Christmas in Scotland

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.

I watched this with high hopes after a binge of British and Scottish Christmas movies this year. As someone previously mentioned, Brooke Shields' 'A Castle for Christmas' with Cary Elwes was very enjoyable - a good script and talented experienced actors made it worth watching. Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolff's 'A Merry Scottish Christmas' was fun and enjoyable, even if incredibly far-fetched. (Their mother wouldn't have inherited the title - it would have gone to the next male in line even if that male was a distant relative. Remember the problems Robert Crawley had finding the next male heir to the Earl of Grantham title before they stumbled onto Matthew? And her children certainly wouldn't have BOTH inherited titles to share.) But Lacey is the Christmas Queen of Hallmark and it was great fun to see her and Scott Wolff reunited playing siblings again all these years after 'Party of Five' so the problems were overlooked for the escapist fun. But this movie was just slow and dreary and never got better. The leads didn't seem to have any chemistry or attraction to each other despite the plot insisting they did, and the female lead, supposedly a high-powered go-getter at the top of her field in NYC just didn't sell it to me. The secondary characters weren't any better. His father was just a stubborn oaf - against things just for the sake of being against them because they are "new". If he truly were the Laird of that castle, he'd be trying anything to generate income and get the estate to profitability. He and the son both complain about the cost of running it and maintaining it (as all the landed peers do) but did nothing to help it. Her father was a confusing mess. Was he an uncouth Ugly American? Was he intended to be the comic relief? He never seemed to settle on a character. The production cut too many corners and the village supposedly decorated for Christmas, didn't look much different and wasn't the least bit impressive, let alone contest-winning. Again when the whole celebration was moved to the castle, it was basically a small dance with a few people taking a few steps of that medieval dance in a small room, maybe a set, maybe a rented room somewhere. But definitely not the interior of that grand castle in the establishing shots. The exterior drone shots were all that was authentic. Someone mentioned what a mess Americans frequently make of English and Scottish Christmas movies. Sorry, but I have to speak up for Americans. Reel One, criticized in another review as an American company churning out trash, is actually a Canadian company. And the lead actress, while American-born, seems to be England-based now. Her bio consists of UK movies and TV and West End theater credits. With all the Christmas movies available on all the streaming channels and platforms out there, don't waste your time on this one. I'm being Christmas-generous awarding 2 stars.

Scottish person here. Unfortunately this nonsense is just a load of hokey drivel. The storyline is the usual - woman meets guy from a posh family then changes the (long ignored) local Christmas celebrations into something 'new and exciting'....except they're not. Unfortunately the two lead actors aren't particularly charismatic. I doubt anyone cared whether they fell in love, or not.

You can't just film a few old fashioned locations and pretend they're interesting. I suppose the Americans who made this guff think it's quaint. It's not. It's just boring. There's no warmth or excitement. All very predictable.