The Steves celebrate their 100th episode by traveling to Belgravia with Ronnie Diamond to discuss the 2018 holiday film The Princess Switch.
What's making us happy? A look back at some of our favorite episodes, including:
What's been your favorite episode? E-mail us at happylifepod@gmail.com to let us know!
The Princess Switch Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves celebrate their 100th episode by traveling to Belgravia with Ronnie Diamond to discuss the 2018 holiday film The Princess Switch.
What's making us happy? A look back at some of our favorite episodes, including:
What's been your favorite episode? E-mail us at happylifepod@gmail.com to let us know!
The Princess Switch Discussion
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello, returning happies and new listeners. So this is Steve Bennet-Martin, and this is
Stephen:Stephen Martin-Bennet. And welcome to a lifetime of
Steve:happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, television shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy while hopefully bringing a smile to your face along the way.
Stephen:And today we're celebrating our 100th episode by doing something very serious. And critically acclaimed and you know, something or they're worthy, Oscar worthy, something worthy of a hundredth episode. So we're going to the kingdom of Belgravia and discussing the 2018 holiday hit a princess switch.
Steve:Yes. Which is special in its own way. And the perfect way to round out our December holiday Christmas movie marathon. Yes. Yes. And my love what's been making you happy. Christmas. And we actually forgot to mention in our little intro, we wouldn't be having our hundredth episode without the now infamous Ronnie diamond. Welcome to the show again. Ronnie,
Ronnie:Merry Christmas guys. Thanks for having me. I love. And for me, don't, you know,
Stephen:yes, we do know that about you and it is wonderful to have you back and goodness, the connection sounds so clear. It's almost like somebody let you back in the United States.
Ronnie:Fortunately, I have this fabulous telephone telephone operator. Well, you know, they say Telecare, telephone. Tell them no, I am back in the United States. It's wonderful. I'm at my in-laws north of Indianapolis and an area called the Geist. It's beautiful here with lakes and everything. And the weather is extremely warm for, for this area. And this time of year. But we're here for a few more days and then we'll go, we will continue our journey on to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and visit my parents and all my family. And there, I will meet my new niece who was just born on the 16th of December. So virtually everyone, please allow me to present my niece, Ms. Anniston grace
Stephen:Epson. It's hard to believe that your sister. Has children. When I remember us dressing her up and taking her to class with us in those boots that she regretted walking two miles in. But I remember as we were leaving, she was, she kept singing. These boots are made for walking
Ronnie:and that's true as well through one of these breeds, these boots, dog walk, all the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know what? We used to dress her up like a little dog. Well, it was and remains to this day and we had so much fun. She used to love to come to school, to visit us. And then, you know, we, we, we treated her like a semi adult, you know, she was, you know, she's six years younger than you. And I think you and I, Steve, I mean, she's only, I mean, she's six years younger than us. We won't say how old she is now. We weren't, let's not do that. We don't want to feel the wrath of Elizabeth ad heads will roll.
Stephen:But it is our hundredth episode and we should talk about some of our favorite episodes that we've done over a hundred darling. Steve, just so that I'm being clear. Darling
Ronnie:darling darling rotted arm and Ronald Wilson diamond was lagging. No,
Stephen:not you, but you darling. What are some of your favorites that we've done? I
Steve:would say my favorite episodes were probably probably tied for first place as Pokemon, just because I love the series so much. It's such an integral part of my childhood into my adulthood. I've converted you and just getting the chance to talk about some of the highlights of the series and what I love so much about it was a great trip. As well as the episode we did on the greatest showman for our anniversary, because it was like my little old I love for you. And I love
Stephen:both of those, especially the greatest showman. And that was when I was originally going to pick until you had picked it. And so I had to think of some others and I was like, of course I enjoyed when we did clue because it's my favorite movie. And I, of course. Jim and the
Steve:holograms. That was a good time with Dennis. Yeah.
Stephen:that's the water. And then it wouldn't be an episode with Ronnie if we didn't mention the famous Titanic episode. Yeah.
Steve:So just one dish, right? Ronnie. If
Ronnie:I could save just one dish, one, two star to my glory, this collection over here.
Steve:And Ronnie, do you have any favorites?
Ronnie:So I'm a little biased here anytime, and I'm being serious here. I'm not, I'm not making any jokes that are adding humor, but I value our time together. And it, for me, anytime we have an opportunity to, to discuss and talk, it reminds me of home. It makes me feel extremely happy and warm on the inside. This is my serious side. I'm not making jokes. I'm being sincere. And I'm not being facetious in any way. And any time that we have an opportunity to do this together, it makes me just so happy. And it keeps me going in more ways than you could possibly ever comprehend. But I think of the ones that we've done well. So I love the beetle juice that you all did, and I've love several other ones that you've done. Jim, of course I love jam, but then. You know, and Pokemon, I don't know. So I can't really comment that's when I downloaded it, but I haven't listened to it and I'll go back and still do that. I don't understand any of these words, what are they talking about? But, you know w the ones that we have done together have been blessings to me. And I think, I mean, I love it when we did home alone, I listened to it again. I just laughed, but I love our down Abbey. I love being. Of being helpful and useful and for, and at least providing perspective in some cases in the past. And so that that's really my wheelhouse and I'm, that was making me extremely happy. Greg gardens was funny, of course, loved to laugh at that, but I dunno. I'm a little biased. I'm not being 100% objective. I am subjective. And so I would just have to say any of the ones where we've done together and we spend time together have been the
Steve:Our fans would have to agree, especially on the Downton Abbey episode, which is officially our most downloaded episode out of the hundred episodes we've done so far. That is the one that the fans have clamored for and downloaded again and again, and again, to enjoy. So, yes. And that was our first time. Wasn't it with you on Ronnie? Wasn't it.
