Speaker 1: On the bed Cast, the questions asked if movies have
Speaker 1: women and um, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands,
Speaker 1: or do they have individualism the patriarchy Zef and best
Speaker 1: start changing it with the Bedel Cast. Hello, and welcome
Speaker 1: to the Bechtel Cast. My name is Caitlin Darante and
Speaker 1: my name is Jamie Loftus. Unless my name is Caitlin
Speaker 1: Durante and and my name is actually Jamie Loftus. And
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I just realized that we look exactly alike.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. We should do some royal hijinks your
Speaker 1: you should do some royal hijinks, and then I'll just
Speaker 1: have sex with your friend. I think that's how the
Speaker 1: first one goes, right. Basically, not the worst deal in
Speaker 1: the world. This is well, we'll go to the Bechtel Cast.
Speaker 1: This is our show where we take your favorite movies
Speaker 1: and analyze them using an intersection feminist lens, using the
Speaker 1: Bechdel test, which is I don't I bet neither. I've
Speaker 1: had none of the Vanessa hudgens is. Know what this
Speaker 1: damn test is? But what is it? Calin for the
Speaker 1: sake of fullness and clarity, it is a media metric
Speaker 1: created by queer cartoonists Alison Bechdel, sometimes called the Bechdel
Speaker 1: Wallace test, and there are many variations, And here is ours.
Speaker 1: Two people of a marginalized gender have to have names,
Speaker 1: they have to speak to each other, and their conversation
Speaker 1: has to be about something other than a man for
Speaker 1: two lines of dialogue, and ideally that conversation is narratively significant.
Speaker 1: Make of that what you will? You know it when
Speaker 1: you hear it. And in the case of this movie,
Speaker 1: as you'll hear in the episode, Uh, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of Vanessa hudgens Is talking to Vanessa hudgens Is.
Speaker 1: It's not that big of a problem. There are three
Speaker 1: many Vanessa hudgens Is and they're all talking to each other. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And if you thought that my British accent I just
Speaker 1: did was offensive, wait till you hear her. Hear her
Speaker 1: as maybe you are just not gonna like it. Um,
Speaker 1: So we're we're this this episode you're about to hear
Speaker 1: it was recorded last year for our Patreon aka Matreon.
Speaker 1: So you'll notice it's just me and Caitlin. We're keeping
Speaker 1: it loose. We kind of let it all hang out
Speaker 1: on the Matreon. I would say about eight of this
Speaker 1: episode is just us recapping the movie that will happen.
Speaker 1: We're discussing things throughout the recap, but the recap takes
Speaker 1: a long time, and honestly, you're welcome. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: we go to the Matreon to really vibrate on a
Speaker 1: different frequency where it's the format is technically the same,
Speaker 1: and yet there is this, um, this wild, reckless abandoned
Speaker 1: that you bring there. So if you are and if
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this, please go over and join the Matrion community.
Speaker 1: It is such a fun, like life, affirm and cool
Speaker 1: space to hang out in. Uh, it's five bucks a
Speaker 1: month and you get to bonus episodes at the Bechtel
Speaker 1: Cast with just Caitlyn and myself every single month. This
Speaker 1: month we're doing two of our most popular requests that,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, we never got around too. Um. They're
Speaker 1: both rom coms that It's You've Got Male, which we've
Speaker 1: been getting really lovely feedback about. I've been very happy about. Yes,
Speaker 1: yes we have. Yeah, not a brag person listening that
Speaker 1: isn't a member of the matrio. Hut, we're so good
Speaker 1: at our jobs. Wow, we really pulled one out this time.
Speaker 1: And we're also doing How to Lose a Guy in
Speaker 1: Ten Days, which I canonically recognize as a Catherine Han vehicle,
Speaker 1: although you know, maybe the poster is telling you a
Speaker 1: different story. Fair fair. I see it as a Thomas
Speaker 1: Lennon piece myself, but oh my god, his outfit in
Speaker 1: that movie. I'm like, who addressed this? Poor man? I
Speaker 1: love Tomlin and why did they do that to him?
Speaker 1: That's not nice. In any case, this is from the
Speaker 1: Matreon and we're doing this, you know, technically an observation
Speaker 1: of it's not for many. Vanessa Hudgens is the problem.
Speaker 1: There's still three of them, so it's kind of three
Speaker 1: minute three many Vanessa Hudgens too, but it's separate the
Speaker 1: switch to three Yes, which I believe is being released
Speaker 1: on Netflix the very same day that this episode is
Speaker 1: being unlocked from the Matreon and put on our main feed.
Speaker 1: They really missed an opportunity to include more Vanessa Hudgens
Speaker 1: is in this sequel. At some point, I'm like, I
Speaker 1: wonder if she was, like I don't think so, because
Speaker 1: there were I think we talked about it in this episode.
Speaker 1: She's done interviews where she was like, oh, the next
Speaker 1: one should be Scottish and it's like, well, let's look
Speaker 1: at the accents you're already doing and maybe reassess. But
Speaker 1: I'm open to a fourth, uh, in so many ways,
Speaker 1: but in in terms of Vanessa hudgens Is, I'm open
Speaker 1: to a fourth for sure, but it's not happening. But however,
Speaker 1: we will be covering The Princess Switched three on the Matreon,
Speaker 1: speaking of the Matreon in December, So if you're loving
Speaker 1: this and you're like, wow, I'm really on a journey,
Speaker 1: you can go back to our Matreon to listen to
Speaker 1: our very intellectual genius quite honestly thoughts on the Princess
Speaker 1: Switch one and then very soon on the Princess Switched three.
Speaker 1: And if you like Netflix Christmas movies, we've also done
Speaker 1: all three, all of the Christmas Princes, and that is
Speaker 1: a burden we took on for you. So yeah, get ready,
Speaker 1: it's our our holiday movie block on the Bechdel Cast
Speaker 1: is room room room rev reev reving up um and
Speaker 1: enjoy this unlocked Matreon episode The Princess which to enjoy cast.
Speaker 1: Hello matrons, Happy holiday. It's that time of year when
Speaker 1: we cover terrible Netflix original Christmas movies. I forget. Did
Speaker 1: we talk last year about the extended universe that Netflix
Speaker 1: has confirmed. I don't. I meant to go back and
Speaker 1: listen to the other Princess Switch and Christmas Prince movies
Speaker 1: we've covered. I like, wanted to listen back to those
Speaker 1: episodes and rewatch those movies, but I simply didn't have
Speaker 1: time for any of it. I rewatched, watched all the
Speaker 1: Princess Witches and all the Christmas Princes because I needed
Speaker 1: an excuse to, of course. But did did you I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't think that we did. I didn't
Speaker 1: listen to the real listen to the episodes. I don't
Speaker 1: think we did talk last year about how all the
Speaker 1: movies are confirmed happening in the same universe, which is
Speaker 1: further depending how you look at it, either confirmed or
Speaker 1: complicated by what happens in Princess Switch Switched again, because
Speaker 1: it would seem that it contradicts. Okay, so this is
Speaker 1: a matron. This is obviously the Bectel cast Matreon we're
Speaker 1: doing Princess Switch to. I thought the movie was essentially
Speaker 1: a delight. Well, sorry, first, we have to the full
Speaker 1: the full title Princess Switched to three Money. Vanessa Hudgens
Speaker 1: is three many Yeah, too many. Hudgens is is um
Speaker 1: is the general vibe. I love that they just called
Speaker 1: it switched again. The real titles the Princess Switch Switched Again,
Speaker 1: which is um so lazy, so incredibly lazy. Uh. You
Speaker 1: really almost admire it. I fully admire it. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh this this uh, this movie has no doubt of
Speaker 1: what it is, which is extremely lazy, but but so okay.
Speaker 1: So the Netflix Christmas Universe, which is a confirmed thing,
Speaker 1: includes oh my god, there's literally a chart. Have you
Speaker 1: seen this? Have you seen this chart? Okay, Okay, you
Speaker 1: gotta see this chart. Okay. So it essentially connects the
Speaker 1: Christmas Prince uh saga series, yes, all the various Princess switches,
Speaker 1: as well as The Night Before Christmas, which was Vanessa
Speaker 1: Hudgens's last year Christmas effort, yes, which we almost covered
Speaker 1: and made a last minute switch well switched again. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then there's also a movie called The Holiday Calendar from
Speaker 1: that I haven't seen, a movie called Christmas Inheritance, from
Speaker 1: which I unfortunately have seen, and a movie called Holiday
Speaker 1: in the Wild, which I also have seen, and I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure is that the who's in that? It's like
Speaker 1: it's actually like some famous people right Holiday in the Wild. Yeah,
Speaker 1: isn't that the guy's name? Who was in Rob Blow?
Speaker 1: Is that that one? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, that's the Christin
Speaker 1: Davis Roblow? Yeah. Yeah, sorry, I've seen so many of these.
Speaker 1: I'm like, honestly, and the names are also familiar. They like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to confirm something I can't guarantee. Kristin
Speaker 1: Davis and Rob Blow. So that's a bigger budget one,
Speaker 1: not very popular. I don't think really anybody necessarily watched it.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of high Yeah. I skipped that one,
Speaker 1: but it is. And then and then now this year
Speaker 1: there was a movie called Operation Christmas Drop, which is
Speaker 1: military propaganda that is Christmas. There's also The Christmas Chronicles,
Speaker 1: which is, um, what's his face as Santa Claus? Yeah?
Speaker 1: What is his face? And goldie hat? His face? What
Speaker 1: is his face? I never Kurt Russell? Kurt Russell, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Kurt Russell. I'm like, but like, also, okay, maybe this
Speaker 1: is controversial, but like, who the fuck is Kurt Russell? Um?
Speaker 1: What was he in that? I would know that you
Speaker 1: would know, probably not a lot. Okay, See, he got
Speaker 1: big in the eighties and then like a lot of
Speaker 1: his most famous movies were from the eighties and nineties,
Speaker 1: and I mean he's still around obviously, But also I
Speaker 1: always get him confused with early Patrick Swayzy, and I
Speaker 1: feel like there's someone else who I get him confused with. Two.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I haven't seen The Christmas Chronicles, but either way,
Speaker 1: the Christmas Chronicles are a Netflix Christmas movie, but they're
Speaker 1: not in the Netflix Christmas universe. I see so all
Speaker 1: of the Netflix Christmas Universe. I'm pretty sure. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a vague qualifier, but I'm pretty sure that you
Speaker 1: have to it has to be like a clear Hallmark
Speaker 1: rip off, which Christmas Chronicles isn't. Uh. And then Jingle Jangle,
Speaker 1: which I did see and it was pretty good for
Speaker 1: us Forest whinnakers. In it, he's saying Christmas Chronicles was
Speaker 1: not bad. I'm you know, it's whatever. It's you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like a turn your brain off and hope
Speaker 1: for the best season movie wise. But Jingle Jangle, I
Speaker 1: had had some catchy tunes, some real catchy tunes, but
Speaker 1: it's not but it's not included in this universe. It's
Speaker 1: I think this is like the overly romantic, confusing Hallmark
Speaker 1: rip off Extended Universe that's occasionally nationalist propaganda in the
Speaker 1: case of Operation Christmas Drop. Um. So, anyways, last year
Speaker 1: Netflix confirmed the Netflix Holiday Movie Universe is the official title.
Speaker 1: And I'll just unpack this chart and then we'll get
Speaker 1: to before we start talking about Princess, which switched again.
Speaker 1: How Princess switch switched again is maybe the most integral
Speaker 1: piece to this puzzle yet. So okay, it's like the
Speaker 1: keystone that holds the whole arch together. And maybe I
Speaker 1: mean I haven't I bear I was like only half
Speaker 1: watching Holiday in the Wild, and I haven't seen the
Speaker 1: Holiday Calendar, but it seems like it connects a lot
Speaker 1: of movies together in ways that are exclusively confusing. So
Speaker 1: here's here's an overview of the chart. We'll we'll link this.
Speaker 1: It's like a tweet from Netflix. So it starts with
Speaker 1: the Christmas Prince seen gets everything started. And I think
Speaker 1: these are all basically made by the same production company,
Speaker 1: which doesn't hurt um. So a Christmas Prince is shown
Speaker 1: on a TV in both the Holiday calendar and it's
Speaker 1: also if you recall Vanessa Hudgens watches Chris the Christmas
Speaker 1: Prince in the first Princess Switch. So as ofen when
Speaker 1: the Princess Okay, I'm like literally sound like that. Um
Speaker 1: it's always sunny meme with the board okay, um. So
Speaker 1: as the Princess Switch, A Christmas Prince is a movie
Speaker 1: that exists in the world of the Princess Switch on Netflix.
Speaker 1: It was like a product placement moment. We were like,
Speaker 1: t he okay, Aldovia from A Christmas Prince, the fictional country.
Speaker 1: I'm familiar. Just there's five trillion countries that border Lithuania apparently,
Speaker 1: and Aldovia is one of them. Whatever the Princess Switch
Speaker 1: countries are anyways, Aldovia is mentioned in The Night Before Christmas.
Speaker 1: So in the Night Before Christmas World, Aldovia is an
Speaker 1: actual place, but in a Princess Switch the Princess Switch world,
Speaker 1: it is not a real place. It's a Netflix movie.
