Spotlight Ep. 08 - "Mistletoe Mixup" (2021) [Feat. Luke Warren]

Brrrr! It sure is cold! I need to wrap up in some hot chocolate and drink a blanket! Wait a minute... ahhh I totally mixed those up! Happy Mistletoe!

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Hello, mess, I'm a lieutenantin the police department. I'm in the
middle of a homicide investigation. TryI get my prescription please. The whole
time is standing there with this whomme expression on your face. Have you
ever been dragging to the sidewalk andbeing tell you best blood? No man

(00:26):
has spilt more blood in God's namethan I. How in the name of
Zeus's buttle did you get out ofyourself? What you really think? I
let myself get killed in a garbagetruck? Ha well, I hit in
a soup can roll it all theway to the city dump because I was
made for this, super baby,and I have the care I might have

(01:00):
a poop by the way at somepoint, having diarrhea. Classic classic,
classic mix up. James Boy,Oh boy, it's the Wickerman and we're
back. My name is Hank Kilgore. I'm joined as always with Jane's crown

(01:22):
higg and a j Panzi slapping themarbles, and we are joined with a
very special guest friend of the show, returning like three times returning guests,
Luke Warren, what's up baby?Look what was the last one you were
on for? It was on?It was and it was that was the

(01:46):
last one that feels like forever ago. It was in the heart of Covid.
I was Garden TuS baby. Wow. And I guess you didn't do
a very good job because we haven'thad you back. I mean I've been
waiting, I've been We've only beenon once. I wish he was on
more. I guess that's all Ican say. It was on May sixteenth.

(02:08):
Wow. Wow, that's uh yeah. Well, actually, like you
said, today's James, because it'sapproximately it's like five days after Christmas and
we just watched Mistletoe Mix Up,just as we were supposed to do this

(02:28):
for Christmas. Four Christmases with VinceVaughan and Sweeters. No, no,
no, we'll do that next year. We'll do that in Fred Klaus next
year. Double yeah. Even thoughwe've done like three episodes since our tenth
as a as a reminder, everyten episodes we do a non cage movie

(02:51):
picked between one of us. Thiswas a James pick and we just couldn't
get the timing right, so wejust kept doing the show. Yeah.
So we're just gonna through this yearbecause nothing matters. Yeah. So this
is Mistletoe Mix Up released December first, two thousand twenty one, directed by
Andrew Lawrence, starring Danielle c Ryanas Holly and then James, I'm gonna

(03:15):
give you a bit to speak ina little bit, but just to knock
these out as I've done my ownlittle digging once I started looking into this
movie, and it's Joey Lawrence isTom, Matthew Lawrence is Austin, and
Andrew Lawrence as Seth. Andrew Lawrenceis the director of this film. So
it's a family affair. Oh,and their grand the grandmother was played by

(03:35):
Donna Lawrence, who is their reallife mother. That is their mother who
they cast their grandmother, Yes,which very kind towards their mother. And
they got someone much younger to betheir actual Yeah, they got someone who's
six years older than the oldest Lawrencethe play mother. The only other name
of mention in this would be AdrianThomas, who played Holly's boss Vicky.

(04:00):
So before we get into the movie, James, this was your pick.
So do you want to tell uswhy we watched Mistletoe Mix up? Sure,
I will tell you why. Sowe were going to do Oh,
I just realized I put this inour in our cage movie list. This
is not a cage movie, thisis a this is a specialty movie.

(04:23):
So we were going to do thisback on April tenth, twenty twenty one,
I was going to have you guyswatch money Plane. So Moneyplane is
another Lawrence Brothers classic. I decidedto go with Speed to cruise control and
then much like in the movie Speedtwo where they go at about two knots

(04:44):
an hour, that is how ourpodcast has crawled along. So I've had
to wait over two and a halfyears to get another pick here. And
since that time, the Lawrence Brothersreleased their second film, this classic Missletoe
mix up, which has become aholiday staple for my family, for my
girlfriend, for me, for Luke. Luke, you can speak to this.

(05:08):
But I forget for you guys,quite sure. I did find this
movie, so you forget. Isaw it for the first time when I
was in Chicago on a whim.I went, it's Christmas, I'm gonna
watch this movie. And I putit on and the first person I texted
was James. I said, youhave to watch this movie because and I

(05:30):
did. I immediately watch that dayand it and it truly did change my
life. I love this movie completelyun ironically. I love this I think
it's got everything you could want ina holiday movie and more. And yeah,
I just I love this movie.I am about that because I find
it hard to believe it's unironically.Oh well, because it's the sexist,

(05:58):
terrible piece of trash. We've gota girl. Let's let's hold the sexist
comment here. But yeah, Ipicked this knowing full while that Hank and
AJ We're going to either hate itor ironically get a laugh or two out
of it. I did. Ihad a blast watch There we Go all

(06:19):
I could. I wish that wewere together watching it There we Go,
because it's one of those things whereI found it hard. He conclused.
I had a hard time thinking,like, what do we talk about?
I'd rather just be sitting here watchingit with y'all as opposed to talking about
it for forty five minutes. Wellthat's why I'm here. I can talk
about it. Take it away.I mean, I also n ironically love

(06:46):
this movie. I think you know, it gives you a sort of beginning
twist where you think, wow,this is going to be just like so
many other Hallmark films, and thenthen they get you. They get you
with the brotherly love. And that'swhere I really feel it is that she
shows up to the house and youthink, oh, you know, this

(07:08):
film's kind of gone its own way, done its thing. It's done it
like the Hallmarks. But then sheshows up and you go, man,
it's both brothers. I kind ofsaw that coming. But the way that
the Lawrence's acts together and it justit's it's so fun and charming, and
I love it when they're together andhe's like, he's like, oh,

(07:29):
don't worry, he already knows andhe pulls him from behind the door and
he's right there like it's something abouttheir real life brotherly love that is chemistry
on stage. And I just,honestly, I I'm gonna watch it every
year moving forward. I absolutely loveit. I think it does in ways
kind of know the model of theHallmark movie and then twist it on you

(07:56):
just sort of been that template andthat's the That's what I mean, that's
what I went. When you gotwhen you get over to Amazon and you
get a little bezos magic into it, it takes the Hallmark film and it
flips it on its head. Itsubverts all expectations, and I guess,
you know, here's this. Butand when I'm saying the Hallmark, I'm
referring to the model that I thinkeverybody would would understand crazy you know,

(08:20):
Roman exactly exactly. Film, Yeah, yeah, which really doesn't have anything
to do with Christmas, you know, like it just happens in set during
Christmas and a little bit of themagic of the girl with the missile.
There is that creepy girl. There'sa lot to do with Christmas, a
lot to do with the first tenminutes. Sure, you know, so

(08:45):
I guess we should knock out,Like what is the film about? Which
is two forty eight year old menwho are brothers? Really quick? Really
quick? Yeah, really quick.If if there is anyone out there that
hasn't seen this, to those forsome reason, go watch it worst It's
like an our time it goes Ispause. Want watch it. You'll humble,

(09:09):
life will be your life will bebetter for it. Yes, and
even if you don't come back,I don't care. I want you to
watch, but just finish the filmis But so spoilers from here forward,
yeah, I mean I'm getting intoall spoilers. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, So it's about forty nineyear old man who want to date

(09:30):
a twenty seven year old girl.These people were all the same age.
What is the Lawrences are born seventyeight in eighty and she was born in
nineteen ninety three. I mean,I mean in the film, I don't
think that guy Tom looks like he'sfifty. They're around Tom looks weird and

(09:50):
it looks like the Good Fellas well. Tom Tom in the first scene was
what attracted me to this movie becauseI couldn't get over haircut. I couldn't
get over his really tough and sweaters, and I couldn't get over the way
that he's voiced over For the firstten minutes he's in the film, yes,

(10:11):
entirely off and I was like,I was like, oh my god,
this is so bad. It's good, however, I can't take my
eyes off of him. And that'swhere you really get that Lawrence brother's magic,
and it just continues throughout the movie. Then you get Matthew Lawrence in

(10:33):
there and he's like, I gotkilled by this nut. Then oh,
yeah, you don't have to watchit. I haven't seen that yet,
so I'm not I don't know much. But the Lawrence brother you would love
it. But I mean, Imean, Joey Lawrence into this movie,
So thank you Joey Lawrence. Ifyou're listening, that's why I fell in
love with this film. And youhave to imagine he is listening, right,

(10:54):
I mean, I promise were theonly podcast about their movie, so
they're definitely listening. Well, ifthe Lawrence brothers are listening, I would
like to start off by saying thatthis movie is trash and they from movies
for the rest of time. Whatno, you were delighted from start to

