Hallmark's A Royal Setting

Crown jewels. A forward thinking prince. A world class gemologist. Join Garry and Amy on this episode of Pour The Wine, It’s Rom-Com Time as they dive into Hallmark’s A Royal Setting. When Prince Luca (Dan Jeannotte) commissions Ruby (Jen Lilley) to restore the crown jewels and create a new crown for his coronation, sparks begin to fly. As he works to modernize the monarchy while preserving its traditions, Luca finds himself falling for Ruby along the way. Pour a glass and tune in as Garry and Amy break down the romance, the royal expectations, and whether this love story truly earns its crown.

Send us an email to pourthewineitsromcomtime@gmail.com! We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Music from #Uppbeat

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

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Welcome to Pour the Wine. It's romcom time where we'll sip some wine and review all things rom com on the Hallmark channel. I'm Amy.

SPEAKER_03 0:15

And I'm Gary.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

And let's get right to it. Today we're going to be reviewing the second Spring Into Love movie of 2026, A Royal Setting. It originally aired on the Hallmark channel on Saturday, March 28th, 2026. And you can find it right now on Hallmark Plus. This one stars Jen Lily as Ruby and Dan Janat as Prince Luca. And I think through the movie I thought they were just saying Luke.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

I know. But they were saying Luca.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

No, Luca.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Luca.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Of course, this marks Jen's return to Hallmark. She um left for a few years. I think she went to Great American Family.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Maybe for a few years. And now she's back. And you know, it's so great to see her back. A few of her, you know, other Hallmark works include Eat, Play, Love, Mingle All The Way, USS Christmas, and her first time being paired with Dan, Paris, Wine, and Romance. That was really cute.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

That was really cute. That was a cute one. We watched that one.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Um, there's, and you know, Dan, there's something about him playing a character with an accent. He does not have an accent.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

Yeah. He knows how to do the accents.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

He does it really, really well, right? So he was in um, you know, we I think last saw him on or in Love on the Danube, and that was Royal Getaway. He played the royal. Sounds like in that one. He played here. Yeah, yeah. He was also in All I Need for Christmas, and he was in several episodes of The Good Witch. We love Good Witch around these parts.

SPEAKER_03 2:01

Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

A few members of the supporting cast are Sarah Orenstein. She plays Queen, the Queen, Queen Ivy. Lori Patton is Fennella, the Queen's what do they call her? Countess? Countess. Uh Ed Pinker is Xander, and Farrellith Young is Jory.

SPEAKER_03 2:23

Jory. You know, that's the first time I've ever heard a name like that. Jory.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Jory?

SPEAKER_03 2:28

Yeah. I've never heard of a name like that.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

I don't know if I've maybe.

SPEAKER_03 2:32

Bradley Walsh Walsh directed a royal setting. He has directed several Hallmark productions. A few include Twas the Date Before Christmas, Catch Me If You Claws, and My Secret Valentine.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

All great.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

The writers are W. Stewart and Ainsley Gordon. W. Stewart's other Hallmark writing credits include two of the unwrapping Christmas movies, Lily's Destiny and Mia's Prince, and Warming Up to You. Ainsley also wrote Melt My Heart This Christmas and When Love Springs. She also co-wrote the upcoming Love on Deck, which was just announced by Hallmark. And you just talked about that.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Yes. Yeah, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Which is starring Rihanna Fish and Rihannin. Rihannon, sorry. I'm thinking of the singer, sorry. And um Daniel Lissing. And is set to be released this summer. So that's pretty cool. And they're filming right now in Australia. Can you say Australia? Australia accent.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

I'm not even going to try.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

Where's Dan?

SPEAKER_01 3:39

I think I've tried. We need Dan. Dan on the phone. Come on our podcast into an Australian accent, please.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

The actor with a million accents. Oh my gosh. Although I would I I wouldn't mind going to Australia just to visit one time.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Oh, me too. Me too. And you know that that's probably going to be really cute. I don't know if they've ever worked together before. I'm sure someone will be able to tell us, but um, but what a pairing. That's such a great pairing. I'm gonna be really curious.

SPEAKER_03 4:08

I know, me too.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yeah. And he's Australian, right?