Speaker 1: It's a fictional place where a movie the Vanessa Hudgens
Speaker 1: watches takes place. Make it makes sense, Um, okay. Christmas
Speaker 1: Inheritance A Christmas Inheritance is shown on a TV in
Speaker 1: both the holiday calendar and in the Princess Switch. Holiday
Speaker 1: in the Wild is shown on a TV in the
Speaker 1: Night before Christmas, so in the Night before Christmas, a
Speaker 1: Christmas Prince is a real thing in the world. But
Speaker 1: Holiday in the Wild with Christi David's and Reblo, that's
Speaker 1: still fictional and on Netflix. And then apparently I don't
Speaker 1: remember that because by the time, honestly, the last in
Speaker 1: this marathon, the last movie I watched was Christmas Prince
Speaker 1: Royal Baby, and I was just my brain was skunked,
Speaker 1: so I wasn't looking for this reference. But apparently the
Speaker 1: Princess Switched, the country from the Princess Switch is referenced
Speaker 1: in the third Christmas Prince movie. So now things get
Speaker 1: a little complicated because we were told in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: that A Christmas Prince is just a Netflix movie. But
Speaker 1: then over in Aldovia, the Princess Switch country is Cannon,
Speaker 1: so because it's bell Belgravia and or Montenaro, because those
Speaker 1: are like the two countries in Princess Switch. Right right,
Speaker 1: I'm going to keep mixing up the names. So bell Gravya,
Speaker 1: I believe, is mentioned in A Christmas Prince Royal Baby.
Speaker 1: But at that point, as of last year. A Christmas
Speaker 1: Prince Aldovia is fictional to Vanessa Hudgens, But Vanessa Hudgens
Speaker 1: is very real too, Amber and who are they that
Speaker 1: guy Richard Richard Um, So that's confusing, and then things
Speaker 1: get even more confusing. So basically it seems like they
Speaker 1: shouldn't have put Christmas princes on TV in the Princess
Speaker 1: Switch because now they wanted to all be real. Because
Speaker 1: at the end of fucking my Princess Switch switched again,
Speaker 1: Princess Switch switched again, Amber and Richard are at the
Speaker 1: coronation for what's her name, Margaret A few things about that.
Speaker 1: When they popped up on Princess Switch with their royal
Speaker 1: baby ugly, I meant royal. Um. When that happened in
Speaker 1: Princess Switch to Switched Again, I was in my apartment
Speaker 1: by myself, and I screamed. I was like, yes, tie too, shrieked.
Speaker 1: It was like hold on, and then I had to
Speaker 1: go back to the chart, like it how could that
Speaker 1: be true if we were and um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know how that could be true. I have
Speaker 1: a theory. Okay, yes, the movie that Vanessa Hudgens is
Speaker 1: watching in the first Princess s Witch movie that is
Speaker 1: about Amber and Richard's actually a Documentary's watching a documentary? Okay,
Speaker 1: got it? Yeah, grape minds think alike. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that she just must have been watching, like maybe it
Speaker 1: was like a sixty minutes special or just like a
Speaker 1: poorly produced I thought that too, But then I went
Speaker 1: back and watched the scene from Princess Switch and I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: she literally had Vanessa Hudgens has the same Netflix as
Speaker 1: you or I, and it's presented the same way, and
Speaker 1: she literally watches a scene from Our Christmas Prince and
Speaker 1: so too. I'm like, reporting instincts, and so if A
Speaker 1: Christmas Prince is documentary, so okay, if A Christmas Into
Speaker 1: is a documentary for Vanessa Hudgens, then it's also a
Speaker 1: documentary for us. And that could be true. That could
Speaker 1: very well be true. I think that they're just and
Speaker 1: someone I wanted to shout out a tweet that made
Speaker 1: me laugh so much from Ica delian Um. From at
Speaker 1: delian ica Um, she tweeted, oh my god, Vanessa Hudgens
Speaker 1: is the Robert Downey Jr. Of the Netflix Christmas Cinematic universe,
Speaker 1: and it's true because of iron Man, because like iron
Speaker 1: Man kicked everything off, and is I know no, well,
Speaker 1: I well know, because Vanessa Hudgens didn't kick everything off.
Speaker 1: But I think we can all agree she has more,
Speaker 1: you know, she has she has a little more charisma
Speaker 1: than the Princess Ambert and all offense. Um. But then, okay,
Speaker 1: other things we need to talk about before we talked
Speaker 1: about the movie. Okay, sorry, I'm like too prepared for
Speaker 1: this episode. Uh, really down in the dumps and really
Speaker 1: needed this. Um. Hey. So the other thing is I
Speaker 1: feel like we should do a Vanessa Hudgens update because
Speaker 1: she has had a very problematic, tumultuous a few years really,
Speaker 1: but like especially she We're not going to get too
Speaker 1: into it here. Uh, but she did. If you remember,
Speaker 1: about nine months ago, she famously went live on Instagram
Speaker 1: and said a whole bunch of insensitive things about coronavirus
Speaker 1: and was basically the gist of it was Vanessa Hudgens
Speaker 1: has no regard for human life, which was upsetting then.
Speaker 1: And I honestly, it has been such a year that
Speaker 1: I kind of forgot and then I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: we're mad at Vanessa Hudgens, what did she do again?
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, she said she literally has
Speaker 1: no regard for human life. So that's something to keep
Speaker 1: in mind. Yes, that said Robert Downey Jr. You know,
Speaker 1: has also done some pretty messed up stuff in his life,
Speaker 1: so maybe that's the connection. They don't have a regret.
Speaker 1: I don't know that much about Robert Jr. I just
Speaker 1: wanted to, um, you know, we are aware that Vanessa
Speaker 1: Hudgens is problematic and also just like a weird person,
Speaker 1: Like she will like pop up in my trending topics
Speaker 1: every once in a while, and it's always just like
Speaker 1: I just don't understand, Like why can't celebrities just like
Speaker 1: log out? Like Vanessa Hudgens has more money than God,
Speaker 1: Like she has a million a million year deal signed
Speaker 1: in blood with Netflix, Like why can't she just like
Speaker 1: not go live on Instagram. That will never make sense
Speaker 1: to me because she just is always live on Instagram
Speaker 1: doing in that one case very like stream of consciousness,
Speaker 1: insensitive rant and then in other cases she's just doing
Speaker 1: weird stuff. And you're just like Vanessa, like call your
Speaker 1: like friend or something, call Zack, Like I don't know
Speaker 1: what you need to do, but like, I want no
Speaker 1: part of this. So Vanessa Hudgens is an firmed, questionable
Speaker 1: weirdo is my is my take on the age. But
Speaker 1: then so, so we're going into Prince just to set
Speaker 1: up the mindset of where we're going into Princess Switched
Speaker 1: to Switched again. I have to suspend my upset with
Speaker 1: Vanessa Hudgens because I do have to watch this movie,
Speaker 1: not just because this is our job, but also because
Speaker 1: I just like, I have to watch this movie. It's
Speaker 1: I have to know what happens. And Princess switched to
Speaker 1: Switch it again, I understand. And I have to know
Speaker 1: what the third Vanessa Hudgins is like. And I loved
Speaker 1: the third Vanessa Hudgens. Oh my gosh, she's so awesome.
Speaker 1: I love her. She's a sloppy bitch and I love her.
Speaker 1: That was Okay, that was all of my pre curs
Speaker 1: started talking about. Okay, I'm gonna shut up for the
Speaker 1: rest of the episode because that was a lot. But oh,
Speaker 1: and then also there's some connection in the third one
Speaker 1: to like, oh, I guess there's four shots. I missed
Speaker 1: this on my watch of the movie. But per the
Speaker 1: clickbait rounds that happened every year around these movies a
Speaker 1: grand tradition. There is a slight possible, maybe sort of
Speaker 1: hint that there's going to be I mean, of course
Speaker 1: there's going to be a movie with a fourth Vanessa Hudgens.
Speaker 1: I have a pitch for it that I'll reveal at
Speaker 1: some point in this episode. Hell, yes, I did a
Speaker 1: little bit of recessor this is so embarrassing, Um, there
Speaker 1: was there. Vanessa Hudgens has been very like dodgy about
Speaker 1: whether there's going to be a third or a third
Speaker 1: one with a fourth Vanessa Hudgens. That's never gonna get easier.
Speaker 1: She's been dodgy about that. Um. But then she said
Speaker 1: in like an interview, She's like, I don't know, but
Speaker 1: maybe the next Vanessa Hudgens will have a Scottish accent.
Speaker 1: And everyone's like, what that's weird. Um, it's confident Vanessa
Speaker 1: Hudgens can pull off. She do three accents, which includes
Speaker 1: one that is just her regular speaking voice. Um, she
Speaker 1: can barely talk. Um okay, so, but but I think
Speaker 1: it's it's been hinted at at some point in this
Speaker 1: Princess which that the fourth Vanessa Hudgens is going to
Speaker 1: be her character from A Night Before Christmas, therefore tying
Speaker 1: in that whole thing, which would be kind of genius. Yes,
Speaker 1: that wouldn't have even occurred to me to do that,
Speaker 1: but that's also the perfect choice to make. There's already
Speaker 1: a fourth Vanessa Hudgens on the table, and she already
Speaker 1: has experience kissing a Royal night royal figure Corport pattents
Speaker 1: and look alike. She already has been making out with
Speaker 1: this Robert Pattinson impersonator for you know, two years, yes,
Speaker 1: on screen, so she she has the experience. That character
Speaker 1: is ripe to be a part of this franchise. Was
Speaker 1: that character's name? Was it like Brooke that I'm just
Speaker 1: spitballing here. I don't remember. I watched that movie last
Speaker 1: year when it got released. The only thing I remember
Speaker 1: about it is there is a plot which and then
Speaker 1: there is like random time travel and there's this like
Speaker 1: fish out of water like Middle Ages night who shows up?
Speaker 1: And yeah, I don't I I did not enjoy that.
Speaker 1: That one wasn't my favorite, which is weird because it's
Speaker 1: on Rotten Tomatoes. It's one of the highest rate of
Speaker 1: Netflix Christmas movies. I like it has a lot of
Speaker 1: the elements for a movie that I enjoy with, like
Speaker 1: the time travel and the Fish out of Water and that,
Speaker 1: but like I just didn't addn't know the some of
Speaker 1: its parts. Yeah, I just didn't add up to anything
Speaker 1: that I thought was great. Also, and her name was Brooke. Wow, Wow,
Speaker 1: good memory. That was a total mistake. There was also
Speaker 1: um someone was mentioning I'll link. I've read so many pieces,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Like I can't really distinguish one writer from another.
Speaker 1: But someone mentioned in their piece from this year that
Speaker 1: this production company, which is called MPC A that produces
Speaker 1: most of these movies, they must have some connection to Chicago,
Speaker 1: because all of these movies are vaguely related to Chicago,
Speaker 1: Like there's always someone is from Chicago. And then do
Speaker 1: you remember in the first Christmas Prince movie there's an
Speaker 1: establishing shot of Chicago, but then they're in New York,
Speaker 1: like there's they're obsessed with Chicago. They show the Chicago
Speaker 1: River and then there and then it was like pizza
Speaker 1: Like You're like I'm walking here. You're like, that's not Chicago.
Speaker 1: Also doesn't doesn't the company name stand for something like
Speaker 1: motion Picture Company of America, something so generic and Corporation
Speaker 1: of America, just like you, is a fake company. The
Speaker 1: history of this company is also very weird. Okay, so
Speaker 1: they were. It was established in the year I was born.
Speaker 1: Thank you, brave Um. Good luck topping this incredible life
Speaker 1: that the Motion Picture Corporation of America's who who did
Speaker 1: it better? They did? Who did life Better? Founded in
Speaker 1: n much like caitlin Um, they made a bunch of
Speaker 1: crappy movies that didn't do well, and then they made
Speaker 1: Dumb and Dumber and so that's no good. Uh. And
Speaker 1: then they were acquired and then fifteen years passes, and
Speaker 1: then they made Beverly Hills Chihuahua too, and then they
Speaker 1: started making Netflix Christmas movies and that's that's their life.
Speaker 1: Wild really make it makes sense? I I don't know.
Speaker 1: I might be missing other stuff, but I just don't care.
Speaker 1: But either way, they're obsessed with establishing shots of Chicago,
Speaker 1: mentions of Chicago, even though the company is based in
Speaker 1: Century City in Los Angeles, So I don't know. Confusing
Speaker 1: who cares? Much like the plot of this movie, should
Speaker 1: I recap it? Good transition? Yes? Thank you, Actually, we're
Speaker 1: going to take a quick break first, and then we
Speaker 1: will come right back, and we're back alright. So I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna have to assume that you, the listeners, have
Speaker 1: watched the first movie or at least listen to our
Speaker 1: episode on it, or have some understanding of what happens
Speaker 1: in the first movie, because what happens in the second movie,
Speaker 1: you have to have an understanding of the first movie.
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna operate on that assumption that you're familiar. So, Stacy,
Speaker 1: who is the Vanessa Hudgens from Chicago who's a former baker,
Speaker 1: is married to Prince Edward, the most boring person, someone
Speaker 1: who makes King Richard looked like a fucking like interesting person,
Speaker 1: the most boring person ever committed to screen. I have
Speaker 1: more notes about him than I thought I would for
Speaker 1: this movie, but I do have a few things to
Speaker 1: say when we get there. But yes, he's so he
Speaker 1: he feel bad almost, Yeah, I don't say I almost
Speaker 1: feel bad for him because of just like how he's
Speaker 1: treated in this movie and just like because his wife
Speaker 1: clearly doesn't love him very much. Like it's like, I
Speaker 1: don't I think that like Prince Edward needs to like
Speaker 1: wake up and smell the coffee. I don't think Vanessa
Speaker 1: loves him as much as he thinks she does and
Speaker 1: smells the coco Kevin insists on making all the time.
Speaker 1: Kevin's a whole other thing like that, but Prince Edward,
Speaker 1: especially like he's so whatever that I felt bad for him.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you need to find the world's most boring
Speaker 1: person and marry them, because like, I'm not feeling it
Speaker 1: with you in Vanessa, I'm just not I have no chemistry.
Speaker 1: She's trying to get away from him all the time,
Speaker 1: and he's like, I love you hang out with me,
Speaker 1: and she's like, I can't hear you, la la la.
