Pour The Wine, It's Rom-Com Time

Hallmark’s The Reluctant Royal

• Garry & Amy

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Join us as we dive into The Reluctant Royal, the second movie in Hallmark's Royal Weekend trilogy, featuring Andrew Walker and Emilie De Ravin. Andrew stars as Johnny, a mechanic from Philadelphia who is stunned to learn that his estranged father is a Duke in England. Emilie plays Prudence, the Duke’s loyal advisor, who persuades Johnny to make the trip to England to take his place as the rightful heir. Will this fish-out-of-water tale be packed with all the royal romance you’re craving? Pop open a bottle and tune in to find out!


Music from #Uppbeat

https://uppbeat.io/t/abbynoise/mood-of-summer

Amy:

Welcome to Pour the Wine. It's rom-com time, where we'll sip some wine and review all things. Rom-com on the Hallmark Channel. I'm Amy and I'm Gary. Are you ready to pour the wine? I'm on it and we have today. Do you want to do a drum roll? A Chardonnay I finally got a white.

Garry:

Yeah, she finally got her white.

Amy:

We love Cab Sav, but I was in the mood for something a little different. I've been trying to convince Gary to do a white. He's been stuck on Cab, but today we finally have a Chardonnay.

Garry:

Well, you know, Chardonnays are good for on the porch while you're chilling.

Amy:

They are a nice summer night. Yes, oh, I can't wait for it to get warm. Oh, it's getting there. The weather's warm enough here.

Garry:

Yes.

Amy:

Finally maybe reached 60 degrees today, so we're excited about that.

Garry:

Can't wait.

Amy:

Longer days with daylight savings.

Garry:

Well, the daylight savings messed me up today.

Amy:

I'm not going to lie, we were a little tired.

Garry:

I was hurting.

Amy:

We were hurting today for sure. So what do we? So this since we last spoke, we watched the finale.

Garry:

Yes.

Amy:

Of the Way Home. The season three finale of the Way Home.

Garry:

What'd you think?

Amy:

I thought it was great.

Garry:

So did I.

Amy:

Wow, big shock, right, we really liked that show.

Garry:

It is. It was so good and, yes, it did answer a lot of questions.

Amy:

We don't want to give any away.

Garry:

However, it did leave some questions.

Amy:

Well, yeah, which is great because they got renewed for a season four. So I mean, there's so much more room for them to explore, and I know we've talked about that in the past, but I'm kind of excited to see where it goes.

Garry:

Do you think they might go like to the future or stay going to the past?

Amy:

I don't know. Do you think they'll go? It's kind of wild because they could do that.

Garry:

Yeah, they could. And you know, the funny thing is is I was thinking about the other day if you could jump in the pond, what era would you want it to take you to?

Amy:

Oh, that's a good question. Right Every time we watch that. I think of the movie Pegasus Got Married.

Garry:

Oh.

Amy:

Do you remember that movie at all?

Garry:

Yeah.

Amy:

Kathleen Turner and Nicolas Cage. When do you remember that movie at all? Yeah, kathleen Turner and Nicolas Cage. And she falls and bumps her head at their high school reunion. And then she goes back in time, yep, and she walks into her house and she sees her parents and she kind of gets choked up because they've since passed away and it's so good and I think I'd probably go back to I don't even know. I'd probably go back to when my mom was still alive.

Garry:

Yeah, when I was young probably.

Amy:

Yeah, I guess my mom and my grandparents maybe.

Garry:

Yeah, I would like to see them again.

Amy:

I think that would be really cool, because there are so many questions you think about when you're an adult that you don't ask when you're a kid.

Garry:

That's true, that's very true.

Amy:

What about you?

Garry:

I would probably jump a couple times because I'd want to go back and see you know, my grandmother when she came over from Scotland. Yeah, oh, yeah, I would be a ponder, right, and my mom before she passed away, and in the 80s, you know, because of the movies and the music, and can you imagine if you saw yourself? That'd be kind of weird, wouldn't?

Amy:

it. It'd be wild, it would totally. I don't know if I want to see myself.

Garry:

I'd be like look at that, dork, oh my.

Amy:

God, why was I wearing that? Oh my gosh, my hair was big.

Garry:

I don't know the 80, they're babies.