Ronnie:That's right, Steve. That was our, our first time together. I had never done anything like this before. Of course you too. Are you, I mean, you two are fantastic at this. It's so professional at my sister-in-law was listening yesterday evening. She thought you. It's so professional. She said, this is, this should be everywhere for everyone, which it is. She has, she hadn't heard it. And it's just extreme. Like, and she's critical. She, she has a critical Eagle eye and a critical Eagle ear and she, she doesn't miss a thing and she loved it. Then my brother-in-law listened to a Titanic yesterday evening. I mean, the people are happy with it. What you do is magical and whether, whether there's a pandemic or not, we must soldier on and continue with this because it really does. Bring us together makes us happy. And I say, Bravo.
Steve:Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah. And so let's, let's Let's head on over to Belgravia
Stephen:then. Yeah. Talk about professionalism. Yes.
Ronnie:Well, it's
Stephen:fabulous. So a princess switch is a 2018 American Christmas romantic comedy film directed by Mike roll from a screenplay by Robin Bernheim and Megan met.
Steve:Role you might have seen, even though you might not have recognized this work. He's a Canadian TV director. Who's done a bit of everything, including Smallville, supernatural and shadow hunters. And he's also continued on in the princess switch SQLs
Stephen:and Robin Bernheim had a resurgence in her career lately with the princess switch and SQLs, but she started off as a TV writer and was very popular in the nineties. And she did three consecutive episodes of diagnosis.
Steve:Yes. And Metzker never really wrote anything outside of these three movies now, but
Stephen:we are very thankful that she did these. Yes.
Steve:Now this is built on or based on mark Twain's 1881 and the prince and the pulper, the film about two women who look identical running into one another. And then switching places sounds very much like that original mark Twain book, doesn't it? Yeah.
Ronnie:Absolutely. And when mark Twain wrote this the prince and the popper, which is really a book for the ages, I, it may still be required reading and, and, and many places around the country and in the English speaking world. And he wrote this and it took the setting originally of course, was between two books. And they this is in the mid 15 hundreds. So like the mid 16th century and the pulper, this boy Tom Kanzi, he has a horrible, abusive alcoholic father. And then of course there's the prince and the prince is. Supposedly, I'm not supposedly because that's imagination, but supposedly because that is an allegation. So I'm trying to just make sure everyone knows the difference and that's always elevate ourselves to the highest standards. And so the friends of course is this son or supposedly the son of Henry the eighth. And then it was really Edward that said, Anyway, it's it's, it's really good copy of it. I think it brings literature to people closer than they otherwise would have been able to find themselves. And in that vein, I think we can find some goodness.
Steve:Yes. My first experience with the prince and the popper kind of allegory was in the, it takes to 1995, all of a sudden twin movie, pure literature at its finest. Of
Stephen:course.
Ronnie:How do we define literature
Steve:today? TV
Ronnie:either Steve could have just said that in the answer would have been correct for both of them.
Stephen:So the film stars, Vanessa Hudgens, Sam Palladio and Nick cigar Huggins. Is just so talented. I love her so much. She's has a future wonderful career ahead of her. She started, most people will know her from the high school musical movies. And then she went on to the movie Beasley sucker punch stole the show in Greece, LA. And recently in tick, tick, boom.
Steve:Yes. And I love everything she does. She's also been a guest judge on most reality shows. Yes. And I'm always impressed because she's always, so well-spoken, she's well-rounded, she can pretty much, she's like an expert on many different things. I think there's nothing she can't do or she can't judge
Stephen:and I loved so grease live. She played Betty Rizzo and the day that they had to perform her father had died. And she being the professional that she is still went through the performance. And whenever she saying there are worst things I could do, I don't believe there was a dry
Steve:eye in the house.
Ronnie:Yes. Oh, Steve, that, I mean, I didn't know that I would have never, neither would either of you. I know you too. We would have never, ever been able to do something like that. That took, that took a resolve of character beyond compare Bravo to her. I did not. I mean, can you imagine, and she had to have been in complete shock still. There was no way you can process that
Steve:that quickly. And she was able to channel it into that performance because that performance was a showstopper.
Stephen:And I think she was, it probably helped her a little bit to disappear into the character for a day and, and then give her mind time to come to terms with it on her own. And, but if you haven't seen grease live, go back and watch it. You'll be very impressed by Ms. Hudgins.
Ronnie:Yes. I'm going to go back and
Steve:watch it again. Yep. Now we also knew Sam pal Palladio from Nashville when this came out. And since then we also saw him on rebel as the evil lawyer.
Stephen:Yes. And Dick Sanger was in shadow hunters as Victor, all the tree. And he was really good in this movie too. I was very
Steve:impressed. Yes. Now the majority of the film was shot in Kariah Romania with the palace sequences shot at Kara Karoli caramel. Carolee, Carolyn Kelly castle.
Ronnie:Well, you know, don't, don't worry about it. And then as far as pronunciation goes, once we go farther east than Vienna, Austria, it's best just to just roll with it. Nobody can speak any of that. Once we go past to be Ana, nobody can say a word, not one. All right. That's all.