Speaker 1: I don't like that. So mean, and also like just
Speaker 1: don't want to marry him. There's one scene where like
Speaker 1: he's clearly trying to have sex with her because she's
Speaker 1: like blah blah blah, I'm distracted or something, I'm stressed
Speaker 1: out or something, and he's like, well, I know something
Speaker 1: we could do to take your mind off it, and
Speaker 1: then she's like, no, I'm too busy trying to get
Speaker 1: my look alike to have sex with my best friend Kevin.
Speaker 1: And she would rather like she would rather fly to
Speaker 1: Chicago from belgrave A than spend a day with her husband.
Speaker 1: And and also it's so set like that beginning they
Speaker 1: that scene, that same scene where she's like avoiding him,
Speaker 1: but it's in this way that I'm like, it's they're
Speaker 1: making it sound like she literally can't hear what he's saying, yes,
Speaker 1: which is just it's just confusing the way it's written.
Speaker 1: But he like they're both at the beginning of the scene,
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, we're so busy, and we're like with
Speaker 1: what And then later Prince Edward says literally says like,
Speaker 1: I'm not actually that busy. I just say I'm busy,
Speaker 1: so that because I feel bad because my wife is busy,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I don't think she's busy. I don't
Speaker 1: think she's busy. And she's just trying to everything and
Speaker 1: go to Chicago to like do do something that her
Speaker 1: friends don't want do this weird matchmaking thing. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: have to get divorced, like that marriage is no good anyway.
Speaker 1: They live in Belgravia together, which is apparently adjacent to
Speaker 1: Montenaro and Aldovia. And let's throw Genovia from from Princess
Speaker 1: to say, where does Genovia come into the mix? What's
Speaker 1: a movie called Princess Princess airis Diaries? Diaries? Too many
Speaker 1: princess movies. Okay, so that's Stacy. Her look alike, also
Speaker 1: played by Vanessa Hudgens, of course, is Princess Margaret, who
Speaker 1: is the person she switched places with in the first movie.
Speaker 1: And in the first movie, Margaret fell in love with
Speaker 1: Stacy's best friend, Kevin. But between the first and second movie,
Speaker 1: Kevin and Margaret have broken up. I so that's important
Speaker 1: to know. So fucking frustrating here because we had to
Speaker 1: spend a lot of the first movie rooting for Margaret
Speaker 1: and Kevin to get together, and then we just have
Speaker 1: We're expected to just do the exact same thing for
Speaker 1: the whole second movie. I'm like, I guess what, I'm
Speaker 1: not rooting. I don't care. I'm not really efficient. No
Speaker 1: one's rooting for them. I'm just like, Kevin deserves better,
Speaker 1: Margaret like they're just not. It's not I don't dis well,
Speaker 1: I kind of just like Margaret. I like Kevin, but
Speaker 1: I also think that he really, um is not very
Speaker 1: respectful of boundaries. That's a whole other thing. I just
Speaker 1: I'm like, I wish them both the best, separately, clearly
Speaker 1: together as a no go. They broke up. They broke
Speaker 1: up for a reason. I like Kevin. I don't like
Speaker 1: Margaret for Kevin. I think that Margaret and Prince Edward,
Speaker 1: who I both find to be really boring and brand,
Speaker 1: should have gotten together. Wouldn't the Royal family have been
Speaker 1: happier if they had just done that. I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: just get the two boring people married. Yeah, they're already
Speaker 1: both Royals, they understand the lifestyle. Stacy's clearly obsessed with Kevin,
Speaker 1: like that should have looked up. I guess that's the
Speaker 1: thing is, I was never really rooting for the couples
Speaker 1: that they clearly want you to root for in the
Speaker 1: first movie. I wanted the ones that they were pushing,
Speaker 1: which was Stacy, Kevin and Edward Margaret. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that makes way more sense to me. Stacy's still obsessed
Speaker 1: with who Kevin's having sex with and needs it to
Speaker 1: be someone who looks like her. Like that's projecting. That's
Speaker 1: literally like, look in the mirror, is Stacy talked to
Speaker 1: your therapist? Stacy? I it's so frustrating. They're also the
Speaker 1: whole thing with Margaret in this movie I'm Margaret is
Speaker 1: I totally agree, so so so so boring, And I
Speaker 1: feel like you could have done something way more interesting
Speaker 1: with her by even like borrowing plot points from a
Speaker 1: Christmas Prince, because a Christmas prinds well really bad at
Speaker 1: least like Amber when she's like becoming a queen, has
Speaker 1: like you learned about her trials and tribulations in the castle,
Speaker 1: and like people don't take her seriously and she has
Speaker 1: to like you know, fight for herself. In her stay
Speaker 1: tuned to Our Christmas Prince Too episode coming out later
Speaker 1: this month, she doesn't investigate a reporting like she at
Speaker 1: least like it's all super pointless and like makes no sense,
Speaker 1: but at least it's like, oh, you see, she's like
Speaker 1: fighting for herself, whereas Margaret. I would have rather have
Speaker 1: seen Margaret, like they referenced that she's having a tough
Speaker 1: time adjusting, but you don't see it ever. You like
Speaker 1: you just see her apologize to Kevin to be like sorry,
Speaker 1: I was sorry. I I have to do this thing
Speaker 1: called being the queen of a country, so I can't
Speaker 1: hang out with you at two pm on a week
Speaker 1: day like, obviously she can't. Kevin's The other weird thing
Speaker 1: happens where in the first Princess Switch movie, the reason
Speaker 1: they switch places is because Margaret like doesn't really want
Speaker 1: to be a royal. She like doesn't like the lifestyle.
Speaker 1: She doesn't like to be in the public spotlight, and
Speaker 1: that's the whole reason they switched. But then suddenly in
Speaker 1: the second movie, she's like, I was born to do this.
Speaker 1: I freaking love being a queen. She's a plot queen.
Speaker 1: But then she also still doesn't seem committed to like
Speaker 1: she doesn't seem like she wants to do it still. Also, Okay,
Speaker 1: here's a question I had that I was I told
Speaker 1: myself I had to pay attention during the first Princess
Speaker 1: Switch when I rewatched it that I was like, did
Speaker 1: her father die? Like who was the king? Was the
Speaker 1: king her father from Margaret? Yeah? And then her because
Speaker 1: they said, like the king died, the brother abdicated, and
Speaker 1: then so now Margaret is going to be the sovereign.
Speaker 1: Does that mean her father died and we just didn't
Speaker 1: didn't talk about it her father. That's what they mentioned
Speaker 1: in the opening montage of Princess Switched to right but
Speaker 1: they don't. But we don't see her deal with her
Speaker 1: father died very very recently. That's a huge thing to happen,
Speaker 1: Like we I don't think we were told by the
Speaker 1: movie they had a bad relationship. So you have to
Speaker 1: imagine she just lost a parent and is not at
Speaker 1: all affected by it, right, She's the only thing is
Speaker 1: like she put a tarp over a Christmas tree and
Speaker 1: she's like, this is how I grieve, and like, well,
Speaker 1: there's no wrong way to grieve, Margaret, but like it
Speaker 1: just is weird that they don't bring it up. And
Speaker 1: then also, I mean, also I've been watching The Crown,
Speaker 1: so they're with me here. But like, an abdication of
Speaker 1: the throne is a big fucking deal. Like people would
Speaker 1: be talking about the fact that the like where is
Speaker 1: her brother at, Like that's another plotline from Margaret. I
Speaker 1: would have been way more interested in as her struggle
Speaker 1: with her brother, being like, well, why the fund did
Speaker 1: you abdicate? You know, I didn't want to be queen
Speaker 1: and he's like I didn't want to be king, Like
Speaker 1: we hate being royals. Like it would have been so
Speaker 1: more interesting. Okay, another separate pitch than the one I
Speaker 1: was originally going to pitch for the next Princess Switch movie.
Speaker 1: What if her brother shows up but it's also played
Speaker 1: by Vanessa Hudgens genius, or her brother shows up and
Speaker 1: he's and it's Kevin, when it's a second Kevin, and
Speaker 1: then they're like, they're like, oh my god, wait, her
Speaker 1: brother looks just like her ex boyfriend. How did we
Speaker 1: not know that? And then and then it becomes a
Speaker 1: whole too gross. Yeah, that's actually nasty. But either way,
Speaker 1: there are so many directions because Margaret is canonically boring
Speaker 1: as a hell, like, give her something interesting to do,
Speaker 1: so at least we're watching a boring pers and do
Speaker 1: interesting things. That's why a Christmas Prince works. Amber is boring,
Speaker 1: but she does things that are interesting, so it's sort
Speaker 1: of like you're like, man, this is kind of interesting. Um,
Speaker 1: but Margaret is boring, and all the things that are
Speaker 1: interesting about what's happening in her life are not talked
Speaker 1: about at all. I truly like, correct me in the
Speaker 1: comments if I'm wrong, But it seems like she just
Speaker 1: lost If not her father, a very close family member,
Speaker 1: there would have been a huge political like reckoning if
Speaker 1: someone abdicated from the throne. It would just be like
Speaker 1: this should have been seasoned one of the crown for Margaret. Yeah, Instead,
Speaker 1: the only thing we get is like a couple shots
Speaker 1: of what looks like tabloids, like not even like prestige journalism,
Speaker 1: just like headlines of being like is Margaret ready to
Speaker 1: be queen? Seems like she's a mess and it's but
Speaker 1: then she's not dealing with that either, like don't you
Speaker 1: know she's being scrutinized by the tabloids and she doesn't
Speaker 1: care even though Margaret is boring, boring, boring, and every
Speaker 1: time she's on screen, I'm like, oh my god, Margaret,
Speaker 1: Like they could have done something interesting with her in
Speaker 1: a bunch of different ways, and then instead they were like, hm,
Speaker 1: what if we just repeated the exact her exact plot
Speaker 1: line from the first movie, like why you know why? Sorry?
Speaker 1: I was just I wrote down at the beginning like
Speaker 1: the top of my nose, and like, Margaret's father died,
Speaker 1: why aren't we talking about this? That's even in like
Speaker 1: a corny movie kind of way of like this is
Speaker 1: what he would have wanted or you know, like that
Speaker 1: kind of corny state. But no, sadly, no, um all right,
Speaker 1: where were we? Okay? So she goes to visit Kevin
Speaker 1: and his daughter Olivia in Chicago, and a different actor
Speaker 1: from the last movie. I thought, so yes, I was like,
Speaker 1: I but I didn't rewatch the first movie, so I
Speaker 1: wasn't sure, but I had a feeling that they recast her. Okay,
Speaker 1: So Stacy invites them to Margaret's coronation ceremony because she
Speaker 1: is about to become Queen of Montenaro, and Kevin reluctantly agrees,
Speaker 1: and then they all show up at Margaret's palace and
Speaker 1: then they all decorate it together. Margaret and Kevin start
Speaker 1: flirting by throwing flower on each other. The flower fight
Speaker 1: is so the flower fight. I'm like, okay, fine, fine, fine. Also,
Speaker 1: I'm curious on how you feel about I feel like
Speaker 1: Kevin really should have like not let himself get steamrolled
Speaker 1: by Princess Stacy when Princess Stacy rolls in, and also
Speaker 1: like she's not a good friend to him because she
Speaker 1: is like mocking him in front of his child, like Olivia.
Speaker 1: I also feel back to Olivia because Olivia should not
Speaker 1: be brought into this so much. Like first of all,
Speaker 1: the trope of like a child who's obsessed with their
Speaker 1: parents romantic life for kind of no reason. When has
Speaker 1: it ever been a thing in all of these movies?
Speaker 1: That's just cannon whatever, that's a movie trope that is
Speaker 1: just like it's neither here nor there. It's just kind
Speaker 1: of creepy and weird. But whatever, it's a plot device.
Speaker 1: But when Vanessa shows up unannounced and it's like, look
Speaker 1: at you wearing wet pants. You make me sick and
Speaker 1: you better come to Bell Gravy at like, he should
Speaker 1: have just been like no, like he shouldn't have done it.
Speaker 1: He should have called Margaret and been like, hey, Stacy
Speaker 1: is being a fucking bully because she's like obsessed with
Speaker 1: us being together for question mark reason? Is it okay
Speaker 1: if I come? Like another interesting if we have to
Speaker 1: have Kevin and Bell Gravya for this movie to happen,
Speaker 1: then when he shows up, why couldn't Margaret be like
Speaker 1: mad it's Stacy? Like there that was another thing where
Speaker 1: there's just like no conflict between Margaret and Stacy at
Speaker 1: any time when it seems like there it would be
Speaker 1: very justifiable, like Stacy is getting so into other people's
Speaker 1: businesses and no one gets mad at her I would
Speaker 1: be so mad at her if she cooked my ex
Speaker 1: to Montenaro three nights before my coronation, I'd be like, Stacy,
Speaker 1: stay out of it, like your your marriage is over
Speaker 1: there with Mr Boring. So like, there's so little conflict
Speaker 1: between them, to the point where during the part of
Speaker 1: the movie, and we'll get to this, but when they've
Speaker 1: switched again since the subtitle of the movie, and we're
Speaker 1: also very low stakes reason, like the reason they switch
Speaker 1: is so so confused about why they switch. I have
Speaker 1: so many thoughts and questions and notes about that. Thanks,
Speaker 1: there's a yeah, there's a little twist where a third
Speaker 1: Vanessa is present and she also has done a switch.
Speaker 1: So there's so little conflict between Margaret and Stacy that
Speaker 1: when Margaret goes back to who she thinks is Stacy
Speaker 1: and tries to switch back, except that who she thinks
Speaker 1: is Stacy is actually cousin Fiona. We'll explain that whole thing.
