Naughty & Nice (2014 TV Movie) User Reviews

"It's like I've turned into a TV movie, man."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 15 November 2014]

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.

Cute

[Christmas-Reviewer · 7/10 · 22 September 2016]

******THIS MOVIE IS CALLED Christmas MIX ON DVD***** ******THIS MOVIE IS CALLED Christmas MIX ON DVD***** ******THIS MOVIE IS CALLED Christmas MIX ON DVD*****

Pepper Sterling is a cynical and funny radio dee-jay. When Pepper's latest radio antics anger an important advertising executive, he gets shipped over to a sister station in small town America to serve out his suspension until the dust blows over and now must co-host a show with Sandy Love who is a radio shrink. Thrown together she is immediately at odds with Pepper When Samantha and Pepper's catches the attention of the small town, their joint show becomes a hit and they start to see something in each other. Will they fall in love? Well Duh!

There is nothing new in this film. I have a feeling it was re- written to have a "Christmas Theme" added to it. The acting s fine and the film has very memorable moments. In general the film is too predictable. There is also a love triangle in this film and I felt sorry for the odd man out. He was not a bad man but yet he gets the short end of the stick here. He was a nice guy.

Diverting

[olympicator · 6/10 · 31 July 2020]

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."

Decent Christmas Movie

[gypsytwilight · 7/10 · 17 December 2020]

So there's a giant plot hole right in the middle of this movie where the two leads break up for some reason that makes no sense to me. I assumed it was because the Dr wasn't willing to move to LA because it would require her moving away from her mom and/or giving up her radio show but immediately afterwards she talks about quitting just because it reminds her of the dude and shortly after that she decides to move to Dallas with the guy who she was sort of just killing time with prior to meeting Pepper. So essentially there was nothing keeping her in Colorado, he was clearly into her and looking for a relationship and she just got pissed and ended things for no reason. Super lazy writing there. That being said as far as cheesy Christmas movies go this one was fairly decent. The story was fun, the acting was pretty good, all in all good watch.

Blond guy really dodged a bullet

[sub780lime · 3/10 · 7 December 2021]

Man, who did the score for this movie because half of it sounded like there was xylophone quota. In the end, it was watchable from a production and mostly acting standpoint, but as a love story, it's really bad.

Simply Awful Writing.

[mrnibiru · 2/10 · 8 December 2021]

This is one of the most cliche movies I have ever seen. A TV dinner. The end scene where the radio audience teleports to Pepper's location so the ending marriage proposal can happen is physically impossible. The writer should be ashamed.

Great movie

[jasminekorus-52617 · 8/10 · 7 July 2020]

This movie surprised me. I have always liked the duff sisters but this one took my by surprise. Take a professional working women who's a radio DJ and a cocky radio DJ and you get this movie. It's sweet and heartfelt. Definitely a great movie.

A lot of naughty, not much nice

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 12 July 2022]

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.

So much fun!

[christa-pelc · 8/10 · 23 December 2019]

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!

Great casting, terrible, awful, not very good writing

[hmb-51778 · 5/10 · 4 December 2020]

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.

In the boring side.

[camilla_one · 3/10 · 13 November 2022]

Nothing new here with a man acting like a stuck up know it all thinking he is so great. Forced to move to a small town after behaving bad at the radio show. Of course he and the female radio host is gonna fall for each other after him suddenly going nice. But it all happens so fast. And at the end when he propose like how did that happen. Where did the town come from, did he secretly cal them on the way there. And it being around Christmas, I didn't get any Christmas feeling at all. Could have been a regular movie at anytime of the year but with a Christmas tree trying to make it in the Christmas category. A Okey movie that became a little boring at the end with a ridiculous end.

Sweetheart of a Movie

[eaglespiritnews-56943 · 9/10 · 6 December 2018]

This one is a wonderful gift of 'True Love' at Christmas! I didn't think I was going to like it at first... a little too cynical for me in the beginning. However, unexpected transformations happen to brighten the mood and bring a little holiday cheer to the season of Love, Joy, and Happiness!! * A must see for those of you who are Hallmark Christmas fans. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!!

Funny film except.....

[wkozak221 · 9/10 · 27 December 2021]

I watched this awhile ago. I just watched it again. It is funny. The leads are funny. The scenery is nice. I love the radio station. You go through the gift shop to get to it. Very funny. The story is good. The one minus? Eric Petersen. Saw him on Big Bang. Not funny. Sorry.

Likeable and fluffy

[jamhendr-72251 · 8/10 · 10 December 2023]

A likeable, fluffy movie. The leads, Sandy (H. Duff) and Pepper (T. Jones), are fun to watch. I know I've seen Duff in other shows, but I couldn't tell you what they were. I don't think I've ever seen Jones before, because I'd have remembered that unusual first name.

You've probably seen this plot before. Big city, sarcastic, radio personality goes to a small Hallmark-esque town and butts heads with the pretty small town radio psychologist he has to work with. Some witty banter is to be had. Believe it or not, they fall in love.

Maureen McCormick is the standout performer in this, as the heroine's widowed mother. Whenever she's onscreen, everything is 250% more fun to watch.

Personally, I didn't care for the fan boy, Jonah, but I appreciated why the character was there; without him, there's less com in this romcom.

The other man, Cole, isn't given much to do except, as Jonah says, make Sandy seem dull whenever she's with him; pretty much a thankless role for the clean-cut actor.

Out of curiosity, what was the point of the parrot in the studio? I thought its dead eyes were creepy.