User reviews

I agree with the consensus here that this Lifetime Christmas movie was below average. Both the acting and the story were difficult to connect with; they did not pull me in. I had to stop myself on several occasions from multitasking, which is never a good sign. The story here revolves around Blair (played by Brooke Burfitt), a New York sales manager with dreams of one day becoming a perfumer. She receives an anonymous Christmas gift, which is a bottle of perfume from Scotland, and convinces her boss that they should acquire it. She is then sent to the Highlands where she meets Alistair (our other protagonist in this story, played by Dan Jeannotte), a dashing Earl whose family owns the perfume she is after. The two soon discover that they not only have a passion for making perfume but also for each other. The writer here uses a very popular plot device to move the narrative forward: deception and mistaken identity. However, the rationale behind the deception was rather weak, I thought. The writer could have done a better job of setting this up and executing it in the scene where she first visits the perfumery (about 12 minutes into the movie). Or maybe the writer wanted us to think Blair was unorganized and incompetent. For example, she did not do her research before going to Scotland, as she would have known that the perfumery was owned by the Earl (and his family). There are several other similar examples in the script. That said, there were some fun/cute scenes in the movie. For example, I did enjoy the scene where the reindeer stole Blair's purse. And we did get a bit of a look under the hood of the perfumery, which I enjoyed as well. The acting, overall, was mediocre, I'm afraid. There were a number of scenes where the acting was, for the lack of a better word, 'awkward'. Brooke Burfitt's performance was rather lacking, I thought. She did have some good scenes, but too often her dialogue and exchanges seemed off (some reviews here have pointed to her timing and over performance as issues). Simply put, it was not a very convincing performance. What kept this film afloat was the performance of Dan Jeannotte; I suspect Good Witch fans will be happy to see him in this one. Though he also had some awkward scenes (e.g., at the bakery with the gingerbread house and when he spoke about his mother), overall, he had a pretty good performance. The chemistry between the two wasn't great; i.e., I didn't think they had much of it, which, of course, is not good for a romance film. The supporting cast was mixed. For example, I thought Nicholas Farrell (as the Duke, Alistair's father) had a strong performance. What was up with Caprice Bourret's portrayal of Blair's boss? It was terrible, over the top, I felt. Her entrance at the Christmas party/ball at the end was odd. Strange. Finally, the scenery, props, and sets were well-polished and festive. The castle and Scottish landscape were beautiful on screen. I enjoyed some of the dance scenes in the end as well. All in all, if you are a fan of Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movies, you might enjoy this film, otherwise, you might want to pass on this one.

One of the worst, for sure. The Scottish accents were abysmal. Not really a Christmas movie. Find something else.

There are a lot of bad reviews on here, which I can understand. However, the story while predictable is somewhat entertaining, for me at least. But others are right: the acting is pretty bad. The leads did sometimes feel like they were in over their heads, and Alistair's brother and Blair's boss were tough to watch. There were some bright spots in this one, however. The Scottish countryside is beautiful! And I wish we got some more of the traditional dancing.

I can't even with this Movie! The reindeer stole Her purse meanwhile when they get to the embassy and walking around in Edinburgh she had the purse...

The opening 2 minutes alone has some of the worst dialogue and acting I have seen in ages. But then the best is yet to come, we go to a Scottish Castle where we meet a Scottish Earl, but not with a Scottish accent, but a really bad aristocratic English accent; it makes Keanu Reeves' attempt at an English accent in Dracula look Oscar worthy. Do not even attempt to watch this rubbish.

I agree with many of the other reviews, but what I found surprising was the particularly low production quality even for this type of movie. Wardrobe was terrible several times, particularly for Blair -- I agree that the blue ball gown was unforgivable in fit and mock skin color, just distractingly awful. The sound was consistently really, really bad. The lighting was not great most of the time and poorly done in a few spots. The filming was shaky and pretty terrible at times. There's one point that snow was added to bushes in postproduction and it looks like CGI from decades ago. I agree that the foam snow at the end was just atrocious.

