A Castle for Christmas (2021)

Though predictable and formulaic, 'A Castle for Christmas' is entertaining nonetheless with some beautiful cinematography, appealing performances, and some lovely Scottish Christmas music and celebrations. From the snow-covered Scottish countryside, along with the beautifully decorated castle, to traditional Scottish dance and song, plus a cute dog named Hamish to boot, the film has a pleasing Christmas feel to it, which most will enjoy. The story follows Sophie Brown (played by Brooke Shields), a best-selling author whose most recent book has caused a bit of a scandal. After an on-air meltdown, she travels to Scotland partly to flee her readers' fury and partly to reconnect with her family roots. While visiting Dun Dunbar Castle, the place where he grandparents were groundskeepers, she meets Myles (played by Cary Elwes), the 12th Duke of Dunbar, who reluctantly agrees to sell the castle to her under the condition she lives with him at the castle for 90 days. And so, our story begins as we watch these two butt heads all the while embarking on a discovery that neither was expecting nor bargained for. The script is unoriginal but enjoyable. To be fair, one of the reasons why Christmas movies are so popular is because of their highly formulaic and predictable plots. We all need some comfort food from time to time. The dialogue and banter are pretty good. And though I did not have a laugh-out-loud moment, I did find myself chuckle a few times. There also were some touching movements here and there where I might even have shed a tear or two. The romance in this one centers on an older couple, as opposed to 30 somethings, which was refreshing. The script does a pretty good job of reflecting and highlighting this as well. The acting, overall, was excellent. Shields had an impressive performance as Sophie Brown. Elwes, who many will remember from the 'The Princess Bride', also had a strong performance. The chemistry between the two was great and, more importantly, convincing. Indeed, they had a nice back-and-forth (banter and comedic flirtation), which was engaging and entertaining. The knitters of Dunbar all had lovely performances too. And I can't forget Hamish, the dog who played matchmaker in this story. If you are looking for something warm and light, with a touch of Scottish holiday cheer, 'A Castle for Christmas' might be the Christmas rom-com for you.

Fmovies: Much better than most of Hallmark Movies for Christmas these days. Story is obviously predictable. But they do move it along. No long story chapter on do I or do I not buy the castle. It's just done. We love Scotland so it was fun to listen and give it the old "we were there" a few times. Cast is pleasant. Brooke Shields is still beautiful. Gary Elwes has aged well. Given it was shot while covid restrictions were full on they did pretty well.

This film is so cheesy with terrible acting and Brooke S looks terrible. Another NOT well thought out waste of production money.

Don't waste your holiday spirit.

Ugh.

A Castle for Christmas fmovies. I normally HATE these types of movies, But... I Do Love Brooke Shields (and glad to see she is just as Lovely in her 50's WITHOUT having bowed to Hollywood pressure to destroy her Natural Beauty and destroy her face with fillers and botox and scary surgery) and Then I do Love Castles too! ;D

It's a cute, cheezy movie with a lot of heart and Christmas spirit and the dog helped it score an extra point from me. Just Adorable!

Kidding, it's complete paycheck garbage, Now we know why we haven't seen Brooke Shields in quality drama since the 80s. She's a terrible wooden cheesy actor.

Cary Elwes, come on man, surely you can't need the money that bad??? Surely there are other scripts you could do before erasing the legacy of your work in the princess bride with the embarrassment of your performance n this groaner.

As mentioned in the trivia notes every single actor of Scottish decent was booked on other better shoots during the making of this film so they could only secure c grade scottish accents to drive home the authenticity of this production.

What's happening at netflix quality control? I think we know there's an 'out to lunch sign' on the door and no one in the office.

Ms. Brooke is sweet and does a fine job, I like her when she is walking around and talking like a writer cleaving to her laptop around the big labyrinthine castle corridors! And I like the dog and I thought it was cute! And I like the guy who was her love interest because he was able to finally come out of his shell and explain his lil hang-ups and why he turned them into lil' mishaps! Lol, I watched this and I thought it was really sweet and enjoyed it for being a nice entertaining story that is heartfelt and thoughtful! And I learnt a lot about the Ireland and castles.