SPEAKER_03 4:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

So Daniel listening.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

So there won't be any acting there.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

It'll just No, no, no. He actually has the accent.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

All right. Well, let's go ahead and drop the synopsis.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

All right. Ruby. Get it, Ruby, a world-renowned gemologist, is hired by Prince Luca to restore the crown jewels and design his crown, challenging tradition and complicating his relationship with his mother, the queen. Isn't that always the case?

SPEAKER_03 4:44

I know. The mothers. Those mothers. And we're at that part of the podcast where if you haven't seen this movie yet, stop the podcast, go watch it, come back, turn us back on, listen to us, and let us know what you think down in the comments.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Let us know. Yeah. All right. So let's get into it. Let's dive into it.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

A royal setting. What did you think?

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Okay. First of all, first of all.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

I don't deprep. Let me take a second.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

No, no. Um, I liked it. Okay. I was uh uh we already mentioned his accent, Dan's accent, but yes, I'd tell you that dude, he's got an accent, he can do an accent, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

I know.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

I mean, he was what in the other movie with uh Lily, he was with Jen Lily French, something like that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Yeah, he was French in that one.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

Yes, and he did an accent with that one too. So I really enjoy his accent. He kept it throughout the whole movie, so I thought that was good. Loved the scenery, um, the big castle or palace on top of the hill overlooking all the subjects and everything.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Right.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

The costumes, of course, the gems, right? Beautiful, beautiful gems, and crowns and and uh whatever else you want to call them. But um but you know, it's your typical Hallmark Royal type movie, and I'm actually kind of glad that the Countess and his mother um were kind of I don't know what the word is. They were moody, right? They were traditional. They were moody. They did, you know, they wanted to keep the traditional.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

There's a lot of women out there that would really love to know that you just call them women moody.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

No, I'm just talking about the I know what you're getting at.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

They're more traditionalists, like you said.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Right. You know, you grow up in that that environment, that tradition, and you don't want to give it up. And her son, Luca, Prince Luca, he wanted to bring them into the modern day. So I enjoyed it. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Right. I did too. You know, um, I'm a sucker for royal movies. We we usually generally enjoy them. I know there's, you know, there there's uh quite a few people who do not, who really are like, uh, a royal movie. I'd rather, you know, I'd rather stick needles in eye. But um, but we really, we really enjoy them. And, you know, I think, you know, we love Dan and Jen, she is just so vibrant and lovely, and she just exudes kindness and a positive energy about her in this film. And it's just, I really enjoyed it. And I, I mean, I thought we would like it, but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Because I wasn't sure. Like you said, you have, you know, some stereotypical, you know, tropes, if you will, throughout the movie. But I think, and maybe, and correct me if I'm wrong, this is kind of maybe what you were getting at is the queen and the countess, while they're stuck in their traditions, they're not outright um plotting against Luca or against Ruby.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Ruby, right.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Right. Like they're not, they're not doing things to connive behind their backs or trying to set them up in a mean way. You know, they they have certain ways about things and certain traditions and and the way they want things to go and you know who should be with whom, you know, together dating wise, but they're not so strict that they are mean outright mean about it, although the countess is a little bit mean to Ruby. But um, so I thought that that was a little bit different in that way.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

You know, a little bit. But I overall, I mean, I just found it, I found it to be fun and light. And yeah, there are some underlying currents of themes going on, but I I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_03 9:03

So did I. Which brings us to the story of of the movie.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

Right. So you know, he's getting ready to be crowned the prince.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Right.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

And I guess during this process, he has to pick out a crown, he has to pick the stone, or not the stone. It's an arc organic work of art, right? Um and uh Ruby is hired, who is in the States, to fly to was it Gillian?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Gullian. Gullian Gullion. Golian. Gullian. Gullian, I think. Um to think in like Gully Gullian.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

To uh shine up the gems that the queen had locked away after her husband had passed away. So the the story is she's there, she's cleaning the gems up and falling in love with Luca.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

A little bit, a little tiny bit, a little tiny bit. And he's falling for her.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