I mean, they even failed at making Glamis Castle look good, particularly the interiors. And that's the only reason I'd kept watching.

With a few tweaks, this could have been on par with movies of its kind. I'm just baffled at how they could reach this low bar for production.

Highland? Scottish accents barely there - an insult at best. All aristocrats do not have posh British accents but accents of their country. They should have researched this better and find true Scottish accents.

Everything everyone who gave this movie one star is true, but hey, it's a corny Christmas comedy so sit back, have another mulled wine and giggle. The location is Glamis Castle near Dundee by the way.

Nicholas Farrell is the only good thing about this. The director should have been able to save this, but didn't, how did it make it onto our screens, it's like a bad bad bad high school play.

Why do so many of these movies have to have a boss or a client that is made into a ridiculous caricature?

I would expect a sales manager to be a people person, one who knows how to win people over with at least the appearance of a charming personality. Here we have a woman who typifies what gives Americans a bad name. Arrogant and condescending. Then she thinks that deceit is the best approach to win over the person who has what she needs.

This movie includes some of the same flavor as the "royal" movies even though the king is really only a duke. This means a scene to embarrass the commoner and a rival with aristocratic blood. The scheming gets a little more involved than in some "royal" movies. It was so blatant that I wondered if there wasn't a bit of parody going on.

The acting is subpar. Many of the actors seemed to be trying too hard and they lines were "delivered" rather than coming out naturally. Dan Jeannotte was a little better than Brooke Burfitt. I never warmed to Burfitt and I didn't think they had much chemistry.

The scheming and deception produce an interesting climax but with familiar elements. Some of them are clumsy and poorly executed.

There are a few funny moments. There are also some silly moments that aren't particularly funny.

Granted that I came in near the end, my first thought was "Why are there no Scots, no Scottish accents and no Scottish titles in a Scottish castle?" It was immediately apparent that the film must have been made by Americans, who think that, somehow, the Royal connection to the Highlands makes Highlanders speak "the Queen's English". I'm not even Scottish but all this, combined with a rubbishy, plagiarised plot, was really irritating.

The budget isn't huge but the heart is.

It's part of the quintessential holiday TV Movie market. The Lifetime/Hallmark movies are a genre on their own and honestly love them.

We get to tick a lot of boxes here and it's just joyful Innocent Christmas fun. It's a made for TV Christmas Movie that's the very first based in Scotland. It's great to see new movies shooting here, big and small. They all have a place. Celebrate and endorse the love and commitment to the industry and holiday spirit.

I love the score in this movie and Dan Jeannotte steals me away. And hey... There are a herd of Reindeer in the Cairngorms so remember and keep your handbags tightly gripped because they may have been born in Govan!

People get uppity here in Scotland about accents. The only country that takes such ownership of the accent and it's use. Where it's a beautiful tapestry of all kinds. And yea, aristocrats have English accents. But ask them if they are Scots. They'll say yes. And it's not defined by an accent.

I don't understand why this charming film got so many bad reviews. I watched it last night on Lifetime and so did a Scottish friend, based on my tip about the story line. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. While not the best Christmas movie I've seen, I would gladly watch it again.

You'll recognize the characters who were based on the famous fairy tale. The two leads were well chosen. It was a delight wtoatching their romance unfold. There is also a scene involving an animal that you will always remember. It was a unique and very clever plot device. I believe you'll agree that this heartwarming tale is two hours well spent.

This movie had some strange elements in it. Harry Potter's mom plays a bad guy. What was the meaning of the white chunks falling from the sky in the penultimate scene? I could go on and on.

This is a truly terrible movie! Why are most the people in Scotland English?? Why was the posh girl and her mum having their nails done in some crappy Chinese nail bar on a main road? Why did anyone tell the lead actress she could act? Horrible!

