Stocking Stuffers 11.3 A Merry Little Ex-Mas with Christine Makepeace

I love Christmas, the lights, family time. It's awesome. This year Christmas might look a little different. Divorce does not mean that we are not still a team. Yeah, legally it kind of does.

Dan's little elves are here. You invited Everett's dat. We have joint custody. This is our first Christmas apart, but we're still going to spend it together. Is a family practicing total honesty.

Dad didn't tell you he's dating someone, So what should like you? Okay? It's told me so much about you. Every person in this town. Note, I'm in a book club.

All we do is gossip and drink. All nice family, We should all have dinner. Good idea. We should normalize this. I think this is a bit like the holiday, except in that movie the ex wife was dead.

You've been naughty of nice? Told you you same age as you. You're good? Can you take that at dinner sometimes and get on this book class. We're in an open relationship.

It's totally fine. Do you want to make them jealous. If you two are having fun? Whoa? I'm sorry that I wasn't a better husband, and I hope to do it better the next time.

WHOA, Right up, it's Christmas Time of Death three fifty eight. Can you take your hand out from under my slap? Oh yeah, let me help you with you. Welcome to our third stocking stuffer of season eleven. It's Emily again.

And because I know things get a little crazy around here when you're thinking. But the feminine critique is not one voice. I should be hearing another voice, the same voice, the beautiful musical soprano melody of Christine make peace and so people today, she's here, Christine sing us a song, won't you? Oh Hello? I wasn't aware that this is what direction this was going.

What happens when you leave? I know, I know, I didn't know that we were doing musical intros. Had to come up sens it. But I am here watching a Christmas movie, right. Mm hmm that's what you were supposed to do, yes, thankfully.

Apparently I did it last year too. Yes, So before we started, I said to Christine, Hey, what was the name of the movie we covered together last year? Because obviously I don't remember these titles there. I watched too many of them, and they all go in and out and they all are very similar. But I knew I'm like, no, the one we watched last year was also an x This movie, but I didn't remember how they used xmuths as the thing and what was What did you say to that, Christine.

We watched an Xmas movie last year, I mentioned Mark, I said, but I know, I know we watched a movie. I have that level of recall, but I can't remember what we watched and win like I know we did the Princess Switch movies and smart stuff like that, because I don't really watch these unless it's. They're not intended for the most part to like sit with you and stay there. They are very much intended to like cycle through. Like I don't know what the equivalent I was about to get down, like some dietary tract of a food that you eat and goes right for you if you will, as like my mother will say about some things, and this is one that it's supposed to go right for you right you consume it.

It's gone again. Now second Netflix movie of the year we're doing, and I think you will notice some differences between Netflix and what separates it from some of the other networks doing them. But this movie today is an ex part of the x Miss universe, but not it has nothing to do with the other X meths. This is a merry little X mess, right, Yes it was, yes, okay, good. And an X is spelled like ex miss is there.

Yeah, it's e x dass at. Moss, whereas last year's it was one word ex moss. I feel like you can obviously do a lot with that, Like this was a merry little xmth So obviously you could make the same movie for another network and call it have yourself a merry little X mess. So much to do, so so much to play with on such a term, and obviously it's a movie about x's lots to say here, made for Netflix with money apparently, I mean, were more money than Hallmark, I guess. And you all heard the trailer for it.

But Christine, let's well, actually, before we jump into the plot of it, just do a quick directed by Steve Carr. Now, Christine, are you familiar with the work of one Steve. Carr, from the director of Paul Blart malk A Merry Little X Mess. Yeah, so it's like a guy I think he directed Daddy Daycare. He has a It's it's weird.

It's a weird list. You should go look at it. Yeah, a lot of sequels to be comedy. It's like Doctor Dolittle two next Friday, and are we there yet? Or are we done yet?

The sequel to are We there yet? Fascinating career honestly seems like a seems like a fascinating guy who kind of fell in with some I mean, look not to Zach went long on this yesterday, so I don't really need to redo all of this stuff. But the man directed like method Man videos and Onyx videos, jay z this this man was doing some interesting things in an interesting place at an interesting time, and then directed Paul Malklop and then and then seem to not direct anything else after that. You would think after Paul Blart, you but yeah, let's fucking go. But no, and then I don't know, maybe he's like a really nice guy because he then ends up here working with Melissa Joan Hart because this is her production company.

There's a lot going on here. I'm you know more about this than I do. I didn't realize because obviously most Joan Hart's gonna come up. I did not realize this was her her production that that is interesting and I. Believe like one of the one of the companies.

In the beginning, I don't know if it's anyone, and I'm not gonna look it up, but it's like heart H R T. And then I was like, oh, it's funny. Melissa Joanhart does a lot of holiday stuff. And then I saw her actual name and I was like, oh, well, that definitely is her production company then, and which makes this even more interesting. I'm fascinated by this movie.

Well, and it does too because she has a supporting role in this movie, which is in itself because most of Joan Hart is somebody who is the lead in these movies, like and she has hop networks quite a bit. I don't think she works with the Hallmark anymore. She's done a couple of things for Lifetime in the last couple of years, but I mean she's MJH. She is the star of these and in this it's so it's one of those like and I know she's directed one or two of these for I think Lifetime, but kind of maybe a producer role where she's like, oh no, yeah, but I'll be on set so I can be in it. And I like to think provide my own wardrobe.

We will talk about that when we get there, but I have a lot of things to say about what she wears in this movie, and as I will always say, Long Island native Melissa john Hart, so that's. That's very funny. I her and Alicia are the same exact age. So I did think, like, I wonder if she got this script, and was like, maybe not for me, but I do I have a friend or like we have Netflix budget for this, so maybe I can bring somebody else in. I don't know.