And he's falling for her.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Well, and he's hired her because she's the best gemologist in the world, a world-renowned one. And I love, you know, have we ever I don't know if there's been a gemologist. I mean, that might be a career.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Since we're I mean, I'm not 100% certain, but I feel like it's not common if it's happened before. And so I mean, that's a really cool, yeah, cool career.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

I think so. It'd be maybe to, you know, know your your stones.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Yeah, yeah. I thought it was well, yeah. I mean, the career itself is cool, but I mean for a Hallmark movie for someone in it to to be a demologist.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

And why not with the royal family who has all these jewels, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Yes, yeah. So is it so she's supposed to go and yeah, so all right, so let's talk meet cute.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Meet cute. So Ruby is, you know, she's made it to the town. Go in. And she's and someone in the town is taking her to the palace, right?

SPEAKER_03 11:09

Driving her to the palace.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yeah. And um on their way, they get a she gets a flat tire or whatever. So of course Ruby's gotta walk the rest of the way because the palace isn't right just, you know, at the end of the street. You know, you gotta walk back on the property to get to it. So Ruby has her her case, I guess it's her cleaning case for jewels, because she leaves her suitcase in the car. And so she's got to hike it. She's got heels on this cute little outfit, wardrobe. Really, really good in this one, by the way, too. Loved her. She is just adorable. Oh my gosh, loved her so much. Okay, Jen Lily. But so she's she's walking, and at the same time, uh help me. Luca, Prince. The prince, Luca, and his buddy Xander are going for a run.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

And she encounters him, but Xander is not there yet. He's behind.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Right. He's right in the coming up the rear there.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

He's pulling up the rear, yeah. So she starts talking to Prince Luca. She doesn't realize he's the prince, of course, because that's how it always goes. She has no idea what he looks like, and he does not correct her.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Nope.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

And he's, you know, and then and then Xander what bumps into Luca, isn't paying attention, and almost knocks him into Ruby. And then I love Xander in this moment too, because he realizes that she has no idea who she's talking to. And he's kind of like, I'm sorry, wait, you don't know who, you know, and and Luca is like, no, no, it's fine, you know, because because what do they tell her? They don't allow it like it's private property. And she's like, but you guys are running on it.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Like, I'm here to clean the jewelry, you know. So I thought that was really cute. And then he he offers to help her with her cake case, right? To walk it up to the palace. So that's how they meet.

unknown 13:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

So what did you think? Uh I thought it was. Did I leave anything out?

SPEAKER_03 13:05

No, no, you it was exactly how you said. Um I I mean, I thought it was cute. I didn't I don't think it was like one of my favorites, but it worked in the movie. And I just thought it was funny is as they were walking up to the castle, you know, Dietra, I guess, fixed her flat tire and was able to.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

We have to talk about that because that seemed pretty quick.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Because when Ruby gets out of the car and, you know, because she's gonna walk, because she's late to her meeting, I forgot to say that part. That's why she's in such a hurry.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

Right.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

And she's like, Oh, I don't have cell service. And she's kind of, you know, put her phone up to the sky and she's like, oh no, I, you know, I can't get to make a call. And then Dirty's like, oh, hey, I'll get a, you know, and she's trying to find cell service too. Now, in the five minutes, does she find someone they come out? They change. I mean, that's like Indianapolis 500 motor speedway changing tire.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

She had the drills, boy.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

I mean, I'm just saying, I felt like that was pretty quick.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

It was, but well, we don't know how long uh Ruby had been walking.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

So we don't, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

But I mean, how far it was kind of interesting, though, that Xander had cell service, but Ruby did not.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Good point. Good point.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Because that's the reason he ran into the back of Luca, because he was on his phone.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

He was on his on his phone. Which we later find out. That's an excellent movie. You're so observant. Wow. Okay. I didn't even that didn't even register with me. Okay, yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

