Christmas in Scotland

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.

I wanted to love this film, I really did, but the acting is just so fake. All of the characters come across as "played", not authentic at all. Every smile, every look, every blink feels planned. If you asked some AI robots to play out a script, it would probably approach the acting in this film.

As I gathered my thoughts on this film, I realized why I felt let down; because it could have been great! I think the concept wasn't inherently bad. As a European, I've seen many films about real and fake European countries that adopt or portray various European cultures and they usually lack an accurate portayal of monarchies, laws, culture, etc. In equal measure. In fact, I think this film's portrayal of Scottish culture is actually not so terrible.

The major letdown in its portrayal of Scotland is the idea that modern rural villages can be owned entirely by a powerful laird who lives in a grand castle and orders the villagers around. It felt pretentious. I think they could've found ways around this. Instead, they relied on an antiquated part of Scottish history which only turns viewers off altogether.

Besides this mistake, much of the culture portrayed is actually done fairly well. The male lead's accent is heavy but not uncommon in certain parts of Scotland and executed quite well. The tartan elements and other cultural references are also fairly accurate.

To summarize, this film is a letdown because its makers let low budget restrictions affect the execution of a concept that had potential. They did not hire actors of adequate quality to carry the film either. As evidenced by other films, inexperienced actors don't have to be bad. Even on a low budget, I think they could've found better actors but simply didn't search hard enough. The cultural references are actually decent, although not all of these traditions are widespread in the more populated parts of the country, but the portrayal of a modern laird poisons the script.

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.

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.

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.