It just all seemed very fascinating because you could easily have just plugged her. I wouldn't it wouldn't have worked for me as well, but plug her into the lead. Role and completely yeah it. It makes I think there's a lot of things specific in this movie where it feels like whether it was the script or whether they adjusted the script once they had only see a silverstone but at this could have been an mgh role. But I and I wonder actually now thinking I'm always fascinated by that with actors of like the same age and type and how often they were up for the same roles mm hmm.

And just imagine a world where the two of them swapped careers, Like what would that have been? I don't know. Well they yeah, fully, they would have had to have been running into each other. Sure it's some capacity at some point, maybe not in like the early Clarissa Clueless styles. They seem to be in a little bit of a different lane.

But now once a woman turns like I don't know, twenty seven, it's like, oh, yeah, you're just. Now yep, yeah, yeah, yeah, I could see it. This is written by Holly Hester, who obviously has a very holiday themed name, but no other Oh no, she does have a couple of other Christmas movies, so I feel like, again, if you're named Holly, that's kind of the you know, it's like all those people who have like the guy who invented the bird telescope was the last name was Bird, like all those kinds of things. It's kind of dictated, right, like your parents made a decision for you, I guess. So.

She also did write on Sabrina the Teenage Yeppo. I wonder if you know she's like old television. I was gonnay Original Sabrina or New Sabrina because I actually didn't know. Buck that like og Yeah, I think she has like a grace under fire writing credit too, so like nineties seineties. Okay, good for her.

Way to go, Holly Hester, way to go. Well longevity indeed. So now having said that, why don't you and we will spoil this movie guys, Mary little Xmiths. It's on Netflix now, wild twists and turns and you won't believe how it ends. Oh show you know.

If you don't want to be spoiled by it, then I don't know, watch it and then come back. But Christine tell us about the plot of this little Netflix something something. Yeah, so a merry Little x miss is about this like really nice little family who for some reason decides that they wanted the husband and wife want to get divorced. And then they decide that they want to get divorced, and then they start dating other people and realize that they didn't actually want to get divorced, and then they don't get divorced. Oh, oh my god, the cat So everyone Emily is on camera.

I'm not I just glanced up after all that, and like. Her video did a weird zoom. Right. I don't know why my video is doing that, but it is. It's very light.

It's like shining shots. She you looked horrified when I finished it. Zoomed in so tight on your horrified. Well, Chris, I guess my first question to you. No, obviously you know how this movie is gonna end because it's a you know, a cozy Cardian in Christmas.

There's no way this couple is not gonna end up together. Did you want them to end up together? Yeah, they belong together. I was really passionately. Yeah.

I had a lot of feelings about this movie. I was invested, deeply invested, And I kept yelling things at the TV like they clearly still love each other, and like they obviously are a great fit. Like stuff like he calls her Betty and she called no, she calls him Betty and he calls her owl. They're meant to be and they. Yeah, And then like, oh my god, I have Wow.

I hadn't experienced at this movie. I I will say I this was enjoyable. Ish. I thought it was you know, it felt like a movie, which is something we can't always say about these, but it did. It felt written, it felt acted, there was money behind it.

The great asked even the smaller roles. The kids were good, like everybody was on some very funny moments. Some the relationships like I was intrigued by and interested in, but I really like it's just I it happens for a while. I feel like we were at a point where these movies would be a little bit more open minded about career and about like not being stuck in a small town and like it being okay to pursue your dreams and so on, or like several movies, I think it was like last year the year before where they actually ended where it was like, no, the woman is gonna pursue and the man is following her, and like we just suddenly have stopped having that. And this one, you know, it opens with like a quick recap of their marriage, which is like she was an architect and she got this amazing job in Boston and she was gonna change the world.

But then she fell in love with this guy, and this guy is from a small town and had to go back to that small town to be the town doctor. So she moved with them. They had a bunch of kids, and suddenly like her life was being that and she her her youngest son is ready to graduate high school and she's like, great, I'm done. I want to live the life I'm always wanted to live, and like throughout the movie, like everybody else is telling her, you're you live in a great town. You have a lot of great friends here, right, everything's great.

Your husband's beloved, he's a doctor. You have this amazing house with a great kitchen, Like, you don't want to leave here? And she's like, no, but I always wanted to do this thing. And they're like, no, but you don't. And by the end of the movie she's like, you're right, I don't and that really upset me.

Well, I mean, that's fair, and that's fair, and I'm not gonna at all try to argue you out of that. But I think that that's where the Jamila Jamil character kind of comes in because it kind of does this meta like repeating psychic things and it it and it acknowledges like this ambitious woman gets trapped in this town that she hates. So and that is what happened, what starts to happen to. So Jamila Jamil is a beautiful woman who ends up dating the saber husband character. Yeah, who's Goldiehun's kid whose name I can't think of, Oliver Hudson, Oliver Hudson, thank you.

They end up dating. So that's her character. So it's like she kind of gets sucked into his orbit as well and is in threat of getting trapped in this light also because she's very ambitious and all that stuff, and so but she gets out of that and like escaping a whirlpool, and and the fact that they do that, I think to me kind of addresses that complaint. And also there's a part of it that is almost like asking an adult woman to acknowledge that maybe the thing she wanted when she was twenty isn't the thing that she wants when she's forty five. Yeah, and like she had, she has this idea about what saving the world could be, which is doing all this great green architecture when she actually is saving the world in small ways.

You can tell because she got the birds to come back and there's a bunch of recycling initiatives. I am very attached to this character. She is the best, and I love her so much. And I kept saying, Alicia, I'll live with you, I'll do Christmas traditions with you. All of her ship is.