(11:18):
finish on this you aj you toaj no no hold on this movie is
a steaming hot pile of garbage.I n ironically despise it. I mean
it, it wasn't. It wasn'tlike the depth over and his terrible acting

(11:41):
was funny. It should have been, it should have been hilarious. How
bad it was and it just wasn't. I'm sorry, made me want to
drink. I'll put it that way, and on both of you. Let's
let's let's not let's not create adivide here fellas we can be and we

(12:07):
can be, and I'm not standingfor it. I guess I just I
have to know what you you yougenuinely think this is a good movie.
I wouldn't go that far. Here'swhat I would say. This is where
I'm trying to find, is whaty'all's level of this is from would but
this movie is trash, but it'sit's funny and it's fun to watch,

(12:28):
but the acting is atrocious and thestory is fucking dumb. Sorry, Luke,
go ahead. I mean, Imean, I don't know if I
would qualify as a good movie interms of its technical things. Technically,
it's fine, it looks fine,it works. However, other than that
a d R it sounds fine.However, however, I would narratively in

(12:52):
story wise as just the Lawrence Brotherscharm, call it an amazing film.
I can't express that enough. Isthat? What is the Lawrence Brothers charm?
Explained? Well? So here here'sthe thing. I think you have
to look at this in the boxof the Hallmark movies. Right, So
we've defined this as a hallmark genreof movie. Everyone knows exactly what you

(13:15):
mean when you say a hallmark genreof movie. A woman is dating a
rich, douchebag fantasy ideal, sure, and she's about to close a fifty
million dollar deal and he can't comehome with her for Christmas, and she
goes to her hometown and she needssome schlub who you know, rides a

(13:35):
horse, and that's perfect for her, and this movie has a little bit
of that. The difference is she'ssingle and she's met these two brothers,
one who is on this you knowrich, you know, real life work
track, one who's an artist andwho doesn't have a cell phone. And
I think that it takes the genreand kind of flips it on its head

(13:58):
in a way. And agreed,And like Luke said it, it makes
it about the brothers as well,which I love and I love their brother
dynamic. So looking at it inthe scope of a Hallmark movie, this
to me is a good movie.Now you're gonna you're gonna make me compare
this to like The Dark Knight.Sure, it's not as good of a

(14:20):
movie as The Dark Knight, yougot me, But if I'm going to
compare it to all the other wetalk about this, I mean, I
don't know. I mean I meanthis like this, it sucks. I
can give you. I can giveyou ten things right now that we please,
yeah, yeah, yeah, please. One the ham sandwiches that they
eat at lunchtime that are just fakeham sandwiches. Sitting there, dude,

(14:43):
the mom that's six years older,that is one of the worst casts of
all time, while the grandma isthe mom. The mom's just like unbelievable
insane acting style that is just youcan't look away for the bowling scene with
the singing one of the greatest sceneand cinema of all time. She also
wishes for to mister Wright's that's thewhole kind of on set and that's the

(15:07):
last name. And she's like,she's like, I can't hear what was
that? Oh, I wish formister right and that's their last name,
right. I mean, it justgoes on and on the way. He's
like, but what you're pointing outis things that are that are typically defined
is bad. You like, like, this is about asked what we could
talk about. I'm listening to you. I could go with another five stuff

(15:31):
that's not a hallmark. It's sogood when when when Harry comes back in,
when they're like, Mom's dad's namewas Raymond, grandma, but who's
this Harry got. I mean,let's talk about that seed. Talk about
that seed. So it's so good. Danielle c Ryan Holly in the film
gets invited to lunch with Tom isbrother number one? Right, it's Tom,

(15:56):
and then Lawrence's Lawrence. That's thereal So so she goes to lunch.
She finds out that Tom and Austinare brothers. I have lots of
I really have a lot of.Yeah, when they go to the cabin,
So then they go sit at lunchand the fake sandwiches with the fake

(16:21):
sandwiches, and the grandma is tryingto get her to stay, and she
tells the story. I actually wishi'd clipped the audio. It's a story
that my dad loves. So ifmy dad's listening, shout out my dad,
because he was saying this line forthe remainder of my trip home.
But she she's sitting there and shesays that she was dating a man.

(16:42):
Uh, and then her husband,Raymond, came and met her and they
just had a good old fashioned cockfight, and and that's how she ended
up with Raymond. I don't knowwhat that means. Do you think they
just dropped trow and whipped them out? Yeah? Yeah, and they that's
what they used to do in theold one whoever gives up first is the
loser. So yeah, well shewas nuts because she she's doing the grandma,

(17:06):
but like the spicy grandma, likealways moving her shoulders, always jumping
around. You wouldn't know what butmy what we did back in our day
before there was Tinder and all theswiping and what was her accent? That
accent? We were thinking it wasmaybe like she was trying a New York
accent, but we weren't sure.Yeah, yeah, don't you bring sauces

(17:33):
into this? Well, you know, the thing I love is that that
character the backstory, she basically islike, all right, now I'm gonna
set that same dynamic up for mygrandson's and she's like she's like all right,
Matt go over there and talk withher. And then Joey Lawrence is
like, oh yeah, it's it'smy turn, and then respect yeah.

(17:57):
Sorry. So so first she's like, Austin, come back. I have
something to say, and then she'slike Tom come back, and so she
plays them. Well, that's becauseI pulled a clip. I put it
on this. I got a clipbecause and I thought this would be especially

(18:17):
great having Luke on as our show. It reminded me of an episode of
Jerry Springer's Baggage. The way thatthis guy whenever whenever Tom, it's Tom,
who's Tom? And Austin both takeher to the to the door after
the initial dinner and and then Iguess what you're about to play the ghost?
No, I almost pulled that one. Next that I do want to

(18:41):
break that down. This was whenthat was with Austin. This is when
Tom is talking to her. Hehas like two seconds to get everything he
has to say about himself, uhinto this into this bit. So here
it is. Listen, Tom,I didn't know. I don't need any
explanations. Okay, I think you'rean amazing girl. I think we have
something really special and I'm looking forwardto to finding exactly what that's something special

(19:03):
is. So I hope you considercoming skiing with my family and I tomorrow.
O tell what. That's what theysay on Baggage. I think you're
great. I think you're amazing,right you know now you did? Right
after that? Is what Hank?What what's the line that happens? So
right after that, the grandmother slashmother calls Tom to come back into the

(19:29):
room, and then Austin has hismoment to come back out, and we
didn't set up how they met.Maybe we'll go back to all that you
know in a bit, but allthat matters here is that she went on
a date with those people, boththese people. Prior she really liked Austin
more and she texted Austin, butAustin never got back to her. Texted
him, not just a couple oftimes, ha ha, a lot.

(19:49):
And then and then he goes,wait, you text me, and she
goes, yeah, and then youghosted me. Then he goes, and
I'm sorry to all our listeners becauseof our podcast, but he does this
little shiver and he grabs his shouldersand he goes, oh, a ghost
has a vaultd and what ghosts?And then you hear in the music he

(20:12):
does a little he goes and that'sthe Lawrence. I'm sorry, but that's
the Lawrence touch. That touch didn'ttickle me at all. It tickled me.
It was a tickling touch for thisguy. And then and then he
goes, I have a landline.That's why I wrote call me. I

(20:36):
gave you my I wrote it righton the card, you know, and
it's just so good. I mean, you can't help but fall in love
with these characters. She says,why do you why do you not have
a cell phone? Why do youhave a landline? And he goes,
and this is twenty twenty one.He goes, because I work from home.
Makes me he doesn't make sense tome. I mean, Hank,

(21:00):
this is a guy who works inmixed media. Of course that makes sense
to him. Absolutely, No,you're absolutely right. I'm considering switching to
a landline if I didn't have togo to the office. Well, I
was confused because I felt like hedid have a cell phone, he just
didn't use it right, and itwasn't that his whole thing. He's like,
I'm gonna get one. No,no, no, because at the

(21:22):
bowling Alley they talk about how hehe he he doesn't feel that he's checked
out, like she says, hefeels that he's checked in, and if
something does go on, that's he'llhear about it. That's when they do
the tree. It's at the tree, I think, and it's earlier,
and she goes, what if somethinghappens in the world that the alley,
well after the fact, yeah,well then and then he goes, yeah.

