A Merry Scottish Christmas

This Christmas I needed some feel good movies as i became a widow earlier this spring. This is my first holiday season without my husband of 51 years. He was of Scots Irish ancestry. We loved traveling through Scotland. He was always proud of being in the Craig clan. Even though I knew the ending at the beginning, I very much enjoyed watching this. It has wonderful music and dancing in the Scottish cultural traditon, with lovely scenery and even a Scotch whisky judging. It is also a movie about family and finding again the joy these two siblings had as children. I wish the movie had developed the wife of the brother a bit more and their relationship. All in all, very satisfying movie for the season.

The storyline was fun and the setting gorgeous and who doesn't love Lacy Chabert but being of Scottish descent and a Highland Dancer I wanted to love this story yet found myself throwing my ghillies at the TV. The cartoonish character of Hamish, horrible bagpiping and the abysmal representation of Scottish culture, especially the Highland dancing, was extremely off-putting. There are thousands of talented Highland dancers all over the world, videos on YouTube and images of proper costumes so you would have thought a giant like HM would have gotten it right...but they didn't. It's fine that the main characters weren't great but the "dancers" should have been and the contest should have used an actual Highland dance. What the heck is a "slip step"? A decent piper would have been nice too. This could have been a beautiful showcase of a beautiful culture but HM chose instead to make a mockery of it. There's no excuse for that.

Until I read the reviews here, I didn't know this was some reunion movie. I didn't watch Party of Five. But I watched this and it was weird to me. It's all about siblings bickering. You didn't go to my this, you didn't go to my that. So what! You are grown ups and have your own lives. He is married and trying to make a family and she is a doctor. They honestly looked and fought likes exes! The goal was to be closer siblings. There's a love story in the background and the Scottish fellow is quite handsome. I thought it was hard to believe the siblings didn't know mom was royalty. How many people live in castles? Duh. There's some Scottish traditions in here like the Winter Solstice, I thought was interesting. The ending is weird. Lacey, a doctor with her own clinic and patients gives it all up to live with her brother after he gives her a key. That's how close they wanted to be, to live together! Who would do that? Would have made more sense if for the Scottish fellow and love but no. Film had an incest like vibe to it and I thought it was creepy. Only watched for Lacey Chabert and would never watch again.

7.1/10 Hallmark is clearly getting better. The few 2023 Hallmark films I've watched this year have really impressed me. They don't feel as cheesy as previous years. The acting is getting better and while the stories are basically the same. It's the whole European theme that's doing it for me. "Merry Scottish Christmas" takes place clearly in Scotland. It's also nice, and appreciated, that they have actors that are actually Scottish. Makes everything feel more real. Again, it has a good story. It's not an in your face romance. There's a heartier human aspect to the film. It's not all about falling for the local boy, or lad in this case. This film is more personal as the main aspect is a brother and sister reconnecting over life changing aspects. There's good chemistry between Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf, the sister and brother respectively. There's also good chemistry with the love interest James Robinson as it's more subdued and develops overtime. There's a good casting overall. Overall, I don't know what the selling point is, but for me it's Scotland. It's on my bucket list to visit someday. The chemistry is good and so is the story. It's not cheesy, and if you've seen my previous reviews you know I'll let that be known. Not the best Hallmark film, but it's definitely worth checking out this holiday season. That's all for now. Thank you for taking the time to read my review. Until next time.... Enjoy the show!

This is gonna be hard to say without coming across as hypocritical but those who are hating on this movie thinking its just anothe typical holiday movie but to be brutally honest its actually not sure there was parts that made me cringe like hell but its actually a pretty awesome love story that young william wallace gets to kiss the hottest member of the plastics and not just that the story is kinda plain ish but i wouldnt say its the worst thing ive ever seen because its actually somewhat good and kinda strange in some places and as an american i feel like whenever american actors do something set in the uk with a british director and british actors and stuff it feels really strange but i honestly love the idea of blending british and american actors together and lacey chabert looks like shes having a blast with James Robinson (young william wallace) and its just great chemistry.

Wow, Scotland in the winter looks beautiful. So green. Like you could jump right in the ocean or walk around in a t-shirt without trouble. Wait, it was not summer? This was supposed to be a Christmas movie? Huh. OK then. On to the story, our siblings find out their mother was a secret duchess and they now are in control of a Scottish castle, cuz that's a thing. If you've seen Party of Five, you know Lacy Chabert and Scott Wolf have had parent issues before, but this didn't seem so much as a problem. They were just annoying about it. Lacy falls for the groundskeeper, dances with someone she should actually be dating (Will Kemp) and leaves the castle only to return and stay. The last 10 minutes of the movie happened so fast that you really need to look up from your phone to catch all the flip flopping. I'm giving this one seven stars for the acting (mostly the tour guide and bar keep) and the setting. I read that the castle they used was actually in Ireland - which is not cool Hallmark. Always dissing the Scots.

