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Keywords
Tis the Season to Be Irish, Hallmark movies, house flipping, Irish culture, female friendships, romantic comedy, holiday films, real estate, community, personal growth
Summary
In this episode of Holiday Hallmark Review, the hosts discuss the film 'Tis the Season to Be Irish.' They explore the plot, character dynamics, and the cultural implications of house flipping in Ireland. The conversation highlights the film's portrayal of female friendships, romantic tensions, and the challenges faced by the protagonist in navigating real estate and community expectations. The hosts express mixed feelings about the film's execution, noting its visual appeal but critiquing its depth and character development.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (00:06.914)
You can start this one and introduce the trailer. No, I'm good. can. Okay.
Ready?
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (00:19.682)
Welcome to our newest episode of Holiday Hallmark Review. This is a film called Tis the Season to Be Irish. So let's take look at that trailer.
Alright Leslie, how'd you feel about Tis the Season to be Irish? It was good. It was pretty to watch. That's kinda how I felt. It's like they didn't do anything wrong, but they didn't do anything that I really cared about?
So let's go through the plot. Well, first off, props to them for actually filming in Ireland. Yeah, they did. We almost thought it was PEI for a moment, but it was Ireland. So we follow Rose Walsh, who is a house flipper. She buys houses, flips them, and then has a friend who's a realtor who helps sell them for her. And I know you might have some commentary on that initial.
Realty scene. roll my eyes at this. mean, yeah, it's my dream, of course, to host an open house. And then the first ones that walk in immediately as the open house starts, they are happy and want to buy the house and they have no representation whatsoever. Yeah. Yes. So great. Done. OK. Rose is ready to move on to the next house. We also learn through this conversation with a realtor that Rose doesn't really own anything.
It's like she's just lives in a storage unit and just lives in the house as she flips. also it's like she's the one doing all the work is kind of like she is the general contractor and everything and architect and electrician and electrician plumber HVAC tech, know, dry. She hangs drywall sheet and I mean, props to her. Right. It's just but we see none of that. But
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (02:14.338)
We're given that. We do see her in overalls. That's what we get. it, is it, do you know if it's common for like house flippers to just live from house to house? Everyone is different, but there have, there are house flippers that live in the house that they're flipping. Yes. Okay. All right. So, then she, her and the realtor like, Hey, let's see what's going on in Europe. So they're
browsing through like online European realty lists. She finds this lovely listing for a cottage in Ireland, a town that her mom had visited. Named Dunklair. Dunklair, yeah. And it's $10,000 for a... 15,000 pounds. Sorry, 15,000 pounds. For, we didn't see like the square footage or anything. Yeah, we didn't pause on this. We didn't, we weren't able to pause to see like the square footage, but it looks potentially like...
a little larger than our house, it could be like 1200 square feet. I thought we saw some stairs for in some form of a loft up there. I mean, throughout the whole movie, we only have the camera in like one room of this place. So yeah, right. We don't know how many rooms there are. They only got permission to film in one of them. And there is a set of stairs. We don't know where they go, but there is a set of stairs. we also don't see the pictures that she sees online through, guess, whatever.
you know, multi-listing service that they're able to see through in Ireland. Yeah. Yeah. So we supposedly were, she's headed to a house that she can live in is also her perception. Yeah. And calls the agent and instantly says, I want to put an offer on this house. And the agent Sean that answers is like, well, it's about to go under contract. And she's like, well, I want to put in an offer. And he goes, but it's about to go under contract. We don't know if it is or not.
