Love at the Christmas Contest

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.

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.

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.

One of my favorites in this type of genre. The writing and story is thoughtful and clever about a drama based around a Christmas tree decorating contest for the town. I wish my town had something like that as it is such a cool idea. A perfect family and love story for the holidays. The acting from the leads was great and the directing and production all first rate. Really impressed with this flick overall and I highly recommend! The colors really pop on the screen, and just beautiful sets and backdrops of Christmas decor and cozy homes. I found the story to be very touching on how new beginnings can occur despite going through great losses of losing loved ones, especially your mother as what is the case in the story. I have seen other Mar Vista movies, and ones written by John Burd and I was very impressed. This is the first film I have seen that he directed as well and I look forward to seeing more from him like this! It's nice to see Hollywood put out good-natured films again like this.

GAC Family is committed to family friendly entertainment. Often, they are doing this, in my opinion, at the expense of the story. For example, so many of the movies they have premiered lack any real villain, large or small to create tension. This movie is an example of what I am saying.

For starters, the story looks on paper like a grab-bag of many of the usual Christmas formulas. Angie lost her mother last year and everything this year is to honor her, especially her goal to win the tree decorating contest. Meanwhile, David is in town only for a short while and has to get back to Florida for his job. David has an absolutely adorable 10 year old girl, Gabby. There is the usual meddling bff. The word play around "it's a date" was way overused. There are snowmen and tree decorating.

Beyond all that, the story is very simple with no real highs or lows. One might call it a twist when Angie does something special almost at the end, but then that was closely tied to a problem that has been running through most of the movie which all the viewers knew would somehow be solved. And as I alluded to, there is almost no tension. The conflict gets blown up around another thing even the characters knew through the whole movie.

So what about Abby and David's relationship which I often say is what I really watch for? Yawn! Any chemistry between Samantha Cope and Ross Jirgl was extremely quiet at best. I think much of the responsibility for that is with Jirgl because he played David so laid back and reserved. I liked Cope's Angie, but she isn't in a class with some of the more perky actresses. There was definite chemistry between Cope and Eliza Donaghy's Gabby.

The background music was often distracting. Not because it was loud, but because it was noticeable. I have found that to be the case in other GACF movies. In this case, it might have been because that background was Christmas Carols in such a way that the melody stood out and competed with the dialogue.

This movie will be enjoyable in that there is no reason to expect things that aren't for the whole family. The story, the acting, and the dialogue are all acceptable, just not sparkling.