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Hallmark Movies: Small Town Royalty Magically Celebrating Rekindled Love! - General Discussion


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@oakville, I'm glad you enjoyed Christmas in Rome -- desperately wished I could have done the same.  Could...….the...….male...….lead...…..have...…..spoken...…...any...…...slower?  Even by Hallmark standards, it was excessive.   And their old workaholic-needs-to-slow-down-and-smell-the-poinsettias seemed beyond stale.  More like decrepit to me.  I like Lacey Chabert; she and Candace are my favorites on this channel.  Have no quarrel with her or the guy.  It's those rigid Hallmark guidelines that churn my stomach.  

There was a little girl in a Rome hotel who told Lacey "Can we make a gingerbread house?"  Sometimes I think Hallmark is punking us with this stuff. 

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5 hours ago, Bronx Babe said:

@oakville, I'm glad you enjoyed Christmas in Rome -- desperately wished I could have done the same.  Could...….the...….male...….lead...…..have...…..spoken...…...any...…...slower?  Even by Hallmark standards, it was excessive.   And their old workaholic-needs-to-slow-down-and-smell-the-poinsettias seemed beyond stale.  More like decrepit to me.  I like Lacey Chabert; she and Candace are my favorites on this channel.  Have no quarrel with her or the guy.  It's those rigid Hallmark guidelines that churn my stomach.  

There was a little girl in a Rome hotel who told Lacey "Can we make a gingerbread house?"  Sometimes I think Hallmark is punking us with this stuff. 

I was happy that he decided to leave his high pressure job in the USA for running the companay in  Italy. I loved watching Lacey when she was on Party of Five. 

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I actually really liked the storyline of the Christmas Inn - and the leads had great chemistry. But my god the way the inns were decorated on the inside was like someone threw up. They literally just had lights hanging on the walls down the hallway. 

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I like the Christmas in Evergreen movies but this "mystery" in this one about the time capsule is silly. 50 years ago was 1969. Did the writers not do any math to figure that out. The flashbacks all seemed earlier than the 1969 . it definitely seemed that Ashley Williams parents should be old enough to remember a giant Advent calendar and not be all we used to ask our parents about it  .  is this not Evergreen?  Is it some sort of Brigadoon situation 😂?

(I have now thought way to much about this ..probably more than the writers )

Edited by shoregirl
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I really enjoyed Christmas In Rome. It was the best of the Friday/Saturday bunch of movies, I think.  But I like Sam Page.  And I like Lacey most of the time.  I thought the script was not as great as The Christmas Club but better than a lot of the other holiday scripts. 

But what I liked the most about Christmas In Rome was how it was filmed. It always frustrates me when Hallmark does these destination movies yet films so many of the outdoor scenes by using tight shots of the actors.  It robs the scenes of a sense of place and the non-Canadian atmosphere.  The person who directed this movies gets it.  We saw so many scenes of them with a more panoramic backdrop even if it made them smaller.  Even though a lot of the movie was filmed in Bucharest, they did a great job of creating a Roman feeling. 

8 hours ago, Bronx Babe said:

There was a little girl in a Rome hotel who told Lacey "Can we make a gingerbread house?"  Sometimes I think Hallmark is punking us with this stuff. 

Ha.  I also had a reaction to her apartment.  That probably was not cheap in Rome.

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50 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I really enjoyed Christmas In Rome. It was the best of the Friday/Saturday bunch of movies, I think.  But I like Sam Page.  And I like Lacey most of the time.  I thought the script was not as great as The Christmas Club but better than a lot of the other holiday scripts. 

But what I liked the most about Christmas In Rome was how it was filmed. It always frustrates me when Hallmark does these destination movies yet films so many of the outdoor scenes by using tight shots of the actors.  It robs the scenes of a sense of place and the non-Canadian atmosphere.  The person who directed this movies gets it.  We saw so many scenes of them with a more panoramic backdrop even if it made them smaller.  Even though a lot of the movie was filmed in Bucharest, they did a great job of creating a Roman feeling. 