So cute, and all of her dumb traditions are so cute. And this this stupid thing that she's doing where she thinks she needs to save everybody. Is so relatable and like I felt so called out the entire time. It was so good though I cried, I laughed, had I had a real emotional experience with this thing. I'm glad, I'm very glad.

I'm sad that the story did not work for you, But I understand why it didn't because they were trying to have their cake and eat it too. They were trying to make her an ambitious woman who had who had goals and like values and also somebody that came to love living in a small town. And that's tough to balance and still kind of like, be honest. It is, and I think the again, this is now so the second movie this year that I've watched, and the other one was from twenty twenty two, but it was the same ending where it was career woman comes to small town and falls in love with man or is in love with the guy who's in small town, and at the end of the movie it's basically like knowing like she wants to go to back to big city, but the very end of the movie is her saying no, where the man has said no, you should go back, like you should go and live your dreams and she says no, my dreams are here.

And again it's just the two punch of like, oh, so this is gonna keep happening again, huh of you know, there's another ending to this where it is like, well, like why don't you go to Boston and I'm I'm nearing retirement or you know, I will you go to Boston and I'm gonna come visit every month or something like the And it's not like, oh, this one thing in Boston is the way to do it. But it just like she sat on this for twenty years and finally like decided to take it again and then like oh, it just takes the entire town kind of bullying her into saying like, no, you make a difference here. See that's a difference. That's a difference. That's a difference.

So you're not going right, and for her to be like, yeah, you're right, I'm not going. No, I'm not going. I'm staying. Like in another twenty years, are we gonna have have yourself a Mary little Xnis where she's back saying get again, this time, I really am going to Boston. That was just my concern.

Well, no, I and like I said, I'm never gonna try to dissuade you from this feeling, but I do think there's something there. Of she felt like her marriage was falling apart, so she kinda just reached for the last thing that she wanted to do before she was coupled, which is kind of like a guy midlife crisis move where like like, oh my, the life that I ended up with kept me from my my hot model girlfriend and my convertible. So now that I'm you know, changing my life, that's what I get. And hers was just I get to go be an architect. That makes a difference in Boston.

It was almost very childish. I guess maybe I wish that the movie had hit that more to like really sell like, hey, this is a childish dream that you had when you before you lived life, and you can't have it anymore, like kind of like a growing up kind of maturity thing. But it never did. You're completely right. But again, it was her house was her house was so nice.

Though at the end she did kind of almost came down to like I can't leave this house, and I was like, girl. I kind of get it. Yeah, And also like, look, it's real estate. It's tough these days. Like, I get it, you got a good property, you're in a good town.

Yeah, it might not stick with it. Yeah, all right, Well that leads us into the list to number one being her fem I'll lead need of a lesson, So what what like for you? The lesson was like she needs to kind of grow up or like let it go, and I hope that she should be a small town life. Maybe there is a lesson there because there's like the whole thing at the end where she realizes she raised two good, socially conscious kids, Like why didn't she already know that? So I feel like they like they were like stars for most of the movie and then at the end they're like, yeah, we're actually kind of cool.

But that's what I mean, Like she should know, she should have enough faith in herself that she raised good kids, like with good values. And I think that is a lesson like that the movie is trying to impart, but I don't think this. Maybe I'm gonna say something mild. Maybe this movie could have been a little bit more preachy and more clear about what it's what it's lessons were supposed to be. Okay, all right, fair, so let's see.

So that was Kate also also called al Uh, and there is something that goes caused her coming up the last couple of years is is she very competitive? And we find out yes, she's very competitive and they're baking challenge they do every year. So getting into that. Number two are Bland love interest. So we have Everett Oliver Hudson.

But what are your thoughts on Old Ali. I think he at times did a really good job here. I sometimes he felt like he wasn't in the movie, but then sometimes it was like, oh, look, yeah, I don't know. It was clearly her movie. Yes, yeah, very much.

And I think he was fine. I guess the switch being he was kind of the workaholic, but workaholic like small town doctor and like what was so something this movie? Does you know an interesting thing? Again, it's Netflix, so you're more likely to see it. But there we have gay characters in this movie because he has two dats and they're adorable and they're they're very fun.

And there is like a moment late in the film where he kind of explains like his motivations for career in life. What did you make of that? Can you explain exactly kind of what why he why he decided to settle in in their town of winter Light. Oh yeah, he had to prove to the world that two guys could raise a kid that knew what he was doing, essentially, like. Like like a competent person, like my entire life.

And I get like what they were saying was the whole like all right, because it was not as easy as you think growing up with two gay dads in the nineties and a small town, huh, and like yeah, like so I had to stay here to show the town like that I'm a doctor. I guess yeah that. Like dudes can raise a good kid too. And again, like it's it's so close to being like so emotionally resonant that I get. I'm giving it a lot of passes, like it to work on me because it was knocking at the door of working.

And I think there's something too that like I felt like I had to be perfect because I had to prove something for my gay dads. But the way it is articulated was so strange. Agreed, Okay, good, I'm glad it wasn't just me. No, no, no, But I like I got it thematically, I understood, and I was like, yeah, okay, that makes sense movie. But then like literally I was.

Like, this is weird. Say it clearly? Yes, yeah, very strange. So then moving on to our our setting, which in this case was a charming small town of winter Light. So do you want to live in winter Light?

Did they say what state it was or we just assumed it was Canada? It I believe it was. It was supposed to be Massachusetts or at least that kind of area, because they did drop Boston like it was super accessible, and also New York like it was relatively accessible, So like that was my assumption. Hmmm, yeah, no, I wouldn't want to live there. Great great houses, but like I don't know, everybody's coming to my house with like snow shoes and shit from right?