Speaker 1: Whenever this Fiona person is like, get the hell out
Speaker 1: of here, Margaret's just like, okay, I sure, even though
Speaker 1: Fiona is occupying her bedroom like that, Like Margaret gets
Speaker 1: sent away from her own bedroom and she's just like okay, honestly,
Speaker 1: that was that was iconic, Like that was like, so
Speaker 1: I was thinking that too. But then I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: first of all, Fiona is amazing, but I was kind
Speaker 1: of like the most compelling thing was I was rooting
Speaker 1: for her to successfully take the throw over market because
Speaker 1: I like, at least she wants it. At least she
Speaker 1: wants to do it, like, yeah, just let her do
Speaker 1: it whatever. But and she's also the only good Vanessa
Speaker 1: in this one. But that was so like bully older
Speaker 1: cousin move for Fiona to like gaslight Margaret so hard.
Speaker 1: She's like, I guess I'm not myself. I guess I
Speaker 1: am leaving the room. I was like, Margaret, we need to,
Speaker 1: like every Stacy and Margaret need to like go to
Speaker 1: some self esteem workshops because they're just like struggling. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. I I was also kind of like, I
Speaker 1: was really baffled by the lack of conflict between Stacy
Speaker 1: and Margaret at all. I felt like it worked against
Speaker 1: the plot. It would have been the way it would
Speaker 1: have helped the like switch level confusion. It would have
Speaker 1: been interesting if like Margaret was like, oh, maybe Stacy's
Speaker 1: not who I thought she was instead of immediately being
Speaker 1: like Stacy would never do this? Who is the third Vanessa?
Speaker 1: Like I'm not like rooting for It's it's it's I
Speaker 1: don't know. It's like one of those things where these
Speaker 1: movies are so bad it's almost like, well, what kind
Speaker 1: of yardstick is this? But sometimes I feel like people
Speaker 1: think they're making a feminist choice by like having two
Speaker 1: female characters have zero conflict, when it's like, no, just
Speaker 1: treat them equally. Don't like make the reason that there's
Speaker 1: a conflict be extremely gendered and irrational. There's a very
Speaker 1: there's a very like I feel like, a very obvious
Speaker 1: reason why they would be in conflict at multiple points
Speaker 1: in this movie, but it just never happens. They're like, nope, besties,
Speaker 1: I let myself get pushed around by Stacy for no reason,
Speaker 1: like right, yeah, like Margaret could be like stop meddling
Speaker 1: in my love life and yeah I should go to
Speaker 1: therapy like get like Stacey. Yeah, I'm just like none
Speaker 1: of the Vanessa's are are okay, Um, but the third
Speaker 1: Vanessa is amazing and we're about to get to her,
Speaker 1: so okay, yes, but before we do, um, so we
Speaker 1: see Kevin and Margaret start to kind of like flirt again.
Speaker 1: It's but but then we meet Antonio, who is Margaret's
Speaker 1: chief of staff, and he is in love with Margaret
Speaker 1: and he's like, you're great, I'm so happy to be
Speaker 1: serving you. Blah blah blah blah blah, unnecessary, get rid
Speaker 1: of it. But also he looked like British Jared Kushner
Speaker 1: like he I was like, Anto, what is going on
Speaker 1: with Antonio? He is clearly bad news, just by the
Speaker 1: way he's like, He's the only person in this movie
Speaker 1: I'm convinced is actually British. Also, like with the scenes
Speaker 1: with the henchman, I'm like, are none of these people?
Speaker 1: I didn't look it up, but I'm like, it seems
Speaker 1: like no one is British. I tried to look up
Speaker 1: the two people who play Mindy and Reggie FA's henchman.
Speaker 1: There's there. They're off the grid. I just couldn't find
Speaker 1: anything about them. I don't know, especially the male henchman.
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't His accent was so over
Speaker 1: the top that I'm like, it sounds like he's doing
Speaker 1: the same thing Vanessa is. I don't know. And then
Speaker 1: the hench the hench person that looked like Sar Sharon
Speaker 1: In was just distracting because she looked so much like
Speaker 1: Sar Sharonin. Um. I will say that Reggie, the one Henchman,
Speaker 1: is the best character of the film. He but I
Speaker 1: don't think he's British. Did you ever watch The Only
Speaker 1: Way Is Essex or any of those like trashy British
Speaker 1: like Jersey Shore, except like British. No, I haven't. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, they're terrible shows. They're amazing because there's another
Speaker 1: one called like Jordy Shore. I think, um that one.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen that one. I think is maybe even
Speaker 1: more trashy than The Only Way Is Essex. But I've
Speaker 1: only seen that one anyway. I used to watch them
Speaker 1: with my friend British Martha. But the two characters who
Speaker 1: are the two hench people, Reggie and Mindy, especially Reggie,
Speaker 1: feel to me like actors who would be in a
Speaker 1: very trashy British reality show like The Only Way Is Essex.
Speaker 1: Maybe he is Britain. Maybe my my view of Britain
Speaker 1: the UK as to myopic and I just don't know. Well,
Speaker 1: they have way more like kind of working class British accents,
Speaker 1: so maybe that's I don't know. To our British listeners,
Speaker 1: could you shed some light these actors are British. Uh
Speaker 1: believe your answers in the comments. I genuinely I could
Speaker 1: be totally off here, but I think it's I was
Speaker 1: also thrown by how clearly fake Vaness's British accent is.
Speaker 1: Maybe they are British and they're just trying to match
Speaker 1: her so that they all like there could be a
Speaker 1: lot of things going on here. Either way. The best
Speaker 1: chemistry in the movie as between Vanessa and the Hene people,
Speaker 1: bar none, best, incredible, perfect. Okay, so we've met Antonio,
Speaker 1: he's in love with Margaret. Then there's this ball, because
Speaker 1: there's of course like five Christmas events. There's a concert,
Speaker 1: there's a ball, there's a coordination, there's an airport wedding.
Speaker 1: Can't wait to get to that. But at the ball
Speaker 1: we meet a third Vanessa Hudgens. She is blonde. She
Speaker 1: is part of the royal family because she is cousins
Speaker 1: with Margaret, but she's like not in the line of
Speaker 1: succession for queen or something like that. But her name
Speaker 1: is Fiona Pembroke. I just confirmed that Reggie is British.
Speaker 1: He's a British soap opera actor. Oh wow, I had
Speaker 1: a feeling he might have been authentically British. He is British,
Speaker 1: and he's and he knows how to do camp. He's
Speaker 1: a he's a goddamn soap character. So there you go.
Speaker 1: Incredible friends, all right. Anyways, So Fiona Pembroke, she's an
Speaker 1: incredible character. She and Reggie to me or like tied
Speaker 1: for first place best character. That scene where Reggie steal
Speaker 1: really aggressively steals a wallet from someone, like it was
Speaker 1: my I rewatched that show three times. I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, what a bold move. Because she which What
Speaker 1: Fiona does is she brings her hinge people who love
Speaker 1: to take pictures against um, what do you call them?
Speaker 1: Those backgrounds, those photo backgrounds, um Stepan repeats, um. But
Speaker 1: she has her hench people just like pick pockets at
Speaker 1: public events so that she can maintain her lifestyle. It's
Speaker 1: a really bad plan, but it was fun. It was
Speaker 1: fun to watch Reggie just pick pocketing everybody. It was great.
Speaker 1: He's not good at it. And then no later when
Speaker 1: they're like huddled together in what appears to be just
Speaker 1: a completely empty dark castle, the Pembroke Estate. Uh, They're
Speaker 1: like they can't even they can't even keep the lights
Speaker 1: on there. They haven't stolen enough. Wallet's like they're like
Speaker 1: unloading their hall of the stuff they have stolen that
Speaker 1: evening at this ball and this movie is comedy gold,
Speaker 1: especially in this scene because one of them has stolen
Speaker 1: a roll of toilet paper and she's like in in
Speaker 1: Fiona Vanessa Hudgens is like, this isn't gonna help pay
Speaker 1: for our summer in whatever place that we're gonna go.
Speaker 1: He's like, but it's double play, and she's like, I
Speaker 1: don't care, and he's like, don't you understand it's double play?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, this is the best joke I've ever
Speaker 1: seen in a movie. It's not my favorite joke, I
Speaker 1: guess at the end of my sentence, but I did.
Speaker 1: I did think this movie was genuinely like I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's all these movies are slightly They're enjoyable
Speaker 1: to me in slightly different ways and then also not
Speaker 1: enjoyable at all. But I feel like part of what
Speaker 1: makes A Christmas Prints funny is that it doesn't seem
Speaker 1: to re alize that it's funny. But the Princess Switch
Speaker 1: movies are being funny on purpose, and I'm kind of laughing.
Speaker 1: So I'm laughing quite a bit. And and and it
Speaker 1: was written by two women, Robin bernheim Berger and Megan Metzker.
Speaker 1: So there, that's why it's a feminist text, just getting
Speaker 1: women in comedy. You love to see it hilarious. I
Speaker 1: did laugh at several points in this movie. Oh wait, no, wait, yes, yes, okay,
Speaker 1: now at that same ball Okay, I wanted to know
Speaker 1: if you I was. I wanted to text you about it,
Speaker 1: but then I'm like, no, I'm going to save it
Speaker 1: for the pod. There's I watched it with Isaac and
Speaker 1: there was like a scene where I'm like, huh, Kevin
Speaker 1: and Margaret. Kevin like cuts in with Antonio and it's
Speaker 1: like I have a dance with blah blah blah because
Speaker 1: he's like Mr smooth cool Chicago Baker whatever, right, he
Speaker 1: had Margaret are dancing, and then at one point they
Speaker 1: stopped dancing and start just inning around in a circle.
Speaker 1: Did you notice that that I didn't. I rewatched the
Speaker 1: scene like four times because they start out dancing, everyone
Speaker 1: is slow dance like whatever. It's all vaguely royal, and
Speaker 1: you're like, I know what this scene is. And then
Speaker 1: at some point they stopped doing the dancing, and then
Speaker 1: they just have their hands on each other's shoulders and
Speaker 1: they're continuing to talk and they're turning just in a circle.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna, honestly, I'm going to get the time code
Speaker 1: so I can just like explain to you like it
Speaker 1: was continue, but I'm gonna stop and just show you
Speaker 1: what we're talking about, because I can hear what I
Speaker 1: sound like right now. But I swear to God, Jamie,
Speaker 1: I believe you. I swear to God. They just start
Speaker 1: turning in a circle, and it's so okay, amazing. Sorry, um,
Speaker 1: let's take another quick break and then we will be
Speaker 1: right back. And we're back, okay. So then Antonio professes
Speaker 1: his feelings for Margaret outright, and then he tells Kevin
Speaker 1: that Kevin is getting in the way of Margaret's happiness,
Speaker 1: which Kevin's daughter Olivia overhears. So then she goes to
Speaker 1: Stacy Margaret out of school anytime. Her dad's horny, like
Speaker 1: what is this? What's going on? Right? And it's like
Speaker 1: maybe it's her like holiday break from school. I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know how long they're there for. I'm going
Speaker 1: to need that specified because I'm like, we need Olivia
Speaker 1: in school, we need her like less in Belgravia with
Speaker 1: her dad's ex like involving her on Kevin's end first,
Speaker 1: I know for the movie it makes sense, been involving
Speaker 1: her on Kevin's end is so irresponsible. Your child should
Speaker 1: not be involved in your love life to this extent,
Speaker 1: Like your child should not be coming with you on
Speaker 1: like Operation Get Her Back. Like that's just not that's
Speaker 1: bad parenting. It would be. It would be one thing
Speaker 1: if within the context of a movie, there was like
Speaker 1: a stronger motivation established for her, if she was like,
Speaker 1: I want to be a princess. That's why I have
Speaker 1: such a vested interest in, like my dad marrying this
Speaker 1: queen to be. But there's absolutely no motivation established for
Speaker 1: her whatsoever. So it just feels weird and creepy, creepier
Speaker 1: than it already is. And it's not like it's not
Speaker 1: like she's like, oh, Margaret has such an amazing personality,
Speaker 1: Like we know that's not true. Um, how should I
Speaker 1: do this? So I just show you my computer screen?
Speaker 1: I have it already, Um, just let me know the
Speaker 1: time code. The time code is around just go to
Speaker 1: twenty one minutes and y'all start to see what I'm
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. They start by, I've never seen
Speaker 1: a dance like this where it starts as dancing and
Speaker 1: then it just turns into slow spinning while continuing to
Speaker 1: I'm seeing it, And then they do a wider shot
Speaker 1: of it and it looks even weirder because are just like,
Speaker 1: no one else is doing that, it's just them. That's incredible.
Speaker 1: There's there's turning in a circle and he's going, maybe
Speaker 1: we could hang out as friends, and I'm like, why
Speaker 1: aren't you dancing anymore? What's happening? I wonder if they
Speaker 1: like they had to learn like an actual ballroom dance,
Speaker 1: but it was too complicated for both of them to
Speaker 1: do the dance and deliver their lines. So they're like,
Speaker 1: we're just gonna spend uh. We know, I mean, Vanessa
Speaker 1: Hudgens is confirmed and not a good dancer. We've known
Speaker 1: this since high school musical two thousand six, so not
Speaker 1: to not to put around blast, but you know it
Speaker 1: is true. Yeah, so that happens. Sorry, that was just
Speaker 1: like a big bump for me, I was like, well,
Speaker 1: where where are we? What's happening? Okay, thank you for
Speaker 1: sharing that. I don't know if I would have noticed otherwise,
Speaker 1: how would you survive that? Truly? Um? Okay? So Olivia
Speaker 1: has overheard uh Antonio, Bully and Kevin basically, so she
Speaker 1: goes to Stacy and Mark Egaret and proposes that they
Speaker 1: switch places again so that Stacy can do Margaret's queen
Speaker 1: duties at the like Christmas concert that night or whatever
Speaker 1: or like the following day, and Margaret can still Like,
Speaker 1: here's the thing, Margaret Stay stays herself, the only one, okay.
