Christmas in Scotland

The Scotish town is, obvious, the main star of this good intentioned Christmas film but bad served by script and by acting.

Cliches and nothing more. That seems be all, not exactly smart used.

The recipe is more than familiar and American - European clash not so inspired used.

But, with some serious indulgence, a pretty easy film about a conservative man - his transformation is jus unrealistic - , a free spirit young woman, a town decorated for a Christmas contest and the so predictable end. And, indeed, a beautiful castle and a good fist of historical informations.

Enough for balls of thoughts about ordinary problems, for nice images of town and for very - very easy entertainment.

The good point, in my case, nice job of Caroline Deyga. Is it enough ?

În fact, can you expect more ?

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.

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.

A beautiful location in Scotland, but it can't make up for another garbage script from Reel One Entertainment. Their motto is "Quantity over Quality", they just keep churning them out from January to December. A good movie starts with a good script, but that's not a priority for Reel One.

If their writers want to learn something, 2021's movie "A Castle for Christmas" starring Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes worked because the script was good, along with the acting. It was funny and had some dramatic moments. Hallmark's 2023 "A Merry Scottish Christmas" didn't work as well, but it's still better than this Reel One disaster.

There were some good actors like Lewis Howden, among the leads Watters was much better than Winternitz.

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.