What was that? What was that? No? No? Yeah, and seemingly one diner when hardware store, like one employee who works everything, all of these things.

So yeah, not not for me, not really all right? So number four is our dead parents or a dead wife. And we don't get dead parents. No, I mean, although her parents are not the story. Yeah, but that's fine, who knows, they're probably alive.

We have a nearly dead marriage perhaps, Oh shit, you want to think of it that way? All right? Number five our sassy side kick parenthess. I feel like we've got several We have a lot, a lot. We were doing a lot with side characters in this so like so Melissa Joan Hart obviously sassy side character, and no.

I thought she was like at first, Alicia assists, I guess they're just friends. It seems like they're just friends. Yeah, because they refer to her as like the godmother, so otherwise they'd probably say an't what were your thoughts on on her? Again? It was odd to see her in this part, but just kind of like she's there, she's having fun.

Which what did you think of her? Whould she be her friend? She seemed happy to be there. Honestly, there were at times, especially so like uh, the ex man gets a girlfriend Jamie and Jamil, but also Alicia the ex woman gets to kind of casually flirt with a man. And every scene with Melissa Joan Hart and that dude was so hilarious.

She was like in the background just laughing at everything he did. It was. It was quite delightful. Yeah, No, she was having fun there. Do you fun?

Do you think she provided her on wardrobe or chose it because it's something. Uh So, I did notice that how good Alicia Silverstones wore was. She looked really hot and really beautiful and classy, but also like age appropriate and frumpy like some people in the I know what you did last summer refool, but it looked good. She looked good. I did notice that Melissa Joanhart's wardrobe was starkly different.

That's not a read. It was just like clearly different. And and so maybe you're onto something. Felt very and again I say this as a you know, native Long Islander, like Melissa Joan Hart. It felt like the like what you would see many Italian women wearing a baby showers, like a lot of where I don't know.

To me, like I'm somebody of like if I'm wearing ear rings, I'm probably not gonna wear a necklace. MJH has like these big hoop earrings and this big gold necklace over this like green patterned shirt, and she's got a gigantic high ponytail and she has variations on the hype ponytail the whole movie, and it does the entire time. I'm thinking of like commercials for like clothing shots in like Eastern Long Island and like, that's what she's dressing like, And it was a choice, and I don't know how I feel about it. It definitely was done in a way where sometimes like you dress now in your sassy sidekicks that they don't outshine the lead built a little bit of that, but it also I was like, is this what mgh wears like on the weekends?

I don't know, or where's still again a baby shower? Yeah, it's so. If you look at the pictures for the movie up on IMDb, there is one where Alicia is very it's the it's the cover dress. It's that like short sleeve kind of Cranberry lore dress that Alicia is wearing and next to her and a hot pink rooshed number with a high pony. Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean.

It's like I get, I want my characters to look like they pulled from different clausets, absolutely, but this looks like they pulled like from different times. Yeahs in regions again, like definitely like Boston Verse, like Manhasset, I don't you know. It's very funny though, Yeah, she again she seemed just happy to be there. Yeah, which is I got to learn more about this. We all said the first scene, I thought we're gonna get more of her, although she comes back at the very end we have when Alicia is talking about like, oh, we're telling town the town.

Basically she's the divorce and the she's sitting down at a coffee shop like announcing it to I feel like the line was as mayor and your friend. Was that the line? That's the line I got from it? It might have been that was really you're right? Because also that bakery I think was called bred Zeppelin, Like there was so much they were doing so much in that opening and then none of it came.

And yeah, that was definitely one of those like we've gotten we Okay, we have eight more people in the cast, and we're gonna film both of their scenes today, so let's do it all quickly. Because you have like the mayor, you have the other like townswoman, and I thought it was her husband was like the hippie guy who both seemed to work at the diner, and then the woman you see throughout a few more times complaining about her ex husbands, and then I got confused on whether the hippie guy was her husband, and at the very end, like everybody's together again telling them what the meaning of Christmas is or whatnot. But it was a lot and I was very confused on what we were where the town was going to go from here?

Yeah, yeah, nowhere yet to find out. Yes, But like, which I honestly is is better. I think I don't need the whole town teaching me a lesson. Like it's okay, a bit condescending, all right, So let's move into number six. Our villain character, which I feel like we kind of have here and we don't always get them.

And I don't think this character is a villain, but I think like there's a sense of here as a person who is in the way of things. Yeah, so that that would be Jamila probably, Oh yeah, so in I and I think the script, and I do appreciate this a lot of aspects of this script. It like goes out of its way to just make her like a person that's not trying to like ruin anybody's anything. She's just there doing her own thing. And at the end she kind of is like, this is stupid.

Why did I get involved in this? I was I thinking, I'm stuck in a tiny town where people travel by snowshoe. Why why am I doing this? I Am not gonna be trapped here like this other woman did twenty years ago. Oh my god.

And they met a month earlier, they had only met a month earlier around Thanksgiving, and said, yes, what is happening? Do not bring this woman to meet your children. You just met her. Eh. She is basically playing the character she played in The Good Place, Like it's essentially the same thing, where like beautiful, perfect, wealthy knows runs a nonprofit knows the Harry Potter Producers does soup kitchens on Christmas, Like, I kind of because I love Good Place, So I kind of appreciated they just moved that character into the Christmas universe.

I went from there. It worked, I think I think it did too. She was delightful, but she did provide the much needed like conflict and foil, like, oh, now that this person is here, our divorce is real because there's another person, and there's there's some good jokes, and she is funny. I find funny. Yes, I agree, she's got some good line reads, she's got some good stuff.

