Love at the Christmas Contest

Put your drinking hats on. My wife and came up with a game last year after watching this Gem of a movie. Every time David (Ross Jirgl) looks down to the ground we have to take a shot. Needless to say I'm writing this from the Emergency Room, we couldnt finish watching the movie. Alcohol poisoning is not fun but i this will not deter us from playing this game next year.

Just really wanted to know why Angie was wearing a wedding ring throughout the movie. Is there a backstory i missed? Did her husband die? My theory is that she's working on getting a side piece and David won that spot.

Anyways, it's a generic Hallmark type movie. Clearly its a A. I created script. It doesn't offer anything different from any other low budget Hallmark Christmas Movie. The upside is you might not survive the game.

When I heard GAC had come along and was presenting itself as a clear, family-friendly alternative to all the wokeness going on at Hallmark these days, I was happy about it. I still am.

And it's only natural that it would take some time to get up to speed with the casts and scripts and crews necessary to make good movies, so I cut them some slack. You have to walk before you can run.

This, then, is one of those fledgling efforts.

High school boyfriend, a widower with an adorable and precocious daughter is in town for the holidays. Paths cross with a nursery owner who's recently lost her mom. She enters a tree decorating contest to honor her, only to discover the ex and daughter have entered too.

Commence bonding, near-miss episodes of physical affection, misunderstanding and resolution.

The lead actress is sweet, but the male model lead is a little stiff, and there is little chemistry between them. Daughter is adorable, and the requisite relationship-pushing best friend has some good moments as well.

The theme of the decorating contest is the meaning of Christmas. Not to give anything away, but Charlie Brown knew something these people don't.

I guess there's still a gap between family friendly and Christian themes.

A so-so effort, but I would still encourage them to continue their noble quest.

The locations were ok, but not many of them. I assume this was a small budget movie and they couldn't afford a better known lead actress and actor. The pair have no chemistry and that makes this production look like an amateur stage play, directed by someone with no directing experience. The best actors were the supporting ones, stand outs Triana Browne and Colleen Elizabeth Miller.

The script - plot and dialog are bad, snooze material starting with the tree decorating contest which was boring. If the script and direction were better it could have helped this movie and the actors. I wasn't looking for an award winning production, just something that doesn't look like a B/C level movie.

Watchable and family-friendly, but boring.

Except for the funny friend, and all the strange scenes that were off and made us laugh.

Who would try to wrap a present like that??!! You would have to see that scene to believe it. 😂

There was no town shown, only indoor scenes and front of the house scenes.

If you look closely at the picture of the nursery in one scene, there are skyscrapers behind it.

That pot of stew was massive and would have fed a dozen people!😂

After watching 100 of these stories, it's still annoying when the misunderstanding you know is coming actually does. No one says anything. No one communicates. It just has to be like that. Sigh.

The acting was okay, the male lead is a good-looking guy.

There is a different feeling to GAC movies than the new Hallmark ones. So it's tame.

I laughed when I noticed that there's no drinking wine at dinner, because we watched A Magical Christmas Village last week and there were at least 4 or 5 episodes where everyone had their glasses - Hallmark was trying subliminal messages to get us to buy their wine. So that's funny.

The kisses are different. A very friendly quick pucker up and peck. 😂 Done.

We had fun with this one, and all the little things mentioned were entertaining. We laughed a lot.

I give it a 5 out of 10 for the get upset/non-communication trope.

First - the BEST part of Christmas movies is that they end well. I don't care about predictability when watching them - it's t he predictability that is comforting. No gore, no profanity, no nudity, wholesome stories with happy endings. That being said - I personally loved this one because I love Christmas, especially decorating the tree. So tree decorating is close to my heart. That's not the only "personal" part of this movie, my oldest daughter is named Samantha (lead actress' name), and I love sunflowers. I am a movie freak and tend to watch favorites over and over - and there are many! However, I don't feel that makes me a movie critic on any level, other than personal preference. So the snarky comments made by others about low budget, bad plots or acting should be ignored - for all reviews. So you didn't care for it - big deal. I think it's crazy how many ways all the Christmas movies can present the same basic story line! All actors, new and seasoned, need a place to present their art. Some have a lot of experience and a better screen presence, others are new to it. Kudos to them all for surviving the cattle call, the screen tests and getting the role!

Watch the movies for the FUN of it and ENJOY!