Ha.  I also had a reaction to her apartment.  That probably was not cheap in Rome.

Plus the B-roll shots were great. It is nice to see places you recall fondly or have always wanted to go to in these destination movies.

I did chuckle that Lacey's date dress was the exact shade of red as the wreath ribbons and table candles. 

It was nice that the lead put her big girl panties on right away and got on board with setting up her own company and turning down her old boss flat and adult like.

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On 12/1/2019 at 2:47 PM, oakville said:

I was happy that he decided to leave his high pressure job in the USA for running the companay in  Italy. I loved watching Lacey when she was on Party of Five. 

I could hardly believe that was former Italian heartthrob Franco Nero as the old guy!  Wow.  But frankly I thought he looked better, sexier, and more animated than Sam Page.

 

23 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Ha.  I also had a reaction to her apartment.  That probably was not cheap in Rome.

At least they didn't go over-the-top American with holiday décor, but had her apartment dressed up in a more understated, European way.  

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21 hours ago, shoregirl said:

I like the Christmas in Evergreen movies but this "mystery" in this one about the time capsule is silly. 50 years ago was 1969.

It reminded me of The Birdcage - love that movie but it's set in the present day (1996) and yet when they show photos of the 20 yr old son as a baby and small child they are in black and white and the album looks like one my parents would have had from the '50s. 

Edited by PennyPlain
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So, Christmas Town....thoughts?

To me it's almost like someone threw this together on lunch break or something.

Lauren sees a picture of her dad holding the angel she's looking for, shows the diner owner the pic and shortly after diner owner sees said angel and trashes it. Unless I missed something, isn't that fairly unlikely? A stranger looking for a specific angel that YOU told her to look next door for - you soon see the actual angel and act like you've never heard of it, call it broken and trash it? 

I won't even go into approving an adoption in a matter of days or the teacher going into "early retirement" after 30 years because she was waiting for 'someone she trusted' to take over her class? 😕 

Someone is trying wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too hard to throw together a story.

I get that these are stories, not documentaries or anywhere close to real life, but sometimes I think with even a minimal amount of effort they could do so much better.

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I'm a tough critic on here, but I actually liked Sense, Sensibility and Snowmen... I love Luke McFarland and Erin doesn't bother me. I like her much better than Lacey or Candace. It probably helped that I couldn't quite remember the real story of S&S other than Luke was obviously trying to mimic Hugh Grant's bumbling Edward... 

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I just began binge watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Last night, I watched Christmas Town and all I could think of is if Lauren’s dad had all that time to write letters to her, why didn’t he have time to make sure she was with a family?  The plot holes are amazing.  

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39 minutes ago, sistersledge said:

I'm a tough critic on here, but I actually liked Sense, Sensibility and Snowmen... I love Luke McFarland and Erin doesn't bother me. I like her much better than Lacey or Candace. It probably helped that I couldn't quite remember the real story of S&S other than Luke was obviously trying to mimic Hugh Grant's bumbling Edward... 

I never read the novel, but I looked up the synopsis to see how closely they followed the story. They completely switched the sisters' personalities. smh

I wish Kimberley Sustad had been the lead (of any movie). She's really funny, except for in A Godwink Christmas - which I thought was too serious of a movie for her.

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24 minutes ago, Shorty186 said:

I wish Kimberley Sustad had been the lead (of any movie). She's really funny, except for in A Godwink Christmas - which I thought was too serious of a movie for her.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way.  I had been so looking forward to this movie because I love the Charlotte Inn and Paul Campbell, but oh my gosh, In this movie, Kimberly was such a gloomy, sad-sack, “why would Paul fall for her” person.  I normally like her so much.