So yeah, and she looks very good in like winter Christmas stuff. Yeah, like she's got like the little Russian hat, like just it's like good, nice presence to have, I think on here. Yeah, she looked very she looked very pretty, and she clearly knew what movie she was in, which was fun too, like yep, very aware of the type of everybody seemed to be, which was nice. Yeah. Yeah, these are professionals, definitely.

Yeah, all right, so number seven is the montage montageez any. You clocked, No, I don't don't think so. We didn't have any like long ones. We had what I thought we're gonna be the starts of ones. The I mean, the opening animated credits are kind of a quick summary of her life.

There's two scenes that do the there more again, more transitions and montages. But I just found it amusing that like they found a style that worked for that and stuck with it. Where it's overhead drone shot with public domain Christmas song playing as like the camera moves through landscape with trees and snow, and then he went right into the scene. And then I thought we were getting a little more of the Christmas tree on fire chets strip tease routine before they put it out, But it kind of went quickly. Yeah, the only thing I really thought of was that that ridiculous Christmas tree scene.

Yep, which kind of moves into number eight slapstick. So we get a yeah, Christmas tree on fire, among other things. Yeah, there's a sledding thing. Flooding, prawerful m h. We find out that Everett met his girlfriend when she slipped on ice, which is obviously a very holiday common theme.

Uh. And then we have the character of Nigel, who I like, we'll talk about more in a moment, who is constantly kind of having falls in the background and so on. Yes, yes, all right, so now a sage old person. Oh the dads are so Yeah, they were cute and they were cute and likable and it was sweet and yeah, this is very like sacarine and like, uh, but like I don't know, love is nice. So sometimes it's nice.

To have. And I think it like it adds it makes it so much more like something you can recommend when like, yeah, it is a sacriin sweet movie. But also it has like the most stable relationship in the movie are two gay men who have been married for thirty five years or whatnot, and like that you know that that counts as it matters and you know, the if that mom in the Midwest who avoid certain movies sits down and watches this, maybe she'll be charmed and think twice about her son bringing his boyfriend home for the holidays. Who knows, who knows? No, it's it's It's true, and and and like, I don't want to go off with too much of a tangent, but this is a great time to say that I, while flawed, I deeply appreciated all the sustainability stuff in this and the anti consumerism stuff.

You get it where you can people and perfect allies. This was great. And Alicia Silverstone is me. That is me. She is me, and it is very annoying.

And I know why people are annoyed with her, and I love her deeply. And I definitely, through the transitive properties, aligned myself with this fictional character quite a. No, it's and I wonder how I'm guessing all of that came once they cast Alicia Silverstone right, because she has always been very very public about that, which is great and wonderful and we need more voices on that. And yeah, the movie makes like it also gives the movie like again a little bit of sometimes you need those little defining characteristics of your movies because these are the stories are going to be pretty predictable, the sets are all going to kind of look the same. That there's only so many things you can do to a muffin to make it stand out.

So when you can get those little things, and I think this one does try to cram more of that in. But you having this character, have you know, a characteristic which is her priority sustainability, and she's gonna constantly talk about it, and you can make a lot of jokes about it. Yes, but like it's you know, and they're funny, but also like you know, some of them like maybe somebody's thinking twice about stuff. So yeah, yeah, it's cute. I appreciate it that a Netflix movie had that in it, so like, thanks.

I'm with you sadly that we don't have the real Santa Claus. I know, I know, we don't get them often. Netflix never does real Sanna, Like they don't mix their like they'll do Santa movies, but they're like more like aimed at kids. I don't think they have done any of these kinds of like adult romances where Santa is real. I yet to see one like that.

They're truly truly a wild storytelling choice when they do that, Like, oh yeah, magic because of Santa. Also yeah, also that guy Santa. Yeah, like you could have ended this movie and found out one of the gay dads with Santa would have worked. Yep, therefore he just touched the side of his nose or something and then. Like twinkle tinkle sound effect.

Bam, Yeah, I hate it. Suddenly Boston and winter Light are five minutes away from each other. It's perfect. She can commute easily. Also, Like, I mean, now, if you were saying that the movie was set in Massachusetts, can she not work remotely?

Can she not be in the office four days a week and you know, rent like a really cheap apartment and commute back home? And I'm just it could have made it work anyway. Anyway, onto the bonus rounds, which we start with the music. All of those public domains, the holiday songs. M hm, we got a lot of them.

Do you have a favorite holiday song? Do you have a favorite public domain holiday song? I didn't notice any of the ones in this move day. What's up? Please forgive me what is considered a public domain holiday song?

Okay, basically, no, no, no, no, no, no, not at all. It's it's the reverse like Rudolf the Red News Reindeer is. I don't care if it's me singing it like to my computer, I am breaking copyright. If I do that, I can get sued. Your public domains are essentially the songs that if you walked into a store and played a music box, they're going to be on that right so, and the covers of them are owned by whoever owns them.

But the songs themselves that are public domain. I don't know if I know all of them. But jingle bells, deck the halls, Joy to the world. We wish you a merry little Christmas. Not have yourself a marriae to Christmas.

Yes to Silent Night, Yes to we Three Kings, Yes to Old King wenchel slaws. So a lot of like the any of the traditional Liketish okay, sixteenth century songs public domain, nobody owns them, anybody can do them. Anything that was basically written in the last hundred years pretty much. No, So let's see Rudolph, no Frosty, no, the Christmas Shoes. No, like anything that somebody wrote and owned in our time.

But so like jingle bell rock, is not public domains, So jingle Bell probably my favorite Christmas song other than Little Saint Nick, which is which is Beach Boys, which I know is not. But I guess maybe if I had to pick a public domain one, I like. I like Silent Night, It's like classic. It's minor key. Yeah.

