Ok, I'm a cynic, I'll get that out of the way, yet every holiday I can't but help watch the Hallmarkish (that has to be a word) holiday movies. While I know the plot formula, and the cast for each movie (there are usually about 2-3 casts that change up for each movie even down to the dog), and the cheesy music-I still watch them. And while this movie had a predictable plot and cheesy moments, I really enjoyed the simplicity of it. Brooke Shields and Carey Elwes are veteran actors who realize that less is more. We start off meeting the heroine who is an extremely successful author who just killed off a beloved main character in her book series and fans are not happy. She also just went through a very public and messy divorce. She decides to travel to Scotland to get away to a castle that has important meaning to her family. Elwes plays a well educated but grumpy and nearly bankrupt aristocrat and he immediately clashes with Shield's character due to a misunderstanding. The castle is his but he must sell it and she wants to buy it-so it's a frosty beginning. Shields seeks refuge in a charming neighboring village during her time in Scotland that makes for some heat warming scenes.
The scenery was beautiful and the supporting cast delightful. I like that the two main characters fell in love over months not two days or at first sight. Is it an Oscar winner? No, indeed it is not. But it is a movie where you can sit with your kids and spouse with cocoa and watch it without worrying about bad language, a sex scene or laughing your way through the entire movie because of it's ridiculousness and horrific acting. Yes, to an extent it does have some ridiculousness in it, but some of the greatest Christmas movies have a sense of ridiculousness in it. It's Christmas after all and even this cynic sometimes wants to throw some reality out of the window from time to time. My biggest critique is that I wish that Elwes would have said " As you wish" at some point in the film. But alas that is another movie but for the genre this film was a pleasant surprise.
The scenery was beautiful and the supporting cast delightful. I like that the two main characters fell in love over months not two days or at first sight. Is it an Oscar winner? No, indeed it is not. But it is a movie where you can sit with your kids and spouse with cocoa and watch it without worrying about bad language, a sex scene or laughing your way through the entire movie because of it's ridiculousness and horrific acting. Yes, to an extent it does have some ridiculousness in it, but some of the greatest Christmas movies have a sense of ridiculousness in it. It's Christmas after all and even this cynic sometimes wants to throw some reality out of the window from time to time. My biggest critique is that I wish that Elwes would have said " As you wish" at some point in the film. But alas that is another movie but for the genre this film was a pleasant surprise.