Steve:Well, I know one of these things that makes these movies so popular is people love seeing the castles and the gravitas and just the opulence, opulences everything the girls said. And so I actually did a little deep dive into Karoli castle. It was built in 1482. It started from a four to five house built by Carolee laws. In 1592, due to the frequent incursions of Turkish troops, Karoli, Mohali decided to further strengthen the existing building with bastions trenches and armed Garrison.
Ronnie:That's correct. And remember too, that you know, Constantinople, which is now it's 10, both failed and I believe it was 1453. You might have to check me on that date. Exactly. And so the Turks were always pushing on the Austro-Hungarian border
Stephen:dreadful. Yes. And it did play an important role in history as being one of the greater defensive fortresses. On the Western border and Transylvania, and it was attacked by the Austrians in 1705, but was quickly restored.
Steve:Yes. And later on in 1834, an earthquake destroyed almost the entire castle. And it took until sometime between 1894 and 1896 to restore it using a neo-gothic style by the architect, mining Arthur.
Stephen:Wow. During the interwar period, the castle underwent numerous changes. Being half sanatorium and half casino. That's quite
Steve:the combination. Isn't it?
Ronnie:You can blame the communists and the Bolsheviks for that. They would take beautiful private properties and then turn them into some old house of ill repute. God knows what, but that's why it was a sanitary sanitar I
Steve:know, I can just imagine that, like, you know, you're in the casino, you take the wrong hallway and you're in a sanatorium.
Stephen:If you go there and you lose your family's entire 40. And then you go crazy and they just are like, okay. East wing for you
Ronnie:with Steve. You did that once. Didn't you didn't you lose mother. Martin's great for tunes. I think you, I think you lost a playing cards and a gambling
Stephen:hall. I did. And it was underneath an old bootleggers factory.
Ronnie:It must've been a Kennedy.
Steve:Now after it was done being half sanatorium and half casino, and it became a military school during world war two and then turned into a military hospital in 1946.
Stephen:And during the communist period, the council survived and became the town's museum, a cultural center and
Steve:a yes. And it's stayed pretty much that way through today. In 2015, it was recognized in the European fair of castles in order to promote the beauty of historic monuments in Europe. And it received around 8,000 visitors during the three days of the fair.
Ronnie:Yeah. You have to see something in re sorry. I would just say you have to take something if you're going to go to romaine.
Steve:Yes. And so, I mean, I definitely feel like this was a great setting for the movie being in the same universe as a Christmas prince, they definitely had shoes to fill because that castle was beautiful and had a rich history. But I almost find the history of this one a little bit more interesting. It's played more of a role throughout history. And so getting, getting into the movie, I just want it to one up riding on history for once. Why not be our 100th episode
Ronnie:and you know what you do that I'm proud of you for the research. You are a great researcher on any day anyway, but no, you do that. You shine in the sun. I am not. I'm not a competitive person. It comes to foreign languages. But other than that, I'm not competitive at all. So you, you, you, you shine in the sun, my darling star, you shine us all. And when
Steve:you're not competitive, either now you're very competitive with one another and it's made for a great fun marriage. And I just bring all overall.
Ronnie:Alright, play. Did I? The play yo Butler you a little balloon animals.
Stephen:Well, there is nothing. Ronnie loves more than tearing someone down.
Ronnie:I'm blowing them back up
Stephen:the movie itself. Yes.
Steve:Stacy is the lead character, Vanessa Hudgens and sh well, she's one of two Vanessa Hudgens, but this Stacy owns and runs a bakery in Chicago. And as best friends with Kevin, a single dad who was totally going to be one of their 11. Yeah, he has a daughter, Olivia, who's the sassy smart, older than her age stereotype. We see in a lot of these movies kind of like the,
Stephen:Wheelchair bound princess and Christmas.
Steve:Yes. Prince. Yes. And Kevin reveals that he entered Stacy into the big competition in Belgravia that everyone knows about. I mean, I hear about it every single year. I
Stephen:tried to enter a recipe in that bell gravy and cooking competition, and they were like,
Steve:Yes,
Ronnie:that's not that's that's not a surprise to me. If you did not enter mother Martins lemon squares, then you're a fool. That's the only, that's one of the great pieces that will win the day. That's what you need to in mother Martin's lemon squares. No question. Winter hands-down
Steve:yes. Now Stacy is a big on rules and schedules and plans, and this is throwing a wrench in her plan for the holidays. So she's reluctant to go at first lamenting over her ex Paul to a random, nice old man on the street who tells her that wishes come true at Christmas. She then runs into Paul with his new girlfriend, and she decides to go enter the baking contest after all.
Stephen:And it was mostly out of spite because. Paul introduced the new girlfriend and she goes, and I'm Stacy, I'm sure Paul's mentioned me and the girl goes, no, should she have she have? And, oh, Stacy and I, you know, we dated and not dated for three years, which would have been the correct thing. And so Paul's a bad guy and. She's like, well, I have to go to a made up European country and win a fabulous contest. So it doesn't matter that you don't know who I am. I'm going to Belgravia.
Steve:So the trio arrive in Belgravia and Stacey is set to stick to her schedule and then runs into that same nice old man who provides exposition about the prince. And soon to be princess lady, Margaret data court of Montana. Then encouraged us Stacy, to be more spontaneous. Olivia then gets super interested in Belgravia summer ballet program. And I love
Stephen:that they have the quote life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.
Ronnie:Yes. I love that quote as well. Absolutely true of us. Now. It it's a beautiful line. Yes.