I was gonna say it's a little spooky. Oh god, yes, oh Carol of the Bells too public domain. Oh fuck, that's that's spooky. That's some spooky shit. But I don't like Christmas songs.

Just like Christmas. I felt like I had more to say, but then I said that, and I was like, no, that's the end of my statement. Yeah, I mean I like, I like the old ones. I don't like so many Christmas pop songs. I you know, like anybody you tiger of them?

So uh Now, this one thing that we do find in Netflix movies as opposed to Hallmarker Lifetime is that Netflix likes to show off that it has a music budget. So you will often find like real songs in Netflix movies, and this one like they're referencing a song throughout the whole movie, right, and then how do we end the credits? What song do we play? Uh, we play Paul Simon. Ah, yeah, that video where Chevy.

Chase is on it, yes, now, which was called it Be My Bodyguard, but apparently it's. Not no a song which I you know, love and hate honestly, but it was I think even Zach said like, oh they got that Netflix. And they paid that. Oh they paid for it. Yeah, and they do that they show off like you can tell them like, but again in this case it worked and it kind of was again a cute thing where the characters call each other that.

So yeah, I love that song because two for two reasons. One that was my first concert when I was I think like sixteen or seventeen, was when Paul Simon and Bob Dylan went on tour together and I you remember that, yeah, But I went to see them at Jones Beach and Bob Dylan was first and at some point I fell asleep, but I woke up to Paul Simon playing that song. And then also we used we used to have two dogs growing up. One was Shorty who was fairly short, and Mooster, who was very very tall, and we always sing that song to them because it was like, that's what they look like and they looked like Paul Simon and Chevy Chase because of the height differential. That's very cute.

Yes, yes, all right, so now moving on to our secret family recipe, needlessly complicated cocktails or using hot chocolate to represent something sexual they see like the food portion of the movie, do you remember much about the food we had here? Uh? The gingerbread house is really the only thing that stands out to me. There is also that very cute thing with the annoying boy that annoyingly talks about Harry Potter so much that makes the dessert vegan for Alicia's character. And again I really liked that.

Yes, that was very cute and sweet. Agreed. Yes, they apparently do their own annual gingerbread house competition. U And one she's making like she's baking throughout the movie. She's got like cranberry muffins.

At one point she gives everybody which calls apology scones. I couldn't tell what was in them that they look tasty. One well, and it would probably be vegan because assuming that's what she cooks in this movie. Hell yeah, you go made for you small business in danger, we don't really have any We just have like three businesses in the town and they all seem to be doing okay. Yeah, and she, I guess also is running her own business as a handy woman.

And then at the end opens up a diff What is the business she opens up instead? Do you remember? I I don't know, and I don't remember. And they were intentionally vague about some of that stuff, like they I'll just complain about this at the end of the movie, like it's how it wraps up. There's like a big storm and that's how everybody comes together, and like she sees the value of the town or whatever, and she's like, oh, we cold have I forgot Everybody can come to my house because I have a battery.

Ma'am do you have solar? Why haven't you been talking about this the entire thing? So is she running a solar business? What is this battery she speaks. Of right, like, yes, excellent question, because I mean a battery and a generator are not the same thing.

No, the end of the movie is when she mentions the solar panels, or she talks about that at some point. But yeah, and I thought the end was going to be like, oh, she saves the town by restoring power because she's a handy woman, and she proves to everybody what a good handy woman she is. But that's not what happened. So it was it was strange. I mean something about how she's open to sustainability business, but I don't understand what that actually means.

No again, yes, it very much. I like that sustainability is the new I've run a magazine or I'm an I didn't. I did cackle when she was an architect at the beginning, Yes, because that is very much what is. Like big city code. Yeah, yeah, you publish a magazine, You're an architect.

Yes, you're a You're a party planner. Don't forget about party planner. Party planner. Yeah, I don't know about you. If you've ever I've something I've always meant to do.

It is like count how many people I know? Like, how many people in the world do I like? Have I do I have in my phone or have I emailed at one point in life? And of them, I could say, of forty three years, I have met two architects in my entire life, I have met no party planners. So I mean and I so far have meant no sustainability professionals.

But give it time. I guess. I mean it's early you don't, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a ton of a new era. Let's move on to product placement. Okay, okay, called Harry Potter.

I mean there's so much Harry Potter references in this movie. Uh, and it's off it's off putting, and I don't like it. Yeah, and I don't. It's unnecessary, Like it's cool. Guys, I guess that you're also obsessed with it that you still have to give that awful woman money.

I'm not, and I don't need it in my other unrelated media, So thank you. It feels odd because I guess you're not paying for it because it's you know, they're not like using the logo anywhere. They're not Like there's nothing they're doing in the movie where they had to get permission, right, Like you can say the name of characters from another movie in your movie, you just can't portray them. You can't, you know, you stills from the movie. So it's almost like, I don't know, Like I'm trying to think of the equivalent.

If I was making a movie like this, I would probably like reference on the dead a lot, and that would be my right place, like that would just be a thing I do. But it is like also really insufferable, like aside from the politics of it, Yes, but like this he is a grown man is kind of upsetting. But so yeah, I guess it. But I think it's it's if if it's not directly endorsing it, it's it's taking part in the normalization of that is like a cultural touch touch point that we all rally around and use. Is like shorthand.

And I'm I'm okay with being done with that because again, you might not want to politics aside all politics in front. Uh that bitch funds anti trans man. You don't give her money. Yeah, and that's from Christine signed no, no. No, no, Emily, Emily.

