La liste du père Noël

First off, let me say that I chose to watch this movie solely for Matt Dallas. I hadn't seen any of his performances since Kyle XY and I wasn't disappointed at all. He is a really good actor and I hope to get to see much more of him. Now, the movie, well its Christmasy, with magic in the air. It leaves you with big smiles and a light heart at the end.

It's all about seeing the nicer side of people and of yourself.

I really like all movie ventures by Hallmark. All actors have done a good job. But really, for me Matt was the highlight. He is a beautiful person and a good actor.

Even though I judge TV movies on a more lenient scale than theatrical movies, I don't know how IMDb gets a weighted average of only 5.9 for this when the arithmetic mean = 7.8, and the median = 8 (after 88 viewer votes). Whatever! This was my most-anticipated, and the best Christmas movie I expect to see, this season.

Why was this my most-anticipated movie of the season? Simply because it stars one of my favorite actors, Hilarie Burton (okay, I'll admit it: I think she's hot — she's not only a good actor and nice to look at, but she also has attitude, self-confidence, and a sparkle in her eye), as Krissy Kringle (of Candy Cane Lane, no less…don't worry, it's explained in the movie). And, no, she's not Santa's daughter, as one might expect, if you've watched as many of these Christmas movies as I have.

In all my reviews, I have never given the producers due credit, but in my honest opinion, they deserve it here.

1. They got Rickie Castaneda, who gained experience writing three of last year's Christmas movies (two sixes and a seven on a scale of ten, in my opinion) to write a relatively non-formulaic, more-clever-than-usual script, both in structure and lines.

2. They hired Lindsay Chag as casting director, whose list of credits is longer than your arm, and who assembled a wide cast of well-known actors, including for supporting roles; and in a special case of inspiration, got "Alex Keaton's" parents from TV's "Family Ties" to play Krissy's here.

3. Finally, they had David Mackay, a veteran of mostly theatrical films, direct. The result is pitch-perfect performances, with nary a hint of overplay.

In short, even though I haven't yet seen all of this year's offerings, this is the one I recommend.

Krissy Kringle is having an awful Christmas season. She is cursed with a stupid name; she has just been fired from her job and has had to take a job as an elf in a gift-wrapping department; she lives on Candy Cane Lane and gets all of Santa Claus' mail; and worst of all, she has been mailed Santa's naughty or nice list and discovered that her boyfriend has cheated on her in this well-written and executed Hallmark Channel TV movie.

Hilarie Burton plays Krissy and she does a very nice job with a well written role. She moves easily from comedy to small-scale tragedy as the power from the naughty list first improves her life and then makes the world collapse around her. I have only noticed Ms. Burton in an episode of "Castle" before this, but she certainly is pretty and knows how to give a performance. She is aided by a good cast, with Michael Gross and Meredith Baxter (the parents of the 1980s show "Family Ties") as her mother and father.

This was not what I expected from the title. Actually, I'm not sure what I expected, but it wasn't this. This is not your typical Hallmark Christmas movie. The story is different, at least to me.

In this movie, there are not all the usual holiday traditions ticked off in the story as in so many of the movies. (Not that I don't like them.)

For much of the movie, Krissy Kringle is petty and vindictive and often mean.

The story is excellent. The production is decent. (The house decorations are spectacular.) And the acting is good. There is some humor. I'm not sure the movie would have been nearly as good without Gabriel Tigerman who adds a lot of humorous spice to the story. Burton and Tigerman play well off each other.

Very entertaining Christmas comedy that really has that festive air with clever premise ...Hilary Burton is very funny in lead role and the gags in Act I are on point.

This is the kind of film you can watch every Christmas and not be bored with it.