Review: ‘Christmas in Scotland’ is a lacklustre holiday movie

Emma McKenzie (Jill Winternitz) accompanies her father Mike (Toby Holt) on a trip to Scotland, where she finds herself becoming involved in helping the town win a ‘Best Christmas Village’ competition. In order to bring her vision to life, Emma has to work with wealthy heir Alex Glenrothie (Dominic Watters) who isn’t a fan of Christmas. As Emma pushes forward to help the town win, she finds herself slowly winning Alex over and questioning if her current beau, who is back in the US, is the one for her.

‘Christmas in Scotland’ is one of those holiday movies that plays to the tropes of Americans coming to the UK and finding romance in a quaint village. The film originally premiered in 2023 but this holiday it’s making its debut on Great American Family as the penultimate film in the Great American Christmas slate. Those viewers who aren’t familiar with the UK, and in particular Scotland, may find themselves won over by the storyline delivered here but anyone who knows about Scotland will find the film to be factually incorrect frequently.

The film tries to depict Alex and his father as some kind of Scottish nobility, of which none actually exists in present day Scotland. That aside, the story is slight and relies heavily on the two leads to make an impression. Unfortunately, Dominic Watters gives a very wooden performance that feels like he’s reading his lines from cue cards. There’s no emotion or passion in his delivery, which makes his portrayal of Alex as a love interest for Emma fall flat. Watters may have the handsome good looks but he doesn’t manage to shift out of second gear at all during this film.

Jill Winternitz does her best as Emma, and she’s by far the best thing about the film, but her performance alone isn’t enough to make this a watchable film. As Emma she’s wide-eyed and plucky, but she doesn’t have anyone to spark against in the cast. Toby Rolt as Emma’s father Mike isn’t very good and try as she might, Winternitz doesn’t foster any chemistry with leading man Dominic Watters.

‘Christmas in Scotland’ is not a very good film. The slight storyline and the poor lead performances make it more of a slog than a pleasure. Had the script been better, I may have been able to overlook all of the inaccuracies. Great American Family has shown plenty of better films this holiday season and ‘Christmas in Scotland’ is a rare mis-step for this year’s slate of otherwise solid films.

Cast: Jill Winternitz, Dominic Watters, Toby Rolt, Jane MacFarlane Director: David Lumsden Writer: Steve Turner Certificate: Unrated Duration: 86 mins Released by: Great American Media Release date: 21^st December 2024

‘Christmas in Scotland’ makes its debut on Great American Family as part of Great American Christmas on Saturday 21^st December 2024 at 8/7c. Find out more at: https://www.greatamericanfamily.com/movie/christmas-in-scotland/