Speaker 1: So the whole reason for this switch is so that
Speaker 1: Margaret and Kevin can have some alone time together. So
Speaker 1: it's really just Stacy masquerading as Margaret in public so
Speaker 1: that Margaret has the time to be alone with Kevin.
Speaker 1: So there's a makeover montage of course, when which all
Speaker 1: the Vanessa Hudgens is switch place. But because they're doing
Speaker 1: this whole switch so that Margaret can have alone time
Speaker 1: with Kevin, Kevin knows that he is spending time with Margaret.
Speaker 1: The only person that is seeing Margaret as Stay see
Speaker 1: is Kevin, so there's no reason that they needed to
Speaker 1: actually switch places all the way. Yeah, absolutely, you're totally right.
Speaker 1: You're totally right because he knows, he knows he's spending
Speaker 1: time with Margaret. But even so, she dresses as Stacy,
Speaker 1: which just makes the whole thing weirder because now he's like, well,
Speaker 1: the woman I love now has like the hair and
Speaker 1: clothes of my best friend, which wouldn't that be weird
Speaker 1: for him? Like, I just don't. Also, this is this
Speaker 1: is again I'm overthinking as by a trillion, But were
Speaker 1: I putting myself in the shoes of either Kevin or Edward,
Speaker 1: first of all, I would not be involved with any
Speaker 1: of these Vanessas like these Vanessa's only bring chaos, um,
Speaker 1: but I would be constantly like, I think it would
Speaker 1: almost be like probably a problem in the relationship. I
Speaker 1: would constantly be carding Vanessa. I'd be like, can you
Speaker 1: show me some idea? Like who are you like? Edward,
Speaker 1: especially who is somehow like both obsessed with his wife
Speaker 1: and has no idea what she looks like because he
Speaker 1: like So that was when I started feeling less bad
Speaker 1: for Edward. I'm like, well, he doesn't even know what
Speaker 1: his wife looks like. What's wrong with this guy? Like
Speaker 1: Mary kay Nashley's boyfriend's husband's whomever. Like they can always
Speaker 1: tell the difference. Those French boys met them one time before,
Speaker 1: and they knew exactly which one was Mary Kayton, which
Speaker 1: one was Ashley. You know which Vanessa you're married to?
Speaker 1: Is all I'm saying, Like it's just another strike against
Speaker 1: that marriage. And then also Kevin at the end, who's
Speaker 1: been We'll get there, but like, particularly if I were Kevin,
Speaker 1: after what he goes through in this he granted he
Speaker 1: should never have come, but after what he goes through
Speaker 1: in this saga, I would have been like, Okay, before
Speaker 1: I marry you at the airport, can you just like,
Speaker 1: can you just confirm which Vanessa you are? Please stop
Speaker 1: asking me to take your word for it, because it
Speaker 1: doesn't work, you know, Like yeah, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: would just be like, I'm sorry, Like I'm sure at
Speaker 1: least one of the Vanessas is a lovely person, but
Speaker 1: I just need to like remove myself from the whole
Speaker 1: Vanessa situation because it's too much, so confused, and it's
Speaker 1: so confusing. Why does Margaret go through the trouble of
Speaker 1: dressing as Stacy when the only person who is going
Speaker 1: to see her is Kevin, who knows that she is
Speaker 1: still Margaret doesn't. The place they go to is a
Speaker 1: abandoned Christmas festival. No one's there, no literally that He's like,
Speaker 1: let's go to the Christmas festival and then there's zero
Speaker 1: people there, but it's open. It's like how many people
Speaker 1: live in Montenaro? Is it? Six? Queen of if you
Speaker 1: want to, I'm just like, if you really want some
Speaker 1: alone time, wouldn't you like spend a like romantic evening together,
Speaker 1: like just like not building snowman's together. And what feels
Speaker 1: like a very platonic Vanisa, Well, that's just like a
Speaker 1: casting issue. Vanessa has never had any chemistry with this
Speaker 1: actor wait what is his name? Um? But she's never
Speaker 1: had any chemistry with this guy. So no matter which
Speaker 1: Vanessa it is, she doesn't have chemistry with him. And
Speaker 1: I mean, and if you don't think she has chemistry
Speaker 1: with him, wait till you see her in chemistry, like
Speaker 1: like do you know these people? She's allegedly known both
Speaker 1: of these actors for like at least three years. Um.
Speaker 1: But also, oh my god, no wait uh, the guy
Speaker 1: who plays Kevin is also kind of untraceable. He doesn't
Speaker 1: have a Wikipedia page. What is his deal? Oh he's
Speaker 1: he's British. Wait, this is so confused. Kevin is British?
Speaker 1: This is make it makes sense, It'll never will never,
Speaker 1: So Kevin's secretly British. That's also a better plot point. Um,
Speaker 1: but no, yeah, he revealed the whole time. I'm part
Speaker 1: of the royal family. You're like, wait, I'm not to
Speaker 1: Baker adoll um. But also to your point of how
Speaker 1: nonsensical it is to have them switch. It would first
Speaker 1: of all, be a better date if they were in private,
Speaker 1: and also there would be no need, like there would
Speaker 1: be no there'd be zero steaks, no need to switch.
Speaker 1: There'd be zero steaks if there wasn't even no risk
Speaker 1: of her getting caught in public. But then there's no
Speaker 1: risk of her getting caught in public because they went
Speaker 1: to an abandoned carnival. The more I think about it,
Speaker 1: the less anything makes sense. Yeah, the steaks are on
Speaker 1: the floor with Margaret and Stacy are subterranean. Meanwhile, Fiona,
Speaker 1: they couldn't be higher. Everything's writing on this, Okay, So
Speaker 1: Margaret and Stacy agree to this completely unnecessary switch. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Fiona is hatching a plan of her own to pretend
Speaker 1: to be Margaret so that she can get access to
Speaker 1: Margaret's royal money and steal some of it. That's how
Speaker 1: it works, you get the royal pin number on the
Speaker 1: day coronations. Okay, the stakes are higher for her, but
Speaker 1: her storyline still makes no sense because it was not
Speaker 1: at all clear to me why she needed to go
Speaker 1: through with the coronation ceremony to gain access to the
Speaker 1: money she could have just because reasons, it makes sense
Speaker 1: that she was still that she would still need to
Speaker 1: kind of masquerade as Margaret for a little while to
Speaker 1: like hack into her bank account or whatever, but to
Speaker 1: do the whole coronation, I was like, that's not necessary.
Speaker 1: It definitely isn't no um the same way. But I
Speaker 1: also was just like, I feel like this movie really
Speaker 1: is a case study of like how much nonsense you'll
Speaker 1: put up with based on how much you are personally
Speaker 1: invested into character, Because no one's storyline makes sense. But
Speaker 1: I'm rooting for Fiona why because she's interesting. She's so
Speaker 1: she's the only Vanessa whose plotline isn't connected to like
Speaker 1: a man like. She's just like I'm trying to. I mean, granted,
Speaker 1: she's trying to steal the throne, but you know, it's
Speaker 1: like she's going to be literally what she's gonna be,
Speaker 1: a queen of fourteen people. Margaret did not want the job,
Speaker 1: except she suddenly does in this movie, which is I
Speaker 1: mean talking about a switch. That's the real switch. Completely yeah,
Speaker 1: the completely out of nowhere motivation switch of Margaret's character
Speaker 1: from the first movie to the second movie. That's what
Speaker 1: the princess switch should be about. But I like that Fiona.
Speaker 1: I like the Fiona justifies She's like, oh no, I
Speaker 1: could totally look like Margaret. Look it, here's a picture
Speaker 1: of me from my Ariana phase and it's like a
Speaker 1: picture of her as Vanessa Hudgens and the hench people
Speaker 1: are like, oh, totally yeah. And then Sarsha goes like
Speaker 1: nuclear and is like Okay, here's what we have to do,
Speaker 1: and like starts training her to be a princess, even
Speaker 1: though it's like, um, last time I checked, Sarsha, you
Speaker 1: are a hench person, so I don't know what you
Speaker 1: know about. And Fiona is again part of the royal family.
Speaker 1: She might be like I don't know if she's like
Speaker 1: a duchess or something, but she's like she would know
Speaker 1: more a royal. Right, she lives in in a state
Speaker 1: that doesn't have electricity, but you know, in a state nonetheless,
Speaker 1: she could still flip it. Uh, that's another story. This
Speaker 1: is just becoming a story notes podcast over time, but
Speaker 1: another story note that I had that another yet another
Speaker 1: thing that could make Margaret one percent interesting is like
Speaker 1: the only connection we know about, like I keep wanting
Speaker 1: to save Fiona and Margaret are that their cousins and
Speaker 1: we know nothing about what their actual relationship is as cousins.
Speaker 1: Like I thought it could I wrote down it could
Speaker 1: have been interesting if like maybe Fiona brings out Margaret's
Speaker 1: wild side and they used to like have fun to
Speaker 1: get there and they had a close relationship, but then
Speaker 1: something happened and now they're estranged, and like that would
Speaker 1: give some sort of connection on like it would make
Speaker 1: it even funnier slash maybe wouldn't be as funny if
Speaker 1: Fiona bullied Margaret like she does. Um, But it's like
Speaker 1: there is no we have no indication of We just
Speaker 1: know their cousins. We don't know what their relationship is, Like,
Speaker 1: we don't know if they have any fun memories together. Like,
Speaker 1: I just felt like contextualizing that a little bit would
Speaker 1: have given us a stronger, I mean a stronger connection
Speaker 1: with a female character than Margaret has with Stacy, who
Speaker 1: she just like trusts without questioning, even though Stacy is
Speaker 1: a disaster just because they look exactly alike, which is
Speaker 1: not a basis for trust and a friendship. Watch any
Speaker 1: Marry Kane Nashley movie. They always fight. Uh, there's always
Speaker 1: conflict and then it's resolved. That's how twin movies work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's like we don't know anything about like
Speaker 1: I wanted. I was like, oh, it would have been
Speaker 1: fun if Margaret's like, oh, I don't hang out with
Speaker 1: Fiona anymore because just things would always get wild when
Speaker 1: she's around, and I'm just not myself around Fiona. I
Speaker 1: just like it would have been fun. That's a great uh, Like,
Speaker 1: that's great backstory for them. The only other thing we
Speaker 1: know about Fiona because we don't know much about her character,
Speaker 1: but with the one thing we do learn is that
Speaker 1: her father also died maybe recently they could talk about
Speaker 1: they could bond over the loss, the grieving process. You know,
Speaker 1: there's there's all kinds of stuff and apparently, like I mean,
Speaker 1: wouldn't like the king have been Fiona's uncle, Like that's
Speaker 1: also right, it would be grieving the same two people,
Speaker 1: that's true, right, she Yeah, why didn't they say each
Speaker 1: other at the funeral? Why didn't Fiona? Did Fiona not
Speaker 1: go to the king's funeral? And wouldn't that have caused
Speaker 1: a scandal, not only a scandal in the family, but
Speaker 1: like a public scandal. Someone hire me at a Balgravy
Speaker 1: in newspaper, Like there's a lot going on here and
Speaker 1: no one is writing about it? What like the pot
Speaker 1: I got really too fixated on the politics of Bulgravia
Speaker 1: and Aldovia in this one uh this year, and it's
Speaker 1: like everything is a disaster. But yeah, again, that's that.
Speaker 1: I didn't even think of that, the fact that they
Speaker 1: both recently lost parents who would have been each other's uncle's. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: it's because they play off Fiona's father's death as a joke,
Speaker 1: because Stacy is like, you mean Percival Pembroke who died
Speaker 1: of a peanut allergy, and that whole thing is just
Speaker 1: like how is supposed to be? That's not funny. Oh,
Speaker 1: not to backtrack to the beginning of the movie, But
Speaker 1: did you find the opening montage to be very aggressive?
Speaker 1: Because I found it to be very aggressive, in ghastly
Speaker 1: in a way that was like maybe lap but it
Speaker 1: was like, so the beginning is animated, and it's just
Speaker 1: recapping the previous movie, which I do appreciate because everyone
Speaker 1: watching it needs that because it's not a memorable movie. Um,
Speaker 1: but the way that it's written and the way Vanessa
Speaker 1: a Diden to read it, it's really aggressive, and she goes,
Speaker 1: of course, you probably remember that. My name is Stacy
Speaker 1: and I'm from Chicago, and naturally you remember Kevin. And
Speaker 1: then like every time something happens, you're like, no, I
Speaker 1: don't remember that. No, I don't remember that. No, I
Speaker 1: don't remember that, and Stacy is just like being She's
Speaker 1: like and naturally you would be remiss not to remember Margaret,
Speaker 1: and you're like, I don't remember that. Like it was
Speaker 1: just I know it was a joke, and I feel
Speaker 1: like it's the movie acknowledging how now like ridiculously unmemorable
Speaker 1: the first movie was. But I found it to be
Speaker 1: a really aggressive way to start. And then it goes like,
Speaker 1: and of course you know that the King is dead,
Speaker 1: and of course you know that the prince abdicated the throne,
Speaker 1: and you're like, well, I really don't really don't never
Speaker 1: happened on screen. Is anyone going to be sad about that?
Speaker 1: Is anyone? No? No, it doesn't matter anyway. As the beginning,
Speaker 1: it was just like the beginning, like v O, I
Speaker 1: was like, stop yelling at me, like it's not my fault.
Speaker 1: Your movie sucked and I don't remember anything from it. Jeez.