(21:42):
He's like he's like, well,actually or she goes, don't you
just think that's checking out? Andhe goes, well, checking out?
I actually think it's more like checkingin. And it's one of the great
time and then Tom crashes the party. Yeah, so we should set out
real quick because it's nuts, especiallybecause again I hope that everyone listening to

(22:06):
this has watched the movie, soyou don't all have. But I just
want to set up the dynamic reallyhere, really quickly. Here is that
she meets Tom at a Christmas treelot. He ties the tree to her
car. He does not work there. Wait, wait, how did they
meet? They meet because she tries. She has such strength that she pulls

(22:29):
a tree right out of the groundand it falls on her. She's trying
to look at the price. Mydad was a gas at this. So
when we watched this, we watchedhalf of it, paused it, and
then we were going to finish it, and then AJ was coming over,
so we just restarted the whole thing. Great the first time that we started
this, and that pauses that sceneor is going on about that? What

(22:49):
is going How did she do this? How did she do this? I
thought my dad was nuts and oldand these were pre cut trees and that's
on further inspection upon watching the firsthalf. Again, no, in the
ground, out and then buried.But it is in the ground, but
she was she was wearing heels,so she trips in the snow ground while

(23:15):
she's wearing heels, while she goesknowing she's going Christmas tree shot in.
It all makes sense as any womanwould. And then and then yeah,
she grabs onto the tree and that'swhat tips it down to fall atop of
her, which makes sense, that'stypically how you would pull down one of
those trees. But yeah, soso it's in a strange twist here Tom

(23:42):
lifts the tree off of her,whereas when she meets Austin and the tree
flies off of her barn and knockshim over, she's actually the one to
lift the tree off of Austin,which I would say is woman empowerment.
So take back your comment from earlier. That's it, that's right. Let
me ask you this, how isit that when she's driving down the middle

(24:03):
of the street because she doesn't uselanes, driving down the middle of the
street, and the tree that Tomhad previously tied on with a slipknot what
an idiot on onto onto the topof her car and this little tree comes
flying off. Why did this manimmediately step behind her car in the middle
of the road. This I wasgonna say this as well, Hank.

(24:26):
It's a cinematic masterpiece. Thank youit is. It's again. We watched
the scene twice. First time wewatched it, and I already had watched
this movie with my parents last year. They loved it. They were begging
to watch it again, to watchit again. Neither of them remembered a
thing about it. But my momwas freaking out at the scene. How

(24:49):
why is this man throwing himself infront of this tree as it falls on
him. Yes, and I justlove the thing she did. When we
watched today January. She was makingtea in the kitchen and she knew the
scene was on and she scurried herway back into the room again and she
couldn't figure it out. But Ijust want to make this point really quick.

(25:10):
Sorry, I know I'm talking abunch here. I want to make
this point really quick. Everyone canrespond. But Staph, my girlfriend,
brought up this excellent point that bothof the first dates that these two people
have are extremely creepy. Where thisman gets knocked over by our tree.
Austin brings it to her house,ends up spending the rest of the entire
day like maybe not maybe not creepy, but it's like, did he it's

(25:34):
creepy going somewhere? What were youdoing? It's it's that's why I because
a note that says, I guesshe's got nothing to do today. Yeah,
hey, let me let me takeyou home. Oh here, no,
I'll bring the tree into your home. Oh oh is it? Oh
you know what, Let's go tothe store and come back here, okay
at night, and and we canput it up together. And then what

(25:56):
do they do? The Chinese foodon the floor. She doesn't have a
fuck getting table? Why did shenot have any furniture? Also, I
got to get this out. Thisis this is what. This is what
irked me for a lot of thefilm because multiple times early on and the
description of the film says it's abouta workaholic. She never works, not
one. She sends an email onceotherwise when she goes, No, she

(26:19):
never you never see your work.She gets placed on leave by her boss
as a direct order photographers, andwhat does she do? Talks about boys
And then whenever she goes back thenext day, talks about boys. She
sends her so hard that he doesanything that furious at her, that made

(26:41):
her take off work. That's shewas at work. You've worked for me
for seven years. You've never beenlate once. You're like a robot,
dude. I mean, the moviecould not have been more clear. At
her. You'll never see her work, but she is down just hang out
with strangers all day when she's wrappingpresent. She works because she got put

(27:03):
on leave. But doing your jobonce, this makes you work aholic.
You know what? You know whatwe should have gotten a movie. We
should have gotten the first thirty minutesof this movie of her just grinding for
seven years at her desk. Iwould have worked better. See her grinding.
I know you're being fancastic, butyou need to see if she's going
to be a workaholic. You needto see her giving up on other guys

(27:23):
and pass on other dates before.But it's all said, it's all applied,
the whole thing work. It works. She's on her phone and she's
not applied because you work. Ohit's so there, Hank. I just
she sends one email and her onlyfriend is her boss. I don't understand

(27:44):
yet what does that tell you?That's what I was going to see more
of. And all she does isdon boys. She works, she's on
the phone. She's like, we'reat the Christmas circus or village. She's
like, it's time for you toget off your phone. You're working too
hard. It's there a scene ofthe movie. It doesn't established what they
say, over and over and over, thank your way off, thank you,

(28:07):
thank you. I agree with you, and the fact that you know
this movie should be more show nottell, because that's how good writing goes.
But they just they just skip thatwhole part of her backstory by saying
it straight to the camera, likeyou're right, I'm wrong because I want

(28:30):
writing. Yeah, why would youwant to see a twenty minute montage for
the I The idea is she isconstantly pushing guys away because she's working.
We should see that and see whyshe's doing that. But it's said,
they just over Yeah. It's like, yeah, it's like, you're a
workaholic, go on vacation. Wehave this hour and twenty three minute film.

(28:52):
We're gonna cram as much as wecan. You then said it her
only friend is her boss. Yeah, but how these people work. They're
filming the they're shooting the base.This is an insane point, Hank.
I'm sorry, this is not theargument that thought we would. Let's move

(29:18):
on crazy crazy. I'm surprised byyou. Are you kidding me? That's
a rageous that's a terrible take.It's like that that would be like that
would be like I want to seeOppenheimer spend months on this and all the
inner working showed me the bomb fora month long movie, or yes,

(29:41):
and they just showed me all theinner workings. It's like, I don't
care about every inner working of athing. It's her character, it's her
entirety. It's this is crazy.We're moving on characteristic, all right,
tell us let's move on. Whatshould we talk about next? What we

(30:03):
should talk about next is the pointI was trying to finish up is about
the date. So the date thatshe goes on with Tom where the first
thing? First of all, Iguess everyone in this restaurant, they just
have salads sitting at everything. It'sready to go with Yes, So the
first one of the first things hesays, the small talk is terrible.

(30:26):
It's how's your job? Do youhave any plans for like, it's just
bouncing around nonsense, and then theycheers to Tom saying to never being a
third wheel again. That's a weirdass thing to say on a first date,
your first time spending time with thisperson. You're like, we're together

(30:47):
for the rest of our lives.And then when they leave, he runs
back to her car after saying goodbyeand invites her to a remote cabin with
his entire family because she doesn't haveplans for the holidays. Now, Steph
said, if Amanda this to her, she would change her name and move
states. And I don't. Ican't say I disagree with her. Those

(31:08):
are really weird, really weird asshit. He also, it's like weirder,
She says, yes, it's alsolike night out and he does the
like double take again, which youknow Tom does multiple times in the movie.
It's like he's walking away, thenhe comes back. He's like,
can I get your number? Earlierin the tree lit and then here he's
like goodbye, and then it's likebang bang bang on her window and he
knocks super hard, and then he'slike Tom's back. He's like, come

(31:32):
hang with my family at night.It's super creepy. Yeah, it's a
weird fucking mill James. The reasonyou're like, you know, well,
I can't believe she would actually dothat brings up one of the more problematic
parts of this movie, where uh, like every time this woman has like

(31:53):
an intuitive thought or feeling, that'slike, this situation is making me really
young comfortable. I don't want tocontinue down this path. Somebody just like
steam rolls her and like mind fucksher into wanting to do it, and
it's like you're just watching her overand over again being like I don't want

(32:15):
to be here. I don't feelcomfortable. This is not a good situation.
And if the second half comfortable,well her for her friends should be
in jail. Her friends should literallybe in jail for making her stay on
this trick. Yeah, and thenthe one friend she has that she calls
for some sanity check is just likeno, no, no, you need
mister Wright stay there. Them liketaking everybody on. And then and then

(32:39):
it's like Sess' girlfriends, like,hey, the holidays in this competition,
it's bringing out the worst of them, but they're actually pretty good guys.
You know, Grandma just wants oneof her grandsons to be married, you
know, because they're is I believeyou know, well, yeah, the
youngest one is. And when yousee him, you're like, that's definitely

(33:00):
the director out of these brothers.But he's also barely in it. But
yeah, I forget his role inmoney played, but I think it's it's
quite so. Oh no, he'sthe guy who's like he's the he's the
army guy on the ground and he'slike he's got a small role. But
I'd like to go back to anearlier point, James said, and it's
about how his mom, your mom. James came into the room and was