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Apologies in advance for going back to this topic, but I started seeing new reviews of the Hallmark movies with Jewish characters, including a review in The Washington Post. I finally went to the link summarizing the interview with Bill Abbott. I hadn't read it last time. Wow - it's even worse than I thought. Particularly this quote:

Quote

I think Christmas has become almost a secular type of holiday more than Hanukkah, which really does have more of a religious feel," he said, calling his movie titles "subjective." "I think Hanukkah, from a religious point of view, is not necessarily as commercial and not necessarily as much about gift giving and it’s really about what those eight nights signify from the religious point of view. 

He clearly has the least possible knowledge about Hanukkah beyond that it exists if he thinks Christmas is more secular. Christians go to church for the holiday, which they portray in many of their Christmas movies. Jews do not go to temple specifically for Hanukkah. It is not a religious holiday at all. It's totally about the gift-giving and celebrations with generic reference to the "miracle." Ugh. 

Sorry for venting again. 

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Re:  parents in these Hallmark schlockfests:  either dead or obnoxiously alive -- "Hi, honey! Welcome back! Our favorite daughter is home at last! We're so happy to see you!  Now get ready for the snowball toss!"  The fathers all have raspy voices and the mothers seem to be played by actresses who are recovering from a stroke or something.  

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I read that Washington Post article where they talked about the anti-Semitism in the "Hannukah" movies.  It's not overt Third Reich anti-Semitism, but it doesn't have to be to be anti-Semitic.  And, I think it might be time for Bill Abbott to step down.  Under his watch it seems like Hallmark has gotten more formulaic, the scripted series have gotten blander and blander (with widespread rumors of dysfunction and major actors leaving both WCTH and Good Witch), and the channel is increasingly getting worse, not better, in terms of diversity of both race and creed.  We won't even get into LGBTQ representation. 

The channel is the butt of a lot of jokes in pop culture for a reason.  And his terrible explanations are only serving to dig the hole deeper.

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12 hours ago, Jules59 said:

I just began binge watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Last night, I watched Christmas Town and all I could think of is if Lauren’s dad had all that time to write letters to her, why didn’t he have time to make sure she was with a family?  The plot holes are amazing.  

I knew there was something else that bugged me. Exactly.

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On 11/23/2019 at 8:14 PM, seasons said:

Whoa Nellie!

 "Christmas at Graceland - Home for the Holidays" - 

Priscilla looks like a white wax corpse. Just really sad. 

It wasn't horrible. I still have a hard time seeing Adrian Grenier as anyone but Vinnie Chase from Entourage. I liked the female lead, she was another who I thought seemed real instead of appearing to be acting. However, Mrs. AAEBoiler was getting ragey with the depiction of all the snow in Memphis. I have to agree that it was a bit ridiculous.

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2 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

The channel is the butt of a lot of jokes in pop culture for a reason.

The movies have become totally unwatchable.  Bad acting, bad boring repetitive stories, total lack of diversity on all fronts.  The actors are phoning in the performances because the stories are so awful.

Time to review what made the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies an family occasion were we all sat down to watch together, feel good, learn something.  Now they are just dreck.  New management is definitely needed.

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22 hours ago, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

Would love to see Seth MacFarlane in one of these movies for a change.

I can't be bothered to look up their real names!

 

22 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

I thought I was the only one who felt this way.  I had been so looking forward to this movie because I love the Charlotte Inn and Paul Campbell, but oh my gosh, In this movie, Kimberly was such a gloomy, sad-sack, “why would Paul fall for her” person.  I normally like her so much.

I've only seen her in that Godwink movie which explains a lot.

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6 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

The channel is the butt of a lot of jokes in pop culture for a reason.  And his terrible explanations are only serving to dig the hole deeper.

Yup, there was a shout out to Danica McKeller and Hallmark in "Knives Out." I chuckled and then cringed that I still do watch Hallmark movies for some reason.