Yeah. There is a difference, completely difference between no, I am, I'm with you. There is like there's no reason to continue, like I get and again, like we own the books, Brandon's a big fan of the books. We or we will never buy the books again, Like this is what I always tell people, like you go to use bookstores and library sales because you can buy books by problematic people without giving them money. Uh.

And with with ralling where she has explicitly said, yes, every time I get money, I use it to destroy human beings, like there's no question mark about it. And also it's just I feel like it's weird in any any like you could have done the same thing with Game of Thrones. Let's say you could have been. A game ring I thought, but like why I don't. No matter what, it's still weird to do in a movie that's unrelated to that, So an odd choice.

This movie kind of endorses indoor Girls, although we don't see the brand right, because that's whatever it always wanted. I really thought it was gonna be weird too. Yeah, because he unwraps it, but like his hand is just covering the brand because I look for because I was very curious air pods not a good gift, apparently, kind of the opposite of product. I thought that whole thing was very funny and it was a very coy, anti consumerist thing of like this is oh, this is your putting it in someone's head that air pods are actually a bad gift, just in the context of the film. Easy to lose and not homemade, So yeah, not true.

There there was a drone and then there were a lot of drone shots, but ultimately the drone is not hard to fly, So I don't know that it really was endorsing it so much. And I want to ask you about something because I don't know where else it would go. But there is a very specific little line about Everett being a clooney that I yes, I did, which, first of all, like, is that have you? I guess the the like what was the actual like description of a Cluey was like, Oh, somebody that's better with age and like is respectful of women or something like that was kind of what she was. Yeah, kind of like a decent, masculine presenting human being of a certain age that is also handsome.

And I guess that was kind of like sure, that's a nice thing to say. The other thing because Alicia Silverstone's character is like, stop saying clooney. Did you think that was a reference to Batman and Robin Well. That's what I thought of I thought so too. Yeah, I don't know if that's what because it's kind of hard to think about all these people and they're doing these, like in Hollywood kind of jokes with mentioning clooney and stuff, but it's kind of hard to not think about Melissa Joanhart and Alicia Silverstone being blonde women of the same exact age in Hollywood their entire lives, and how many times they might have intersected, so every time, and even like Oliver Hudson, like you know, son of a very famous person, people you know, and of course they'd be in the same radius.

So yeah, when you hear somebody's name specifically called out, it's like, wait a second. They were in that Batman movie. There, then you were forced to think about Batman a. Roman, which I didn't mind. Yeah, I'll think about Batman.

There you go. All right, number five of the cloying Child. So we don't have we have a we have a one eighteen year old in the movie, al right, the kid, but we do have a child like. I guess actually we have two childlike characters. But let's let's talk a little more about Nigel.

So Nigel is the older daughter's boyfriend. Uh huh huh, ultimately annoying and I appreciate, but I appreciated the story arc. I guess Harry Potter stuff aside, like the fact that he is annoying, and from the jump, Alicia's character is like fully over him and done with him and cannot tolerate him, and I think that's really funny. And then like he is genuinely like harmless and sweet. Yes, it seems so like Ben she has like a much uh much needed change of heart, Like you clearly make my kid happy.

So like that's great. I guess you're okay, yeah, which is nice. But yeah, he was a lot. He was. Yes, I was worried.

And then I did think he had some funny moments, the awkward when he first meets Everett and like they end up like having like a weird where where he kisses Everett's neck. Did you click? That was hilarious. That was very funny. That was a very funny site gag because I find like introductory kiss humor always very uncomfortable and and humorous.

And it was like just the look on Oliver Hudson's face, I was like, you know what, that redeemed his performance, Like I'm glad you cast him just for that moment. And then we haven't talked about him, and I feel like we should throw him in here somewhere. Chat you like chat, that's the boyfriend. That's the boyfriend. Yeah, the young man who's childlike in a different way.

Yeah, he had. He had some good lines. I did laugh at him a few times. He seemed genuinely charismatic. Yeah, that that character type almost like a like a himbo that doesn't really need to even be in the story.

That's tough and can go really wrong. So the fact that it wasn't super cringey I think was a success. Yeah, I'd agree, all right. Number six is finding the perfect Tree. There is some some tree related high jinks in the movie.

I almost choked to death because I laughed when you said that. I thought that stuff was funny too, because the kids were like, yeah, whatever, and then they didn't even I want to do it. It's fun. Yeah. Number seven empty coffee cup acting.

Didn't see anything. Didn't either, which is weird. But again, like these are sometimes it's what separates a real movie from a not real one. It's because like they know how to do that. They put liquid in the cups.

Yep, they can afford Netflix can afford a water pump and they will use it. Wow, all right. Number eight actors trying hard to not actually eat on camera. We did have a lot because we had a lot of food, a lot of taking food, but not necessarily eating it. But then I think she took a bite of that vegan pastry, don't you.

She did, And then the boyfriend took a bite of the gingerbread house. Yeah, so like there was chewing on screen. Yeah, there was real food and they could afford to do a second take where they reset it. Yeah. Wow, all right.

Number nine canadianisms or obvious signs that it wasn't filmed in the US or in the location that it meant to be. It was filmed with. Super Yeah, it was super generic. So like, while there was no tells, isn't that in and of itself a tell? Yes?

Yes, yes, yes, agreed, Like anywhere USA, mm hmm yeah, or near Massachusetts, but not close enough to Boston that this woman has to sell her house and so on. Yeah. Number ten warm weather Watch. They did a nice job of keeping me outside snow like it was always snow. Some of it clearly fake, some of it real like, but they were always in jackets for the most part.