Steve:And this one, not that original,
Ronnie:but yeah,
Steve:no. And something else that was not very original is the, the wise old man navigating them through holiday magic that you actually have a story about this, don't you? My love.
Stephen:So I grew up, yes. I grew up watching, guiding light soap, opera, longest running live TV. In history and ran for 70 years. And
Ronnie:we have stories on
Stephen:this. And every year at the holiday, starting in the eighties, this gentleman with white hair and a white beard, little heavyset named Nick would show up in Springfield and he would be there to kind of nudge people in the right direction or. Be there to save the day and you know, it just, everything happened at just the right time to get the right people together or fix this one thing. And then at the end of the episode, Nick, wouldn't be nowhere to be found. It was always my favorite thing. Cause you knew that the two days before Christmas, that you got Nick episodes on guiding light and it was fantastic. It always like that was the type of magic that I loved.
Steve:I mean,
Ronnie:well, I know another type of magic
Steve:did you pray?
Ronnie:Well, he also used to just love passions. And when that, which turned that little boy into the Timmy dog, he loved that as well.
Stephen:Oh, I've never watched passions. I watched sunset beach.
Ronnie:That doesn't matter. I control the narrative. This is the story.
Steve:Well, I would say that, you know, for the purpose of honoring Nick from guiding light, we can call this old man. Cause he does remain nameless through the movie. We'll call him Nick. Okay.
Stephen:Cause I just referred to him in my notes as kindly old
Steve:man. I mean, Son of a bitch because I mean, it's a great plot device having them throughout and there is something magical about it for the holidays, but could you just imagine in real life, if you kept on finding the same guy, who's in different roles, in different jobs, in different parts of the country, just constantly meddling and budding into your life and steering you in one direction and be like, I don't know you, what are you? My birth father?
Ronnie:I thought he was, I thought he was a magical creature from alls.
Stephen:And if it had been. A scifi movie. We were said, you know that the matrix was glitching. Yes,
Steve:exactly. Now I know
Ronnie:mom's clenching right now.
Stephen:Glitching, you stupid whore glitching now. Merry Christmas,
Steve:but you keep up those key goals. Ronnie, keep it tight. My
Ronnie:hearing's failing. Don't bully me
Steve:now while preparing for the baking competition. Stacy runs into her rival Brianna, who is overtly an Uber cunt
Stephen:completely. Oh
Steve:my God. I mean, there's no subtlety in her. And they were like, we need an evil ginger to just ruin Christmas for everyone. You're perfect.
Stephen:There is no gray area with
Steve:Briana. Yes. And while Stacy is cleaning up the hot chocolate, Brianna spills on her, she comes face to face with her doppelganger lady, Margaret lady,
Stephen:Margaret
Steve:Yes. Who invites Stacy to help her with the wedding cake, wink, wink, inviting her, the palace for our consultation. When insist. She can't tell Kevin and Olivia about.
Stephen:It's like,
Ronnie:I know I've asked people not to tell things they do it anyway.
Steve:Ronnie, what would you do if you ran into your doppelganger? Someone who looked exactly like you
Ronnie:ask, where is number?
Steve:I have a couple ideas that I can't say on this podcast, even with the explicit rating.
Ronnie:I'm trying to explain it without providing a content I'd asked for his number. Let's just leave it at that.
Stephen:Not going in that direction. Well,
Ronnie:you started it. I did
Steve:not steam did I did. And my mind immediately went to making, making your night baby.
Ronnie:So like with a mirror, isn't it? Yeah.
Steve:Bring them home. Be like they have, look what I found.
Ronnie:Do we have any other, we can't make this up.
Steve:All right. My love gave us a PG 13 answer. PG.
Stephen:Well, I mean, if we were just going to be an a movie, I think it would be interesting to mess with people. And like, you leave the room in one direction and the other person enters from another and you keep like Scooby doing it from like, you go in one door and the person comes out another one and you just. Drive someone mad.
Steve:Yeah. Now let's see running off for the consult. Olivia, make sure to tell her dad how she ships them. And he says that they've been BFF since high school. And if it was meant to be, it would have already happened.
Stephen:Now have either of, you had. Someone in your life that was platonic, but friends or family were like, Ooh, you need to be with them 100%. Like this is the person you should be.
Steve:I mean, before coming out, my parents always were shipping Laura and I just, because she was just such an awesome friend to me. And it definitely was a friendship, but she also was like, Not she was also a female, so it was never going to work out well, that's
Stephen:mom and dad thought when we were in college, that Monica was going to be their daughter-in-law. Oh yes.
Ronnie:They, I remember
Stephen:this. They were 100% on team Monica.
Steve:Yeah. And I mean, yeah. Oh,
Ronnie:sorry,
Steve:go ahead. Continue on with Monica. Cause then I'm going to move it to something else for you to so
Ronnie:say like, no, I remember these days when, when mother, mom and Gary would like, they were, they weren't freshmen and you gone Steve, but this is a funny thing. And my parents didn't push Monica on. Standby, because for those of you out there who don't know Steve and I have our third wheel and our little triangle at best friends from when we going back to school, this is going back forever. And since that we've added on so many more family members and lovelies onto this, but at that time in history money and money is one of the most beautiful women in the world. I kid you not. And it's not just my biases thing that Steve would agree and everyone agrees. She is stunning and it's not just her outside, which is, but it's her inside as well. And you gotta give the girl prompts. And I, we are, we are blessed to have her as our best friend. Let me that being said, mom and dad never pushed her on me, but daddy is so funny. You know, he'd sit there and go, he'd look at me again. She's a pretty girl. It wouldn't pay for me to be at school right now. And with that, we should drop it and move on to what Steve had prepared.