And so she's like, well, I'm going to wire over 20,000 pounds for you and for you to review my offer. And all of a sudden she's in Ireland. You know, we, don't ever really get like confirmation about whether or not he was trying to negotiate or whether there really was any other buyer. I mean, also buying internationally, it sounds like it's her first time.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (04:35.241)
It sounds like why wouldn't you want representation to know what legality is going on that you're about to get into? So as a flipper, as a female, I wish they didn't portray her in this impulsive, impulsive, not wanting to get educated in such of a thing. So, yeah. And so when she does get there, the place looks like garbage because it was totally misrepresented online. No windows. All all the
Foliage is inside beings collapsing all the moisture apparently now when we do get to the montage of her starting to clean It is very easy to clean because they just like loosely dusted dirt everywhere and this cottage has no electricity and no running water No heat. Yeah So She is like well, I guess I need to try and stay here She actually ends up staying in the inn because there's no water or heat again. How would you not know this? But anyways
So and she's really mad at this guy well So she run they she goes to the property meets him supposedly they met before at the airport We missed their meet cute. I saw them at the airport. Well, sorry. No, that's you saw them walking down the street We didn't know that they literally met and they didn't know each other and they that was the agent that was helping her Yeah, or well, we don't know if he represented her or she just came in unrepresented
but like he was the seller agent. So she went to the property, they're like, it's you. And he goes, yeah, I'm the real estate agent. And so she goes, well, yep, I'm here to live here and to flip the property. And he goes, you're a flipper. And she's like, yeah. And so he is like, ugh, I can't stand these people that go from place to place flipping houses, ruining local markets and everything like that. Pricing us all out. Mind you, this is a 900.
population of 900 in this small village. the place was, in on the market for 76 days. But if you also walk in that area, it, at least the shots that we got, it's very well developed for this 900 very small village. Yeah, so it seems, I mean, I guess I understand his argument if it was a place with a crazy population. Right.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (07:00.494)
But like if you have abandoned homes, wouldn't you want a flipper? was a rough, like as a, you know, be if it's a first time home buyer or even your third home, like you're that you've not owned all together at once, but like you're going to invest in the next home to build up its equity to there are normal people that do that with regular families every like few years, but there's no way a regular person was just going to come here and not have to flip this property. It had to be flipped no matter what.
Yeah. So it was literally unlivable. so he, Sean, finding this out was like, well, good luck getting the preservation from the historical designation. She's like, I've done it before, which she seemed very well versed in it. But he goes, well, I'm the historical preservationist, so I'm not going to prove it like right off the bat. So I was like, well, screw you, Sean, for not wanting to help also.
not even wanting to help your local economy if she's literally could potentially sell it to someone like you who's still living with his mother. I didn't catch that. But yeah. And so so I mean, we live in a historic neighborhood and like all of the rules really dictate the externals of the house. But we're only the externals, not the internal. So we do have to get a certificate of of appropriation. Appropriateness.
Anyway, it's called a COA. So we have to meet certain window depth that outside of the exterior window count type of fence. yeah. It gets pretty gnarly out here and people report each other. So we understand historical designation takes time, permits and things like that. And she's wanting to do all this in just a couple of months, it seems like. Yeah. Anyway, so but she knows that she's not going to get passed on in anything.
So like, yeah, she wanted to add a chandelier. He's like, no, you can't have chandeliers. Because she wanted to replace a beam that has it's full of moisture and it's a supporting beam. So she's like, I want to replace it, but also make it stronger to hold a chandelier for light because there's no electricity there. She wants to run electricity. He's like, no. Yeah. And then she's also like, I was thinking I might do like a bright color to help open up the space. also, no, it has to be white real quick. What would.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (09:21.11)
Which I get because there are ones historical like they can't, know, just like how we barely can have a fence because back in the 20s they didn't have fences, let alone wood fences. They had concrete walls. So I do understand the point of the color, but let's go back real quick. When she walked in the property, she goes, my gosh, I've been catfished because these are not, this is not what the photos look like. The photos, he were a livable house and he goes, yeah, those were a few years old.