All right. Well, let's move on to some favorite scenes. What was your first favorite scene?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Okay. Any time. Now I enjoyed this movie, so that I could talk about a lot of different scenes, and I know we're going to try to limit it to what, like three, two or three. We're truly trying to limit our favorite scenes.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Um, anytime Ruby interacted with Fred slash George, those were adorable. And who was Fred? Fred is the guard that's guarding the jewels while she is in the room where she is supposed to be working on the gems and the jewels, right? So Fred is one of the guards and he is straight faced, not smiling, not laughing, nothing. Just has to stand there. Sorry. Think about the guards at Buckingham Palace like that. You know, they never break. You can't get them to turn unless there's an emergency, obviously.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Whatever you do, do not. Don't touch it.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Well, yeah, don't do that. But so he's in there and he doesn't talk. And I am telling you, there is, he was so good at keeping a straight face. And I would love to see outtakes. I know. And maybe he could do it. I could never have done that role. I mean, if you offered me a certain amount of money, maybe everything's got got a prize, right? But but I have a hard time. Like, I can't win a steering contest. I am laughing like the instant we start, you know. So could you have done that? You probably could have.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

I could probably do it for a minute, but you know, I don't like standing still for long periods of time.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Well, besides that, I mean the straight face.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

I the straight face because the conversations she has with him are just they're so cute and so in that moment, you know?

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yes. She's so good. She's like, when she's leaving the one time, she says, Fred, if you want to take a sneak peek at the Royal Gems, I'll never tell. You know, and then she walks out of the room and then she's like, blink twice if you want me to bring you back a snack or something, you know, and she's always like getting close to him and talking to him, and he's just like straight face. And so it happens throughout the movie. So it wouldn't just be one scene, it would be those clump of scenes.

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

I mean, Fred, and then we find out later his name is George, but Fred slash George and Ruby, the best, the absolute best scenes. Those were so cute. And I don't, I don't think we've seen something like that.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

No. And I thought it was.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I thought it was different. I thought that, you know, that's kind of what makes the writing brilliant in those scenes and the way Jen Lilly plays those scenes. Oh, it's so adorable. Absolutely adorable.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

Well, that a couple that was one of my favorites too, is bunching all those scenes together. But when she asks him a question and he doesn't say anything and she puts her hand up and puts her hands and does, you know, I guess I think I like it.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

You know, she does it like a hand puppet, right?

SPEAKER_03 17:42

It was so funny. And I think that's the scene where he says, My name's Fred, I believe. Or George. Well, George, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

His name is his actual name is George.

SPEAKER_03 17:53

Right. And I and I thought that was so and she was like, Oh, you know, she was sorry for you know, giving him the name Fred, and she was very apologetic, which I thought was nice.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Yeah, because she says something like, Everyone deserves the dignity of being called by their actual name. Yes, yeah, and that was so sweet when she when he finally and you know, and I love too, and it wasn't just her, like when she would leave the room, then he would, you know, if she left him something, he would kind of glance over and then he would smile. So you know it was getting him, it was after she left the room, though nobody's in there but him. And he would kind of give that smirk. So he was so good too.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

I mean, what a great I think he was waiting to see what type of a you know person she was. Was she kind?

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Was she like well, they still can't, you know, react, but she did.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

She left him some fruit.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Um, one of my favorite scenes is the uh the paper uh gems that she made, her and her mother made. Yes, and they were different shapes, and I I enjoyed because she would always write a message, and I think the one for Fred slash George was steadfast because he would not talk. He wouldn't talk. Stare straight ahead, he wouldn't, you know, veer from that. And um when she came back one day, there was actually one for her, which he had made for, and I thought that that was that was so cute.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

That was a great, you know, full circle moment, you know, for the two of them and for her, and she was making those because um she said her mom used to make them for her and her sister, I think so. Right, or her sibling. I can't I can't remember now, but um her mom used to make the paper jewels for them and then she would just write would she write a word on it? I forget exactly what she said about it.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Yeah. Because when she first got it, when she arrived at the palace and was in the room where she was gonna be working, she pulled one out of her purse that her mom had given to her.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Had put in there.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

So I thought that was so cute.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Yeah. What a great idea. What a great idea. But uh yeah, because she she says something like, um, oh gosh, I'm gonna have to find it because I I thought I wrote it down. It's something like the things you tell yourself are the things you start to believe about yourself.