Steve:I mean, being that the two of you have been friends for so long. I know that, I mean, I've had multiple gay friendships where like people outside are like, well, two gay men, can't be friends with each other. Obviously there's going to bang town, like have people shipped to the two of you before? Not that I
Stephen:know of.
Ronnie:No we've been, I mean, I think I did the, I mean, no, we've always been like completely platonic platonic. We are family. I mean, we, we come from very similar families are our parents are friends and Steve and I have always been, we, I mean, you know, they say blood is thicker than water, but in some cases sometimes once upon a time and once in a while, you'll find a different situation that emerges. And Steven. Find ourselves in that when, and we have been best friends with menuca for a thousand years and we will remain south for another thousand.
Stephen:Oh, that's only one of us in the group looks like that thousand.
Ronnie:Sorry about me because I've had more work than God.
Stephen:So Margaret lady, Margaret, the court asked Stacy to swap places with her before she marries the prince on new year's day so that she can just be normal for two days. And then return Margaret says that she will sponsor a little Olivia for the summer ballet program and they will switch back at midnight. The night before the baking competition. And then we get a montage of the two getting to know each other and practicing each other's walks and all those and different mannerisms. Hey, what would you do if we got, if you got to live like royalty for two
Steve:days, I would just be waited on hand and foot. I with. Just enjoy, like being able to like ring my bell and have someone come running or just like go on a shopping spree. I love like all the things that I, you know, always wanted and just like enjoy living in that opulence. I probably like, it'd be hard, like, cause I'd want to go out and like buy stuff, but I'd also want to just stay in the castle all day and just like be in their giant bathtubs and,
Stephen:and I have the five star chef make all kinds of delicious
Steve:things. Exactly. What w what about you, Steven?
Stephen:I agree. I'm completely on the same boat. So Ronnie, you know, in your turn, what would you do if you had to live like the rest of us?
Ronnie:My dear. I fail to fully comprehend the questions. What this one, where to the peasant tray. I have nothing to where I can't get there from the gap. Yeah. Too daunting. This person is no, you know what? I've just loved to play it up a little, you know? This is. I thought about this and I just decided, I didn't really want to think about it. It's too painful.
Steve:Yes. Well, when I thought of splitting up the question like this, I gave Steven a big old high five at, yeah.
Ronnie:That is some of your good work. You always have good work, but this is some of your, even more outstanding case. I love it. It was a good question. And yeah. I did I read through it and I was thinking, I'm not going to think about this. I'm just going to let it go. But that's, I have nothing to wear to the pageantry.
Stephen:What else? On the other hand, Stacy, I don't know how to
Ronnie:be poor.
Stephen:You have no talent for it. I have
Ronnie:no tower. And what am I going to do? Stand there and ring a bell. I mean, if it's not for two, for him showed the bell tolls.
Stephen:Salvation
Steve:army. Yes. Now Stacy gets to meet prince Edward just as they finished with the swap and they have chemistry as she talks about her nap, where she slept like a log, a Royal log. I
Ronnie:laughed. I like your go log.
Stephen:Yes. I slept like a log, a Royal log. And, and like, she was not doing a good job at hiding that there was someone else in the room and he's like, do you not like the couch? We need us to get rid of the couch. It's fine. And Margaret goes back to the cottage and she meets Kevin and they have immediate chemistry too. And now we pretty much know what the plot of the movies.
Steve:Yes exactly. They're not going to just swap lives. They're going to swap men.
Stephen:Yes. Lots of
Steve:look I'm running. I'm sure you have a story or two, like.
Ronnie:I thought we were trying to move forward and into a situation where I would not always have to put up a content warning.
Steve:Now, the next morning, Stacy gets to have breakfast with Edward's parents and Edward reveals he's canceled his trip to Spain to get to know Margaret better. Edward striver is tasks by the king to keep an eye on Margaret giving us villain number two. And
Stephen:Mrs. Donna tele has the lady Margaret's back and in turn means she has Stacy's back. And her admiration of lady Margaret goes a long way to quickly humanize lady Margaret and our eyes because she could appear too stuffy and unlikable. At first, like we're introduced to Stacey at the beginning of the movie lady, Margaret is a newer character and she comes in. Very privileged and Mrs. Donna tele B. Someone that you immediately like her liking lady Margaret you're like, okay, then it's okay for me to like lady Margaret too.
Steve:Yes, exactly. And in, in our clumsy girl gets the prince wet montage prince and Stacy go horseback riding because a
Stephen:happy horse or warm horse is a happy horse.
Steve:Yes. And their chemistry turns frosty afterwards. When
Ronnie:that's not how I remember it at all. How do you remember. I thought he, he was hung like a horse with a happy horse or something like
Stephen:that. That's a different
Steve:altogether. Yeah.
Ronnie:Oh, well, I'm sorry. My mistake, content warning, everyone, content law.
Steve:But do that before you say something inappropriate. Not after Ronnie.
Ronnie:Well, what am I supposed to do? It just comes out.
Steve:Yep. I do love though, like her trying to get on the horse since she does like a, full-on like up, over and back on the ground. But she does eventually get the hang of it with his help and he doesn't want to discuss foreign policy with her and she calls him out for that being misogynistic.
Stephen:And which is funny. Misogyny was exactly what I wrote in my notes too. Yeah.
Steve:He's like a pretty woman shirting bother herself with global affairs.