I caught the end of My Christmas Love this morning. I've always thought it was super cute, but now I'm surprised that it doesn't follow that many of the mandatory Hallmark tropes even though it only came out 3 years ago. Maybe they got a pass because they literally go through every single gift from the Twelve Days of Christmas. I'd like to see Bobby Campo in a movie again. Aaron O'Connell too. He can't act, but I think he's prettier than Ryan Paevey.

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1 hour ago, Shorty186 said:

Yup, there was a shout out to Danica McKeller and Hallmark in "Knives Out." I chuckled and then cringed that I still do watch Hallmark movies for some reason

Except the movie they described sounded like a Lifetime movie.  Not Hallmark. 

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8 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

I read that Washington Post article where they talked about the anti-Semitism in the "Hannukah" movies.  It's not overt Third Reich anti-Semitism, but it doesn't have to be to be anti-Semitic.  And, I think it might be time for Bill Abbott to step down.  Under his watch it seems like Hallmark has gotten more formulaic, the scripted series have gotten blander and blander (with widespread rumors of dysfunction and major actors leaving both WCTH and Good Witch), and the channel is increasingly getting worse, not better, in terms of diversity of both race and creed.  We won't even get into LGBTQ representation. 

The channel is the butt of a lot of jokes in pop culture for a reason.  And his terrible explanations are only serving to dig the hole deeper.

I agree with you. They also have the Home and Family lawsuits. Up until recently I assumed that Hallmark was smart enough to realize that they needed to grow and improve but it’s clear now they are moving in the wrong direction across the board. 
It’s interesting to me that last Christmas they had the VP of programming out doing press saying all the right things about diversity but this year it’s the CEO out making things worse. 
I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a shakeup and it will be interesting to see what Hallmark Channel looks like in a year. 

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3 hours ago, sistersledge said:

I've only seen her in that Godwink movie which explains a lot.

@sistersledge if that’s the only movie you’ve seen Kimberly in I highly recommend one of our favorites, Nine Lives of Christmas. It is still one of the movies I watch every year even if it’s been out for years.

Im already laughing at The Christmas Club. I’m liking the leads so far and their chemistry, but the sister’s house was ridiculously over decorated. Who puts a lighted wreath in the kitchen? And is it over the stove? I can understand trying to make the scenes look festive, but it’s over the top.

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3 hours ago, JAYJAY1979 said:

Sadly as long as ratings can be spun to be gold... we won't see any change.  If change is truly wanted than people need to tune out.

I think you’re right. I’m curious to see how the ratings are at the end of the year. So far the new movies are premiering down from last year.  I’m sure the numbers will still be really good but there are signs that fewer people are watching Hallmark this year. 

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45 minutes ago, Happywatcher said:

Enty is saying Jodie Sweetin's Hallmarks didn't do well. I didn't like them, but that may have been colored because I don't like her personal life choices. Anyhow, he says everyone is worried she will get back on the drug train. 

If Hollywood is gossiping, she must be done at Hallmark

https://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2019/12/blind-item-6_4.html 

I doubt it. The ratings for her movies are consistently good. Based on ratings there are several other actresses Hallmark would cut before her. 

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I really liked the Sweeten one this year, I think it was called Merry and Bright - the one about the candy cane factory,  Predictable as hell (of course!!) but very watchable.

Edited by PennyPlain
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On 12/3/2019 at 7:04 PM, Dani said:

I think you’re right. I’m curious to see how the ratings are at the end of the year. So far the new movies are premiering down from last year.  I’m sure the numbers will still be really good but there are signs that fewer people are watching Hallmark this year. 

Oh wow, you're right. Even CCB's movie didn't crack the 4.00 like it has in the past. Pickler's movie stayed in the 2's. Even HMM seems lower than last year. Guess Lifetime and the other networks are really cutting into their pie this year.

On 12/3/2019 at 4:30 AM, dubstepford wife said:

  And, I think it might be time for Bill Abbott to step down.  Under his watch it seems like Hallmark has gotten more formulaic, the scripted series have gotten blander and blander (with widespread rumors of dysfunction and major actors leaving both WCTH and Good Witch), and the channel is increasingly getting worse, not better, in terms of diversity of both race and creed.  We won't even get into LGBTQ representation. 