How is that allowed and staged? so, and he did make a comment of like, did you read all the fine print? Did you read all the fine print? Stop calling it fine print or documents. Like that's why also, why are you going in unrepresentative? It is very helpful to have a real estate agent who will review these documents for you and let alone inform you, get a real estate attorney who can really dive deep into the language to make sure that.
you have the capability of doing what you want to do with this property and how it's designated. he is just like Sean is shitty. He's bad. like to what he did to not misunderstanding bad, no, he deliberately did it and it's just a dick move. so like we were joking that this is probably like this villages plot to import women. Yeah. And so here I am like, is this wicker man? They're going to go and burn her because like there's no way.
I mean, obviously there is a way it happens all the time, but like, my God, Hallmark. then, my, and then you know they're going to end up together. So I'm just like, furiated. But other stuff happens and it makes it worse. I do like that he says to her when he says goodbye, I wish you, I can't even say right. I wish you a Merry Christmas. It was very cute. I wrote it down as well. Irish you a Merry Christmas. Why am I struggling to say that? of the most Irish thing.
There was a lamb the entire time. is the only part of the movie I liked. His name was Lamb Chop. It was the only part of the movie that I really cared for. Reggie, our little lamb, our dog, was in my lap the entire time as we were watching this snoozing. And just looks like this little lamb is following her everywhere. don't know. He was eating or he's at now. It's probably under the bed. no, he's right down by my feet. So he, the lamb chop was following Rose around town all.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (11:40.822)
the time he kept escaping from the the nativity scene at the christmas market his owner matthew who said i'm the town carpenter you would say pleased to meet you my name's matthew i guess you could say on the town carpenter right so i'm are you geard introduction i think the reason he also was saying that besides carpenter was he was the nativity scene person so he might have been the he's jesus you know so i think we miss that because
due to the shot of the scene. So Hallmark, if you're trying to make a little punny joke, make sure the shot's right. I think they're trying to cut out all like the modern buildings they can from your shot. Right, I Because I read it was filmed in Dublin. Because there was no... There was nothing to indicate it was a nativity scene until the last 10th of the movie, they, Sean had to go and steal.
Lambchop to go and find Rose. Lambchop, need your help. We know how to find Rose. Yeah, so cute as hell. Cute as hell. The cleanest lamb. Yeah. Cleanest White lamb. White lamb. That is a prize winning white lamb. It is. Yeah. So Lambchop was very cute. Lambchop stole the show. His little jump that he did. It was cute. So it's kind of around this point when frustrated Rose goes into town to try and find a place to stay because this place is garbage and she ends up meeting two other women.
Sandy, who's an English lady who recently lost her husband. This is the town he came from and she's trying to reconnect with him because she misses him so much. And Caitlin, who's another American who is also flipping a house in town. Yes, and she's been here 18 months flipping a home. And I gotta say, the chemistry between Rose and these two women. Fantastic.
I didn't need her to fall, I didn't need Rose to fall in love. I just wanted an adventure of these three single women. Yes. Having fun in a small Irish town. Yes, yes, because they have their little girls night out and they go to the pub. They decorate hats and costumes together. They drink 12 beers. then someone hands them a beer and is like, don't worry, it's small. They're like, yeah, it is. No, it's not. No, it is not. That is almost like 12, It's like eight ounces. no, it's more, I thought. Well, the first one looked like a little eight ounce. The second one looked like maybe.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (13:58.222)
I'm not saying a pint. I don't know how much a is, but... Well, it's like, When we went to Spain, they're like, you can get a small beer for a dollar. like, that's still a good size beer. still a good size beer. So like they had to drink 12 of those. And one of the women is 50, 60 years old. So like she's pounded them And then the other American is probably 50, 60 pounds. Right. Yeah. She's so tiny. Yeah. And so, but they were commissioned together, a relationship together.
was delightful. It was sweet to have. I that they kept running into each other because there's only one pub in town. But it was a variety of ages. Rose was the middle-aged, the middle-aged person in... She's not middle-aged. She'd be 40. I'm just trying to say she's placed in between them. There was the older woman, a middle-aged, and then a younger one. But the youngest one may be 27. Yeah. Yeah. And they were just... It was nice. I feel like it's a missed opportunity. It is.
