'The Christmas Contest' is a fairly entertaining Christmas romantic comedy, not one of Hallmark's best this season nor one of their worst. Although the comedy falls a bit flat at times, the banter between the leads is fun and engaging. The story itself is formulaic. Hallmark fans, I suspect, will find this comforting, while others may not. Our two protagonists in the movie are Lara (played by Candace Cameron Bure),a successful company executive who feels something is missing in her life, and Ben (played by John Brotherton),a former professional Baseball player and hometown hero. The two exes are thrown together (years after a painful breakup) when they enter a week-long televised Christmas contest to win $50,000 for the charity of their choice. As the competition progresses, we watch the two begin to rekindle their relationship while battling each other to win and become Denver's Queen/King of Christmas. As noted above, the plot follows the standard Hallmark playbook. That said, the writer does a decent job with the dialogue and banter between Lara and Ben, and Lara and her mother Donna (played by Barbara Niven). Though I never had a laughing-out-loud moment, I did smile and chuckle a few times during the movie. The writer develops a couple of sub-plots in this one as well, both of which are warm and heartfelt, especially Ben's relationship with his grandmother. The Christmas competition, at times, is over the top, as you might expect in such a film. The humor, I'm afraid, fell flat more times than not during these scenes. The acting overall is strong. Bure, a Hallmark regular, had an impressive performance. As others have pointed out, in addition to her comical abilities in such roles, she had a couple of very good scenes where she did an excellent job of portraying Lara's anguish and distress over her relationships with Ben and her mother (Niven's performance was excellent). Brotherton had an entertaining performance, which was comical at times. The chemistry between the two was convincing. As I noted above, the banter was great. Given that the story was about a Christmas contest, there is plenty of holiday spirit and festive cheer in the movie, which I enjoyed for the most part. All in all, 'The Christmas Contest' is a fun and light-hearted movie. Fans of Hallmark romantic comedies will no doubt enjoy.

The 2021 Christmas Hallmark output was a very mixed bag, but could have been far considering the circumstances. There were five or six real winners, but also some below average outings and plenty in between either extreme. Also saw 'The Christmas Contest' as someone that did like the premise and because of liking Hallmark regular (and it is not hard to see why she is popular with them) Candace Cameron Bure and Barbara Niven in other things.

While not a terrible film (or at least to me it isn't),'The Christmas Contest' disappoints drastically for reasons already summed up very well. Bure herself comes over quite well, but she certainly deserved much better than what she is given in one of her worst Hallmark Christmas outings. 'The Christmas Contest' is not quite one of the very worst 2021 Christmas Hallmark films, but it is in the lesser half of that year's batch rather than one of the best. Hallmark did do some good festive films that year, but this isn't one of them.

Bure makes it just about tolerable. Would have liked her character to have been a lot more interestingly written, but Bure is actually very charming and tries hard to bringing energy and honesty to the film. Niven also comes off well, bringing a lot of class and vim to a role that is quite standard for Hallmark but has been known to be done well.

Also thought that the production values were quite nice, not lavish but not the hasty looking amateurish look that was feared considering the budget and time constraints and also the present circumstances. Some of the music is pleasant.

However, too much doesn't work. Am another person who found John Brotherton poor in the film, with an oft tendency to overact while also not looking comfortable. A major problem with 'The Christmas Contest' and in a way that is enough to unbalance the film is the way his character is written, think Paul Greene's character in 'Christmas CEO' with the similar negative characteristics yet worse and you have Brotherton's here. And these negative characteristics are so overblown in writing and acting that looking for virtues is hard and one of the big questions one is asking throughout the film is what does she see in him. He and Bure have very little chemistry together, with it coming over as too forced and antagonistic, nothing romantic. The supporting cast are okay but don't have much to work with, only Niven stands out.

While there are pleasant moments in the soundtrack, too much of it is intrusive and could have done with a toning down. The script is constantly awkward and over-heated, the bickering was very overdone and increasingly repetitive, with there being too much of it and the cheese filled dialogue itself for the bickering induces cringing. The story is formulaic and by the numbers, with too much plodding pacing and a too abruptly introduced and out of the blue 180 degree character change. One that comes over as incredibly unrealistic and tacked on, considering the character it applies to. The direction at best is workmanlike.

Overall, semi-watchable due to Bure and Niven but underwhelms with the poorly written male lead character. 4/10.

Who doesn't love Candace Cameron Bure in almost anything? Two (just about past their freshness date) ex-lovers and friends reconnect during a baking and dance contest and the catty foreplay is obvious to the audience they were meant to be together. Ben (John Brotherton) is a successful sports jock and Lara (Candace Cameron Bure) is living her dream as a successful CEO. Both being very competitive, they relish the opportunity to once again compete against one another.

This is not one of those thought provoking Christmas themed films where the piano and a tandem of melancholy horns lead the audience to a big reveal that brings tears to your eyes. Rather, this is a romantic Christmas themed film where the leading man Ben, mentors an introverted 12 year old boy named Jayce (Matteus Lunot) break through and adjust to making new friends. Lara on the other hand stops listening to her mother who is always trying to motivate Lara to be better at everything, to where Lara just wants to enjoy a fun little contest and find true love.

Mrs. Shullivan and I enjoyed this simple story line and romantic themed film, especially since Candace Cameron Bure starred in it.

I give the film a 7 out of 10 IMDb rating.