The best way to describe a 'Christmas CEO' is: it's good enough. It is not as bad as some of the reviews suggest. Sure, it is not one of Hallmark's best, but to be fair, it is certainly not one of their worst. I think one of the main problems was casting. The story follows Christmas (played by Marisol Nichols),aka Chris, a hard-working CEO of a small toy company who gets an offer of a lifetime: a merger with one of the most successful toy companies and, more importantly, she will become its new CEO. However, there is a catch. She needs her former partner/friend Joe (played by Paul Greene) to sign off on the merger. The problem is, they haven't spoken in years. Joe agrees to sign if she is willing to help him with his charity this Christmas. And so, our journey begins as we watch these two mend the past, rediscover what they truly want and, maybe, just maybe, find a future together. At face value, the plot was decent for a Hallmark production. The writers do a pretty good job with the dialogue, especially those scenes where Chris and Joe reminisce about their past together. These were heartfelt and nicely written. The problem, however, is that the two don't feel like a good match. The writers could have done a better job of convincing us that they actually are. The casting in this respect did not help. Simply put: there seemed to be a disconnect between Nichols's performance and her character. They did not line up, I felt. The chemistry between her and Greene was not bad, but the idea that these two would end up together took away from this element of their performance, I'm afraid. The sequel to this one would have to look like the plot shakeup in this year's 'The Nine Kittens of Christmas'. Leaving these issues aside, Greene had a very strong performance, I thought. His charisma and charm really shine on-screen. He (and Nichols) had some nice scenes with Chris's niece Emma (played by Veronica Marin-Estrada). She had a lovely performance. The movie also had a wonderful Christmas vibe to it. There was plenty of Christmas spirit and festive cheer in this one, which I did enjoy. Hmm...I am not sure about the reindeer race game. All in all, it is a decent Christmas movie with a couple of bright spots that shine through here and there. If you are a fan of Hallmark Christmas movies, then you might want to check this one out.

While the concept is not a unique one, it did interest me and if done right the story had potential to be entertaining in a romantic comedy sort of way. Paul Greene is more often than not worth watching and always shines when he is given likeable, sympathetic characters. 'Christmas CEO' was also watched as part of my 2021 Hallmark Christmas film project that has been going on for the past month, which did see some film take serious themes and mix romance and family and do them very well.

'Christmas in My Heart', 'My Christmas Family Tree' and 'One December Night' (three of the best Hallmark films that year to me) were examples of 2021 Hallmark Christmas films to do this successfully. 'Christmas CEO' completely failed at this, what could have been cute and entertaining turned out to be ridiculous and mean spirited and one thing really ruins it. There were some duds in this year's Hallmark Christmas output (i.e. 'Boyfriends of Christmas Past', 'Coyote Creek Christmas') and 'Christmas CEO' is a contender for the worst.

There are redeeming merits. Marisol Nichols gives a deeply committed performance, without any sense of overplaying, and really felt for her character until her truly unrealistic final decision. Veronica Marin-Estrada is a real charmer as the film's most likeable and mature character.

Did think that it was slickly made and some of the soundtrack is pleasantly festive.

However, there are so many things wrong and the worst of them are so bad that it is easy to forget the good points. Count me in as another person that absolutely despised Greene's character, an absolute self-absorbed jerk with no respect for anybody but himself with no sense of character growth or change. Greene looked stiff and strained throughout, his usual subtle charm and easy going-ness absent. Actually got the sense that he hated playing the character and realised too late that it was way out of his comfort zone. He and Nichols have absolutely no chemistry at any stage, the disconnect seen so blatantly in the early parts are maintained throughout so the central relationship never grows. Which is what makes the final decision at the end so abrupt and impossible to swallow, as well as that it is so hard to believe how Nichols' character or even anybody could find any appeal in Greene's.

None of the rest of the cast stand out in flatly written roles. Very few of the characters are interesting or easy to get behind, Nichols' (up until the end) and Marin-Estrada's being the exceptions. The script is clunky and has a lot of cheese (more cheese than in a cheeseburger) and schmaltz (like having too many sugars in a cup of tea). Also found some of Greene's character's dialogue on the distasteful side. The story lacks energy, needed a lighter touch than what was given and is completely lacking in charm and heart. Too many of the character behaviours are vague and ridiculous and there is a mean spirited edge that was not there anywhere near as much in the previous duds in the 2021 Hallmark Christmas output.

Overall, very weak. 3/10.

Hallmark has lost its crown to GAC!! The last two years, really it started with Christmas At Graceland, Hallmark has done nothing but gone down hill!! The past two years now have been movies made from the Hollywood casting checklist!! Think they also follow that for writing style as well because this one has pathetic writing! Example is when the lead girl says she is surprised she had to get the lead guys signature before the merger could happen!! She would have known the answer since she knew he never sold his half of the company!!I Unless Hallmark returns to the formula that worked for the beginning until 2019/2020, they will fall completely from Grace & watch GAC top the mountain!!