The channel is the butt of a lot of jokes in pop culture for a reason.  And his terrible explanations are only serving to dig the hole deeper.

I haven't heard much but I'm wondering if that ties into what was going on over at H&F or something similar. Do you know any deets behind the scenes what's going on?

Also, in my weak search to find info, I came across this interesting article about the real life inspiration for Christmas Under the Stars: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/overcoming-addiction-high-school-maintenance-183123344.html

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Really enjoying Hope at Christmas (so far) but forgot to PVR it for later so that means taping the last bit before I head out as I can't find it on the W network schedule for later.  I've noticed this with a few other titles -  some movies get played over and over again while others,, well you're lucky if they show up two or three times - if that!  Wonder how that decision is made?

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14 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

I haven't heard much but I'm wondering if that ties into what was going on over at H&F or something similar. Do you know any deets behind the scenes what's going on?

Yeah I was mostly referring to the H&F stuff, as well as other issues that this thread and other forums I read (like on Facebook) have addressed.  This thread has mentioned issues with scheduling, where they seem to be in a lot of disarray, as some movies never even air (like the movie that was supposed to be part of autumn harvest), some movies air once or twice, and some are aired constantly.  Ratings are dropping as Netflix is getting into the holiday movie game, and doing it a lot better (you know the situation is bad when "A Christmas Prince," the most un-unique story ever, seems like a breath of fresh air when compared with your stuff), and they have to contend with increased competition from Lifetime, UP, and other networks.  The actors who left the big shows seemed to do it without a lot of warning or explanation; Hallmark seemed completely caught off guard by Bailee Madison leaving Good Witch, as her exit was pretty shoddily put together.  And speaking of Good Witch, I follow Catherine Bell on IG and she has posted some things that lead me to believe she's not very happy with the direction that Good Witch has taken, where they've completely removed the "magic" element from it and made it really bland.

Not to mention, there was the whole Lori Loughlin debacle, which IMO was really poorly handled.  Hallmark's answer to that seemed to be to just try to erase her from the channel and hope that no one would notice, which is pretty tough to do when she's a main character in not one but two series.  I felt bad for the actors in Garage Sale Mysteries, they didn't even get a send-off or anything.  I quit watching WCTH but I would not be surprised at all to hear that the name "Abigail" is never mentioned again -- and she was the main character's best friend!  (Also, side note here: why is Hallmark obsessed with the name "Abigail"?  There's an Abigail in like, every series.  I think there are two in Chesapeake Shores.)  

All of these things combined with the worsening of the diversity problem, and the CEO's hilariously bad attempts to do damage control on it, lead me to believe that behind closed doors, not all is holly and jolly.

(Sorry.  This post got longer than I intended.)   

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1 hour ago, dubstepford wife said:

(Sorry.  This post got longer than I intended.)   

No worries! You brought up some good points and some I didn't even know about (like Catherine Bell's postings about GW). I'm still salty they just offed Jake, her former husband because the actor couldn't come back since he was already booked for another show. Seems to be what Hallmark does a lot. Act before thinking.

So funny. In the past during the Countdown to Christmas event, my tv would be on the channel like constantly because there was always a movie I enjoyed playing one after the other. Not the case in the past year or so.

It's interesting SKP over at Twitter has noted the changes reflected in ratings as well:

https://twitter.com/SleepyKittyPaw/status/1202068715233333248

6 hours ago, PennyPlain said:

Really enjoying Hope at Christmas (so far) but forgot to PVR it for later so that means taping the last bit before I head out as I can't find it on the W network schedule for later.  I've noticed this with a few other titles -  some movies get played over and over again while others,, well you're lucky if they show up two or three times - if that!  Wonder how that decision is made?

