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Holiday Hallmark Review: Sugarplummed (2024)
Keywords
Hallmark movies, Sugarplum, Christmas, movie review, holiday cheer, character analysis, festive films
Summary
In this festive conversation, Nick and Leslie review the Hallmark movie 'Sugarplum,' discussing its charm, predictability, and character dynamics. They explore the film's themes of holiday cheer, the challenges of achieving a perfect Christmas, and the humorous self-awareness of Hallmark movies. The duo shares their thoughts on the performances, particularly praising the lead actress, while also critiquing the film's rushed ending and character development. Overall, they reflect on the unique aspects of the movie and invite listeners to share their opinions.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (00:00.206)
Nick and Leslie, Nick and Leslie, talking holiday cheer Hallmark movies, cozy nights, and a festive review today Hey, grab a seat and a sweet treat, cozy up push play Movie cheers, what you'll hear this Hallmark movie day I'm not okay, because I'm not gonna have to fluff them And on that note
It is late, so we're in our pajami jams. We just finished the second of two movies that we're going to be recording right now. let's start off by talking about the Saturday Hallmark movie, Sugarplum. So let's play that Sugarplum trailer.
The sugar plum movies are my absolute favorite.
I wish more than anything for a Christmas just like the ones in the movies.
You can't be sugarplum. I'm basically a professional at helping people. You're kidding. I would never joke about Christmas. Sugarplum, all new Saturday, December 7th at 8. Part of Countdown to Christmas only on Hallmark Channel. OK, Leslie, what were your thoughts on sugarplum? I was delighted. It was pretty good. was very aga- it was giving enchanted. It was a cute-
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (01:37.802)
It was predictable, but it was fun because Sugar Plum... made fun of... Hallmark made fun of itself. Yes. Yes. And it was beautiful. Yes. So they're calling themselves the Harmony Home Network. The Harmony Home Network. And Sugar Plum is a series of successful Christmas movies about a girl named Sugar Plum who's in the small town of Perfection. Perfection. And constantly has all these adventures that are basically Hallmark style adventures. Yes.
Meanwhile our hero she has a book of rules our hero Nina was the daughter. I didn't write the mom's our hero of the story has She really wants her Christmas to be absolutely perfect and she finds a magical ornament that says if but she has a list that her mother made yes, make sure all Christmases are perfect. Yes, and So she wishes on this magical ornament and that causes the sugar plum character
to leave the virtual film world, go into the real world, and she's like, well, I guess the Christmas rules are that I have to help you have the perfect Christmas in order to go back home. And Sugar Plum is beginning to realize that her rules of what she understands of the perfect Christmas do not work in the real world. Emily. Thank you. Emily is our star. the... So I think the big shining star of this movie is the actress who plays Sugar Plum.
Janelle Parrish. is so good. She is. mean, even what Pretty Little Liars she was on. she was on that? Yes. OK. That Big Little Lies. OK. I didn't see Pretty Little OK. Anyway, put in. So she was, you the like original of that. I loved her in that. So even though she was like a villain. Anyway, she's a little good actress. There was tons of great little bits of dialogue.
little silent moments of just like her reactions to things that really upped this movie really elevated it past kind of like the default of like, it's a pretty good homework movie to an actual decent movie. but nothing like a parent, a mother wanting to do exactly what they want and make sure everything's perfect and ignoring everyone else around them, especially their children who have something big going on. But that
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (04:04.01)
The pageant at the end was a little... A little shoddy. A little shoddy. It was weird. Yeah, so I think that... I don't think this movie really landed the ending. No, it didn't. It kind of like it got rushed a little messy at the end. And I think part of it, too, it's weird because these Hallmark movies, if you take out the commercials, it's like an hour 20. And sometimes they put too much
plot for an hour twenty. For example, three minutes into this movie, we see the dad's backstory, the mom's backstory and the backstory of the two kids. Yes, that's a lot for three minutes. If you miss that first three minutes, you are lost. Yes. And because it introduced all those backstories, they could have just had one kid, by the way. It would have been a lot easier on the editing and writing and casting. But because of that, they have to wrap up. I'm sorry. I'm drinking a waterloo.
Because of they have to wrap up everything at the end very quickly. And that's what I thought was a little on the messy side. Yeah, it was. You know, especially if you're having like, sc- scouters from Berkeley. What is behind it? He is squeaking. Our dog is warning because the toy is near his big sister and she scares him.
Do you need help? Is that it? Is that what he wanted? I think so. It's the toy that yeah, he's got. OK. You know, so they were having a talent show that some Berkeley scouts of music's Berkeley School of Music were going to be at. But for that type of talent, like they did not need to show the crappy cellist or whomever was. Yeah, like they didn't need to do that. And to show like they could have just had them perform like.
Yay, we made it to the show and now we're gonna start the thing. But I will shout out Nina's song was very nice. It really cute. It was. It was catchy. there was crap. Was it this one that I was... no, it was the Influencer Brother. The song that he was dancing to that we tried to shazam to see if it was real. Max, that was a good little...
