

(37:56):
in the Oscars years ago.
- And he said, ladies and gentlemen,
Zell de Zeein, he just made it up.
- I'm sorry, keep going, keep going.
- I'll send you the clip.
It's amazing.
- I know what you're talking about,
but Adel de Zeein was like, did I say it wrong?
Adenum and Zell is in.
- Wicked spoiler.
Sorry, that's a total spoiler.

(38:17):
- Yeah, I mean she has a little pop up.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's wonderful.
- Yes, no, I think it was really, really good.
I'm excited for part two.
It's gonna come out exactly a year from now.
- Yes.
- They've already filmed it.
- Nice.
- And so that's really nice.
And I will say, if you saw the trailer for it,
the trailer made it look very CGI.
It's actually not.
- There's a lot of practical sets.

(38:38):
- No, all these tulips in the movie, all real.
- Really?
- All real.
- That was in tulips, planet.
- Love that.
- Yeah.
- Love that.
- Yeah.
- So we're gonna pop that.
And I think that includes our look at
the Hallmark Cinematic Universe.
What do we say, the Mean Girls Cinematic Universe?
The Wicked.
- The Wicked.

(38:59):
- The Sexy Sentience Snowman.
- The Sexy Sentience Snowman.
We'll never get over those.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, chocolate, butter, and cheese.
- We talk a lot about abs.
- Yeah.
- Well, I love it.
Netflix.
- It's what we like.
- Netflix.
- No, it's what we like.
- Yeah.
- For free.
- Oh my gosh.
Okay.
On this note, I will say.
- On the note of being horny.
- No, I'm not a being horny.

(39:19):
- But if you ever looked at someone's Netflix,
for the first time and you're like,
I feel like I'm seeing into their soul.
- Ooh, no, but I guess I could see that.
Like if somebody saw my Netflix and was like,
bitch, how many times have you watched
Buffy the Vampires are?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Stop it.
- So I once had a boyfriend.
- No, God.

(39:40):
- I fell asleep and just like passed out
and he was trying to find something on Netflix.
And I woke up in the morning and he was like,
he was like the amount of like true crime and more.
Like, are you doing okay?
- Are you doing okay?
- No.
- No.
And I had that moment this weekend.
And I was like, this feels like I'm really seeing
into someone's soul.

(40:00):
And I don't know about that.
- If you go through to somebody's like HBO history,
I feel like that'd be worse.
- Yeah.
- It's like softcore, softcore, softcore, softcore.
- Oh, we know Shana's.
- Softcore.
- Softcore Shana.
- I like it when I kiss a little bit.
- I just want him to kiss and be alive.
(laughing)
- No last time I did that was in a hotel room

(40:21):
because it was there.
No one else was around and it was really dumb.
- No.
- And you watched it.
- It was a better than Hot Frosty.
- No.
- No.
- Hot Frosty was better.
- Okay.
- This was a lot of just rubbing thighs.
- No.
- Anyway, we want to, we want to, on that note,
we want to wish Shana everyone out there
the happiest of all the days.
And I'm right, Shanae, New Year.

(40:44):
Happy Christmas on a quenzyka, everybody.
Before we go, let's tell everyone
where they can find us on social media.
- You can find me, Olivia, on Instagram
@livimariez, L-I-V-I-M-A-R-I-E-Z.
- You can find me, Shauna, on Instagram and threats
@shaunatrinidad, S-H-A-U-N-A-T-R-I-N-I-D-A-D.

(41:06):
Don't forget, you can find the Pop Culture Junkie podcast,
social media links, and more on our website,
popculturejunkie.com.
From there, you can find our podcast on all platforms
where you can follow, subscribe, rate, and review
the show as your present to us.
- And join our Patreon at the stocking stuff
or level of $1 a month.

(41:28):
We'll give you a special shout out in an episode of the show
and for the wrapped gift level, five bucks a month.
You'll get access to our un-sonsored video version
of the podcast to a week early,
which is mostly just me and Olivia grabbing
each other's finger now.
- Yeah.
- Weaving our arms wildly in the wear,
smacking the microphone every once in a while.

(41:50):
And of course, every subscription helps us bring you
more of the very best of Pop Culture.
Find us at patreon.com/popculturejunkiepodcast.
Sign up, get that sneak peek,
or we can say your name with our own lips.
- Mwah.
- And come back next time for another hit of Pop Culture.
(upbeat music)

(42:11):
- The Pop Culture Junkie podcast is produced
by Jeff Markin and Cheryl Lightfoot
for the Pop Culture Entertainment Network.
(upbeat music)
♪ I need it bad, I need it bad ♪
♪ I need it bad, I need it bad ♪

(42:32):
(upbeat music)
[Music]