A Merry Scottish Christmas

This is a Hallmark movie and follows the general formula, and is good clean entertainment with actors we enjoy seeing. It is set in Scotland but apparently was mostly filmed in Ireland, and maybe that is why in one scene a pint of Guinness is ordered at the bar.

Lacey Chabert is Dr. Lindsay Morgan with a thriving medical practice. Scott Wolf is her older brother Brad Morgan, he is a thriving tax attorney. They live in different California cities, they were very close as children growing up but had become somewhat estranged as adults. Mending that gap is part of the overall story here.

It is the Christmas holidays and their mother has requested they fit in a trip to visit her in Scotland. She was from there originally but at age 20 had left and moved to the States, married an American, and raised her family there. Both Lindsay and Brad are making the trip somewhat reluctantly, both are very busy.

But it turns out the trip is very important, their uncle, the Duke, had recently died and the disposition of the castle and the vast land holdings are at issue. Will they have it split up and sold, or will Lindsay and Brad (and his wife) decide they are Scottish enough that they can move and live there?

My wife and I found this to be a nicely entertaining movie. A big bonus for me, at exactly the half-way mark of the movie is a large group whisky tasting and, even though it is a fictional movie, brought a certain warmth to my heart.

At home, streaming.

There were too many things that distracted in this one. First, why did they choose Duke/Duchess as the title? It would have been far more believable if it had been Earl or a lesser title. And while it was nice to see Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf together again, their age difference was glaring. I kept thinking, sure they played siblings in Party of Five, but it is just weird here. There are lines that reference "when we were teenagers," implying they're supposed to be, three or four years apart, maybe five? I looked up both of them, and there is a 14 year age difference in real life, Scott Wolf is in his mid-fifties. Along with that, the woman playing their mom didn't seem old enough. And there is always an expected amount of cheesiness in Hallmark movies, but it felt so forced how cheerful and friendly all the Scottish people were. It just seemed so over the top. On that note, I couldn't stand Hamish (I think that was the character's name), man was he annoying, so over-acted. On a positive note, the castle was beautiful, and shots of the scenery were lovely.

This is your standard Christmas movie fare-decently festive, predictable storyline, and acceptable acting. However, there's an odd dynamic between the siblings; their relationship feels strangely like that of a married couple. It's as if the writers were either only children themselves or come from a family dynamic most of us wouldn't recognize. While it's worth a casual watch for the holiday vibe, it's not something I'd spend money on in theaters. Better for a free streaming night with low expectations.

But don't expect to be blown away, I'm hoping the budget was low. The woman are great Lacey and the Mother steal the show. The guys on the other hand are pretty novice.

The last Lacy Chabert movie we really liked was Christmas in Rome, and this one didn't live up to that standard.

The main draw of this movie was the Scottish setting. Once the main group of characters arrive, the mother tells her son and daughter she was in line to be the Duchess, but didn't want the lifestyle control that went with the title and sticking with her family.

The "sort of" outrage shown by the son and daughter didn't ring true for us. It seems manufactured to put some tension in the story, but it was pretty much the only tension in the story.

From there on, we saw charming scenes of local life and traditions, but they didn't interest us enough to wish to watch this again, and the movie trundled on to its entirely predictable ending.

Just as well, for the 90's Party of Five addict in me, that Scott Wolf and Lacey Chabert played siblings - even if they are estranged at the start of the film. Couldn't have handled them playing a couple.

Speaking of PO5, the bar named Salinger's, owned by a guy called Charlie? Love that nod to the show that made Wolf and Chabert famous.

A Merry Scottish Christmas is much better than the last Hallmark movie where Chabert went to a castle (2021's forgettable 'Christmas at Castle Hart').

It is a Hallmark movie that doesn't feel like one. Aside from the unique setting, there is real family drama here, serious stuff that Hallmark movies usually don't touch with a ten-foot pole. (Well, the old version of Hallmark, anyway. The Crown network seems to be going to places it never did before with storylines, casts and romantic pairings. If that's them going woke, then I'm fine with it...)

Beautiful establishing shots, good acting all around, some very un Hallmark-like storylines (refreshingly so), plenty of Scottish flavour (music, language and Christmas traditions) and, for a change, a romance that wasn't the main focus of the film.

Oh, and a cool cameo from Chabert's romantic interest in the brilliant 2020 Hallmark classic 'The Christmas Waltz' on the same weekend as a sequel to that film airs on a rival network.