(33:22):
like, oh my gosh, Ilove the scene. I just want to
say this is also a movie.It's for you know, kids and for
parents. I know, you know, my mom loves this film as well.
And she commented every time Joey Lawrenceis on the screen, she's like,
oh my god, that jacket terrible, so tight. And then she

(33:45):
just kept coming back for Joey Lawrence'swardrobe and I was like, here we
are again. This is not amovie that is just for kids, or
just for teens, or just foradults. For adults, I would say
this is movie that's for everybody,and there's just something in it. Whether
it's a tree falling on you orif it's Joey Lawrence's tight sports codes,

(34:07):
you're gonna enjoy it. Just goand watch it. Yeah, I agree.
My five year old nephew loved thescene where I didn't watch it with
my five year old nephew, butI was trying to back your point is
you know, it's for everybody.It's just a classic holiday tale that you

(34:28):
know, resonates romance novel brought tolife, which is which is the genre?
Like a Hallmark thing? Yeah,yeah, that's what I was saying
earlier. It feels like we're gettinginto cock fight territory. Let's get everyone
back on the same page. Whatdo we think about What do we think
about Tom meeting this other woman?Oh? Yeah, what? You pointed

(34:52):
it out when we watched it.Do you remember what was his excuse for
having stood her up on a datewhen there were eight I believe I don't
want to talk about this, youdon't remember. I'm ready to talk about
it. I'm ready. It was. I have a few I have a
few choice opinions on this movie,but uh, you know, uh not

(35:16):
ready to monologue yet, so thatthat hot and juicy tap I mean it's
he's late, okay, let metap in here. He's late because he
can't figure out his bow tie.Yep, and you know it causes him
to be late by hours and hourson that what was this the bow tie?

(35:38):
This is why he missed the formalor whatever? He goes, I
couldn't get the bow tie. Thatnot. It's just so hard, is
this with the bakery girl? Yes, she goes the other young blonde girl.
They're married in real life, andshe's definitely not that young. She
is. She is very well,she's more age appropriate than Damie. It's

(36:00):
again, it's a family affair.It's a fan it literally and that whole
cookie scene is like great when it'slike again, I feel like the movie
is so amazing about basically, youre see someone that you've never haven't seen
for years. You meet someone you'veyou've never met, and then you have

(36:20):
this like hour long exchange, whetherit's decorating a tree or it's like baking
cookies. It's just like the magicof the season. And so he goes
on and he does all these cookiesand then he's like this is He's like,
he's like, this is a terriblebusiness. I can't I can't even
imagine. He's like a terrible,terrible business. And she's like, actually,

(36:44):
I own this. And then he'slike no, it's great, it's
so great, and he tries tobacktrack. Then she's like, I don't
work to live. I wait,what is it. I love to work.
I don't work. I work tolive. And it's just like here
we go again. Mistletoe makes asa singer for us are you talking about

(37:05):
Yeah? No, I totally agree. And the other thing that is lost
in all that, too is thatyou know, I guess kind of to
the point. But she doesn't workfor anybody else. So if you're going
to open up a cookie shop ina t a ski village, you would
think you'd want to be open forthe season where people are there to ski,
so basically November to March. That'snot how she operates. There's two

(37:30):
inches of snow in the forecast.We're closed. You better be coming back
in the summer if you want someof those cookies. I love you.
She lives to work, and theand the idea. The idea is that
Tom has always done what other people'shave people have expected of him. He's
never beat the sound of his owndrum. But here is this woman who
is beating the sound of her owndrum, and of course they fall in

(37:52):
love. Like that's that's the magic, that's the movie magic. I mean
then I just don't know what iswhat about when the guy tried to say
and the cod had like a aclassic scene, was ready to say something,
let's maybe we're gonna say it's thesame magic of the holiday season and

(38:16):
Christmas tier that has made the Mikeand Joe Christmas specials, Thank you so
so ubiquitous with the word Christmas anduh. In a lot of ways,
this movie reminded me of Mike andJoe, just with better production, you

(38:38):
know, like, uh, youknow, you throw you throw a few
hundred thousand dollars at a Mike andJoe's special, It's gonna look great,
excellen cinematography. But the writing iswhat is that? I'm gonna like to
compare this to Mike and Joe becauseMike and Joe saves perspectual family affair.

(39:00):
That's a family affair, that's athat's a that is two independent filmmakers making
something beautiful. Not anyone here who'slistening would know what Mike and Joe,
how is that not a family?There? The difference between this and Mike
and Joe is that, like Mikeand Joe's magic is starming, and and

(39:25):
the the lines and the writing andthe improvisation that don't quite get it there
put a smile on your face.This movie, when it does that,
it's just annoying. Well, well, Hank, I'm sorry that I stopped
you to have a say his Well, there you go, you know,
there you go. I'm trying totalk about the guy that can't put his

(39:46):
arm through a coat that is sewedon, right, That was like,
But also the guy's an idiot becausehe says, sir, this is the
waiters like this is you have tohave a coat here. He's like,
oh, and they give him ahouse coat or whatever. But he puts
it on over his fucking jacket.He tries to put them over his own.

(40:06):
Take that off, put the coaton. But then when he puts
it on there, I I know, seems when you got the pockets and
you gotta break those, I've neverseen where your armhole. I've actually done
that before. Really I did thatI did that on the like the highest
level job interview I've ever been on. I just have a two hour lunch
cut off the arm sleeve. No. See, the problem is there was

(40:30):
a there was a rip in theso I put my my arm in and
it went through the hole and notthe arm, and my hand ended up
between two layers of material as I'mtrying to shake the hand of this fucking
CEO guy. Oh my god.It is quite a debacle. How the
interview goes excellent, got the jobgreat? All right. So so,

(40:53):
so what you're saying is that whathappens in this film is realistic. Thank
you, Ajo, I appreciate itrelatable. The other thing is that is
that I've been there. The otherthing is that the jacket is symbolic,
right, It's symbolic. It's symbolicof Austin's like simple lifestyle. He's like,

(41:16):
this doesn't work for me. Andthen he's like, I'm this mixed
media artist. I don't have aphone, I don't have this. Then
he tries to put the jacket onwhere Tom's like, you know, he's
like the more financially stable, He'slike, the more like you know in
you know, good suits kind ofguy, and he's like, I gotta
get out of here. This doesn'twork for me, and that is what
she is looking for. The coatis that moment it's like, you need

(41:39):
to get out of here because youshould have done the marketing for this film.
This isn't You Loved You? IsIf he was being true to himself,
he would have never taken her therein the first place. That's not
that's I think that's the problem.Is he that he was trying to be

(42:00):
like Tom counter he wants. Hefelt like he needed to. He felt
like he was pushed in this placewhere he was like, I look up
to Tom. I should try tobe more like Tom, because Tom is
the person who's going to kind ofend up with her, and so we
tried to do that. So that'swhy he's there to that why he doesn't
deserve her in the first place,because he still doesn't know who he is.

(42:22):
But do you think that? Butthey held through the season, help
each other. Fine, Thank you, thank you, you know, James,
thank you. I was going tosay the same thing. If he
took her straight to a bowling alley, I would have I would have rooted
for him more straight I said Iwould have rooted for him more. What
about re edit it? Can wecan we talk about that bullying singing scene,

(42:46):
but before we get into it,just because I don't want to go
too far away from the date andthat the bowling scene deserves the next two
the next two hours. Yeah.So, but just right before, on
their way to the date, soAustin picks up Holly and says, sorry,
I don't have uh my my heat. He's not working or something whatever

(43:08):
it was. He's got top down, he's got a what is it like
a jeep but with no doors?No doors, no no top Yeah,
yeah, it makes sense to thissound whatever. But when they're driving this
gets me every time. When they'redriving to the date, there's music playing,
so they're not you're not hearing whatthey're saying, but they're also not

(43:30):
mouthing anything. Tom Austin just looksat her and he goes like this.
For all the podcast listeners. Hemakes a little shivering motion and she gives
them like a thumbs up. Whydon't they talk? I never understand that
that takes away a few points simplicityy'all were talking about before. Why why
explain that he's cold. Why talkthat when we could, when we could

(43:54):
just do a little shiver? Gotit? He was, and he was.
It's that the relationship is so profoundalready that they don't even need language.
Well they do, they do becausethey're still making He's like, He's
like, you don't get. Youdon't get how deeply connected it's like in

(44:16):
this in this environment that you know, it's like when you see someone that
you love and you know what,you know, let's get to the Bowling
Alley. I mean, the BowlingAlley scene to me is right up,
they're with you know, the scenewhere Michael Corleone has everybody killed in The

(44:38):
Godfather. You know, it's likethat. It's like that level of cinema.
It's that level of cinema. Andhe's left the building, you know.
And and what I love about thescene is I love the Grandma one
and I love how you know.Basically, Tom he kind of crashes his

(45:00):
party because he hears that, youknow, well, he actually sees that
the jeeps headed to the Bowling Alleyand then by the way, he runs
out again on the woman who isbaking that he you know, loves.
Later, So first is the bowtie then he runs out to which ain't
right. Ain't right. So thenhe goes to the bowling alley and he
basically this karaoke announcement happens, andhe pulls out all the stops, right,

(45:22):
and so he gets on the micand he's like, this one's for
you, Holly, and then theycut to the grandma and she's like,
look, black Tom's pulling out allthe stops. What are you gonna do
about it? Austin, you know, And he starts to sing and he's
like, ohly and it's like soover the top. And then sure enough,
boom pan and then Austin takes thesecond verse and it's like, oh

(45:45):
my god, here we are competingfor the love in this magical moment.
And then Seth comes in and hedoes this like funny fool and it's just
like, here are these three brothersthat's just had time, he's already married,
you know, that are just like, you know, doing this stuff.

