Natale on air

This movie had a lot of potential, and I think it didn't use all of it because it was trying to be something it's not. It tried to be a romance, and ultimately it did not feel very romantic to me.

First, the good things. The casting was great. Tilky Jones had the wisecracking radio-host schtick down perfectly. Haylie Duff (whom I was getting tired of, up until now) surprised me with her warmth. Eric Peterson was delightfully goofy, Tyler Jacob Moore did a good job as a nice guy who clearly only plays it safe, and Terrence Cooper was the right combination of wisecracking and just wise. I thought every single actor was in character.

The script was sharp, and it was not too sharp. Some moments genuinely touched me. The part with the room full of packing material, to look like snow - that was so corny, and yet they played it right. This movie did not cost much to make, and yet a lot of the sets had a personal touch that made them memorable. Even the photography worked pretty well.

Alas, the movie also wanted to be "French Kiss," two people with very different backgrounds who fall in love, and I wasn't feeling it. Sandra and Pepper start out having virtually nothing in common, and yet the ice melts pretty quickly between them. I confess I did not understand what they saw in each other. I think this lack of chemistry shows in the way the scene would suddenly fade out just as they were having a moment. It felt like a sign that they did not really know what to do with each other.

I think this movie needed to take more risks. Don't try to please the same crowd over and over again. Surprise us! Show us something that makes us realize it wasn't the genre we were expecting. For a movie in which two people come to care for each other but also realize how achingly different they are, watch "Princess Mononoke."

A cocky LA radio host named Pepper (yes, really) ticks off an advertiser so, as punishment, his station sends him to a small town in Colorado to hang out with pretty Haylie Duff. Some punishment. How could he stand such torture and live? Anyway, Haylie has her own radio show. It's a Dr. Laura/Phil/Drew type advice show. Pepper is assigned to be her cohost. Naturally, the two mix like oil and water but their on-air bickering becomes popular and, inevitably, they start to like each other.

Despite the seasonal backdrop, Christmas has little to do with the story. It's just a basic 'opposites attract' romantic comedy. Haylie Duff is very likable and charming. In typical romcom fashion she has another guy before Pepper shows up. This guy looks like a Ken doll come to life. To the movie's credit, he's not the total cliché you might expect. He seems like a nice man and, if he got the girl, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Tilky Jones is fun and his banter with Haylie is good. Unfortunately it doesn't last long as they start getting along really quickly and after that the banter seems limp. The speed by which these two go from not getting along to sharing personal stories and falling in love is pretty unbelievable. I realize a TV movie only has so much time but I think they could have paced the story better. The rest of the cast is pretty good. Maureen McCormick steals all of her scenes. The comedy works better than the romance. The 'memorial for Buddy' scene is the highlight of the movie. Oh and the canned music they used in this is insipid. But, warts and all, it's a decent romcom TV movie.

The two leads have perfect chemistry! They're so much fun together, and the rest of the cast is so colorful, too. A perfect Christmas movie!

My Christmas film viewings over-time have been a very mixed bag. With some surprisingly good hits, where regardless of how predictable they are succeed in being full of charm, warmth and heart so succeeding in being light-hearted and undemanding fun. But also some quite big misses, where the characters are not likeable, everything is forced and shallow with implausibility too in some of the worst cases, the acting and writing being weak and basically with just nothing to them.

'Naughty and Nice' is in the middling category. Not a terrible film, though a few elements are executed quite badly. Also not a particularly good one, despite some things executed well. If anything, for me it was a bit of a mixed bag and not easy to rate or review, which is not always a nice thing to feel for me as someone who is trying to be more assertive and definite (still a struggle just to say). There are far worse Christmas films, and overall films, out there than 'Naughty and Nice', but also better on both counts.

There are good things. It doesn't look too cheap, with the scenery being particularly attractive. The cast is a likeable one, with Haylie Duff a beguiling lead. She and Tilky Jones, also amiable, have a nice chemistry when it becomes more settled.

It does have fun and cute moments and some nice energy.

What hurts it though is the excessive predictability, where almost everything is obvious from having seen almost everything in the plot happen many times with similar developments. While Duff and Jones are good together, the actual relationship development is implausibly rushed and the ending is also rushed and too tidy. The script too often is very overripe, the banter being sharp to begin with but got too over the top and cheesy later.

All the characters are underdeveloped and have vague decision making. Really disliked the music, which is really repetitive and canned sounding.

Concluding, neither terrible or particularly good. Middling middle of the road more like. 5/10.

The leads do what they're given with professionalism. But the writing is so bad I wanted to throw rotten apples at them. Nobody is either interesting or believable as anything but a character in one of these horrible Christmas rom-coms. I actually love good holiday rom-coms.

This ain't one of them.