Bulb Wars Productions, Pitchblack Pictures Inc, The Hallmark Channel
Daniel Stern, Morgan Brayton, Lesley Ewen, Matt Frewer, Ryan Grantham, C. Ernst Harth, Ellie Harvie, Tim Henry, Allison Hossack, Alf Humphreys, William Hutchinson, Luis Javier, Maxine Miller
Stu Jones (Matt Frewer) and Bob Wallace (Daniel Stern) were childhood friends who fell out of friendship over a competition way back in high school. When suddenly 25 years later they end up living across the street from each other, the competition all comes back. This year the town has a christmas decorating contest with a $5000 prize. Naturally the two will go all out to win, no matter what it takes or who they destroy, even if they destroy each other.
Reminiscent of Deck the Halls with Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick, this story is really just about two guys going WAY overboard in decorating their house. There is not a lot of meat in this film, but it’s a new film for 2010, and is very humorous. As each tries to outdo the other, and at the same time to torpedo the other, it’s really pretty funny. If you’re not looking for a lot of drama, this is a funny way to kill a few hours. Hallmark is repeating it over and over this year since it’s a premier in 2010, so it should be easy to catch, and it’s a nice diversion from all the heart wrenching sad stories. Eventually things will end up happy as they always do, but it’s fun to watch these guys hate each other, at least for a while. The ending is a switch from the earlier Deck the Halls movie and is actually pretty sweet.
** Battle of the Bulbs (2010),