(46:08):
They start wrestling on the ground,but well he does he does,
Tom does body slam Austin, hedoes into the into the gifts. Yeah,
it's just you know, it's justanother magical scene in this but that's
what brothers do, right, Imean brothers. They have fun with some
karaoke and then they fight and thenthey and then they make up and they're

(46:30):
they're like theties, you know,and well as as Austin says in the
film, as as Matthew Lawrence said, it's not their first dust up,
you know, so these brothers,and it may not be their last.
Who knows, you know, Soyou just gotta you can't deny again the
brotherly love. I remember when hestarted singing. I was like, this

(46:52):
is so so good, bad andugly, but I can't look away.
I just can't look way. It'sit's just cinema magic right there, you
know. So that's my take.I'm afraid that our difference and opinions on
this movie is going to FIP.I hated this scene. I I love

(47:17):
karaoke. Karaoke has a kind ofsacredness to me, and this was everything
that would ever be wrong about akaraoke performance. Uh. It was brutal.
I mean, we'll talk about what'sbrutal about it, about the choice,
the like upstaging people, the fistfight that breaks out in the middle

(47:44):
of the song. Uh, everythingthat that karaoke should never be Yeah,
it's no room for cockfighting, karaoke, just trying to impress their love and
and what the worst part about itwas that this lady did not just fucking

(48:05):
walk out and leave at that point. She just loved Why is she still
here? It's it's the it's theHallmark hijinks. It's like, that's the
movie again. I think the boxof the Hallmark is like, but none
of these guys, like at leastthe Hallmark movies. There's just even even
when you take a step back outof reality, like this is clearly there
just like cheesy rom com whatever.You know, obviously this is how the

(48:29):
real world works. But even that, those guys are usually a little more
charming to the women in these movies. They just this movie, they just
they just use her. You haveyou watched movies recently, not recently or
much, they are not any Imean, well, then if they're like
this, these guys are terrible.I mean, I mean they're terrible,

(48:51):
But that's like, that's like theI just think it's like the movie is
meant to be that way. It'smeant to be over the top and absurd.
I think the top and just beingcruel you know, or just wrong
to her and every time she triesto get down and she's alone, bad
to her. There bad, it'sreally a movie, but and it is.

(49:14):
But they claim they use her,they claim to be in love with
her so that they can get throughwhatever their probablys are, so the only
one that is auten. But howcan they be in love with her?
All they ever do is eat Chinesefood together? Once on her face?
Wat I just watch I just wentto see lame is. They run into
each other on the street and they'reabout to kill themselves if they can't be

(49:37):
together. This is a million timeslonger. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. I just think it's it'smeant to be silly. It's like a
light. But I will say,I will say I watched this other one
called Angel Falls something, and itwas so it was it was it was

(50:00):
so weird. They're all like this, they're all the guys are all weird,
and you're like, are you aserial killer? Are you in love
with them? Are you? Like? I'm not sure? And and this
guy and the other movie, hewas an angel and he's like, yeah,
I kind of fell in love withher for a moment, but then
I had to realize that, likeI got to do my angel thing.

(50:20):
It's I mean, they're just absurd, so you can't. You can't,
you know, you got to yougotta go into it with that. It's
sort of just like this is absurd, and I think that it's so ridiculous.
But that's what I've been It's it'sfunny and silly and stupid. But
it's not a good movie, youknow, And that's an opinion. But

(50:45):
I think I saw this from thepoint of view like went like us watching
like like like Atomic Sharks, whereit's like we laugh at it because it's
way out of the reality and stupidand final on purpose and silly on purpose.
But we could still say these aren'twell made films. But I love
of Atmic, you know, ofcourse, but the description of it just

(51:06):
sounds this movie a lot more creditthen I mean. I mean, it's
so silly, it's so ridiculous.I'm giving it way more credit than credit
is due. But I'm being funnyabout it, and I enjoy it.
But I do enjoy watching this.I enjoy watching it. It is Christmas.
It is truly a Christmas staple,Like I'll watch it every year.

(51:30):
Did you guys like how I thinkone of the differences is between that movie
and like another like wacky satire bmovie that I enjoy would be like if
it if if it wasn't starring thecreators of the movie. Yes, I
think I would have liked it alot more if it was. If it

(51:51):
was just because to me, thisis like, oh, let's make a
movie about us with us, sowe could show all of our talents,
and these guys have no talent,and how interesting are stories and how interesting
my mom's story was, and thisis about us by us, which just
comes off as like yeah versus.It's a great example that we can compare

(52:17):
and contracts. I don't know ify'all saw The Holiday at all with Jack
Black and Jude Long. Please pleasedo that right now? Can I talk?
I'm not OK. It's it's Isaw that over over Christmas when I
was visiting my family. My momreally wanted to watch it because she loves

(52:37):
the Holiday, so so we watchI've never seen it, and so we
watch it, and I told herafterwards, I'm glad that you loved it.
I thought it was a big pileof trash. But when you watch
something like this, movie The Holidayis the perfect version of this type of
movie of this cheesy, nothing makessense, This would never happen. No
woman actually wants this creepy ship.But it's a fantasy of how rate would

(53:00):
this be? And at least inthat movie you have competent actors, you
have you have good looking sets.The story, while it's stupid, it
works for the confines of what itis. This movie is the worst version
of this, where it's just nothingmakes sense. It's all dumb without any
sort of even fantasy element of acceptance. It's made by the people who lived

(53:21):
the story, which is weird.Literally the acting that it's about the mom,
that's this is the story of themom, the grandma, and the
actor story. It's all based offlook it up, it's all based off
their thing. I don't know,man, I mean, I think it's

(53:43):
just them being like, let's makea movie as brothers because it'll be a
weird family story. And it's thislame. I mean, I've never,
I never ever thought that this waslike a real story. Where did you
get that? On IMDb they sayit's the real story. It's their real
life mother, It's not their life'sstory. This is no one's story.

(54:08):
It's absurd. That's the absurd.Yeah, it's like, what, yeah,
I'm looking, I'm looking. That'snot the Lawrence is like, this
is like a you know, partpartly based on our actual life. No
way, it's just a silly thing. While you look for that, I'd

(54:30):
like to talk about how there's allthe Grandma rides in on a horse,
one of the greatest ever. Thatwhat a what an amazing end to that
scene, right, Luke. Imean, it's just it's just like when
you think the movie can't outdo itself, it continues to outdo itself. I
was wrong, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I mean that I

(54:52):
read the thing where it's like they'reall brothers in real life, and I
thought I read based on their mother'sDonna Lawrence real life story, just my
real life mother. Yeah yeah,yeah, real life mother. So I
guess we can all agree that itstill sucks. The story sucks. I
can't else. I both agree.Just said, this is the most ridiculous

(55:15):
thing. It's an absurd, ridiculousstory, and I love it and I
enjoy it like if it was ifit was written to be an absurd and
ridiculous I would say that's a jobwell done. Yeah, and it's an
hour and like twenty minutes. It'sjust like, but I apologize, I
didn't. I didn't think you guysare going to depend the I love.