But there was like cold energy. It had like a cold vibe about it. Yeah, it didn't feel like, oh, one character is wearing a really heavy coat and the next character is wearing a t shirt, like the sun was wearing a lighter coat, but also like it's easy eighteen year old kid like you probably wear shorts in the snow and isn't bothered by it, so it didn't bother me, all right, Elevin, is our old people aggressively matchmaking our leads. I mean, the entire town was trying to push these people back together, right, Yeah. I guess the dad's kind of covered all the old people tropes, but again handled with a bit of a lighter hand.

I guess, agreed, agreed, all right, And now my favorite, the favorite, your favorite fashion moment. We break it up into pea coat based and non peacoat based, because there's always so many pea coats in the movie, only I don't really catch pea coats, but there is a fabulous coat in this movie. There is a lot of coats and outer wear. People putting on coats, taking off coats. I don't remember or I don't know which coats specifically you're calling out.

So when leaving a storm and she's wearing like ankle length kind of trench coat and he actually ever calls it out. He's like, you're trying to walk in the snow in vinyl, but it looked like pleather or something, and I could not tell if the color was purple or brown. It looked like an eggplant color. Yes, okay, it really did. Like, Yeah, it really did.

And I do recall that one because it was absurd. She did look like she was in like a nineties music video. Yes, I thought the snow it was very fun. But aside from coats, I did say I thought Alicia's wardrobe was great. It was very age appropriate while also not trying to make her look matronly, and it was it was good stuff, so I do.

I do appreciate it. I loved her red velvet Christmas dress. It was very flattering. It was very like again I agreed completely, like you can wear that at our age and feel good. I did find it amusing.

That night she's in like red satin pajamas and like, I'm like those that is the best cleavage for pajamas that I have ever seen. That that is true. She clearly did have a very helpful undergarment on, which seems strange for a casual night at home. And the second button opens that you got a nice little we'll peek on it. Yeah, look I'll accept it, you know, suspension of disbelief.

But yeah, do you all right? So overall, do you recommend a merry little x mess. Yes, nobody's gonna like it as much as I did. That's stupid, but like, yeah, it was fun, and especially if you enjoy like holiday movies, because it definitely had all the trappings of a typical Hallmark style movie, but it did things diferently and was a little bit more self aware, which I appreciated. Yeah, it's smarter, I think than your average Hallmark movie.

It looks great. I think it just looks like Christmas. You can turn it on the same thing I said abut jingle bell heist. You can turn it on on mute and have it feel like, oh yes, it's appropriate to have in the background. But yeah, again, I did like have an issue with the ending, but it's just me being a cynic.

But I agree. I think this was better made and funnier than I was expecting for something like this. This showed brains that I appreciated that. Yeah, I did not expect to actually appreciate like the script as much as I did like the story that they were trying to tell. Didn't feel it felt different and that's tough with these right, I mean, you wouldn't better than me?

Oh no, completely. I mean there have been other movies made about like x people divorcing not divorcing at the last minute, but this one I think because of their age too. It being a movie about forty somethings like that's refreshing. And these are more interesting people because they have lived lives. So for all of that.

Yeah, i'd recommend it too. Yeah, yeah, cool. Thanks for giving me a reason to actually watch it, because I don't know if I would have gotten to it. Oh well, that's good. So what are your plans for the rest of the holiday season?

Where can people find you? And the Internet? I'm there sometimes I'm on Blue Sky. I think I'm Exstein Makepeace. That's a great place to find me.

I have a newsletter, but it's easier to just go to Blue Sky or something to find it. And I just finished a new screenplay, so maybe you'll hear more about that. Yeah, excellent. What about you? What cool Christmas related things are you up to?

Maybe that are specific? Well, obviously, recording stocking stuffers is as you might have noticed, and a reminder to everybody that you can get your tickets for the live show or more importantly, probably for most of you, live or later streamed show, because you don't have to watch it live until December twenty sixth. You can go to the website that I will put in the show notes, because lord knows I cannot remember it myself. But you can watch the live staged version of our lost Hallmark Christmas movie, co written and co directed with Kevin Marr, where he and I tell a Hallmark Christmas story about a vampire who's a big city lawyer, businesswoman looking not looking for love, but who just might find love in a small town.

And you get to see us perform it if you go there, and you know, for all of eight dollars and thirty seven cents, you get to watch it through December twenty sixth, this whole holiday season. You can have it on repeat if you tire of seeing Alicia Silverstone with great pajama cleavage. So yeah, thanks for asking. I'm still gonna watch it, even though I never tire of Elisia. That's wow.

That's that quote is going medication. Yeah, that's going on the DVD cover. You can you can be sure that all right, well, thank you everybody, and Merry Christmas for this day. Merry Xmas, ladies and gentlemen, rose Mary Hoory. When I'm worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep, and I fall asleep shouting my blessings.

When my bank roll is getting small, I think of when I had none it's at all, and I fall asleep. Chouting my bless. In the same film that Bing Crosbie sang count your Blessings, he also sang White Christmas, and it was the second time, the second film, because he had introduced it in Holiday in twelve years before. When we were pre recording, mister Berlin was walking up and down, pacing nervously, and Bing turned to him and said, relax, serving it's already a hit. White Christmas is this country's longest running hit.

We couldn't have Christmas without it. The sun is shining, the. Grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway. I've never seen such a day. In Beverly Hills, LA.

But it's December twenty fourth, and I am longing to be. Up nor. I'm dreaming of of why. Christmas, just like the ones. I used to know.

Where the tree tops glisten and children listen to hear. Slave bells in the snow. I dreaming of Why Christmas with every Christmas car ride. May your days. Be merry and fry, and may.

All Christmas is the why we're in wa