I could only watch the first 5 minutes & what I saw was excruciatingly bad. I can't believe that a film like this was made. The dialogue was truly dire.

Terrible everything. Terrible acting, accents, story. Cringeworthy big brother and posh English girl. Why are they all English? Awful awful movie.

Although I knew that I wouldn't like this film within the first five minutes, I gave it ten minutes and still wasn't impressed. Dan Jeannotte is very cute as the Earl, but even he could not keep me watching.

The fact that this one has Caprice in it was a red flag right from the start. Far too silly and over the top.

Unrated, as unfinished.

No a bad film. Stereotypical Scottish scenes. Ps my son was the person in the film who was in the car rental office in the santa hat!

Not even reputable actors like Nicholas Farrell can save a really bad script. Dan Jeannotte is ok, Brooke Burfitt is terrible with her bad American accent. The script must have been written over a party weekend using a formulaic story. There are other things to watch.

I really wished they'd used a British actor for the male lead, because US British accents still haven't improved since the otherwise awesome Dick Van Dyke's infamous supposedly-cockney-character Bert in Mary Poppins. I love that this genre of entertainment is using more destinations, but there needs to be greater authenticity in these Cinderella-style Roylish-romances to give the likes of Meghan Markle a fighting chance when they try it for real. I'm not sure this movie is original or realistic enough for me to watch it again, but that's no big issue as there are one or two other festive films out there.

Going through the endless selection of Christmas films, this one dermed ok. But alas. The leading lady is the worst actor. No sense of timing AT all. The male lead is better and the only reason to actualy watch. Light and sound tecnique must be up for Worst Ever prize. it is appaling. The plot is rather lame as well. And the scottish names og places seems to be taken from a top ten hits of a Google search om scottish Places. Lord, it was a Long hour and a half. I only for through it because I had alkohol at hand.

Set in Scotland where they have English/British accents!

The 2020 Lifetime Christmas efforts did vary and generally veered between mediocre and slightly above average and were indicative at times of rushed productions. But there were enough of them that were still watchable and more (was pleasantly surprised by some) and were not amateur efforts. Actually think on reflection that the standard was of better quality than 2019's batch, which had quite a lot of misfires. Will admit to not expecting a huge amount from this for some reason.

'Christmas in the Highlands' though is one of the misfires and one of the worst 2020 Lifetime films along with 'A Crafty Christmas Romance' and 'The Christmas Listing'. There were a few good things, not massive though, that are sadly outweighed by the flaws, with the worst flaws being absolutely terrible. Is it among the worst that they ever did? Not quite, but it is one of the closest the 2020 output got to being on the same level as the worst of Lifetime's 2019 Christmas output, which is really not a good sign.

As said, 'Christmas in the Highlands' has a few halfway decent things. The scenery is absolutely beautiful.

Did think too that not all the performances were bad. Dan Jeanotte has an easy going subtle charm about him and Nicholas Farrell makes much of little.

However, the rest of the acting is very bad to awful. Particularly Brooke Burfitt, whose performance is stiff and lifeless throughout. There is absolutely no chemistry between her and Jeanotte as well, no spark at all and it was like they didn't like each other very much or playing it too safe. None of the characters are developed well, little more than typical Lifetime cliches, and generate little personality on the whole. Do also have to agree about the distractingly bad accents that have no authenticity at all. The central romantic relationship goes nowhere most of the time and then becomes rushed very late in up to the predictable and too neat final quarter.

Other than the scenery, 'Christmas in the Highlands' doesn't even look good, with shaky rushed looking photography and too dim lighting. The music is forgettable at best. The script is truly awkward and very stilted in a verbose way. Almost like a hastily written first draft not checked through. The story never grabbed me with a very dull first half, which felt slow, over-stretched and uneventful. When it picks up marginally too late, it's very contrived and the whole film has no warmth or charm, no nothing. The direction is routine at best and is often disorganised and hesitant.

Bottom line, not good at all. 3/10.