Amy:

It'd be kind of cool, though It'd be kind of cool, so yeah, so we're looking forward to season four.

Garry:

Yes, whenever that decides to drop, and we are going to be reviewing it.

Amy:

We will be reviewing the Way Home season four Season four. And we're going to need flow charts, timelines, family trees, all of the things to keep my head straight while we're watching it.

Garry:

I know it's so confusing now. There's too many that are jumping that we're finding out about.

Amy:

We'll be all right. We'll be all right, we'll get it.

Garry:

We'll get that whiteboard and we'll map it all out before the season starts again.

Amy:

We'll have string from person to person and like a murder board, yeah, color string. Oh, it's not a murder board.

Garry:

No, it's not. No, it's not. We love murder boards.

Amy:

We'll get to that when season four premieres, whenever that is going to be probably a year from now, yes, but still so I want to start watching Mistletoe Murders. We did not watch that when that aired in 2024.

Garry:

Nope, we didn't.

Amy:

And it just got renewed for season two, uh-oh.

Garry:

Actually today that's just got renewed for season two actually today.

Amy:

That's right they found out. They got no, you were on your phone, yeah, and I saw that it got renewed. I was like, yay, but we haven't watched it yet. So it was something that we really wanted to get back to, and we will watch christmas things yes any time of year that's right so I really I think we're going to start watching that. Yeah, maybe tonight we could watch the first episode there are six episodes. It stars Sarah Drew. Do you know who Sarah Drew is? I do not. You do not.

Garry:

Maybe the face.

Amy:

She was on Grey's Anatomy, you are not getting me again.

Garry:

I'm going to tell you that right now.

Amy:

You got me last week. I got him an actress, but she was not. Is not? She is princess kate busted. Yeah, so um no. So she was in um gray's anatomy. She played dr april kempner. She was in cruel summer oh, now she played the mom in, I think, the first season of that one okay cool summer and she was in we watched the hallmark movie branching out where her daughter, where she. She sought out the biological father of her daughter.

Garry:

Oh, do you remember that one?

Amy:

Yes, yes, because her daughter was curious and yeah, so she was in that. That was in 2024 also, man they had a lot of good movies. They did they did, so we'll have to start checking that out, so we'll have to start checking that out, okay.

Garry:

Get the.

Amy:

Christmas spirit with a little Christmas, a little murder, a little romance. Throw it all into one show.

Garry:

That's right. We're going to get our Christmas on y'all. Well, today we're reviewing the Reluctant Royal that aired on Saturday, march 8th 2025. If you missed it, you can catch it on Hallmark+. This is the second of three brand new Royal Weekend movies.

Amy:

You just jumped right into that, didn't you?

Garry:

I sure did, wasn't it?

Amy:

good, though it was cool. Yeah, it was good, it was good.

Garry:

I wanted to throw in there, love you.

Amy:

Mary, you can't anymore, that's done, it's done.

Garry:

It's the Royal Weekend. I get it, so tell us who is in this.

Amy:

The Reluctant Royals stars Andrew Walker, who we love. He plays Johnny and, of course, I looked it up and his first Hallmark movie was A Bride for Christmas in 2012.

Garry:

Holy guacamole.

Amy:

Almost 13 years, 13 years of Hallmark movies. That's pretty good. That is good. He was in Three Wiser Men and a Baby. Of course, the smash hit in 2022. And then the sequel last year Three Wiser Men and a Boy smash hit in 2022. And then the sequel last year three wiser men and a boy and we also really enjoyed him in. Jingle Bell run with Ashley Williams, which was in 2024. Yeah, of course that took place where in Chicago, we love Chicago. Emily day ravine plays prudence, which is the Duke's dedicated visor.

Garry:

Yeah.

Amy:

And she. This is her very first Hallmark movie, Really Her very first one.

Garry:

She's so good in there, she was really good in there.

Amy:

Yeah, I'm really hoping that we see a lot more of her on the Hallmark channel. Oh we will, hallmark Plus, we will. And of course she was in Once Upon a Time she played Belle, that's right and Lost. Bell that's right and lost.

Garry:

Oh my goodness, she was a baby in that. Oh my gosh. Oh man, that wasn't. It started in 2004. Lost did. Oh yeah, that's right, uh-huh.