(55:36):
Sorry, I guess I personally,I feel like I'm like, I'm like
talking about an inside joke that Ithat I missed. Is like the five
that there's no joke, you know. It's like, I guess I wasn't
there for what the origin was.And I mean it like trash just horse.
It's like, how does she knowwhere she's staying? Doesn't make any

(55:59):
sense. She rides up on thishorse and then basically it's like, oh,
she's this like free spirit and she'slike yeah, and like rides off,
and I'm just like, how canthis movie continue to outdo itself every
few minutes? Like AJA after thisscene when when Austin comes back and she

(56:19):
grabs the missiletoe so they could kiss, it runs in the door and slams
it. I mean, what aboutthat? Terrible? But it's so good
in the middle of him saying yeah, in the middle of him saying I
love you and I'm in love withyou, and she's like no, and
maybe she's making the right decision andshe's getting away from this family, but

(56:44):
nope, she grabs the missiletoe andruns back out for a kiss, which,
to be fair, during the monthof December, the only way that
you are allowed to kiss your partneris with a missletoe, so it kind
of makes sense this was taking placein December. Yeah, and I also
throw back to Angel who gives ityou originally? Well, so that's what
I was going to say, wasthat an angel? Or am I think

(57:07):
it was? It's such a butI got nobody cares about. No.
I was going to say something yousaid that made me laugh because after they
kiss, AJ goes, it's goingto pan up to the angel on the

(57:30):
river, demon on the roof,isn't it? And it literally pans up
to the roof, and AD waslike, and then it wasn't there.
But it would have been awesome.It would have been awesome. James,
Why why was I so aghast thatthat? Because you were shocked that because
you had called every single step,every single word and scene of because I

(57:52):
called this movie like two three minutesahead of everything that happened, and it
kissed me off so much. Andif that Angel was sitting on top of
the roof in the gutter, andthey panned up to her sitting in the
gutter. I might have loved thismovie. That might have changed everything.

(58:13):
Did you did you call the horse? Though? Did you really see the
Grandma Rabbet? From the very beginning, I was like, oh, like
she wished for mister Wright, it'sgoing to be someone with's a last name
right with a W. And thenshe does it again and I'm like,
no, it's gonna be there's gonnabe two rights that she's torn between.

(58:39):
And then she meets both of themand she's like going up to the cabin
and I was like, oh mygod, they're both gonna be there.
They're fucking brothers. And they openedthe door together, and I'm like,
God, damn, can this moviebe more predictable? Please? And I'm
not like that. I'm very goodat like calling things and movies. I

(59:04):
love being surprised, I love beingbewildered. The shock values everything, And
so you can understand how my likedisdain for this movie was just building and
building every time that they telegraphed it. So obviously with the calling, they
like show the call call Me,Call Me, like three times. I'm

(59:27):
like, oh, well, us, she's not gonna Why does that say
delivered? That kind of bothers meshould have said delivery. I don't know
what happens if you text a landline, it just it says, it says,
this is a landline, tells youthis guy doesn't have a cell phone.
Yeah, it's this is a landline. You cannot text. Adrian.

(59:49):
I'm good you were ready to monologuefinally. I mean, it's good a
j. I don't disagree with yourinsight there, I you know, I'm
like, it's pretty cool you callthe whole thing. I still love this
movie yet experience. I mean theother thing too, to go to your
point, is that they make itso clear when she's earlier in the movie

(01:00:12):
at the ski shop, it's like, Harry name tag Harry. And then
the mom's like me and Harry gotafter it, and you're like, here
comes Harry. And I love theend, like because basically she's now part
of the family. She goes Grandmaalways says, more's the marrier, you
know, and you've and you've beenthere for like an hour and and it's

(01:00:38):
so funny because she goes Grandma alwayssays this, It's like, yeah,
grandma in a million trills. Yeah, but but then but this Grandma meant
it that. You know, she'sa swearer and likes having orgies with her
family present. Which is that wasI felt? I felt that the the

(01:01:00):
in movie Mom, because the camerait pulls out with everybody making out and
the mom just sitting there at thetable looking around like die and she gets
no one. Yeah that that Mom'sstunk though. So Also the scene like
the shot on the grandma in thefilm Mom in her Life when she sees
Harry she and she perks up,is is like one of the most insane

(01:01:22):
insane shots ever. She's just likeHarry, and she looks like she's crazy.
She looks crazy. Well, let'slet's discuss stop for a second.
So they have this cabin presumably foryears and years, right, it's not
a cabin, well yeah, yeah, no, they have this ski lodge
for years, and the grandma isat least vacationing there every single year.

(01:01:47):
And the man who works at theski rental place is her long lost love
and she has no idea where heis. He lives in this town,
he's there all season. Well,just like that Tom's long Lige Street.
But I but I don't think,but I don't think he was like actively
thinking about her or trying to seekher out. The grandma you talk about.

(01:02:13):
Yeah, so he's been thinking abouthim her whole life, including you,
the whole every year she was married. I mean, there's so many
things like that. It's like Harrythe cookies. The other thing is that
Vicky's place that she puts her upat is like right down the street from
their house. Basically her her boss'shouse is like on the same street.

(01:02:40):
It's at least it's at least horsewalkable, right, it's got to be
close enough for the cram to getthere with the horse. So again,
her boss's house is there. It'sit just shows you the smallness of the
world and theays to bring folks together, to bring folks together there you go,
you know he she doesn't get theaddress of the cabin until she's already

(01:03:04):
up at the other cabin. Howdid they know that it's anywhere close?
You're right. Difference between Aspen andfucking Breckinridge and it's four hour drives.
Oh, you're right, you're right, Age, no disagreement there. I

(01:03:28):
think you just suspend that disbelief.You're like, all right, I'm gonna
I'm gonna go into this Christmas magic. You know, well, you believe
in the Christmas spirit, you believein Christmas magic, or you don't.
And there's two people on this podcast. Let do and there's too and that's
fine. Get clear Carol zero andit's it's clear, no Christmas magic.
So and he didn't watch you know, it's clear here who has to be

(01:03:53):
fair? To be fair on youron your Christmas magic point. I did
say at the beginning of this podcast, this movie has nothing to do with
Christmas, and everybody here said,yep, no, I think we I
didn't say yep, I think ita tape which really doesn't have anything to
do with Christmas, you know,like it just happens. Oh that was

(01:04:19):
sad. That was and everyone waslike yeah, and then it doesn't it
end on Christmas Day? Yeah,but this movie doesn't even feel your Christmas
movie, you know, there's noeven in the mountains. Maybe that's the
true mistletoe mix up, is thatit's a movie that is, you know,

(01:04:42):
tries to make it be about Christmasand it's really not. It's sort
of you know the Kaiser so sayof Christmas. Yeah, yeah, you're
right, and you are putting thismovie up. I'm telling I don't company.

(01:05:02):
I mean, it's been this Thismovie came out sooner than the last
time you've had a chance to geton a podcast. You're legitimizing yourself as
a movie crik. I mean,The Godfather, the Usual Suspects, Mistletoe

(01:05:24):
mix up. Like it's like,I know you're doing a joke and I
just wanted to be in on it, you know, I mean, like
it's trash. We can all sayit, but it's safe here. It's
okay. Joke, but the thingsyou said in the movie are just what
happens in the movie. But Iwas watched I watched this movie six times
in the last Yeah, I watchedThe Room like thirty times. It's a

(01:05:47):
terrible movie, but I love it. The Room is really ingenious. This
is trying. It's accident by accident. This is this is trying to be
a movie, which is also wherebecause they were bad and no, they
were trying to make a good moviewith this. This wasn't bad on purpose.

(01:06:09):
That's what makes no. I thinkI think they were playing on the
Hallmark genre, because they do ifyou watch, if you watch money Play,
I think they knew exactly what theywere making, exactly what this in
the way the beginning, playing withthe tropes. They probably just like didn't
get good sound or like that wouldbe like they would have to be like

(01:06:30):
Andy Kaufman level good to have thismovie be a sad satirization of like Hallmark
movies, which I think I think. I think the brothers got together and
went, let's make a really cheesy, silly Hallmark esque movie together and it
will be fun boom because they theyplay I'm talking about to the point of

(01:06:54):
like like like like like pointing outthe insanity of the tropes. They just
do it. They just make amovie, but it's so it is insane
though at the same time, Yeah, but all Hallmark movies are insane,
but that you should watch. Youshould watch money Play. I think you
would have a different view of thebecause I think they know exactly what they're

(01:07:15):
making. Yeah, someone who doesn'tknow the Lawrence brothers repertoire and their past
film history, I thought it wasship And I'm stunned to see you guys
say you think it's legitimately a goodmovie. It's I mean, I sound
enjoy this movie because I was laughingmy ass off. I was having a
blast, and all I could thinkwas I wish I was watching this with

(01:07:38):
you guys, and which I thinkit would have been a lot more fun.
That's the power of mix up,I think. But we're also at
different levels with it. Of justlike I thought it was crap, and
I'm okay with saying it's crap,but I think that I don't think it's
some genius rip on. I don'tthink it's genius either they are. It's
at the level of Goffman. Yousaid you guys were like yeah, totally

(01:08:02):
no, no, no, no, no, absolutely am like you were
like, no, you're not crazy. These guys are crazy. Like this
is like You're like, this isn'tlike they're doing a Kaufman thing. And
I was like, yeah, no, they're just making fun of a Hallmark
They know the tropes and they're like, we're going to do our brotherly Hallmark

(01:08:24):
movie with us. They're doing it. So I don't agree at all that
they're have like have that awareness that'slike much fun. Then you have the
opportunity to make a joke in anyof these situations. I think they're just
like doing it poorly. Yes,yes, I mean but but I think

(01:08:50):
but I think all your critiques ofyour complaints play into what they're joking.
You're complaining about all these PLoP pointsof this movie that are so bad.
That's the difference between our side andy'all side, is that y'all see this
as them making it as a ifI'm correct, as a joke or critique

(01:09:12):
of the genre, thus making itgood, whereas we see it as just
a shitty another movie in that genrethat wasn't done well. Well, I
think if they were going just cookieso confused, I don't would different a
J Wait, what what are yousaying? I I think it's option CEE,
which is it's trying to satirize thisgenre and it's doing that poorly.