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

So it's something to that effect. I'm not I'm not quoting it totally correct correctly, but it was something like that. Right. And that's why her mom did that. So they would have these positive, you know, words and vibes and thoughts about themselves. And I just I loved when she said that though, because it's so true. Yeah, you know, because so many people have in and especially, you know, young people, kids, like negative thoughts, and and that becomes who you think you are, even though it's not right. So I thought that that was that was really good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:56

Um, so another one of my favorite scenes is when she finally is in front of the queen and realizes that the jogger is actually Prince Luca. And she starts to do the curtsies.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Oh, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 21:16

They're so funny. I don't know. She did them like four different ways. It was so funny.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Well, then he's like, you only have to do it once per day. You know, it's like you don't have to do it every time you see me or whatever. I thought that was cute.

SPEAKER_03 21:28

You definitely build your legs up, man, with all those curtsies. But that was another one of mine. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Um, when they're in the vault with the jewels, now this is separate from the room. She's working on them.

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

They kind of look at his his father's crown, and I think he's showing his mother's crown as well that he wants her to to work on. And they have like this deeper discussion about, you know, because he's got this coronation coming up, and he's like, you know, the younger generations find the crown jewels. Superlufluous, superlofluous, superlufluous.

SPEAKER_03 22:06

Don't ask me to pronounce it. I I have a problem pronouncing words.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

It was like that. And then earlier he said something about benevolent, but anyway, I take it. And you know, and he talks about how it is a fine line to walk between the pageantry and assuring the rest of the royal family, you know, that the rest of the royal family is not so steeped in its traditions. It stays stuck. Right. Right. So, and I think that's so relevant too. And, you know, I'm a huge, I was a huge Princess Diana fan. I mean, I was, you know, a young girl when she got married. I sat with my mom. We got up in the middle of the night. We watched her get married. Of course, it was not a fairy tale. You know, you would find out years later, you know, a long time later, that it's not all fairy tales. But that too was part of not breaking tradition. There's a certain way of doing things, and they just didn't evolve out of that. And I think that that was when they had that discussion in the vault, I think it just kind of kind of put it puts a spotlight on that. That, you know, it it's not all jewels and fairy tale. I mean, yeah, that stuff is great. Um, you know, and we have our pageantry of it all, but we also have to recognize that we need to meet the people where they are too.

SPEAKER_03 23:22

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

So I just I appreciated that conversation. I I thought it was great. And she, you know, and that's when Ruby realizes he's not someone that just follows the crowd, right? And he says, You're not either, basically. Right. So, and he wants to change and grow for the crown because he's gonna be king and he's trying to institute some new things that go on. So he wants to make it his. Yeah, yeah. And then another favorite scene, you know, we have this sub-story of Xander and Jory. So the queen and the countess are trying to set up Jory with Prince Luca.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

But he they've been friends forever. He and Xander and Jory have been friends since childhood, but he has no feelings for her in that way, and she does not have feelings for him. You know, and throughout the movie, you you find out that her and Xander actually have feelings for each other, but Xander's what did she call him? Just a staffer or something. Right. Isn't her mom say something like that?

SPEAKER_03 24:26

So yeah, because Jory is the Countess's daughter. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

The Countess's daughter, right, right. Oh, yeah, I forgot to say that. So so one of my favorite scenes, they they they're at this festival and Luca conspires with Ruby to help Xander and Jory get together and have dinner. And he kind of brings Ruby in to help them. And because Ruby or because Xander and Jory want to be together, and Luca knows he wants to be with Ruby. So so they're trying he's trying to help push them together because he knows they really do, you know, they really do like each other. And I just thought that that was really cute that we had that that sub-romance too.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

We we have the main one between Prince Luca and Ruby, and then we also had we also got a second one in this one, which I thought was great. And there was, you know, there's a little bit of resistance about it from the queen, not really from the queen, but from the countess, from Jory's mom.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

But she comes around eventually in the end. So yeah, I I just thought I thought Luca and Ruby conspiring was cute.