Amy:

Simon cory plays william the duke of glasswick. He has several dozen acting gigs since the 9s, mostly British movies. He was in one episode of Line of Duty though.

Garry:

Oh, really, the GAFA.

Amy:

Oh, the GAFA you love that that is an excellent series. I wonder if that's coming back Line of Duty. I don't know. The British shows, they show their every what couple years.

Garry:

Yeah, they come back, they're on Line of Duty was excellent.

Amy:

It was or is excellent, if it's still on.

Garry:

We always kept saying the gaffer.

Amy:

The gaffer? Yeah, that's a British term used to identify the boss, the big boss.

Garry:

That's why they call it the gaffer and you are the gaffer.

Amy:

I am in this house. That's true. Fiat Kuntz plays Alistair. He's the cousin twice removed from the Duke. Oh wow, he's been acting since 2015, and his debut was in an episode of Game of Thrones.

Garry:

Really he played a guard.

Amy:

I mean, what a breakthrough, even if you don't have any lines and you're a guard. Hey, you have to start somewhere right To be in one of the biggest TV shows Yep TV series.

Garry:

Hey, let me be in that movie.

Amy:

Jay Jordan plays Annie, which is Prudence's friend and works in the castle. Jimmy Walker plays Hugh and he is dating Annie, and this was his very first acting gig.

Garry:

Really, isn't that?

Amy:

cool. His first and only. Elizabeth Moynihan plays Lady Eleanor Alistair's mom. Michael James Ford plays Jeffers the butler.

Garry:

I really liked him.

Amy:

Yeah, allie Hardiman plays Augie the bartender and Megan L Day plays Dottie Johnny's mom.

Garry:

Johnny's mother. Aww. Well, now that we know who's in this, how about you drop the synopsis on?

Amy:

us. Alrighty, I'm gonna drop the synopsis. Philly mechanic Johnny is surprised to learn that his long lost father is a Duke. But the Duke isn't quite what he expected. Or are his growing feelings for the Duke's advisor prudence?

Garry:

Prudence.

Amy:

So what'd you think?

Garry:

Well, I was pleasantly pleased to be honest, pleasantly pleased. Okay, and the reason when I saw the commercial with Andrew Walker Johnny, looking up at the castle and saying holy guacamole I was like, oh my God, are they going to cheese this out Seriously? But to my surprise they didn't and it actually worked. So for me, I loved it.

Amy:

You loved it? Yes.

Garry:

I really did, took me back to my peoples. You know what I?

Amy:

mean, well, it didn't take place in Scotland, no, but it's close, it's just a hop skip and jump.

Garry:

You're Scottish ancestors, that's right Because the scenery was beautiful. Yes, it was, and you know, andrew Walker, he nailed it. So that's me. Yeah, what about you?

Amy:

I had mixed feelings about it at first because I didn't have a good impression at the very beginning. You know I am a big proponent of music.

Garry:

Yes, you are, and.

Amy:

I thought it was just the beginning. Music with him was just a little too corny for me. I didn't like it. I didn't have a good first impression of him. Okay, at the very beginning I just wasn't super crazy about that whole introduction. I thought it was overdone, dare I say a little bit.

Amy:

But when they went to the castle and you see Emily's prudence for the first time you see her as prudence and you see her walking the grounds and everything it was like a breath of fresh air. And then it sort of turned around for me from there. So it was just that little bit at the beginning, where he, you know, is the mechanic.

Amy:

And that just didn't, and the music was just it kind of reminded me a little bit of like Seinfeld-y kind of. I just didn't and I loved Seinfeld for what it was, but I just I didn't like it that much. The music got better.

Garry:

Yes.

Amy:

Towards the middle and the second half and more genuine. And so I. It grew on me.

Garry:

Let's just say so I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It had that Grease vibe at the beginning, you know.

Amy:

A little bit, but it just didn't work for his character, for me. I just didn't. I wasn't buying it. Okay, at the beginning, I love him, but I just wasn't buying it.

Garry:

So if we cut out that first opening scene, if it would have?

Amy:

started in the castle, I think I wouldn't have had any issue. Okay, I wouldn't have had any issue.