(01:09:40):
Yeah, which is fair. Ithink it's not good. I think that.
I don't think, but then thatwould also mean that they did a
bad job if they were, becauseI didn't see it. I think,
well that I think I think Iwas gonna say, I think it could
be options see and that AJ isright. And I love this movie watching

(01:10:02):
it like I enjoy it every timeI see it because it's so absurd.
It's so absurd, it's so ridiculous. I can go option see it's bad.
It's ridiculous, and I can stillsay but I really love watching it
intentionally bad on purpose as a nowI often see is that they were trying

(01:10:25):
to do satire and they did apoor job of satire, which which again
I'm with Luke. I'm fine withthat because I like, I will watch
this isn't this is a movie youlaugh at and you talk like through the
whole thing, and you're like,it would be great to watch with the
boys, right, But I alsokind of view this differently than I view

(01:10:46):
like an atomic Shark, which youbrought up earlier, or for sure whatever,
Yeah, it's this is good.This is a point of viewing every
Christmas, and there's bits of itthat I actually do really like. Like
I and I but I love thisgenre of movie. I try to watch
as many of these as I canevery year. But when you watch this
genre of movies so much, thereare so many cookie cutter, awful versions

(01:11:11):
of this exact type of movie whereI think they just do a better job
of doing that. And I thinkthat they sat down and were like,
here's the genre of movie, here'sall these ridiculous tropes. I don't think.
I think they are probably relatively funnyguys to be around in person.
I don't believe that. Yeah,I don't think they come across as like

(01:11:33):
super funny on screen, but Ithink they're probably somewhat like the three of
us in college watching all these movies. If we were to then go make
a Hallmark movie, we would takeall the bits of the genre, but
then also add in our own littleflare to And I don't know. That's
why I love that. I thinkjust real quick to go off that too.

(01:11:54):
That I think again I started withthis the onset and I'm gonna end
with it, is that I thinkthe silly, ridiculous magic or a ton
of the enjoyment I get out ofthis is that it wasn't just Okay,
we're gonna cast this film. Itwas like you're talking about James, Okay,
we're gonna make this film knowing thetropes, playing with it with our

(01:12:15):
good friends or in this case,the brothers, Like I think it's so
funny that they're brothers in this,and that I think that there are these
like moments where you're like, oh, yeah, I can imagine these guys
as brothers and being stupid siblings.Like, I don't know, it's so
ridiculous, but I freaking love it. I'm just like, oh, Tom

(01:12:36):
already knows and he pulls them outlike, that's so funny to me.
I don't know. So I thinkthe brothers thing to me is the difference
maker in this movie. Yep,that's all I gotta say. I agree,
just like, no, bro,honestly, I don't think it's the
Godfather Suspects. I was saying that, Yeah, yeah, I mean,

(01:13:00):
I'm being so silly. I willsay this one hundred films, but I
do enjoy it every year. Iwill say this. I didn't have a
miserable time watching it. In fact, the best part about this movie was
watching it with James and his family, because even though I was building this

(01:13:20):
aggravation and disdain for the movie,making fun of it while it was on,
was a great bonding experience for thepeople that I was watching it with.
Now, will I ever watch anothermovie by these people? No,
they need to be put out ofthe misery. Money. You need to

(01:13:43):
watch money Plane and Spotlight movie.Baby just wack is so I do think
watched that's what we should have watchedthem. Do you think you watch both?

(01:14:04):
They're so there's so I wanted to. I did want to watch both,
but I figured, let's just doone. Mistletone mix ups it for
me, that's I like it moreof the money plan, but I like,
I love Mistletone mixed up money Plane. You get more. I mean,
I think you're right, James,and that if you had both watched
that movie, you would be like, kinda, I mean, that movie

(01:14:26):
is terrible, terribly done, butit's basically like we're gonna take all these
absurd action film tropes and then putthem to the nth degree. And I
kind of feel like that's what Mistletoemix Up is trying to do. Yep.
So whether they did it or not, that you know, maybe that's
the conversation. Disagree. Yeah,but I haven't seen money Plane, so
I don't know. I have nobacking of that. But I saw it.

(01:14:49):
If they were trying to satirize it, I didn't catch it. You
know, it just went right overmy head. I didn't catch it.
But you also probably don't watch.I seem every time I go home,
you know, I want about holidays. But you know, I mean,
dude, you make movies. Howdo you? How did you not?

(01:15:11):
That's what? But this movie doesn't. It just seems like another show,
you know, like I'm gonna becauseit doesn't go because the difference is it
doesn't go as insane as something likea like a like a pop star never
stopped, never stopping, or likeFreddie got fingered something where it's like clearly
just almost to the point of beatingyou over the head with like how this

(01:15:34):
is also stupid where they just ifthey were doesn't but I ended up just
making another one. It's you know, they end up just making another one,
which is a failure as it did. That's what it is. I
don't think they did. What otherHallmark movies. Are there interviews with these
guys. I need to hear themtalking about it. I need, I
need. You need to hear whatthe director says to say about that.

(01:15:56):
Maybe, But are there other Hallmarkmovies where they're like, we're gonna put
our whole old family in this anddo that. But I don't think there
are many. Interesting I just thinkthat's like that's that. Yeah, I
love that movie. I love it, and I also I mean, and
I don't even think that would bepart of the joke. I don't want
to open because they're all actor.I mean they're all they're all actors.

(01:16:17):
I mean like stuff. You likeFreddy Got Fingered and you love Freddy Got
Fingered. Yeah, so a jthis was. This was one of those
polight movies. Hank gave it aninety nine. A gave it a ninety.
I gave it a nine because therewas one joke that made me laugh
that movie Got Fingered. I thinkI think Freddy Got Fingered as a terrible
movie. Terrible. Yeah, Ilove terrible, like you think. But

(01:16:40):
you think that's like a better well, I don't think that. I can't.
Yeah, no, you're right.Should we just end it? Should
we just close this? You know, I'm gonna give cages to This was
a mix up. I think weshould dolly you rate them? Yeah,
I think we should do we becausewe always do not cage is for the

(01:17:00):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'mgood or missiletoes either wasn't The grandma has
a line where she's like deck thehalls with and then looks right at her.
You know, you know, let'sdo Ally's. I love that I'm
in, I'm weighing. I gotto change my score around a little bit,
but I love it. Okay,uh wait, do you want to

(01:17:23):
do any ghules, goofs or gaffes. You're not going to believe this A
J and Hank, but there isn'tperfect Did nobody pick up on the fake
sandwich? Yeah? I didn't perfectly. There were There were actually two on

(01:17:45):
im d B. But that we'vebeen we've discussed them. There were gules
the ghost, that's true. Ijust sound the soundtrack featured a slight ghoul.
Maybe the sandwiches were fake to representtheir early shallowness towards the relationship,
and then they started don't even eatreal food later and it was like,

(01:18:06):
now no one needs they all goto dinners and because we're real, because
we're real now, maybe that's whythe sandwiches. AJ Does that help you
with your ratings? And actually,you know what that was? I was
very thought provoking. And if everI have the misfortune of watching this movie

(01:18:26):
again, I will watch it throughthat lens and that link exactly the sandwich,
and we're going to come up withsome kind of bet or something.
You will be watching this movie againas well as mony play, it's going
to happen and I will be therefor it. So okay, Well,
let's move into a little segment.I like to calling to you with this

(01:18:47):
movie, James, starting with you. What are your final thoughts? And
you're rating all right? Well,I've been throwing a little bit of a
curveball here because of the chain fromcages to Hollies. I should have seen
it coming. I've forgotten. Youknow, we always we don't do cages.
I think I've made it pretty clear. I love this exchange rate.

