Naughty or Nice (2012)  

Burton's Book of Truth

Living on Candy Cane Lane and with the name Krissy Kringle's (Hilarie Burton) life was going only one of two ways; she would either love Christmas or hate it and as it turns out it is the latter as she owns the only undecorated hour on the street, gets tired of all the jokes surrounding her name and is tired of receiving mail addressed to the Kris Kringle. To put her in an even bigger grump she has lost her hob just before Christmas. When she gets home she finds that a package for Santa has arrived containing his naughty or nice book which has the power to reveal all of someone's bad doings which she ends up using and causing turmoil with it until she discovers something about her boyfriend. It is then she seeks her parents, Carol (Meredith Baxter) and father Walter Kringle (Michael Gross), help especially when she discovers that there is a nice list as well.

"Naughty or Nice" which is also known as "The Christmas List" doesn't really need to be reviewed as all you need to know is the rough storyline, that it is a Hallmark movie and who the appealing cast is. As such we have a sweet comedy about a Christmas grouch who becomes not so much of a Christmas grouch with the obligatory romantic element thrown in for good measure. Most of the emphasis is on Krissy Kringle hating Christmas and her struggles in the festive season from people commenting on her name, others having a go over her lack of festivity to everyone just being happy when life isn't going great for her. Some of it is amusing but once the idea of the power of the book is played out it needs something more.

It is when the initial idea is done with is when "Naughty or Nice" starts to rely heavily on Hilarie Burton and it is a case whilst Hilarie is appealing the character of Krissy doesn't have a great deal going on. But then this is a Hallmark Christmas movie and lack of character of depth should be expected with the focus always on their visual appeal and niceness.

What this all boils down to is that "Naughty or Nice" is a fun distraction in the lead up to Christmas which relies heavily on the likeability of Hilarie Burton to make it work. But once the initial idea is played out it doesn't have another idea to carry it to the credits.

Tags: Christmas Movies, TV Christmas Movies