Garry:

Okay, without the smart music at the beginning. I can see your point and I respect it.

Amy:

Yeah well, you don't have a choice. So what were some of your favorite scenes, or a favorite?

Garry:

scene. I had one favorite scene when Johnny was working on the car with his father yes, I thought that was you know Me too With his father. Yes, I thought that was you know Me too. It's kind of the roles were reversed. Where the dad is working on the car, you know, with it, he's telling the son what to do, what tool to hand him, but it's Johnny telling you know his father and he goes give me the needle nose pliers and he's like those will do.

Amy:

Whatever he picked up yeah. Whatever the Duke picked up yeah. Whatever the Duke picked up yeah, he didn't pick up the needle in those pliers.

Garry:

But I thought it was good, I thought they had a really good conversation, yes, and they kind of hashed out you know why he didn't answer his mom's letters and stuff like that yes so that was my favorite scene.

Amy:

I had that down as well. Like you said, they had really good conversation because there were a few scenes where they are working on the car and it kind of developed their relationship over working on a car. I really liked that. That was one of my favorites and it reminded me of Dick Ebersole Do you know who that is.

Amy:

No, you're not going to get me, no, no, no, I don't think he is anymore, but he was really involved with NBC and NBC Sports. He actually was one of the inspirations behind Saturday plane accident and his son one of his sons died in it and I remember his wife saying she was interviewed, you know, a few years later, and she was saying that you know he was. So Dick Ebersole was obviously a big sports guy, but their son who passed away, Teddy, was not, and so she kind of talked about how he met him, where he was and spoke his language, found out what his love language was, and that's how they communicated and I thought that that and I've always remembered that I mean this was gosh, probably 20 years ago, that the plane accident.

Amy:

the plane crash happened, right, but the car scenes kind of reminded me of that, like they kind of met where they both had common ground. Yes, you know, because andrew walk, he, he wasn't raised royal, and then you've got the royal who doesn't really know how to be a commoner, and you know kind of gave up his life for the royal family. So I just that it just kind of reminded me of that it was reminiscent of that.

Amy:

so so that was one of my favorite scenes. I really liked when Prudence opens up to Johnny about why she's still at the castle. I thought that was really genuine. These are the moments that sort of came out that I really enjoyed. That turned the movie around for me after that first bit at the beginning. I don't know, I just thought their chemistry really worked in a lot of those scenes and a lot of those moments.

Garry:

I liked that scene you were just talking about where, because she she was, I guess he thought she was looking down on him and he was kind of looking up at her like oh, says the girl in the castle living in the castle she was like wrong. That's not how it happened.

Amy:

Right.

Garry:

Here's why I'm still here, and then he kind of was like oh yeah, don't judge a book by its cover.

Amy:

Right.

Garry:

Right yeah, open it up and read it, get the story. Once you get the story, then make your opinion.

Amy:

It's really, really great. But that was a good scene too, yeah. And then when he's serving the staff his healthy drinks, I just thought that was really genuine too. He made the drink and he was giving it. He just seemed really relaxed as an actor in that scene and I just appreciated that.

Garry:

You know, we have to find a beet recipe because whenever there's a juice scene or something, it's always beets. Is it really that good Is?

Amy:

that what he used in that one.

Garry:

Yeah, beets, it was beets.

Amy:

I'm a hard pass on that. I'm sorry, no matter how healthy. I know I know I'm supposed to be healthy, but I just, if you can, make it taste like cotton candy or something, maybe, but I'm out with the beets. In your case chocolate or chocolate, yeah.

Garry:

I don't know, but I would like to taste it. I would like to see what all the you know.

Amy:

All right, so what were some of your biggest cheers, or what was your biggest cheer?

Garry:

I think my biggest cheer was how they portrayed pub. I love how they portray pubs in.

Amy:

England. Oh yes, ireland, yeah.

Garry:

It's just cool and fun. It's like everybody's welcoming. Let's play darts, you, oh, whatever, oh you mean here, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Amy:

The bar scene in America.

Garry:

So you know, I'm glad I like that they do that because you know they're off in the country and you know you expect this bar to be crazy and everything, or the pub, but I like the name of it Pickle Pickle, yeah, it was kind of fun. The other thing is I'm glad they brought in a villain. We haven't had a villain in a minute.