(01:19:09):
Well you'll find out. You'll findout it just is. Maybe wait for
my score and let me do myfinal thoughts. I love this movie.
It's so much fun. We've discussedit at nauseum. If you don't want
to watch this, through the lensof this you might learn something. You
might be informed, you might growas a person. That's okay. Sit

(01:19:30):
down with your boys, put thison, have a good laugh. You'll
love it for that. If youwant to learn, if you want to
grow as a family or just byyourself, put this on and you will
learn and grow from it and geta laugh along the way. What more
could you want? I was goingto give this eighty five cages out of
one hundred. Since we were doinghollies, I will be giving it ninety

(01:19:50):
two hollies out of one hundred.Wow, Okay, that's the exchange rate
there. It's close, but itgoes up a little bit. Okay,
a j how about you. Igot no jolly's from these hollies. This

(01:20:11):
was it was, really it was. It was sad in the fact of
like watching these guys like do theirbest at making something and being creators and
failing this. I cannot remember anothermovie that I predicted so accurately, and

(01:20:34):
I think that was the root ofmy anguish in how in how poorly you
know they set up the twists andthe surprises like ough Man not like it.
I had one glimmer of hope,and that was when I was like,

(01:20:55):
it's now the camera is gonna panup. I'm going to see the
demon bitch sitting in the other andthe camera pands up and my heart came
to life, and then it allcame crashing down. I don't know where
you're getting your exchange rates from,because I was going to score this eleven
cages, but I'm gonna give itseven Hollies. Okay, that's fine.

(01:21:18):
You know it's luxury. Yeah,sometimes it's it's like the dollar to the
euro. You know, if youtravel today, it could be one thing,
you travel tomorrow something else. Soseven Hollies, that's fine, Okay,
uh lukey Luke better than the zerothat you gave leg Legend of grimas
Islence. I'll take it as awin my own movie. Yeah, that's
true. Well, I mean,I kid you not. When I came

(01:21:43):
into this podcast, I was gonnagive this eighty five cages, which is
crazy. And I'm not saying thatbecause James said it. I'm just saying
it because that's what I would giveit. And you know, I go
there because although you know it's asilly movie, the audio, all that,
the issues we talked about, Ijust enjoy this movie. And it's

(01:22:05):
hard to put your finger on.Why is it Joey Lawrence's receiving hairline.
Is it the way that the treefalls on Holly? I don't know,
but I is it the fake sandwiches. I love this movie and I was
gonna get eighty five cages, whichmeans that it's conversion to ninety two Hollies.
And so you have here, andI was gonna give it eighty five.

(01:22:27):
I was gonna give it eighty fivebefore Jane said it. So,
hey, Luke and I are nowtwo for two on you being on this
podcast. Are we giving giving thesame score? That's crazy, that's crazy
guarding tests of fifty, that's prettycrazy, dude. I mean we're a
ligne on those two. And forthe way for folks, for folks listening

(01:22:53):
at you know, in your homeand around your missiletoe. You know,
James and I don't agree on allfilms, so this is rare, and
there's actually a lot we don't agreeon. Yeah, more we don't agree
on than agree on. So Ido love being with my family and sitting
around the mistletoe sometimes. I doactually wish I bet your mom would love

(01:23:14):
this movie, Hank, Well,she loves the holiday, so I think
she would love this movie. Iwish you had watched it. Yeah,
I think I think it. Ididn't didn't even think about it. I
was too busy watching Jude Law breakinto this woman's house drunk. It is
terrible. Yeah, yeah, finalthoughts, boy, I had fun watching
it, uh, And I wishI could have watched you with yall.
I I as we discussed it,though I don't see it in the same

(01:23:38):
way y'all do, unfortunately. Buthey, everyone has their own opinion,
uh, and I think that's whatwe can take away. They're just like
assholes. They all think this,they all they all poop one way or
the other. You know. Atsome point I thought I didn't catch satire.
Should that have been there? Imissed it if it was there in
the first place, And I thoughtit was funny but over all forgettable and

(01:24:00):
boring. But hey, I haven'twatched it for last six Christmases. This
is I watched it twenty minutes agoand Christmas was five days ago. Oh
God, bless Merry Christmas from theWickerman Luke boy, thanks for coming back
on. We need to have you. You want to give it a score?
Oh right, I don't. Ireally don't. I was gonna give

(01:24:21):
it twenty five cages, so I'mgonna I'm gonna go with thirty two hollies
for a movie. You enjoyed thisso much, you're gonna give it okay,
But that's I enjoyed it. Butthat's just brought it down. Version.
If you're if you're over fifty,the Hollys boost your score. If
you're under fifty, the Holly's justpreat your score. So it's like a

(01:24:41):
twenty work do they either boo boostit by seven or lower it by four?
Yeah, oh my god, itmakes it makes your more extreme.
Okay, so I guess it's atwenty one Hollies. Then that's sad.
That is sad. It is sad. I knew, I knew. I'm
sure you guys didn't both give itzeros. There was stuff I did.

(01:25:03):
Laugh. I came in ready toriff, you know, but but we
didn't get there. I mean,I think I think right now we riffed
that whole time. The Lawrence momis a tears being shut down her cheek
right now, Hank after that scorethe actual mom or the mom who just
the actual actually the actual, thereal mom Grandma in the film. Yes,

(01:25:26):
a double threat, a double threat, if you will. So,
Unfortunately, due to conversion rates,I absolutely hate this. So we've had
Action Jackson, which got a compositescore of an eighty eight. We had
Speed to Cruise Control which got acomposite score of a seventy seven, and
we had Freddy got fingered which hada composite score of a sixty six.

(01:25:47):
Thanks. This would have had acomposite score of a fifty five to continue
that trend, but unfortunately, Hank'sscore got convert converted down instead of off,
and it brings this movie to afifty three. Wait, what was
the just keep you because the trenchesgoing down? Yeah, but no it's

(01:26:08):
eighty eight, seventy seven, sixtysix, fifty five. I see,
yeah, we need it was justgetting worse and worse movies. Well those
it was a grim zero. Iguess that's true. Grimm was Grimace got
a seven, gave it six?Thank you podcast that a j gave it

(01:26:29):
a zero. Okay, well that'smissletone mix up the Andsrew Lawrence in Company.
What the freaking heck are we watchingnext week? Let me? Oh
god, oh my god, wealready came. We already previewed this last
podcast because I didn't we didn't knowwhat we were gonna be doing this.

(01:26:49):
So here we go again. Cage, Frank Potente, Franca Potente, Penelope,
Mitchell Hooper, Penn, Garret Clayton. In Between Worlds, Joe meets
a mother who can contact spirits whensuffocating her daughter is dying when Joe helps
the mother spiritually connect contact the daughterand save her. Unfortunately, the spirit

(01:27:13):
in the daughter's body is now thatof Joe's dead wife. I said the
last episode, I'll say it again. I despise this movie, Luke.
I believe we watched this one togetherwhen you were when you going down on
the rundown of that, I waslike, wait, we've seen this.
And then I immediately had the thought. If you said to me, all
right, you're gonna die unless youcould name one thing from this movie,

(01:27:35):
I would be dead. I don'tremember a single thing from that film.
All I remember, which is nota good side. A good side.
No, it's not so well,Luke, thanks for being back on.
We'll try to have you on soonerthan three. I don't know if we

(01:27:58):
can. I don't know if theAJ Luke relationship. I'm sorry. I
was just gonna say I'm sorry thatI get a rift, a rift between
us A J. You know it. It hurts my heart, But I'm
willing to forgive you. If youare, I'm willing to say that you're
wrong. If if you are,so, you know you just apologize that
I'm wrong. I'm I'm willing tocome out and say I'm sorry for your

(01:28:25):
take. I know I'm right andwe can repair this rift if you say,
hey, I'm sorry, you're right, mistlet I was. I was
going to forgive you before he saidthat was. Yeah, I'm gonna I'm
gonna have to think about it,and well, you think about it anytime

(01:28:47):
you're ready to apologize, anytime youapologize. I'm here with open ears.
I'm here with open ears. I'mhere with opens That's all I have to
say. You know, I haveno problem with you like whatever movies on
to like. But you know,if your if your taste in in film
culture is just going to be thispoor, then uh, I don't know.

(01:29:11):
You boys got some doubts. Imean maybe, thank you so much
for listening and we'll catch you guysnext time. The man baby, I
will say this hanging there all right,