SPEAKER_03 25:33

It was, and that was another one of my favorite scenes was them Operation Matchmaker.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

And you know, the heart wants what it wants, right? So Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Right.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

And and that was one of the things, and I'll that's gonna be like one of my cheers. Um, but going back to the vault scene, and this is what I thought was cool about Luca wanting to, so to speak, modernize the the crown. When they were in the vault, um the countess comes in and is like, you know, she's kind of upset, and but Luca wants to kind of um take pictures and record it. Yes, you know, because he wants he wants the people. That's the first time they're in the vault, right? Right, the progression. And she's like, you know, the tradition is you you don't record these things. And I thought he made a great point. He's like, Well, do you think if they had these little handheld cameras, they might have would have recorded them? And I thought that was a brilliant piece of writing right there. Cause that yeah, you know, because we always say, Well, they didn't do it back then. Well, they didn't have the technology to do it back then. So that's exactly why they didn't do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

So yeah, and I I've never really thought about it that way, right? Honestly, till we s till we watched the movie and he said that. And you were like, Well, I won't say what you said, but you know, it was like, dang.

SPEAKER_03 27:03

I was like, that's a really good point.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

That's a really good point, you know. So no, I I totally I I totally agree. Because you think, well, if they did have it, maybe they would have recorded it. They wouldn't have had to etch in the, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Like etch in the stone something, the pictures, you know, like the cave man days, but so did you have any more favorite scenes? Um no, we can get into cheers if you want now.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, I think I'm just glancing at my notes. We can get into cheers if you want.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Yeah, my cheer is the fact that overall they didn't stay stuck in that moment of you're becoming the king or the prince, and you're going to you're going to follow tradition, you're gonna marry this person, and that's it, you know, because the the queen's husband um was the same way, you know. He wanted he wanted things for the people and not just for the royal, right? So I'm just glad that they ended up opening up everything to the people. And I I don't know, I just I I felt like the movie flowed. I loved the story. I loved the second love story that was going on and how the countess she didn't she didn't stay upset, and she actually, you know, in the end, told Xander that, you know, they're gonna sit down and have a talk, you know, because now it looks like he's gonna be family.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

So yeah, and she realizes that Rory, or um not Rory Gilmore girls on the game. Gilmore girls on the brain. We're we're finally on season seven. Uh, we're trying for our first time watching, and I have Rory on the brain. Um, that Jory doesn't the countess say something to Jory, her daughter, something like, All I want is for you to be happy. Like, you know.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

All I want is for you to be happy. And she does come around to the fact that she realizes that Jory does not want to be with Luca, but instead wants to be with Xander as I mean, there's a little bit of sabotage, not sabotage, but in the movie, you know, where you think Ruby's leaving. Right. And so I mean you have that that moment that they kind of had to throw in there, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

The rub, as he call it, as I call it, I don't know. But um, but it wasn't too over the top or drawn out.

SPEAKER_03 29:44

Right. Yeah, I'm glad it wasn't drawn out.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Yeah, yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

So cheers.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Any other cheers from you?

SPEAKER_03 29:51

No, that was it for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Yeah. I mean, I you talked about him. I just adored Jen Lily in this. I thought she played Ruby to near perfection. You know, she was just so lovely and like I said at the top of the podcast episode, just so vibrant. And you just she just exuded kindness and she kind of I've seen interviews with her, and you know, that might be close to how she really is. At least that's the way she comes across. You know, I don't know. But um, just this genuine kindness about her. And I thought it really worked. I liked that again, we just reviewed uh, you know, a holiday movie. We just reviewed we met in December, and we talked about how they clearly like each other from the beginning and they, you know, go through the movie. And in this movie, you have like four near kisses, you know, and they they almost kiss and then something happens and they don't. So they they clearly they liked each, you know, they were attracted to each other throughout the whole movie. There wasn't this like animosity at first, and I like that. You know, I I I just I like that. I loved the Fred George scenes. Oh my god. Give me more of that, please. That was so, so, so good.

SPEAKER_03 31:05

Yeah, and one of the almost kisses was while they were in the with in front of Fred, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:12

Yeah, that was one of them. There were just so many. I wrote them all down, but I won't go over all of them because I was like, oh, there's another one, there's another one, and you're uh a missed kiss, right? An almost kiss. Um, I liked that Xander was a good guy because he's sort of he's Luca's like right hand.