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (06:18.83)
Good little pop song. Little pop Christmas song. I don't think it was a Christmas song. Or was it? no. Yeah, it was about influencers. I remember there was a rhyme. was like, that's a good rhyme. Whatever it was about, it was like good little poppy, somewhat dumbstep. I liked it. There were some really funny lines, which are like, a lot of them kind of stem from the rules in Sugar Plum's book. One of them is that I liked that
Flannel is a natural aphrodisiac. Flannel is a natural aphrodisiac. That was so And like when she causes the woman from My Irish Christmas to have a romantic meeting. Because Emily is an attorney. Yes. And that's Emily's client. She causes these two people to have like a romantic interaction and had a board meeting. Sugarplum ends it by going, end scene. End scene. It was really cute.
Her the deliveries even though the lines themselves were cheesy She brought the art of it. delivered them so well that It was the punchline was perfect. It had us giggling Remember how one of emily's things was things on her list just to get even the perfect gift And her daughter nina really wanted these limited edition headphones that are sold out everywhere and sugar plums like
If in the rules are if you need to get the perfect gift, you'll get the perfect gift. So they go to an electronics store in order to get it. And the guy's like, I'm sorry, this is sold out. The only one we have is a prize. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is a salesperson that does not inform them that there is a prize. They themselves notice on the screen that he is showing them that there is zero inventory. They're like, but there's one on hold. And he goes, yeah, we're having a competition, but.
You gotta be Christmas to win. Yeah. And so it was adorable. So they had to do like a gift wrapping and for sugar plum is the best. Yeah. it's like, it's really great moments where like the camera just cuts away, everyone like the way that everyone's struggling and it goes back to her and she's like, and it's perfect. That was a wonderful scene. I really liked the reindeer games competition, the gingerbread house. It had electricity. and smoke coming out of the chimney. Yeah. Or something like that.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (08:43.182)
Where do we see the twins? Yeah, that was the later movie that didn't have it in this one. Are you sure? We got to talk about how Sugarplum shakes a magic snow globe, which causes it to snow in the high school or middle school. But it causes any place to snow where we were at the person. Which was really cute. Fun moment for Max. She hands him a snowball and he's like, cool. Yet somehow that gets the police to try and find her.
and arrest her and then it causes Max to get expelled. Yes. So I this is what I do like about the Hallmark magic and Hallmark making fun of itself in a way is that all these things Hallmark rules like there's going to be you know someone falls in love. You'll always find the perfect gift those rules that are always met. You know a stranger will house you. So.
And those things do work out in the first half of the movie. then all of a sudden reality kicks in and these rules are caught. And it's just really funny in regards to how it lays out and they get caught or they get blamed for the malfunction in the air conditioning and thinking it's a senior prank.
I mean, I get it, but it's funny that they will track you down. I just had like a warrant out for your arrest and then like your papers. That's interesting. But I get, you know, the drama of the story. and it's like that was like, I feel like it was later that afternoon that all that happened to. Yeah. What was the time frame fully? have no idea. I guess you can't call the fire department if it starts snowing or maybe you would call the fire. I don't know who you would call. Why would you? You wouldn't use an arson investigator. I'm just wondering.
Like, does CSI come out to try and be like, this was a prank and we're gonna miss that kid? That's what the insurance adjuster is for. there you go. Yeah, to figure it out. So, four sugarplum, I didn't write it down. Writing, I think I'm gonna go five. There was some really good quips, but again, I think some of the characters were mishandled. Acting, I'm gonna give that a six just because sugarplum was so good.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (11:03.916)
The kids were not. Particularly Max. Directing, I'll give that a six too. There was some fun little special effects. I liked every bit of the reindeer games was cute. Everything was decorated. The final scene was kind of rough though. The final scene. The talent show thing. you're saying, the talent show. I also appreciated that this was not a love story. That part was refreshing. It was. a love story. But you know, it's always that person.
trying to find Christmas and their meaning of Christmas and what the true meaning of Christmas is. So for the chemistry of meter, I'm comparing Emily and sugar plum. And once they get on the same page and they're like working together, that was really adorable. So I'm giving that a six on the chemistry. But I do I want to chat about Emily's husband. So he's got a shitty boss. He's giving him more work. Yes. And Emily is
not a supportive wife. But I guess it's kind of the part. She is the villain of the story. Until she realizes she is a villain. But like, well, how is she not supportive? She keeps making him do things that keep him away from finishing his work so that he can spend time with the family by saying like, you need to do this film. You need to help me decorate the house. You need to.
But also what hours of day is she asking me seems they do look like they're in the evening time.
You're right, she did ask him to like take him to a school thing. Right, very much so seemed like after hours things. Yeah, yeah, and he had already promised to do career day. That's right. So that's him not fulfilling obligations that he promised. that's what I'm. You're right, you're right, you're right. What you're saying. All right, take back what I said. I'll cut this all out. I'm kidding. What am I you? All right.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (13:04.142)
Alright, so that was Sugar Plum and we will see you in... Well, let us know your thoughts about Sugar Plum. if you don't agree with us, let us know why. We're curious to know, you know, what really drew you to that Hallmark Christmas film. We've had quite a few people leave comments about how they disagree with our praise for to have into holiday. So maybe you all hated this one too. Yeah, let us know. Let us know if you hate it. Let us know if you liked it. Let us know.
Either way. Alright, we'll see you in a couple minutes and we're going to talk about Leah's perfect gift. Bye.