Stephen:You should just be pretty and plan events. Yes.
Steve:She should have
Ronnie:written sidesaddle like a proper lady and not one of these new age Ruffin
Stephen:we've moved on.
Steve:Yes.
Ronnie:I'm sorry. I'm stuck on it. I'm stuck in the past, like Anastasia. Okay. I'm ready now
Stephen:at the castle. He does apologize. Meanwhile, Margaret meets Olivia and Olivia being the only really intelligent person in the movie figures out that they've switched immediately.
Steve:Yes. And Kevin ends up loving Margaret spontaneity and then the magical man tells Kevin that they are a match made in heaven just before Olivia asks Santa for a new mom, awkward or very manipulative. Then they have the obligatory snowball fight turned almost kissed that happens in every one of these movies.
Stephen:Now. Would you say that you are more of a Stacy down to earth, but likes to follow schedules and is more rigid or Margaret who's a little more reserved, but sponsored spontaneous. I
Steve:would say that Stacy, I definitely like my rules and I like to follow them. Rules were made to be followed, not broken. What about you, Steven?
Stephen:He's a mix. I agree. I think that I'm mixed. I'm thinking I'm somewhere in the middle between the
Steve:two. What about you, Ronnie, then? Are you Margaret lady? Margaret?
Ronnie:I just rally a question we wish to pose.
Stephen:I know, I do think you're a lady. Margaret who had. The class and things, but you're spontaneous and you'll say whatever comes into your mind. And
Ronnie:I am thank you for that because you know what I mean? I am me and I think you're right. And I, you know, once you get switched to get it's real, all the way, I love filtering. I love, you know, DePaul up and conformant and all the rest, but I'm real. What you get is what you got.
Steve:Yes. Now we've also gotten the chance to get to know these couples a little bit better. Which couple would you say has the better chemistry, Stacy and Edward? Yes. For sure. I agree.
Stephen:I think they bring out the best in each other. I don't believe Kevin is changed by his time with Margaret and I don't think Margaret has really changed by her time with Kevin. I think that they're able to be themselves to an extent. But I, with Stacy and Edward, they are helping the other person to be their best self. Yeah. And I also
Steve:feel like,
Ronnie:I'm sorry. No, I was just going to say it must be stead. Kevin is so handsomely attractive. He's just hot. That's all I have to say
Steve:about that. You can say, I don't know. I'm more of a Edwards, more my type.
Ronnie:Edward's more money.
Steve:Yes. Now, I also feel like, I mean, in terms of chemistry, there is something that, you know, Stacy and Edward had the privilege of not having you know, decades of history that they're supposed to have already with each other. And they're, they really are getting to know each other for the first time. Walmart. Stock pretending that she has been a platonic friend to Kevin for, for decades, then she's just meeting him. I mean, they definitely have their moments where it's sweet and you almost believe it. But I feel like they were at a little bit of a handicap with that chemistry. Yeah.
Stephen:Now that night at the charity ball Edward's parents are confused and a little put off that. Stacey is interested in how the homeless shelter operates. It's kind of not a good look for his parents to be like, Other people think of those things. We just write the check darling. And I'm like, is that really a good Monarch that you're saying I could give a shit about my. Oh,
Ronnie:Steve. Do you remember when in Cincinnati we thought we were Brady had arranged something for us to go and help with the children. Do you remember that there was a book reading and a lunch, and so I imagined it to be, do you remember this? Tell this story. I just now thought of it. It popped back into my head. Oh, Steve, you'll love this story. Steve, do you remember though? I
Stephen:don't remember all the details of it. It
Ronnie:was something having to do that. I thought we were going to help the poor and unfortunate. And when that vein, I thought that there was a luncheon and we'd have to like watercress through. I thought everything was done and the invitations were outcome. And then, but that wasn't it at all. We were, we were supposed to read or something. I don't know what it was.
Stephen:There was reading and giving out. And you didn't think there, you didn't realize there would be as much hands on activity as there were. You thought it would be more of the junior league ladies who launched type of.
Ronnie:Well, I thought that was lunch and involved, no lunch. And there was no lunch. None of that. It was hard. It was Audrey with work. So Audra was forced. Yeah.
Stephen:This would have been like, you know, how Stacy gets then and later and reads to the kids. Imagine if the king and queen had been told to do that, that's wrong. This event.
Steve:Yes, exactly. Now imagination
Ronnie:is painful.
Steve:Yeah. Now Stacy is tasked to play the piano as a distraction, but of course she doesn't know how to play the piano. Edward comes to her rescue with a duet of Carol of the bells, and then they practice dancing in the gazebo and have their almost kiss. And
Stephen:it was very, very sweet the next morning, Stacy and Edward go for a carriage ride and she suggested Edward, get more involved with the shelter rather than throwing money. And he says, that reminds me of my hot top
Steve:grandmother. And she's a moist at that compliments. Nothing will tell, you know, if I was just like, baby, you remind me of my grandfather hot.
Ronnie:What was that? Conway Twitty song. Just saying this may involve a content warning yet again, for the hundredth episode, Conway, Twitty, what was that song about his hands and as I, and as I, and as I, and as I
Stephen:don't remember it all. I'm trying to think of it and telling, wait 20 songs. I know, like, you know that, hello, Darwin. It's nice to see. It's been,
Ronnie:as I put my arm as approved my arm around, she'd never been this far before. And then we changed the lyrics. Don't you remember the lyrics?
Stephen:I think we can pass this forward
Steve:now.