SPEAKER_03 31:29

Right hand man.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

I for I forget what, but they, you know, he again, they didn't have him try to sabotage Luca or you know, set him up or anything like that. That was great. He was a true friend to Luca, and I liked that. And Jory and I loved that they had Jory and Ruby hit it off as girlfriends, they didn't have women bucking each other because they both love the same man, you know, or whatever. So I just I like that they didn't go down that road. I thought that was great. They didn't make Luca a womanizing prince.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

You know, that's often in the in the movies, and you know, the secondary romance. So I just I just thought it all worked, it all came together. Um, I do have a jeer that we will talk about in a little bit, but you know, my biggest cheers were just, you know, and the chemistry between um Dan and Jen was so good. And it wasn't like like, oh my gosh, fire, they're you know, over the top. It was just this gentle, slow burn throughout the movie that was just organic. Yeah, I mean, it just it really worked, it felt natural.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

And and you know, so I and that's a testament to those actors, really.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

So yeah, yeah. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

All right. Um, jeers. Did you have any jeers?

SPEAKER_03 32:58

My only jeer would be that so you know, she was there to fix up the jewels, and then he asked her to design her his crown. And so throughout the movie, she's doing both, right? And she's designing a cool-looking crown that has one stone that represents, you know, he chooses a ruby, which I thought was pretty cool, but the crown itself uh encompasses the whole town, the whole uh, you know, not just the the royals, but also the people and um and it's all about him being crowned. And they we didn't get it.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

You didn't get the coronation.

SPEAKER_03 33:44

No, we didn't get the coronation, and I was like, uh because I want you know, I honestly wanted it for Dietra. I wanted her because she're yeah, yeah, because she was she was her driver and she was also working a booth during the Garden Light Festival. And I just I was waiting for it and it didn't come. So if there's a jeer, that's a jeer for me. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Because usually at the end then you see that part, right? Yeah, I was waiting for uh you know yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

Yeah, another four or five minutes of movie, but we didn't get it. What about you? You said you had a jer.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Um, I have a few, but they're just mine, like a few of them are minor things. Like we talked about the tire change, right? I guess like how that was quick.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Um, I was confused by the lighting ceremony. Now you and I try not to talk about the movies because we want to save it for the podcast, but we did discuss this because I couldn't get it through my head. Like it's normally on Palace Grounds, right? But Luca made that it was kind of a big deal made about him moving it off of the Palace Grounds, right? Right, right. Because it was the first time that's where that festival was gonna be.

SPEAKER_03 35:01

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

And then I was confused because I'm like, if they're lighting the gardens on Palace Grounds, if they're off Palace Grounds, how the that in my head just didn't work out. And maybe I just didn't understand. It could be, it could be, it could not be a flaw in the movie. It just my head, I was like, Whoa, right. Um, I so like you said, there's a ruby on the crown towards the end. And you know, you he he chose the ruby to put on his crown, right? Right. That was the gem that he decided to have on there, and I thought that was great. But then you have the moment where they go and look at all of the gems that I guess the kings have chosen over the years. They're in a certain over the years in the palace, and he has chosen a ruby.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:46

Obviously, I just felt like it was we should have had one or the other, it would have been a bigger moment. Right. Because you had two of them and they weren't they weren't both powerful. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 35:57

Like Yeah, I I understand what you're saying.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

I I think I understand it, but I also feel like we got those two kind and they were almost like back to back.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

It felt like so it they kind of washed each other out, right? Right. If they would have had that one at the end with all the other jewels, I think that would have worked right more for the story. But that's just you know, my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 36:21

No, I agree with you.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

And then um, okay, during parts of it, I have to just bring this up. Dan's makeup bothered me in parts of it.

SPEAKER_03 36:34

Yeah, there were some scenes. I love Dan.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

I love Dan Lily.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

I think it was more the lighting than it was his makeup, though.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Yeah, maybe it was the lighting, but I I was like, I it could have been post-production too. Get past well, I don't know, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 36:49

Well, there was a scene.

SPEAKER_01 36:50

There was, you know, there were a couple, and it the lighting was weird, and his hair was so dark, and I don't know. It was just there were just a couple moments like that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:59

I was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

I overall enjoyed the movie, really. But if we're gonna be honest here, which we you know are. So yeah, I mean, it doesn't make the movie like a two or anything for me, but I just the makeup was, you know. Yeah, because I know maybe it was maybe it was the lighting, like you said.

