Un Noël en Écosse

I watched the whole movie, and found it partly good and partly bad. Of the acting, only one actor was truly terrible. A couple were not great, but passable, and most were fully believable. The two leads were pretty good, he better than she. The story, as with most others like this, was predictable. But so what!

The film had a certain charm, and if you could overlook the over-obvious reactions of the laird to just about everything, the story was very affirming. A feel good movie.

I have a few quibbles with some of the direction and decisions, like the male lead's hair was always a mess. The young girl (the laird's granddaughter) was sweet and a good actor to boot. Anyway, overall, it was definitely better than some reviewers thought.

As 1 reviewer noted, most of these cheap rom/com films are made by Canadians, Reel One & Hallmark. The only American influence in most is just cash. There is 1 reviewer from Canada bashing Americans for this film, what a joke - look in the mirror buddy.

Don't blame Americans for another crappy portrayal of someone from New York to save the day in Scotland or any other country they visit, it feels like the Canadians who put out this trash are trying to make Americans look bad, while ignoring their own ineptitude.

As someone who lived in Scotland, Edzell, I agree with most of the comments. I can't stand the way these films always have a know-it-all city female character who is smarter than all the small town locals, whether it's Scotland or Kentucky.

I'm always very apprehensive about US movie makers doing UK-set movies as they are never very accurate. This one does have some British actors, which makes a real difference. There could be more use of Scottish landscape / locations to have better impact. Whilst I have some niggles with the detail, I totally empathise with the multi-generation juggle - there's a good mix of ages, and it's nice to have the young niece rather than yet another bereaved kid and widow(er) situation. With several characters over 50, I won't grow out it like others so would watch again. If you want more about Lairds, watch the UK-made Monarch of the Glen.

This movie is an example of writers taking the checklist of all the Christmas movie themes and tropes and marking them off one by one. Emma wants a promotion which is dangled in front of her. There is a contest, in this case between villages for decorating. There is Emma's romantic opposite, Alex, who has both the demanding father and a daughter who connects with Emma. Emma and Alex have a rough first meeting. Far too quickly those around them start telling Emma and Alex separately that the other looks at them in a special way. There is a gag where the two drink hot chocolate that leaves the whipped cream on their faces. Emma leaves a boyfriend back in New York who for once doesn't dump her at the start. The fact that her home is across the ocean is an obstacle to the new potential romance. There is a ball. Both the contest and the ball require Emma and Alex to work together. Emma's boyfriend shows up unexpectedly creating a problem even beyond the developing romance with Alex.

To be fair, there are a few old standards missing. No snowball fight. Or snowman contest. The leads don't bake cookies together.

Sometimes I say the thing that's true about this movie. There are no great highs or lows or surprises. The ending is quite predictable.

The acting isn't exactly bad, but it's not good, especially a couple of characters. Jill Winternitz isn't bad but has little spark and isn't totally natural at times. She has only a little quiet chemistry with Dominic Watters. The character of the laird is inconsistent.

This movie is probably ok for either diehards who love the same old stuff, or for those who are relatively new to the genre. I am suspicious of all the 1 and 2 star reviews, 8 out of 18 total. At least those who criticized the cultural accuracy said something beside that it was awful, and some of those criticisms might have some merit. While I think the movie was derivative and not well acted, I think horrible or awful is a little too far.

Christmas In Scotland (2023) -

This was a film that tried to show the difference between the cultures on the opposite sides of the pond, but ultimately it just made the Scottish people look stupid and backwards and it didn't do much for the Americans either.

I think it's rare that the U. S. companies making a Christmas film in the U. K. do them very well and this one was more proof of that theory. It's like they don't know how to direct Brits and don't even think about utilising someone that knows what life is actually like over here or how we really behave. In some ways it feels as if the American style of filming rubs the wrong way against our British way.

The story had a lot of similarities to a number of mixed nationality seasonal films, but especially 'A Yorkshire Christmas/A Very British Christmas' (2019), however the leading actor, Mark Killeen was at least hot in that one and the leading lady had an appeal and heart.

In fact the acting in this film was generally terrible.

Jill Winternitz seemed pretty ineffectual as the lead Emma and the Scottish Dominic Watters was not appealing in his role of Alex. His grumpy character made it a struggle to believe that he would ever mellow or change, even for love.

Also, Emma's Dad, Mike (Toby Rolt) was incredibly extreme! I don't know anybody that talks like that, except when they're taking the mickey out of William Shatner. And the first boyfriend Brad (Adam Bond) was more than a bit creepy. He must have paid a lot for the photos on his IMDB page, that's all I can say.

Also, my Sister is actually a Laird, because she bought a square foot of land in Scotland, so I'm not sure that being a Laird actually has as much power anymore, as it was shown here.

I did give up on this film in the end, because I just couldn't put myself through another one that was going to annoy me. I was riled up very early on and I don't need to do that to myself.

Unscored as Unfinished.