Stephen:Now you remember? I
Steve:do. Yes. Now after this rebellion now after this, like it is a sweet exchange. You know, you don't or often on a date when it be compared to, like, I think I'd be like, you remind me of my grandmother,
Stephen:but then this time, you know, that he really respects his grandpa. Exactly.
Steve:So it is an actual compliment. I just had to poke some fun at it
Ronnie:and then praise the
Steve:highest grade. Yes. And they go visit the children and the Stacey reads to them telling one little girl that all she needs to do is care about others. And then she's a princess in her heart, which begs the question. Ronnie, are you a princess where you care about others in your house?
Ronnie:Of course, the most important thing of being a Royal is to be gracious, giving care for others, God, and with a loving hand and make everyone be the best that they can be elevate others with refinement and let them be the best that they can be as they soar. That's what I truly feel.
Steve:you almost got through that way. You almost got through that with us. I say,
Ronnie:bring back the restore. They have a stock
Stephen:Resy so Edward and Stacy are inspired to go shopping and baking for the kids. And while they're shopping, they play twister, but almost run into Margaret and Kevin, but then kindly old Nick steps in and gets Margaret Kevin to leave the store just in time.
Steve:Yes. And then back at the castle, the prince can't rap for, to save his life, which reminds me of me this Christmas, that ends up that when you're sober and not high rapping is not as fun as it wasn't years prior
Stephen:because Steve used to be the best present rapper. Like I had to raise my game to match his. And then this year, it was like, Steve, forgot how scissors and tape work. It was
Steve:horrible. I was like, ah, I have a car. I was like, I wish I had Tamika and time to wrap my gifts for me. Cause I just,
Stephen:That night they delivered the gifts. Strong darling.
Ronnie:Be strong.
Stephen:Yes, I was. They deliver the gifts and Edward feels inspired by Stacy and announces that the. The homeless shelter monthly before they have their first kiss under the mistletoe.
Steve:Yes. And back at the castle, he gives her a pendant that belong to his grandmother that has engraved in Latin truth honor and love. And she clearly wishes that she could stay.
Stephen:Yeah. Yeah. And back with Margaret and Kevin, Margaret tux, Olivia and debate. And Olivia wishes that Margaret would stay yes.
Steve:In, which makes me be like that little brat. She's totally ready to, just to ditch Stacy for Gus. She's like Stacy, who I want you mommy.
Ronnie:She's a Royal that she's a royalist. No, no, no. Royal is shaming on this podcast. Margaret and I love that little girl. She's fabulous.
Steve:Now, Margaret and Kevin, then get ready to watch a Christmas prince, which is funny because in the second. It's confirmed that they take place in the same reality. So is it a non-fiction movie here that they're watching is Christmas prince in this reality documentary about how the king and queen met?
Stephen:You never know, but something important that goes along with that. If you'd like to know more about the Christmas prints a couple episodes ago, we covered it.
Steve:So go back and check that out while you check out our other episodes. We mentioned in our favorites,
Stephen:and though Kevin can't get. Margaret a gift like Edward's family pendant. He does give her a pendant with their family picture of Santa's. He confesses her feelings for the kiss right before she says let's pretend like this never happened. Breaking his
Steve:heart snap. Now is lady Margaret to blame for letting it get that far in leading him on when she knew that Stacy and Kevin had only been friends before.
Stephen:Yup. 100%, because over the phone. They had talked about it and Lydia Margaret was like, Kevin's the best. And he's so, and Stacy. He's like a puppy. He's my best friend. And, and while Stacy, wasn't kind in what she said about yeah, nothing like
Steve:being like Ronnie is our best friend. He's like a sad little puppy dog that will just follow us around. Like, that's not kind to say about people not to today and no one
Ronnie:has, no one has ever, my idea described me as that on this earth. No, you're
Steve:not a little puppy dog. You might be a female dog at times, but.
Ronnie:I am basically Christine Baranski. That's who I am. Maggie Smith the gilded age, darling, the gilded age.
Steve:Now, when they go to swap back, they realize each is in love with their own prince and the meddling man servant. Frank is out on the balcony, taking pictures of the mid swap. Meanwhile, the evil redhead cuts the power cord of Stacy's mixer
Stephen:and Frank, the balcony doesn't die or break anything. Unfortunately. So it's, yeah, it's mainly like minor karma. But you know, at some point they were going to have to be found out and the next morning, Frank wants to give the king, the pictures and the Queensland lake. If you want to keep your job, you'll just give them to me. And I'm like both of the Stacey and Martin, Margaret are regretting. That they did swap back because they liked the lives that they get
Steve:found. Yes. And while the queen is trying to mull over what to do with the pictures on this information wise old, Nick gives her a nudge, cleaning that Stacey looks like a princess to him. So the queen then asks Edward and Margaret to take her place at the baking competition.
Stephen:And I think her motivation at that point is she has seen. The change and Edward over the past few days. And she realizes that this is the son she had always known. He could be kind and compassionate, caring,
Steve:and that he won't be like that with Margaret. He needs Stacy.
Stephen:He needs Stacy. So he knows that if he runs into Stacy and it's all comes out in the. That he'll do what he should for his heart.
Steve:And
you
Ronnie:know what, and honestly, throughout history we have learned time and time again, Royals must have a love marriage. It can not be a Loveless marriage. Yes. We know that the purpose of it is to bring families and everything together and, and to continue to with tradition and preservation of the status quo, but there are couples through. The Royal history, whether it be the last Darren's arena of Russia or even princess or queen Elizabeth, the second and the late duke of Edinburgh, there are marriages that were found in love. It is possible. And queen Caroline believes in this and she supports.