Also on that note, we've come across a couple of things. We didn't Google yet, but we have seen plenty of gay Hallmark Christmas, but are there any lesbian, bisexual, anything else representing the remainder of the LGBT quah group? that as well. Next thing is Hallmark, you're kind of whitewashing. Yeah. Even the lambs, even the lambs, this little guy, this is even in the shot. Don't look at, he's licking your microphone.
Yes, seeds in his beard. It's haircut day. Yeah. Don't don't don't put me down, Poplish. That's Reggie's little voice. Do you have voices for your dogs? Can I review the lambs? Yeah, right. Yeah. But Hallmark, we would like to see more variety of more just white people. Yeah. It's sad. It's getting sad. So I also thought this movie, as far as all the ones we've seen so far, Christmas was the least.
portion of the plot. It's more like this stuff all just happens to happen around Christmas. I do see what you're saying. Like they brought in that, you know, the 12 pints of Christmas or whatever it was. Yeah. I... But it's not like, I got to find a gift. I got to get to this gala. I got to... Well, there was the harv... the mistletoe harvest. that's right. I forgot about that. That was cute. So there was a mistletoe harvest at the very end, which only lasted... No, there was the mistletoe harvest ball.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (16:21.506)
I don't know what it was. It was a gathering, but either way it was very short, but they did go mistletoe harvesting and it was adorable. When I say adorable, the point was is it's like the maple syrup thing. I have not seen it done in a movie. So I thought it was a unique twist that Hallmark did a mistletoe harvest and they did a little good teamwork. It did feel like another horror scene though. It did. Mistletoe scary looking. was. also thought whenever they really
I don't say zoomed in but when he handed her the shears and like cut it off by the base and everything even though I wanted to cut his penis off by the base basically I'm sorry you should take that out I thought something was gonna happen when she was doing something with the shears and hurt herself the way they were really emphasizing her on the ladder and Anyway, but they got a harvest mistletoe
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (17:15.982)
Sean had a really sad dating backstory where she's like, do you ever date in a town of 900? And he's like, they're all cousins. she's like, I have dated, I've dated. And he's like, well, there was this one girl who I knew in college. But then after college, she moved away. high school. high High school. And then they started college. And then moved away. And then she moved to Dublin and then he moved back home.
And I'm like, that's your dating story? Just one person? Sir, you are in your late 40s. Your mother's your life. See, the mom's sweet, don't get me wrong. But for people that hold their own self back due to a family or loved one, when that loved one is not even holding you back, you're making them the excuse, because the mom's like throwing out Irish proverbs of go on an adventure. Don't stay here. Like the Irish heart yearns for adventure.
He stays here and the mom is- obsessed with history. Yeah, he's obsessed with history, but sir, you have all of Europe to go explore. If you want to hit America, you can, but anyway. But either way, you're making up an excuse. And that annoys me, people that make excuses and don't make any changes. So that's why I'm like, it's a pretty movie to watch, but I'm irritable. He is not a cat. In how his, yeah, anyway. So I did like that she stayed over his place with his mom.
And they watched a Hallmark movie together called Sarah Christmassy? Like Serendipity, but Sarah Christmassy? yeah. That was cute. I don't know if that's a real movie. I'm assuming not. Mm-hmm. Because that title's a stretch. It seems like he has nothing to do all day. He just shows up at her place like, I decided to walk by over to the village to see how you're doing. And helps other people with their historical preservation designations, but not her. So all she can do, excuse me, is
clean up the place, paint it, add windows, and sell it before Christmas to make the exact money back that she bought it for at 20,000 pounds. And so that's what she does because he won't give her historical designation to make this an actual livable home with electricity and plumbing. But then he sells it to flippers that are going to tear the property down and build luxury
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (19:36.942)
vacation condos. That's allowed. Then he goes, yeah, I'm going to give them the paperwork for it. And so of course, Rose is so upset, understandable. And she's like, fine, I'll just go to fucking Scotland. And then he's like, no, don't go. What do you mean don't go? You're the one that fucked this up, sir. So like, mm. Yeah. I just didn't care for that. Like why? And they never went into detail on it. And of course she still falls in love with him. I just, it like.
