A Scottish Love Scheme

7.3 stars.

Scoping out my thoughts, looking in from the outside, honestly I'm not in love with 'A Scottish Love Scheme'. The love factor is very minor, it's more like this should be named 'Girls trek to Scotland'. The girls are a mom and daughter combo, traveling to Scotland to see mom's old friend and family. Mom grew up in Scotland, has a full blown accent, there is no question about that aspect. Daughter (Durant) tags along, meets the old best friend lady and her family, falls in love with one of her three sons. What's not to love about this movie? I don't know, it's a bit too slow and maybe a mite depressing, if I'm being honest. The love portion is too clunky, maybe the leads lack attraction for each other, it's just not very believable.

Lily (Erica Durance) leaves her job at a brewery with the intention of becoming a professional photographer. But first she travels with her mother to Haddington, Scotland for some time with the Campbell family, who run a whisky distillery there. Her mother has ulterior motives for the visit that Lily is unaware of.

Haddington is a beautiful, small town that offers small shops surrounded by plenty of greenery, stone bridges, friendly pubs, and an aged charm. Lily reacquaints herself with her camera, snapping many shots of family and friends in and around Haddington.

Logan Campbell (Jordan Young), who heads the family distillery, spends time with Lily while attempting to alleviate the company's financial problems. Lily offers her marketing expertise, so they develop feelings for each other.

Besides the beautiful scenery, this Hallmark romance includes some wonderful, atmospheric music. If you cannot visit Scotland, this is one way to enjoy its culture and beauty.

I am Scottish and enjoy Hallmark TV movies so I had high hopes for this one but was sorely disappointed. The title was strange and didn't invoke a sense of romance in spite of it referring to the scheming Mums. The story was simplistic and very bland. The casting was poor. I felt there was no chemistry between the leads. Even the cute young son was rather amateurish. The two mothers definitely saved the day.

The saving grace was the location and I'm sure foreigners enjoyed the Scottish accents and cultural traditions they may never have been exposed to before.

I usually enjoy the lead actress in every movie I've seen but I got the feeling she was uncomfortable on this set and either wasn't enjoying her character or the script.

It was poorly directed and edited although well shot. It seemed extremely choppy to me and i couldn't get "into it" for all these reasons.

I realize this is a very person critique but valid non the less.

I felt the energy/chemistry was fine between Erica Durance (LILY) and Jordan Young (LOGAN). Since Lily just had her life upended by a divorce and Logan was still grieving the loss of his wife I wouldn't have expected sparks to be flying. Especially given logan has a son to protect and and Lily's going to Spain for six months they aren't looking for a relationship. Both admit that they are cautious about taking their friendship anyplace given where they are in life. I would expect given that they're middle-aged that they are sensible enough not to jump into a relationship but take relationships seriously. I felt the casting was great and especially loved the moms: Jo Cameron Brown and Juliet Cadzo.

I liked. Very much , in fact, surprising for me because, except location, not illusion about same recipe, in new forms , with the same content.

The motif of good impression is represented by credibility offered to their characters by Jordan Young and Erica Durance and the lovely charm created, in fair manner, by Juliet Cadzo and Jo Cameron Brown.

No doubts, the Scotish landscapes are a precious spice in this case but the wisdom and the fair crafted story, the smart way to give inspired traits to her Lilly by Erica Durance are just useful virtues for a different romance, in which the water of past are not symbolic or hurry sketches.

So, just a pretty beautiful film.