Speaker 1: Oh it really sets the tone though, Okay, it really does. Yes,
Speaker 1: So Fiona is hatching her plan to become Margaret so
Speaker 1: that she can gain access to the throne to steal
Speaker 1: the money, right, okay, so then so then Stacy becomes
Speaker 1: Margaret for the night, Margaret becomes Stacy, and they proceed
Speaker 1: with their plan. Everything seems like it's going to be
Speaker 1: fine until Fiona shows up, also pretending to be Margaret,
Speaker 1: and she abducts Stacy, who Fiona thinks is Margaret. Because
Speaker 1: I am this seed, this is like the only like
Speaker 1: one of the only parts where I'm like, okay, this
Speaker 1: is like kind of compelling, and then it like falls
Speaker 1: apart really quickly. But but when search up, it's like
Speaker 1: the chemical rag over Vanessa's mouth. You're like, WHOA, that
Speaker 1: escalated really quickly. I didn't think that they were going to, like,
Speaker 1: you know, actually like really commit a crime against a Vanessa,
Speaker 1: but they did. Well, it's not Sarsha, it is Vanessa
Speaker 1: Hudgens chloriforming herself. That's iconic, like and in an incredible
Speaker 1: piece of cinema. You have to admit that is like
Speaker 1: pretty amazing. It's it's incredible, it's brilliant writing. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they commit a pretty serious felony in this movie, which
Speaker 1: which Fiona only get a slight slap on the wrist floor.
Speaker 1: I do love that, and Tonio goes to the dungeon
Speaker 1: and Fiona gets community service. Again iconic, Like, clearly there's
Speaker 1: some nepotism I play here maybe, um okay, So now
Speaker 1: Fiona has taken the place of Margaret and abducted Stacy
Speaker 1: because of this whole comedy of errors thing. Then Margaret
Speaker 1: shows back up at the end of the night after
Speaker 1: her night with Kevin where they platonically build snow people together,
Speaker 1: and Margaret goes to the person who who she thinks
Speaker 1: is Stacy, but of course it's really Fiona, and Fiona
Speaker 1: to Margaret is like, Stacy, get out of here. And
Speaker 1: Margaret's like, wait a minute, Stacy, the game is up.
Speaker 1: What are you talking about? It's time to switch back.
Speaker 1: And then this is when Fiona kicks Margaret out of
Speaker 1: her own bedroom, wrecking balls. Margaret's like entire life and
Speaker 1: sense of self in a single scene. And I was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, why am I cheering her on? But
Speaker 1: I still was. I was like, Fiona, you're amazing. Like
Speaker 1: she she's such a villain. She's like a perfect villain.
Speaker 1: She's like trying on the crown like and then she
Speaker 1: flings it into a Christmas tree, she like frisbees it in,
Speaker 1: and then she's like, get out of here, Margaret, you're
Speaker 1: not the queen. And she's like oh okay, oh it's
Speaker 1: so good. Yeah, Fiona. There's a there's a moment where
Speaker 1: Fiona is staring at herself in the mirror, wearing Margaret's crown,
Speaker 1: laughing maniacally and being like off with their heads, and
Speaker 1: it's just like You're like, yeah, off with their heads?
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, it's really hard to get me to the
Speaker 1: route for um, you know, character this privilege. But Fiona
Speaker 1: is really cool. I'm you know, I'm really I really
Speaker 1: wish that she had taken the crown because clearly Margaret doesn't.
Speaker 1: I mean, if anything, it proves the fact that Margaret
Speaker 1: is not fit to rule. It's the fact that she got,
Speaker 1: you know, steamrolled by her own cousin out of her
Speaker 1: own identity in less than a minute. Like, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: not the constitution of someone who could run a country.
Speaker 1: It's just not happened to you. What's gonna happen to
Speaker 1: you in the Royal Court? You're going to be a
Speaker 1: disaster anyway. Yeah, you if you have no sense of self?
Speaker 1: Where where are your convictions? Where is your where's your
Speaker 1: sense of anything? Where's your Like I guess her only
Speaker 1: staff is Antonio and she's constantly refusing his help, but
Speaker 1: which granted, ends up being a good idea because he's
Speaker 1: also a villain. But like she keeps being like it's
Speaker 1: so confusing because she's like, I don't know how to
Speaker 1: be a queen and this is really confusing. But then
Speaker 1: whenever she's offered help, she's like, I don't want help,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, so, do you just want to be
Speaker 1: like a bad queen? Like what do you what do
Speaker 1: you want it's also a weird dynamic because like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he is her advisor, but he's also constantly throwing himself
Speaker 1: at her. So that would that would give me some
Speaker 1: kind of like imposter syndrome like something. But if I
Speaker 1: were Margaret and I were the fucking queen, I mean,
Speaker 1: I know, I'm like putting a lot on her, but
Speaker 1: I'm like, she can fire him and hire an advisor
Speaker 1: she trusts happens in Christmas prints all the time. They
Speaker 1: like lose them, like Defense against the Dark Arts Professors.
Speaker 1: There's a new one every movie, like you can you
Speaker 1: can fire Antonio, Like right, she's the queen, like I
Speaker 1: just and again, it's like if that dynamic were explored
Speaker 1: at all, of like, oh, I really need to like
Speaker 1: you know, become more assertive and I need to stop
Speaker 1: worrying about pleasing other people and like do what I
Speaker 1: know is right for my country. Like that's a compelling
Speaker 1: narrative to send her on like and I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: so judge of her if I thought that that was
Speaker 1: being done to tell a story, but it isn't there.
Speaker 1: She's just like she's just I'm like just fire and
Speaker 1: literally fire and fire, and wie to him and be like, sorry,
Speaker 1: things aren't going to work out side of my hands,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna hire someone qualified. You know, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: hire side out. She could have someone else on her
Speaker 1: staff because she's going to have a large staff if
Speaker 1: she's about to be queen. She can get someone else
Speaker 1: to fire him. She never even has to talk to Antoni.
Speaker 1: It's so confusing. And the hire Simon. Simon's right over
Speaker 1: there in Aldovia. Oh, cousin Simon, cousin Simon. At turns
Speaker 1: out he really redeems himself. You know that Simon can
Speaker 1: be trusted, So you know, hire Simon. He's got experience,
Speaker 1: and um, you don't need Antonio. Hire a woman in
Speaker 1: this position like Vanessa hudgens Is. You're like whatever, but
Speaker 1: don't just be like, oh, this is so awkward with Antonio.
Speaker 1: I wish I could do something. It's like you, you,
Speaker 1: you have more power than anyone to do something about it. Literally,
Speaker 1: you're like the only person who can, so you gotta
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah, okay. So then so now that there's
Speaker 1: like this snag and Fiona's plan, she has to act
Speaker 1: more quickly. This means she has to move the coronation
Speaker 1: ceremony to that night, but first she cancels her dinner
Speaker 1: plans with Kevin, who who had just had this lovely
Speaker 1: evening building snow people with so so Fiona still pretending
Speaker 1: to me, Margaret tells Kevin that things are over between them,
Speaker 1: and he's devastated and he heads to the airport. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the real Margaret goes to Prince Edward, who has just
Speaker 1: been like bumbling around this entire movie, not aware of
Speaker 1: where he is or who his wife is, and he's
Speaker 1: just been gas lit by so many people. And then
Speaker 1: he asks Vanessa for help and he never receives the
Speaker 1: help he asks for that was when I was truly
Speaker 1: at my most sympathetic for Prince Edward is when he
Speaker 1: asks well and least because you're like, you can't tell
Speaker 1: that's your wife? Yikes. Um, But also half the time
Speaker 1: I can't either. There's sometimes where I'm like, wait, who
Speaker 1: is that? But um, I think they should have made
Speaker 1: a little bit more difference in the hair because sometimes
Speaker 1: I'm like, mm, all the accents are so fake. Um.
Speaker 1: The only thing that gets me to figure out who
Speaker 1: is who is that? Margaret always wears like a deep
Speaker 1: red lipstick and usually more I make up, but not
Speaker 1: as much I make up as Fiona. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: know they all have to kind of look like Vanessa Hudgens,
Speaker 1: but like it does get refusing. There should be more. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there should be like a greater visual signifier of like
Speaker 1: which one is which. I did feel bad for Prince
Speaker 1: Edward when he was drinking coco just in the middle
Speaker 1: of an empty room and was like, like, my wife
Speaker 1: doesn't want to hang out with me. I'm so sad.
Speaker 1: I'm not even that busy. I'm lying about being busy.
Speaker 1: Being a king isn't even that hard, Like, oh, this sucks.
Speaker 1: And then he's talking to his wife and and she's like,
Speaker 1: oh um, it'll probably all work out, and you're like,
Speaker 1: that's all you got. Oh, it's sad. I felt bad
Speaker 1: for him in that scene. I was like, Edward, just
Speaker 1: move on, man. Well, My main note for him was
Speaker 1: that not that I even appreciate this per se, because
Speaker 1: I don't like it when, like any character who because
Speaker 1: he seems like a pretty kind, decent man, seem like
Speaker 1: a bad person to boring, boring and unaware of his surroundings.
Speaker 1: But parents are probably cousins, he's royal. You know, and
Speaker 1: they're probably dead, maybe from a peanut allergy. Who can say,
Speaker 1: but parents peanuts, parents peanut. Um. What I noticed, I suppose,
Speaker 1: is that in most movies that revolve around a romantic storyline,
Speaker 1: and there is also a some kind of like lie
Speaker 1: or bet or like game component to the romance where
Speaker 1: a character is being lied to about what's really happening.
Speaker 1: It's usually a woman who is like the victim of
Speaker 1: this lie, so for that to be switched a little
Speaker 1: bit and it's it's Edward who is constantly being lied
Speaker 1: to and gas lit. Again, I don't like to see it.
Speaker 1: The thing is, like, it's like I I don't like
Speaker 1: when people like writers are like, oh, I'm not you know,
Speaker 1: they invert it instead of subverting it where they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: let's just do a fucking Oceans twelve of this plot point,
Speaker 1: Like you're like, it's still not compelling. I felt the
Speaker 1: same way about Kevin and the sweatpants, Like I feel
Speaker 1: like that's usually a plot point that's like taken against
Speaker 1: a female character who went through a breakup, and they're like,
Speaker 1: get yourself together, you're wearing sweatpants. You have to like
Speaker 1: get him back. And I think that oh yeah, and
Speaker 1: he's also like I'm going to get another cat and
Speaker 1: it's like, come on, like sweatpants and they're like, oh
Speaker 1: but it's a cat daddy, and you're like it's still
Speaker 1: like no, like what, well we're trying to say. It's like,
Speaker 1: let's do one better for everybody, Like yeah, every time
Speaker 1: they it's just such a lazy laziness to I mean,
Speaker 1: but these movies are lazy. So I wasn't like outraged,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, yeah, Kevin and Edward are both kind
Speaker 1: of like treated how women in this genre are often treated,
Speaker 1: which is interesting, but it's still bad writing. But it's
Speaker 1: not like good writing to take a stereotype and then
Speaker 1: just gender flip it. That's not creating. Stop doing that.
Speaker 1: Like yeah, but in this genre, I guess it makes
Speaker 1: that I don't like it, but it's like I guess
Speaker 1: I'm not, like, why isn't this movie better written? Like
Speaker 1: you know why? But yeah, I totally agree. I was.
Speaker 1: I find Edward he's just sipping cocoa. He's he's wearing
Speaker 1: sweatpants spiritually literally right, he might be literally wearing a tuxedo,
Speaker 1: but spiritually he's also a sad sweatpants cat Daddy. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like you said, are as an audience, our expectations need
Speaker 1: to be as low as the stakes are for Stacy
Speaker 1: and Margaret, which is like basement level apartment style. Um. Alright, So,
Speaker 1: so Fiona has sabotage Kevin's relationship with Margaret. Meanwhile, the
Speaker 1: real Margaret goes to Prince Edward and tells him and
Speaker 1: her the other few members of her staff that she
Speaker 1: does have about the situation. And then they figure out
Speaker 1: that this impostor is Fiona and she must have kidnapped
Speaker 1: Stacy and that they must be keeping her at the
Speaker 1: Pembroke estate. How they managed to figure out exactly where
Speaker 1: Stacy is based on what little information they have only
Speaker 1: deduced and not even confirmed is a bit confusing, but
Speaker 1: they figure it all out. It just happens to be right.
Speaker 1: And then Fiona as Margaret is trying to convince Antonio
Speaker 1: to like move the coronation ceremony to that night so
Speaker 1: that she can be crowned queen for reasons uncleared that
Speaker 1: doesn't need to happen. Um. But Antonio realizes that Fiona
Speaker 1: is not Margaret, and he's like, well, I'll rat you
Speaker 1: out or you can let me in on this scheme
Speaker 1: and we can split the money. So that's their plan
Speaker 1: moving forward. Meanwhile, I liked when they combined forces, but
Speaker 1: again I just felt like even like the stakes were
Speaker 1: confusing for Antonio. I like, if we're gonna have Antonio,
Speaker 1: which we don't need, really, I kind of wish he
Speaker 1: wanted more, or like I didn't understand why by the
Speaker 1: rules of this movie, you would think that Antonio would
Speaker 1: like fall madly in love with Fiona right away. He's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I love women who look like Vanessa Hudgens, and you're
Speaker 1: evil just like me. Like just there was no he
Speaker 1: was just like, Okay, I guess I'm on board as
Speaker 1: long as I'm involved. I didn't want them to fall
Speaker 1: in love, but I just like I thought there should
Speaker 1: have been some other thing he wanted, Like it shouldn't
Speaker 1: have been so easy for her for Fiona to just
Speaker 1: be like, okay, we're evil to get there now, like
Speaker 1: because then his his function kind of like goes away
Speaker 1: like yeah, well, and then his motivation is established to
Speaker 1: be that because she's like, why do you need why
Speaker 1: do you need the money? You're filthy rich? And he's like, no,
Speaker 1: my brother inherited most of the estate. I only have
Speaker 1: a very small income, which I'm sure is still very substantial.