7.7 stars. Almost every film in the the fall of 2023 has been a notch above the standards we have been exposed to since 2018. After viewing over 500 Hallmark films ranging mainly from 2005 through 2022 in the past year, I can confidently say my hunches can be considered facts and my opinions are ironclad (that's how I feel at least). First of all, I noticed the movies this fall and winter have really appealed to my tastes and probably most other viewers' tastes as well. The direction and writing and performances all step in line. Take the best of the best films since 2018, it seems maybe 1 in 3 was decent, but this year the odds of a good one are doubled and several far exceeded my expectations. I am beside myself with one after another after another that does not disappoint. 'A Merry Scottish Christmas' could easily bring us a sequel, solely because of Scott Wolf. He is cool and silly and his screen presence has not faded in 30 years. I detected an increase in quality and production values of most Hallmark films sometime around early October 2023, and this film is no different, although it's not at the tippy top of my ratings (it's missing a bit of pure entertainment), it's still quite fascinating and varies from the usual formula. The scenery is good, but the people are original, peculiar, and personable. So very much a Fall 2023-esque feeling that reverberates with this film and I like it. Wolf is a welcome change, and Chabert is her usual self, but enhanced by Wolf and the Scots.

I don't know where to start with this film which has me chewing my knuckles at every cringeworthy turn. I appreciate that this should be a typical Hallmark feel-good production, but it should still attempt to show at least a modicum of authenticity. This was clearly filmed in Ireland, which is evident not from the backdrop, but the proliferation of Irish accents, and absolutely dreadful attempts at Scottish accents. The interjection of Scots words was so contrived that it sounded like nails being drawn down a blackboard. The film is basically about as Scottish as McDonald's! The plot itself was predictable, which is standard for this genre, but made no sense whatsoever. Other reviews have touched on the nonsense of having siblings as duke and duchess, but the way that this community was portrayed as passively worshipping their betters was embarrassing. Spirit has to be matured for the years to be know as whisky, because unlike this film nobody in Scotland, other than American tourists call it Scotch. The fantasy continues with highland fling dance offs and references to wearing shorts under your kilt are proof positive that the scriptwriter has never been to Scaaatchland and wouldn't be able to point it out on a map.

The last Lacy Chabert movie we really liked was Christmas in Rome, and this one didn't live up to that standard. The main draw of this movie was the Scottish setting. Once the main group of characters arrive, the mother tells her son and daughter she was in line to be the Duchess, but didn't want the lifestyle control that went with the title and sticking with her family. The "sort of" outrage shown by the son and daughter didn't ring true for us. It seems manufactured to put some tension in the story, but it was pretty much the only tension in the story. From there on, we saw charming scenes of local life and traditions, but they didn't interest us enough to wish to watch this again, and the movie trundled on to its entirely predictable ending.

Aaaargh, the Scottish brogue is coming out in this one and the subtitle says it all.... Royalty is Relative! Starring Hallmarks undisputed Queen of Hallmark (by default, Aunt Becky went to prison and Candace Cameron-Bure like owns her own network now), Lacey Chabert stars as Dr. Lindsay Morgan, one-half of the Morgan siblings. Her brother, Brad, a tax attorney, come to Glenncraig, a lovely Scottish estate to reunite with their estranged mother Jo. Only Jo is actually Lady Josephine, a Duchess and the owner of the Glenncraig estate! What? "No way," you say! Well, cut some haggis and eat some shepherd's pie, because this isn't the only plot twist in this Hallmark bad boy. Layered with plot depth, this film also makes a big deal of how Lindsay and Brad are feeling friction in their sibling relationship because they hadn't seen each other in two years. Yep! Two years! It is like the prodigal siblings return to Scotland. I mean, what family has ever been two years without seeing each other? Continuing Hallmarks recent trend to film internationally, this film did actually take place in Scotland at the very real Duns Castle, which is very cool! Not to be overlooked is the over-the-top almost embarrassing portrayal of Scottish small town life. Incessant bag pipes and dancing are a bit loud and overplay the plot a bit. But, hey, I'm no expert and have never been to Scotland, though I firmly believe in Nessie...it's like the Scottish Sasquatch only it lives in a lake and doesn't have fur (fact check, please?). While the movie was fun and you could literally turn your brain off, it missed the mark. The storyline just wasn't believable. Two Americans who find out they are Scottish nobles dealing with the uncertainty of Glenncraig's future!!!! Gasp! What will they do? Well, watch it and find out!