Steve:Yes. And so Margaret clues, Edward in about the switch while Stacy and Kevin still nail the competition, despite ginger cons meddling and they win first place
Stephen:and the, and Margaret arrive and there's the whole, oh my goodness. You look like her. What's been going on. And the two of them take Kevin and Stacy backstage and they explain the switch, Edward confesses, his love for Stacy Margaret confesses. Her love for
Steve:Kevin. Yeah. Margaret and Kevin are like, cool. And then he kiss. Meanwhile, Stacey is hesitant at first because it's not part of the plan and she's not a princess. And so of course at this point, she's doing this publicly in front of the entire baking competition, which is being televised. The prince has his moment where Edward promises, she can continue to bake. And he proposes a saying that if she still is in love with him a year from today, would she marry him next Christmas? And
Stephen:you think that honestly, that that's going to be the sequels,
Steve:but no, instead their kiss is so powerful. It spins them into next year and we're at their wedding and it ends up. Yes, she was still in love with him a year later and they get married
Stephen:and she tosses the bouquet. And who cares? Olivia the
Steve:child
Stephen:bride. No, it's a lady. The core of mountain
Steve:aro. Yes. Leading us to believe that that's where the next movie we'll go and
Stephen:we'll find out later. Yes.
Steve:But what do you think of the ending Stephen? I love
Stephen:this movie. It's one of those popcorn Christmas flicks. It doesn't make you think too hard. It has a happy ending. It has likable character. It has a fun story. You know, this time of year and especially right now, We need happy endings. We need some light and love in the world. And I think this is fantastic.
Steve:Yes. I know we teased at the beginning as kind of a candy movie and that's what it is. You know, it might not be healthy for your brain, but it certainly tastes good as you're consuming it. It's good for your heart. Exactly.
Ronnie:And we need it. Our country needs our friends need, our people need the. Be there. We must
Steve:have it. And I was gonna say, cause Ronnie, you tried to watch this once or twice in it. It took you until this time for the podcast to get through it. What did you think now that you've had.
Ronnie:Well in the past, I was exhausted. My DIA, you know, flying around all that magic carpet. We'll take everything right out, literally and figuratively. No, but I liked it. I really liked it. It was so cute. There are a few I could criticize. I didn't get overly criticized and Steve's both of you, you know, I, I don't want to be that critical in this case. I want to enjoy the field. You know, to, to feel goodness stuff at all, but there are a few little things I could've critiqued. I could've critiqued the accent, a tad more for the English side. I could have critiqued and been just a little bit harsher perhaps when it comes to titles and how we address people of certain stations. But all that aside, this is a lovely Christmas maybe, and I would enjoy, I would encourage everyone to watch it whenever they have an opportunity, you will feel good from this. And it's, it's happiness that its best and Merry Christmas.
Steve:Yes. Merry Christmas, everyone. Yes.
Stephen:And there are now two sequels. There was a princess switch switched again, and then there was a princess switch. Three,
Steve:the Royal Royal star or Royal star. Something like something like that.
Ronnie:We have not seen it. It was the Royal whore.
Stephen:No,
Steve:that just fourth wine. Oh, yeah, that's the fourth one where there ends up being a forced Vanessa Hutchinson. They all have a giant or G you know,
Ronnie:I really, I got to see that one. Can I fast forward?
Steve:Yes, you can. I'm sure. You just watched that for the plots. Yeah,
Ronnie:I wrote the plot. The plot pickup.
Stephen:Yes. Thank you, Anne rice. Well, have you seen any of the sequels. No, not
Ronnie:yet. Not yet. I mean, I was lucky to get through this one because, because honestly we've, we've had some connectivity, connectivity problems, and then w we were so exhausted of the jet lag of traveling from India. I fell asleep in the first time I fell asleep in the second half. You get you two gave me a little grace period to watch it again. And then I watched the ladder, the middle part with my sister-in-law yesterday, even like, is that. The or I think I told you earlier, and then I watched the tail end with my brother-in-law this morning. And so I'm, I'm just now up to date. So I look forward to the SQL I think the third one. Yeah, I think so
Steve:with that, that wraps up our holiday season of Christmas movies. My love. What did you think?
Ronnie:Well, I'm right here. I
Steve:think I know. And I mean, that, that was a, it was a fun month, but looking ahead into the new year, what are some of the movies we plan on covering? So I
Stephen:know that we're going to be looking at a nightmare on Elm street, burlesque back to the future. X-Men I think,
Steve:I think that that's a good start for the new year. We'd also love to hear what you listeners would love to hear us discuss in 2022.
Ronnie:What about what I would like to discuss in
Stephen:2022? What would you like to discuss in 2022? Ronnie,
Ronnie:the gilded age and post haste.
Steve:Okay. You got it. I'll keep you in mind for that.
Ronnie:We must be met. We, we, we cannot be tardy when it comes to the gilded age and Christine Baranski.
Steve:Well, you know what you need to do then running, you need to email us like all of our listeners@haveathappylifepodatgmail.com or you
Stephen:could always get in touch with us on the socials, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or tick talk at happy life.
Ronnie:Yes. And we shall do with the greatest
Steve:of glory. Yes. Then stay tuned in 2022 for more, a lifetime of happiness, as well as I'm sure more Ronnie, we're sorry.
Stephen:And
Steve:everybody until next time, stay happy.