This was one of my faves from last year, too. They love to shove the classics late at night and repeat the newer ones ad nauseum. They missed the chance to have a back-to-back showing of the Gift to Remember movies when they showed the first on the morning of the new premiere movie. Instead they did the usual 'show last night's premiere before the new movie' which they should have skipped that time.

I think I missed Naughty or Nice for the season which showed like once (at least I saw) so I may have to fish for my copy to put on.

Edited by MissyPoo
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9 hours ago, PennyPlain said:

Really enjoying Hope at Christmas (so far) but forgot to PVR it for later so that means taping the last bit before I head out as I can't find it on the W network schedule for later.  I've noticed this with a few other titles -  some movies get played over and over again while others,, well you're lucky if they show up two or three times - if that!  Wonder how that decision is made?

I find Hallmark’s scheduling to be nonsensical and that probably extends to their deal with W network. Hallmark channel has Hope at Christmas scheduled a couple of times in the next week including primetime tomorrow night.

2 hours ago, MissyPoo said:

No worries! You brought up some good points and some I didn't even know about (like Catherine Bell's postings about GW). I'm still salty they just offed Jake, her former husband because the actor couldn't come back since he was already booked for another show. Seems to be what Hallmark does a lot. Act before thinking.

So funny. In the past during the Countdown to Christmas event, my tv would be on the channel like constantly because there was always a movie I enjoyed playing one after the other. Not the case in the past year or so.

It's interesting SKP over at Twitter has noted the changes reflected in ratings as well:

https://twitter.com/SleepyKittyPaw/status/1202068715233333248

Interesting. I was wondering how Lifetime was doing in comparison is last year. 

I was looking at Hallmark ratings from previous years and unless one of the remaining movies gets huge numbers this will be Hallmark first year with a 4.00+ M movie since 2012.  Hallmark already tends to overly reactionary so I’m curious to see how they respond.

3 hours ago, dubstepford wife said:

All of these things combined with the worsening of the diversity problem, and the CEO's hilariously bad attempts to do damage control on it, lead me to believe that behind closed doors, not all is holly and jolly.

I saw that conservative sites are flipping out over that interview and see it as the CEO saying that Hallmark is open to making gay Christmas movies. He managing to draw a negative reaction from every side. I’m guessing  you’re right and the execs are not having a great Christmas this year. 

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2 minutes ago, MikaelaArsenault said:

Does anyone know if this is Gary Cole in the picture?

Nope.  It's Tom Skerritt on the right.  Candace Cameron Bure in the middle and I think that's supposed to be Oliver Hudson on the left but it doesn't look a lot like him.

It's from Journey Back To Christmas which I quite enjoyed.

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2 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Nope.  It's Tom Skerritt on the right.  Candace Cameron Bure in the middle and I think that's supposed to be Oliver Hudson on the left but it doesn't look a lot like him.

It's from Journey Back To Christmas which I quite enjoyed.

Thanks.

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I hope they react to the crappy ratings appropriately and cut the movies in half and bring back the quality. Watching Let It Snow and Nine Lives of Christmas every year makes me so sad because those movies were awesome and there aren’t many recent ones that I would watch every year.

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58 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

that's supposed to be Oliver Hudson on the left but it doesn't look a lot like him.

I thought he looked like I imagine Oliver Hudson's older brother would look!  I mean I recognized him but thought he looked a lot older than he had on Rules of Engagement,

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On 12/1/2019 at 7:38 PM, Happywatcher said:

Plus the B-roll shots were great. It is nice to see places you recall fondly or have always wanted to go to in these destination movies.

I did chuckle that Lacey's date dress was the exact shade of red as the wreath ribbons and table candles. 

It was nice that the lead put her big girl panties on right away and got on board with setting up her own company and turning down her old boss flat and adult like.

I had to suspend my sense of reality when Lacey’s red date dress, which she borrowed from her much taller friend, fit her so perfectly. 

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