Speaker 1: But are like identical and that they're like, I want
Speaker 1: to maintain my lifestyle, but I can't exactly. So what
Speaker 1: that implies that if his brother inherited the estate, his
Speaker 1: dad also must be dead. Right? What's who's killing all
Speaker 1: the elder members of this royal family? Do they all
Speaker 1: have peanut allergies? Could you trace it back? Is there
Speaker 1: a royal chef that's got it in for Ken? Is
Speaker 1: it the same royal chef who is in the Christmas
Speaker 1: Prince to who Rudy be friends? It makes you whoa, oh,
Speaker 1: that would be Rudy. I can't even think about Rudy
Speaker 1: right now. My hat will explode. Hey, I'm walking New York.
Speaker 1: Who do you na We're gonna make You're like, this
Speaker 1: is just this is we need to turn the television off. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think I didn't even think of that where
Speaker 1: he I don't know the whole Antonio Antonio, I feel
Speaker 1: like should have been like left in a previous draft.
Speaker 1: I don't. By the end, it's like Fiona's doing what
Speaker 1: Antonio is doing. And then it's like, well, then why
Speaker 1: do we need to have these characters? What I guess
Speaker 1: he technically is like, well, I can get the coronation
Speaker 1: to happen earlier. But I'm like, what, all right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I liked I liked when the priest was confused. That
Speaker 1: was fun. That was very fun. And heways, so yeah,
Speaker 1: now Antonio is like dot dot dot involved, Like he
Speaker 1: don't Yeah, he's in on the scheme. Meanwhile, Edward, Margaret,
Speaker 1: and the others Margaret's staff rescue Stacy from Pembroke Estate
Speaker 1: and then rushed to the cathedral to stop Fiona from
Speaker 1: going through with the coronation, and then that's when the
Speaker 1: priests are all confused, and then they successfully stop all that.
Speaker 1: Antonio gets thrown in the dungeon. Uh, Fiona just sort
Speaker 1: of slips out unpunished, and then they all rush to
Speaker 1: the airport where Kevin is about to get on a plane. Again,
Speaker 1: the tropiest thing that the movie possibly could have done,
Speaker 1: they do it. Uh, and then Margaret's like, no, that
Speaker 1: wasn't me who sent you away. That was Fiona. I
Speaker 1: love you. I want to marry you, and he's like,
Speaker 1: I want to marry you. So then they find a
Speaker 1: random priest who was about to board his flight, and
Speaker 1: this pell Gravy and or whatever the fun country they're in.
Speaker 1: At this point, I was like, sure, I also something
Speaker 1: I got really stuck on. But apparently they were I was.
Speaker 1: I was outraged at the very idea that there would
Speaker 1: be a direct flight from Chicago to Belgrada. But I
Speaker 1: guess if they were going to London to get a
Speaker 1: connecting flight to Chicago. So you know what, good job movie,
Speaker 1: good job, Like, there's no way there's a direct from
Speaker 1: Chicago to belgrad Via. I just don't believe it anyways,
Speaker 1: But yes, they find a priest who is about to
Speaker 1: get onto a fucking delta flight and then they make
Speaker 1: him officiate their impromptu airport wedding. Kevin does not card Vanessa.
Speaker 1: No one has to prove their identity first of all,
Speaker 1: priest needs to get his act together, because I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure you need to prove who you are before you
Speaker 1: can get married, and you need to like sign documents.
Speaker 1: And it was a sham. It was a sham of
Speaker 1: a question. And I know that they know that they
Speaker 1: weren't they're not actually married, and that Kevin ken still
Speaker 1: go back to Chicago. And we don't need to continue.
Speaker 1: Well maybe that's part of the plot of the third movie. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Mary was the marriage was clearly not legitimate. The priest
Speaker 1: was coerced. So this completely not legally binding marriage happens
Speaker 1: at the airport. And then the next day is Christmas,
Speaker 1: and that is when the real Margaret has her real
Speaker 1: coronation to become the real queen. And this is where
Speaker 1: Queen Amber and King Richard from Christmas Prince and their
Speaker 1: royal baby baby they are present, and we go and
Speaker 1: then everyone lives happily ever after. And that's the movie.
Speaker 1: This is the smallest reward that I'll get. I was
Speaker 1: concerned that the coronation was also going to turn into
Speaker 1: a second wedding. I was at least glad that, like,
Speaker 1: after the port wedding, I'm like, oh my god, they're
Speaker 1: gonna do like and now here's the real wedding. But
Speaker 1: at least, at very very least, the coronation stayed focused
Speaker 1: on Margaret as it should have stayed focused on Margaret,
Speaker 1: even though it was nothing makes sense, but I did appreciate.
Speaker 1: I was concerned there was going to be a second,
Speaker 1: larger wedding following the airport, wedding, a few, a few
Speaker 1: things that we blew through that I just I just
Speaker 1: Stacy escaping from the hench people is extremely compelling. That
Speaker 1: was the coolest thing she's ever done in her entire
Speaker 1: character's life is when she escapes from I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: so you have skills, you can at least bake and
Speaker 1: escape old castles, like, you know, apply these skills somewhere,
Speaker 1: you know, just do that. And I like that, I do.
Speaker 1: I will hand it to the movie that she got
Speaker 1: herself out of that situation. Edward throws a punt at
Speaker 1: the very end, but that's literally the first thing he's
Speaker 1: done in the entire movie, so I think I'll give it.
Speaker 1: But like he didn't rescue her, she rescued herself. She
Speaker 1: rescues herself, and then Edward throws a ceremonial princely punch
Speaker 1: at the end to um, what's his name? Does it
Speaker 1: pass the Bechtel test when the most boring character in
Speaker 1: the movie punches the most interesting character in the movie
Speaker 1: in the face, Yes, it does? And does it? We
Speaker 1: also skipped over this. Does it pass the Betel test
Speaker 1: when one hench person locks another hench person in a
Speaker 1: Trunk does that because gets for some reason. Does it
Speaker 1: pass the Bectel test where she gets out when third
Speaker 1: Vanessa Hudgens ak, Fiona is looking at herself in the mirror,
Speaker 1: laughing and being like, oh what the heads? Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: that actually I think it does when any of the Vanessa's.
Speaker 1: I would say it does not pass the Becktel test
Speaker 1: very much. I wasn't keeping like super close math on this,
Speaker 1: but it barely passes between Stacy and Margaret if at all,
Speaker 1: because all they ever do is talk about bucking Kevin.
Speaker 1: Uh so that's not good. I think it does pass
Speaker 1: between the gals and Olivia at one point. Um, it
Speaker 1: definitely passes between Fiona and Margaret. That basically that whole
Speaker 1: scene is Fiona. Does it pass with Vanessa Hudgens tells
Speaker 1: a different Vanessa Hudgens that she's useless and to get out. Yes. Um,
Speaker 1: so it does pass between various Vanessas, and also with Olivia,
Speaker 1: and then I think with Sarsia a couple of times.
Speaker 1: But the okay, the end, the end, the end where Fiona, okay,
Speaker 1: so I do love when Margaret rolls up and you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: we know that Stacy has been captured. We haven't figured
Speaker 1: out that Kevin is going to the Belgravy and airport.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming the only one or not belgrad Montenar. I
Speaker 1: don't know where they are. Yeah, I guess they are
Speaker 1: in Monteiro. It's it's pretty close, but like they're going
Speaker 1: to the Montenaro airport by Oh, okay, I have another question,
Speaker 1: but just a second, uh okay, um, So they roll up.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, this is where Margaret's arc is going
Speaker 1: to go. It's gonna be like she's finally gonna stand
Speaker 1: up for herself for the first time in the entire movie,
Speaker 1: and she's going to be like, Fiona, you're going you're
Speaker 1: out of here, sweetheart. But she she sends Antonio to
Speaker 1: the dungeon, which is something that also exists in a
Speaker 1: Christmas Prince and I'm like, do those still exist? I
Speaker 1: don't know. They send Antonia to the dungeon life imprisonment
Speaker 1: right without a trial. Fiona talks her way out of
Speaker 1: it within a minute. Again, I'm like, we needed to
Speaker 1: see Margaret stand up to her bully cousin, and she
Speaker 1: doesn't do it. She's like, Okay, you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: do so much community service, and Fiona is like, thank
Speaker 1: you so much. This was a big misunderstanding. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: might stay Emily, and I always looked up to you.
Speaker 1: She's lying her way through the whole monologue, and Margaret
Speaker 1: completely buys it. If you're rooting for Fiona, it kind
Speaker 1: of rocks. Like if you're rooting for Fiona, at the end,
Speaker 1: you're like, wow, she was like a devious, lying villain
Speaker 1: to the very end, because there's no way she's like
Speaker 1: yeah because oh like because oh you just realized that?
Speaker 1: Or also how that did you remember that line where
Speaker 1: Fiona is talking to Margaret and she says something to
Speaker 1: the effect of, yeah, you didn't realize that you wanted
Speaker 1: to be a queen until now. How do you know
Speaker 1: that about? It was iconic. It reminds me of that
Speaker 1: meme that's like, no, don't do that, you're so sexy.
Speaker 1: Ha ha. Fiona does that, but she's like, no, don't
Speaker 1: put me in the dungeon, you're so sexy ha ha.
Speaker 1: And Margaret's like, Okay, I won't and then she doesn't um.
Speaker 1: But then she's told she has community service. But then
Speaker 1: she's seen surrounded by co and then at the coronation, Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: did the people go to the dungeon? Why weren't they
Speaker 1: at the coronation? What happened there? What's not all about?
Speaker 1: Who was that cab driver? What was that all about? It?
Speaker 1: Isn't that a reference to the first movie? Yes? But
Speaker 1: I I went then I went back and watched the
Speaker 1: first movie, and I'm like, I also don't understand him
Speaker 1: in the first movie? Is he Santa? I think it's
Speaker 1: there's some implication that he's sort of like this magical
Speaker 1: Christmas figure who orchestrates these fantastical storylines or something. But
Speaker 1: then I also was like, we didn't get a satisfactory
Speaker 1: enough answer of who he was in the first movie
Speaker 1: to justify bringing him back, because what his plot? He's
Speaker 1: like a plot Santa, because all he does is all
Speaker 1: he does. He also does more in the first movie
Speaker 1: than he does in this one. The only thing he
Speaker 1: does in this movie drives Kevin and Olivia to the
Speaker 1: airport the wrong way, Like he just drives into the
Speaker 1: airport really really slow, in a very roundabout Yes, last Exanta, Um,
Speaker 1: he just drives into the airport wrong because he knows
Speaker 1: that one of the Vanessa's has to get out of
Speaker 1: a castle, and the other Vanessa has to also. That
Speaker 1: wasn't the castle they were describing like a good hour
Speaker 1: away from the They say that the castle is an
Speaker 1: hour away, so you have to factor. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: how long were they in this cab? Right? That was
Speaker 1: such a commute, that's like a two hour? How far
Speaker 1: the airport? Unless the airport just happened to be right
Speaker 1: next to the Pembroke estate. But we have we're not
Speaker 1: given a map. We don't know. We assume it's quite
Speaker 1: a drive. I felt like I was just spinning around
Speaker 1: in a circle when I was supposed to be dancing.
Speaker 1: It was really jarring experience. Well, also, Olivia, I guess
Speaker 1: you know what fun Chicago, Olivia? We live in We
Speaker 1: live in Montenaro now, just like, oh, what's that you say, Olivia?
Speaker 1: Just like the end of the last fuck movie? That's right,
Speaker 1: these characters have the exact same ending as the last movie.
Speaker 1: It's I mean, it's easy to like uproot a child
Speaker 1: character from her life when you don't do anything at
Speaker 1: all to characterize her or give her like an interior
Speaker 1: life at all, and only make her obsessed with whether
Speaker 1: who her father is having sex with and whether or
Speaker 1: not they're having sex. I feel for Kevin to an extent,
Speaker 1: but also like he shouldn't have shown up like that.
Speaker 1: Margaret could have been justifiably mad at him. He shouldn't
Speaker 1: have brought his child into this whole situation again, So
Speaker 1: what's what? So let's not forget So the movie. This
Speaker 1: movie opens after the animated montage, but before the plot starts,
Speaker 1: and the whole plot of the first movie revolves around
Speaker 1: this baking contest, which what is up with Belgravia and
Speaker 1: Montenaro that they have their royal family being the judges
Speaker 1: for these low budget baking contests. Yeah, it's like, are
Speaker 1: you that? It brings me back to the first scene
Speaker 1: where like Stacy and Everler are like, we're so busy
Speaker 1: and it's like going to going to a baking competition. Sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like okay, yeah, you're booked right up. I will
Speaker 1: say that that of and this is like not really
Speaker 1: a compliment, but the Princess Switch movies are a little
Speaker 1: more diverse than some of the other Netflix Christmas movies
Speaker 1: because usually, especially in the Christmas Prince, which we'll talk
Speaker 1: about in another episode. Um, when there are non white characters.
Speaker 1: They are troped, troped, troped in very offensive ways, unusually
Speaker 1: relegated to like secondary or tertiary characters exactly. So in
Speaker 1: the Princess Switch, um that doesn't happen. It's still very
Speaker 1: aggressively hetero, and the movies are still like gone awful.
