disgaea36 This movie was horrible. The people giving this 10 stars either saw a different movie or are Disney channel fanatics because this was just bad from start to finish. There was barely much plot except for the protagonist trying to save his grandmothers shop and the acting and camera work were just downright bad. This was nothing but over dramatized bullying to the extreme and overzealous teens lashing out. I give it 2 stars because I found the shy kid with the accent charming and the blogger crush witty and cute for the small scenes they both got but thats about it. This is a movie you wait for release on DVD and never rent. Save your cash and especially your time and go watch something else you got an abundance of choices.

rickdobbis Message movies can be a bore but not contest. A good cast and a refreshing twist on encouraging positive behavior with a very timely cooking contest at the core Contest is like a sports movie with food! As in most sports movies you may well guess the ending, but you may be surprised, and the journey is with it. Young actors and a fresh group go filmmakers make this a new entry that will hopefully reach the target audience. This is a good film for families to see together. But as teenagers and young adults may balk at that prospect parents can be comfortable with this as a date night special for their teenagers. The cast is attractive and the romance angle is well played. Contest delivers a message without being preachy and that is very welcome.

magdateach WOW! I really enjoyed this movie! As a middle school teacher! I appreciate the efforts of the cast and the writer/director to deliver a much-needed anti-bullying message in an accessible, highly entertaining way. School authorities, stressing their serious commitment to zero tolerance of bullying, often promote their message in a heavy-handed manner.Not Contest.Sure, the subject matter is serious (one character even contemplates suicide briefly). But this script also embraces the foibles present in teens, tweens and adults: namely, being used to doing certain things (like being a loner or a bully) for our "right" reasons and then having to deal with those reasons being challenged. And the cast--especially, but not limited to, the five leads--demonstrate their talent as their characters respond to those challenges, for better or worse.Kudos! To Kenton Duty (bully Matt) and Daniel Flaherty (victim & teen chef Tommy) to realistically portraying the rocky relationship between their characters, with its twists & turns of ingrained mistrust vs. building trust. To Katherine McNamara's strong-minded & lovely Sarah, an observant, forthright blogger who challenges both Tommy & Matt in her quest for the truths underlying their unlikely partnership. To Mary Beth Peil and Kyle Dean Massey: the lovingly supportive Gran contrasts well with Matt's manipulative older brother Kyle. How these adults dispense their respective wisdom (Gran's selfless vs. Kyle's self-driven) to the teens they're raising reminds us how "children live what they learn."Just like life, Contest is funny, eye-opening and touching. Tommy and his teen chef crew's lively run-ins with the female Bartosh cousins' team and every appearance of obnoxious teen chef opponent Dennis (a hilarious Dan Fabi) cracked me up. Ravi Ullman's frazzled but smooth TV host kept me smiling. Alex Boniello scarily impressed me as Joe, Matt's friend & swim teammate, with his funny yet vicious streak. And Owen Teague's Bobby (a Team Tommy member) won my heart whether he was impishly flaunting his success with the Bartosh girls or brokenheartedly crying when targeted by a cyber-bully.Contest send an uplifting message: be open to friendships with people who might not seem to be your "type"--a reminder that well serves tweens & teens beyond their school experiences.I highly recommend Contest for students 4th grade & up through early high school. Ideally, families would benefit from watching it together. (Also recommended by Stuart Snyder, president of The Cartoon Network where Contest first premiered in October, Anti-Bullying Month.) I also purchased a copy for my classroom library--principals take note!

bousozoku When I saw "bullying", I thought "Oh, geez, another over-the-top, sensitive, feel-good movie that doesn't make a real point." but Contest isn't so far off from real life, although it tosses in a few over-the-top points, which are supposed to help the viewer become aware, not distract them from the message.It's obvious that it would be tricky to attack bullying without seeming ridiculous, especially since no one really knows how to handle it in real life. I suspect that everyone has been bullied in real life, especially the bullies, but dealing with it in in real life always seems to be non-confrontational.It's also obvious that everyone in the film tried to make it work and that there was some good chemistry between the characters. Daniel Flaherty's character, Tommy, seems as good a victim as you would hope--someone who just can't catch a break, but still hard-working and caring. It's evident in a scene where he's being swindled by another teen who says his parents lost their jobs. Kenton Duty's character, Matt, doesn't really seem a bully though his brother Kyle does, but that he doesn't want to be bullied, so he goes along with it rather than be ostracized by the rest of the team, and tries to have some fun along the way. Katherine McNamara's character, Sarah, is the intelligent, don't-take-no-for-an-answer type. Tommy's grandmother is the only character that seemed unrealistic, as she wanted to cook for the bullies, to ply them with food, to make them see reason. I don't know of any place in the northeast where that works and I don't recall a grandmother who wasn't at least a little feisty. Still, along the way she has words of wisdom and becomes the voice of reason.There is plenty of scheming and double-dealing and you might need a score card to keep up with who is on which side. Sarah seemed to be keeping up with most everything, but strangely never threatened.In the end, things work out pretty well for Tommy, despite the minor disasters and soul-searching but all the scheming behind the scenes because of Kyle and Joe made me wonder if Matt was safe. Kyle and Joe didn't seem to learn or regret and there weren't any real consequences that would make them change their minds. Wrapping up the story with a perfect ending is fine when you don't have a fabric store full of loose threads, like a 1960s sitcom.