Amy:

Oh, yes. Yes, you're right, we haven't.

Garry:

Yeah, so I was, and he wasn't terrible.

Amy:

He was just sort of they didn't do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Garry:

But it was stereotypical. He played the part good and I love how, when everything went wrong for him, he stomped off. He was like you know, when he the whore scene, he was like I'm walking back.

Amy:

Yeah, they had a kind of like a mild villain, but he wasn't over the top.

Garry:

He wasn't over the top.

Amy:

He was just annoyed enough, as someone would be, who thought they were inheriting something, and so, yeah, the villain really worked in this one.

Garry:

What about you? What was your cheers?

Amy:

um, I had a few, of course. Uh, emily I thought was great in it. I really we talked about this a little bit before. I hope we get to see her some more. She was fantastic throughout the entire thing and her chemistry with andrew walker yeah, really worked yeah, really worked, so I really hope this is the start of her homework movie career.

Amy:

Yeah, she is great. We sort of talked about the scenes fixing the car. I won't go into that much more because we already discussed that. I thought the end was really good. Again, I like how they're bringing in all the three royal movies. Oh man, I thought that that was really good, I really liked that. And then, of course, the final biggest cheer for me would be just the scenery.

Garry:

Yes, beautiful.

Amy:

And you know it was actually filmed in Ireland at a castle and I don't have the name of the castle down, but I looked it up and it was Isn't that crazy? I know they went to Ireland to film that and it was it's. I know they went to Ireland to film that and it was beautiful.

Garry:

It was shot.

Amy:

I like when they go on location like that, it just changes.

Garry:

Yeah, I like when they don't do the fake scenery. Right, well, I mean sometimes they might Well, I know you have to, but when they can actually afford to go and shoot it. Yeah, On on.

Amy:

Yeah.

Garry:

Site. It changes the whole dynamic of the movie. And it was. I really liked the scene.

Amy:

You really enjoyed it? Yes, I did. Now, what about jeers? Did you have a big jeer, one, two, a few?

Garry:

No, I wrote down in my notes that I didn't. But then I started thinking I wish they would have played more on the juicing. I'm not quite sure whether or not they needed it, because they had a couple scenes with the juicing. I'm not quite sure whether or not they needed it because they they had a couple scenes with the juicing, you know at the beginning when he was in the american bar and then when he went to the pub. You know in the castle and then in the barn where he fixed the apple juicing machine or whatever. I just felt like okay. So what are you trying to do here with that?

Amy:

You felt like it was just sprinkled in. But not enough to make an impact. So why was it there, right? Right, because it was at the very beginning. Yep, yeah.

Garry:

So what about you? You got any tears?

Amy:

Mine would be the music in the first half. That really I just thought it was quirky and I just didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. I mean I get it at all. I mean I get it. Maybe it sort of evolved, like he does throughout the movie, from the beginning to you know his initial personality and then it goes to the end. So so maybe I can get it. But that would be my biggest year was that that first scene.

Garry:

I know you're a big music movie person and it just it turned me off right away, and but then I came back around, so yes, well, that's good.

Amy:

Emily and Andrew were great. I keep wanting to say Johnny Walker His name is. His name is Johnny. In the movie he plays Johnny and he's Andrew Walker. But you know Johnny Walker goes together Anyway.

Garry:

I know he does it kind of rolls off the tongue Right, right. So, Well, there were a couple of other things that I wanted to point out.

Amy:

No, not jeers. Oh, okay.

Garry:

Do you have any more jeers?

Amy:

No, no, no, that was the biggest one. I didn't really.

Garry:

There were a couple of other things that I noticed, and I'm not sure if you did or not, but there was a color scheme throughout this whole movie. No, I didn't. And it was red, white and blue.

Amy:

Oh yes.

Garry:

And I'm going to just point out what I'm talking about here. Okay, All right. So when he first showed up, he had a red hoodie on with a blue shirt right and some black and white sneakers. He had a red, white and blue button down in the castle. His room was blue, he rode a white horse and he fixed a red car.

Amy:

Oh, wow.

Garry:

Look at you Okay.

Amy:

Look at you. I wonder if that's all intentional or not. We would have to. It'd be great to find out.