It just dug a hole in me. Well, I did like that she said her and her dad are not close. Yeah, that's every female that's That was like the most realistic part of this plot where like someone just doesn't give a fuck about their parent. Yeah, and you know that's the dad that says, phone works both ways. Right. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, and then at the end she's like,
You know what, I'm gonna move off to Scotland. I just bought a property there. I'm gonna flip. And she asks him to go with her. And he's like, no, I can't. I got to stay here and take care of my ma. And... Who is perfectly well. is healthy. She's like, what is wrong with you? I'm in my sixties. I am fine. She is... She's not in her sixties. She's definitely in her late seventies, but she's fine. Yeah. And Scotland is not that far.
So he's like, fine, I'll go with you. And she's like, no, I'm going to stay. And they're like, how about we stay, but then also go. So it was very unclear what their next move is going to be. feel like people in Europe still just don't understand or let alone in the United Kingdom area, Scotland. I'm not saying that all these are together. I'm so sorry. I am not an understanding of which countries, but we live in Florida. It takes us six hours of driving just to get out of the States.
Sometimes a connecting flight. Like we can't even get to Texas without having to do a connecting flight in Miami. Or Atlanta. Or Atlanta. Detroit? For some reason, Detroit, my gosh. Yeah, so the point is like we've had to go to Detroit to get to New York. It is crazy sometimes getting out of Florida. The United States is so freaking vast. And Scotland's too far for you to travel? White men issues.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (21:53.408)
I feel like that's like an afternoon ferry ride. I could be right. I know. It actually sounds lovely. It does. It sounds very lovely. So overall, I'm giving this movie for writing a four acting five directing three because there was some very awkward shots and cuts. Chemistry-o-meter, I put them a five out of ten because it was like just adequate chemistry between them. But since we...
Obviously they can't do the female relationships, but theirs was strong. What was cute in the I really want a story of just the girls. I know, because they did have their own storylines that were good. Like, the- Caitlyn turns out to be a pop star named Katie up being a pop star that ran away from, you know, paparazzi and just being famous and wanted to live her life. And that was very sweet. And she didn't like say that until like much later. And the way it came out was, was genuine. It wasn't like,
So like, this is me. It was very nice. And with the woman that is a widow due to, you know, her Danny, her husband passing, her story was sweet. Trying to, you know, it was hard for her to spread the ashes, even though, yes, he has passed. We still grieve and we sometimes still want something physical to hold on. That's part of that person. really loved when she met like Michael, the carpenter turned out to be like a childhood best friend of her husband, Matthew. And he's like,
Come, we'll have a drink with me. Let me tell you some stories. We used to walk to school every day. I that was really sweet. And again, Matthew is the owner of Lamb Chop. Yeah. Yeah. The town's carpenter. So I think we can skip this movie. You can skip the movie. Yeah. Unless you're like really wanting that Irish destination. It was pretty to watch. There's charm, but no comedy. So you really kind of have to like... If you want to watch an Irish movie, go watch Waking Ned Devine. Beautiful scenes.
Alright, well, that's it for this weekend's films. You'll hear from us next Saturday. Well, I don't we're gonna figure this out. I'm gonna be in Jacksonville, so we might be recording remotely on some of these. But yeah, we'll see you in a few days. Alright. Thank you. Christmas. Irish, you a Merry Christmas. Irish, you a Merry Christmas.
Chain Assembly (Nick Ribera) (24:10.563)
Reggie scoot, puppy scoot. I gotta go turn that off. You want me to cut off that? I mean, out that cut off the dick part?