Speaker 1: But um, you know there, that's the end of my
Speaker 1: sentence that taking to leave it, most of choose to
Speaker 1: leave it. Um, And that's okay, No, But yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean Christmas movies in general, when we've talked about this,
Speaker 1: I mean there's a whole conversation to be had, which
Speaker 1: we've had on on different episodes about just the centering
Speaker 1: the rigid white heateronus of that and just like holiday
Speaker 1: movies predominantly being about Christmas, which is obviously a very
Speaker 1: Christian holiday, leaving out many other holidays of this season,
Speaker 1: other holidays of any season, any other religions, any non religions,
Speaker 1: you know, like about secular people and their celebrations, and
Speaker 1: you know, just completely erasing any kind of other cultures
Speaker 1: or religions, holidays and traditions and things like that. So
Speaker 1: there's just like a very like Christian, white, hetero centric
Speaker 1: idealization of it's. I mean, if you look at something
Speaker 1: I'm sure that a lot of our listeners have seen already,
Speaker 1: like the montages of Hallmark Christmas movie posters, it's always
Speaker 1: like a hetero white couple in when one's wearing a
Speaker 1: green sweater and one's wearing a blue sweater and they're
Speaker 1: all the same exact movie. Yeah, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: something that it seems like at very least these companies
Speaker 1: are becoming aware of and they're aware that there is
Speaker 1: a demand for more diversity in this genre. So I
Speaker 1: hope we continue to see more of that, even in
Speaker 1: the Netflix Christmas Movie universe, like you've seen things improving.
Speaker 1: The movies are always bad, but that's also the genre
Speaker 1: like I don't Know the Princess, which is like definitely
Speaker 1: a nudge in the right direction in in in that regard,
Speaker 1: the movies are never going to be good and we
Speaker 1: all and on top of that, um, we need movies
Speaker 1: that are less rigidly hetero. I mean again, a Christmas
Speaker 1: Prince tries to do this, but they do it in
Speaker 1: mostly a way that's trophy and bad. So it's it's
Speaker 1: interesting how I feel like these genres especially these very
Speaker 1: formula genres are interesting to keep an eye on in
Speaker 1: terms of like progress and representation. Yeah, I don't, I
Speaker 1: don't know. This genre in particular has so much work
Speaker 1: to do in terms of casting more diversely telling literally
Speaker 1: and a second story. A second story would be amazing,
Speaker 1: um because it's mostly the same movie five thousand times. Yes,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot written about it as well that
Speaker 1: probably speak to this more particulately than we are, and
Speaker 1: I feel like we we do talk about it every year. Um,
Speaker 1: So this this genre is this movie and this series
Speaker 1: is not the Worst Offender, which is definitely saying much,
Speaker 1: not saying much, but you know, it's I think that, like,
Speaker 1: it is true that when movies like these do well
Speaker 1: and they're continually like nudged and pressured to have more
Speaker 1: representation and the worst film genre of all time, like,
Speaker 1: it does make a difference, and it's important that we
Speaker 1: keep yeah talking about it. Um, you know, I do
Speaker 1: want a fourth Vanessa Hudgens. Well, here, let me tell
Speaker 1: you about my pitch for Princess Switched three, Switched again again.
Speaker 1: This episode is officially longer than the um. Well, I
Speaker 1: luckily have most of my notes they've already been said.
Speaker 1: I do have a couple other things, but yeah, so
Speaker 1: here's a pitch that I spent exactly five seconds thinking of.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't make any sense, but neither do any
Speaker 1: of these movies, so it's actually very in keeping with
Speaker 1: UM the brand. Okay, So the movie opens, Margaret is
Speaker 1: six months gregnant with a royal baby, but her airport
Speaker 1: wedding with Kevin was only three months ago. Oh no,
Speaker 1: So to avoid a pre marital sex scandal, she and
Speaker 1: Stacy have to switch places again because Stacy is not gregnant,
Speaker 1: so that Stacy can appear in public as Margaret looking
Speaker 1: non pregnant. But Stacy is getting tired of being in
Speaker 1: the public eye, so she's like, this is so much pressure.
Speaker 1: I don't know how much longer I can deal with this.
Speaker 1: And then just then a long lost cousin of Stacy's
Speaker 1: who comes from deep within Appalachia shows up and she's like,
Speaker 1: why do you get all the like royal fun? I
Speaker 1: want a part of this, you know where we're for family,
Speaker 1: I should be entitled to some you know, royal whatever.
Speaker 1: So but she this this this cousin almost discovers this
Speaker 1: secret pregnancy, so then they have to get Fiona back.
Speaker 1: Sorry what did you say? Sorry? Gregnancy, thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 1: So then they have to get Margaret's cousin Fiona back
Speaker 1: to pretend to actually, no, I don't This is that
Speaker 1: I've lost the thread. But basically there's something there. You
Speaker 1: get the four Vanessa Hudgens is I want Vanessa Hudgens
Speaker 1: to give birth to another Vanessa Hudgens. Oh full of
Speaker 1: Vanessa size. They're like she or like one of the okay,
Speaker 1: whore's my pitch. Stacey lays an egg one day and
Speaker 1: she's like, oh my god, what is this? And then
Speaker 1: it's called It's called Princess Switched three, switched again again
Speaker 1: the Royal egg and uh, I'll butt an egg that
Speaker 1: Stacy plays and she has to sit on the egg,
Speaker 1: and meanwhile Fiona and Margaret have to switch for some reason,
Speaker 1: someone has to switch with Stacy. So now a different
Speaker 1: Vanessa sitting on the egg, and all this stuff happens,
Speaker 1: and then at the end, Edward eats a peanut and
Speaker 1: he dies, and he dies, and just as he's dying,
Speaker 1: a fourth Vanessa Hudgens hatches out of the egg and
Speaker 1: then everyone has dad trauma. All the vanessas this state.
Speaker 1: Is Stacy's father alive? Do we know? Does he forget?
Speaker 1: I don't know if that if he ever gets brought up,
Speaker 1: so I'm not sure. Well my pitches fourth Vanessa Hudgens
Speaker 1: hatches out of an egg. Incredible. Let's pitch it to
Speaker 1: the most generic sounding production company in the world, most
Speaker 1: picture corporation of our American of America, Motion Pictures, Chicago
Speaker 1: of America. I just have a couple last I mean,
Speaker 1: we've talked about how trophy these movies tend to be.
Speaker 1: Their trophy in this in the kind of Christmas movie sense,
Speaker 1: their trophy in the rom com sense. Part of that
Speaker 1: is a makeover montage in which we get not one,
Speaker 1: not two, but three different makeovers happening because of all
Speaker 1: the switches I guess necessary to the plot. But is
Speaker 1: it um? But is it? Oh? Okay? A couple of
Speaker 1: notes on um Fiona, who again is the best character.
Speaker 1: At one point she gets into a convertible while it
Speaker 1: is snowing with the top down and drives off in
Speaker 1: the snow with the top still down. Explain that I
Speaker 1: honestly did not even notice. Now I'll try to figure
Speaker 1: out the time code for that because it's I must watch.
Speaker 1: I honestly didn't even register the aggressive makeup or seeing
Speaker 1: thincause I think I'm so gas lit by this. Good call,
Speaker 1: Good call, um, Let me see, was there anything else?
Speaker 1: My last question I had This is kind of a
Speaker 1: crossover question with our Christmas Princes two episode, But my
Speaker 1: question is what side of World War Two was Belgravia on.
Speaker 1: I could see it going either way. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't trust I don't trust um.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's why Vanessa wasn't upset that her father died.
Speaker 1: Maybe he was on the wrong side of World War Two.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Who could be. Yeah, there's what's the
Speaker 1: history of this country? I feel like with Aldovia we
Speaker 1: get too much history in bait where, but their history
Speaker 1: is mostly related to curses and ghosts. But Belgrava, we
Speaker 1: know nothing. You know nothing about the history of the
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if they had a pretty fashi history.
Speaker 1: That's just my thought. We got we gotta get to
Speaker 1: the bottom of this. We got another year. We certainly do.
Speaker 1: The movie does pass the Bechtel test, As we mentioned, However,
Speaker 1: nipple scale wise, Uh, what do you even do this?
Speaker 1: I guess I would give it. This is too generous.
Speaker 1: I will say this right now, but I will give
Speaker 1: it one and a half because I was so passionate
Speaker 1: about Fiona's character. I was genuinely like, I know, Vanessa Hudgens,
Speaker 1: there is a lot to criticize there, and also she
Speaker 1: is terrible at apologizing when she sucks up. That said,
Speaker 1: her performance of Fiona is I think my favorite performance
Speaker 1: she's ever given. And I really was rooting for Fiona
Speaker 1: to steal Montenaro, and I thought she was like a
Speaker 1: highly motivated even if the motivation made no sense, I
Speaker 1: was rooting for her. She was in she was in charge. Uh,
Speaker 1: she didn't care if her family lived, her died. Like
Speaker 1: I just was like, Wow, what what a compelling character.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to give one and a half nipples
Speaker 1: exclusively for Fiona and also her two hunch people who
Speaker 1: were also icon One of the Mendi is wearing safety
Speaker 1: pin earrings and they're I'm like, where can I buy those?
Speaker 1: Um all very two thousands of yes. I would say
Speaker 1: one of the better female movie villains I have seen
Speaker 1: really ever so yeah, especially I feel like there's not
Speaker 1: a lot of female Well this could this maybe isn't true,
Speaker 1: but like in terms of like Christmas movie villains in particular,
Speaker 1: I feel like there's not a lot of female This
Speaker 1: is so in the weeds, but like female Christmas movie villains,
Speaker 1: there's not a lot of them. And and Fiona is
Speaker 1: an incredible one. She's so good, She's better than Simon.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, obviously. But it goes without saying so I
Speaker 1: was good. I mean, and when I have nipples generous, yes,
Speaker 1: I was going to give it to which is really
Speaker 1: too generous, too nipples, I'll have it to two because
Speaker 1: when you do the math, two out of five is
Speaker 1: still which is an f that is a failing grade. Um,
Speaker 1: So I feel okay about that. But you know what,
Speaker 1: you're right, let's let's give let's give the full nip.
Speaker 1: It's the holidays. Yeah, it's I'm feeling generous. Yeah, let's
Speaker 1: right in that mood to nipples. Yeah, it's still rom
Speaker 1: com Christmas movie propaganda. It's very trophy. It's not well
Speaker 1: written or thought out. The female characters are. Nothing really
Speaker 1: interesting is done with them, speaking specifically about Stacy and Margaret.
Speaker 1: But I do really enjoy Fiona as a character, as
Speaker 1: a villain. I think the movie was probably written in
Speaker 1: than a week, and then maybe that's why it's so sloppy.
Speaker 1: But I also am like it has to just be
Speaker 1: like no one, because I think that if you were
Speaker 1: going to write a movie that made this little sense
Speaker 1: on purpose, it would actually be really hard. You know,
Speaker 1: like maybe it would be easier to write a movie
Speaker 1: that sort of made sense in a week than write
Speaker 1: a movie that makes no sense on purpose in a week,
Speaker 1: which which supports the forty five minute draft hypothesis. I
Speaker 1: can see that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's this movie isn't
Speaker 1: contemptuous of women, but it just didn't try very hard.
Speaker 1: That said Fiona Pembroke contemptuous of father's it's really murdering
Speaker 1: father's right and left. But I do love the Fiona character.
Speaker 1: Another really great female movie villain from Josie and the
Speaker 1: Pussycats is also named Fiona. Is it a trope? We'll
Speaker 1: find out? Um anyway, two nipples, uh, and I will
Speaker 1: give one to Fiona and I will give one to Reggie. Oh.
Speaker 1: I love what you and Reggie have. Um. I feel
Speaker 1: like he and I could be best friends. I'm just
Speaker 1: obsessed with Fiona. It's not it's not okay, it's not right,
Speaker 1: but it is. Yeah, so here we are. Well that's
Speaker 1: the end of the episode. So this needs to be said.
Speaker 1: What else? We we said it all, We said it
Speaker 1: all and then some. So if you in this essay,
Speaker 1: we did so. If you don't already, subscribe to the
Speaker 1: Matreon once again. Now it's a great time to do it.
Speaker 1: To get episodes like this. It's a gift you gift
Speaker 1: to yourself. This is a gift giving season, so you know,
Speaker 1: why not give the gift of the Matreon to a
Speaker 1: loved one. They'll be so grateful. We guarantee it. And
Speaker 1: the thing is, uh, we we keep most of our
Speaker 1: bonus episodes locked up. Yeah, we've only ever released a few.
Speaker 1: There's over a hundred now on the Matron. So if
Speaker 1: you are a Battel Cast super fan, you've heard most
Speaker 1: of the episodes on the main feed. There's literally hundreds
Speaker 1: and hundreds of hours more where that came from. We
Speaker 1: can't stop creating content. We it's sick. They're like ten,
Speaker 1: it's more like four or five, but so many Titanic
Speaker 1: episodes on the Matreon. We're out of control is what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. It's wild. There's just so much going on
Speaker 1: over there, um and and uh you know it's it's
Speaker 1: just a lovely community. Five bucks a month, give a
Speaker 1: gift to yourself, give a gift to a friend who
Speaker 1: who enjoys the show. And you can also uh find
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Speaker 1: at betel Cast and if you would like to get merch,
Speaker 1: another great gift to give to yourself and others, that's
Speaker 1: over at t public dot com slash the Bechtel Cast.
Speaker 1: And hopefully this movie, this this episode um has inspired
Speaker 1: you to go watch The Princess Switch There three many
Speaker 1: Vanessa Hudgens the second part Part two, and we'll just
Speaker 1: I'm starting to like create my circle of crystals to
Speaker 1: manifest for Vanessa Hudgens next year. You know what, why
Speaker 1: not five? Well? What if that would be wild? If
Speaker 1: they skift from three to five? I want to believe it,
Speaker 1: anything could happen. It would be a Christmas miracle. That's
Speaker 1: why I love you, Kaitlin. You're not afraid to really dream,
Speaker 1: you know. Thank you so much. Well, bye bye bye
Speaker 1: f