Garry:

I wish if anybody knows out there, drop us a line.

Amy:

Let us know the pictures on Johnny's Sounded like you said snow. Let us know. Oh, let us know, let us know, let us know.

Garry:

No, let us know.

Amy:

Let us know, oh, I did it again, let us know.

Garry:

On Johnny's mom's wall, all the pictures. All the people in the pictures were either wearing blue, red or white.

Amy:

Stop. Really were either wearing blue, red or white Stop.

Garry:

Really. Yeah, I have to go back and watch that.

Amy:

You got to go back and watch it. I did not notice that.

Garry:

That's what I noticed. I noticed these type of things.

Amy:

The more you know yes, you do, yes, you do.

Garry:

And when people came to the ball, some were wearing red dresses, some were wearing blue and there were some white. So there you have it. What about you Do?

Amy:

you have any other things you liked about it? No, I mean, I liked the banter. I liked when he said I shan't not, you know what I mean. And then when he said Jaguar, how did he say Jaguar? Yeah, I thought that that was kind of funny. Yeah, their banter back and forth was really good. The darts hustle I kind of mock that Really good the darts hustle.

Garry:

Oh, she hustled him big time when she kind of gets him on the dart.

Amy:

You know, I mean there were a lot of good points. When Jeffers tells him that Alistair wears lifts, I thought that was really funny.

Garry:

Two inch lifts.

Amy:

Yeah, I thought that that was really funny.

Garry:

Yes, it was I enjoyed that.

Amy:

And then there's one thing and I jotted this down. And then there's one thing and I jotted this down. So there's a point where Johnny says something about his dad. You know he wasn't around for 38 years. You know why should he start now? You know something to that effect. He mentions 38 years, but the marriage certificate said 1989.

Garry:

Oh.

Amy:

See, you got a good catch. 1989 plus 38 would be 2027.

Garry:

Oh, it is 2025. And I was like he made himself too old.

Amy:

Oh my goodness, because she said they got married and then she got pregnant, right. And then, which would have been in 89. So I'm just the math. Math wasn't mathing.

Garry:

Oh.

Amy:

That's one little thing that I noticed. The math wasn't mathing Unless. I'm totally off on that.

Garry:

but oh, I didn't catch that. That was a good catch.

Amy:

That kind of you know rubbed me the wrong way, but overall it was pretty cute. The old crust. There were just one-liners, little banter, that worked. I thought the chemistry worked.

Garry:

Yeah, the one line that I liked is when she said you're the air right and he goes, well, I'm going to stay in the air B and B B. Yeah. So it was that kind of stuff that worked out.

Amy:

So, out of five corks, how many corks would you give this one?

Garry:

I don't know, since you pointed out the beginning of the movie.

Amy:

I was going to give it a five, but I'm going to stay with a five.

Garry:

I'm going to give it five corks because I really enjoyed it. What about you? How many corks did you give it?

Amy:

I got to do the four and a half. I can't quite do the five because the beginning I just I can't.

Garry:

Sorry, I can't quite do the five, because the beginning I just I can't, Sorry, I can't. Hallmark, you got to step up your music. The beginning music no.

Amy:

I mean, maybe it was intentional because it went along with his character, but I just did not enjoy it that much. I enjoyed the rest of the movie, it's just that beginning part didn't work for me.

Garry:

You know.

Amy:

So yeah, four and a half, We'll do a solid four and a half.

Garry:

Okay.

Amy:

Because it redeemed itself, came around.

Garry:

Yes, it did. It did redeem itself. So well, is that a wrap? That's a wrap, okay, well, thanks for listening. Be sure to follow the podcast wherever you listen so you don't miss any of our episodes. Also, follow us on social media if you really really like the show and are listening on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Please leave a five-star review.

Amy:

Leave it. Leave a five-star review.

Garry:

Yes what she said, and if you didn't really really like the show, you can still leave a five-star review.

Amy:

Do it anyway. Do it join us next wednesday for our review of the third and final brand new royal weekend film, royalish, which airs saturday night, march 15th 2025, on the hallmark channel and then streams the next day on hallmark plus. Until then, fill up your glasses and push play. Thanks for listening. Cheers, listening, cheers.