SPEAKER_03 37:16

No, I I did notice there was one scene where Xander, they were in, I think the Queen's Study, I'm gonna call it the Queen's Study. And Luca and and Xander were the only ones in the in the room. And it looked like Luca or Xander's lips were like dark. And I'm like, I was like, wait a minute. Like they had put a filter on, a contrast filter or something, and it was just too much. But no, I there was there were some shot shots that had it looked the lighting was was wasn't as good, but yeah, you know, yeah, just a few times, and then I was like, mm, you know, because you notice that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

I mean, I can't help but notice it.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

That's funny.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Oh gosh. All right, so let's get to quarks. Out of five quirks, how many would you give me?

SPEAKER_03 38:04

I'm gonna give this one a four, solid four.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Oh, a solid four.

SPEAKER_03 38:09

Yeah, even with my jeers. I I really enjoyed it. I didn't think it was as I don't want to say corny as some of them.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

You can say it. That's all right.

SPEAKER_03 38:17

But you know, I thought the music went well. I thought the acting was really well, and I thought the supporting cast did a great job. And I thought the the crew, the production crew, and everything, other than some of the lighting shots, I thought it all worked well. So what about you?

SPEAKER_01 38:34

I would do the same. I really enjoyed this one. I'd give it a four, gonna add four corks to my little cork jar. You're four too.

SPEAKER_03 38:43

All right. So we're saying this.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

We have no problem filling up that cork jar. Um, but I would, I would also give it four corks. I mean, I enjoyed it, you know, and we just live in a time where things are a little bit chaotic, and you just want sometimes to sit down and have something be like, you know, it doesn't have to be an Academy Award-winning movie, but you know, you just want something. And I thought that this was really good. Like you said, it wasn't like over-the-top corny, it was down to earth, you know. Love Dan and Jen, love the story. I I thought it, I thought it just really worked, and it was just an enjoyable watch. Yeah, I thought.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

I agree with you.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

So I I would definitely give it give it a four. Oh, and you know, can I say one more thing? And it's about Jen Lily and me saying Academy Award made me think about it. And I should have talked about this at the top, but she is going to be in the um biopic Jimmy. Jimmy. Where she plays Jimmy Stewart's wife. And I have to tell you, and you know this already about me. I know you're excited about this movie. I cannot wait to see this movie.

SPEAKER_03 39:54

Hey, maybe we should rate that.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

I I might cry during that movie. I, and this is not Hallmark related, but Jen Lily's in it, Sarah Drew is in it, it's Hallmark adjacent.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

You know, well, we'll make sure we have some tissues, boxes of tissues.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

I just, I adore Jimmy Stewart and always have. I've read books about him. I know a little bit about his life story. Um, I know this focuses on a you know certain part of it. And um I just I'm really excited for it. And now after you know, after seeing her in this, I I can't wait to see her as his wife in in in the movie. And I I believe it drops in November. I don't know the exact date, but it is called Jimmy. And the the actor playing Jimmy Stewart is the actor from Riverdale. And I don't know his name. The one who played Archie in Riverdale.

unknown 40:48

Archie.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

Oh, really? Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

He plays, he plays Jimmy, um, KJ Appa.

SPEAKER_03 40:56

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

He is the actor who's going to play Jimmy, and I'm sure there are a lot of other stars in it, but and no doubt, maybe Academy Award bound, hopefully.

SPEAKER_03 41:07

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 41:08

But yeah, I wanted to mention that. I should have mentioned that at the top, and I just forgot and didn't put it in my notes.

SPEAKER_03 41:14

You can do it at the end. It's never too bad.

unknown 41:16

All right.

SPEAKER_03 41:17

So is that a wrap?

SPEAKER_01 41:18

That's a wrap.

SPEAKER_03 41:19

All right. Well, thanks for listening. And you can help more fans, Hallmark fans, that is, find us by hitting that like button, giving us a rating on your favorite podcast platform and YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

Mm-hmm. You can also send us an email to pour the wine. It's romcomtime at gmail.com. Let us know your thoughts about this latest royal film, a royal setting, or anything hallmark related. We would love to hear from you. Make sure you follow us wherever you get your podcasts and on social media so you don't miss a thing. Till next time. Cheers!