A Castle for Christmas

Plot

Best-selling American author Sophie Brown travels to Scotland to escape the backlash from her last book, as fans were upset she killed off the male lead following her recent divorce. This was compounded by an angry interview on the Drew Barrymore Show. Visiting her father's ancestral village Dunbar, Sophie is warmly welcomed. Shown the nearby castle, Dun Dunbar, by a man she had first seen in the village, he abruptly turns her out when she explores a private section.

At the B&B, the local knitting club befriends Sophie, all fans of her books. She tells them about her daughter Lexie and her recent divorce, and mentions her father Callum McGuinty, whose father had worked at the castle. Discovering the castle is for sale, Sophie meets the duke who owns it, Myles Dunbar. Both are appalled to see they had met there the previous day.

Sophie feels she has fallen in love with Dun Dunbar but must face off with the ill-tempered Myles. Initially refusing to sell, he is warned he has no choice. Myles approaches Sophie at the pub and proposes a deal: 90-day escrow, non-refundable deposit, and they both live there simultaneously for three months. Sophie is given a new tour focusing on the castle's problems: no electricity in some rooms, old wiring, leaky roof, half the fireplaces inoperable, no heat upstairs, iffy plumbing, and intermittent wifi and cell service.

Myles gives her a room falling to pieces. Sophie shows him a door jamb with her last name carved into it, which her father had done as a child when trespassing, resulting in her grandfather getting sacked and their moving to the US. The next day, Sophie continues bonding with the locals. As her dad was a barber, she does everyone in the knitting club's hair.

The group helps spruce up her room. They tell Sophie that, as their landlord, Myles is working to pay off the farmland debt, so they all will be able to continue living in their homes, although he would still be homeless.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating and average score based on a set number of reviews. Variety's Courtney Howard described it as "gently disarming, heartening, holiday-themed escapism," noting that it keeps "genre-patented shenanigans and hijinks to a bare minimum, which is both a blessing and a curse." Jenny Colgan of The Guardian remarked that the movie contains "no jeopardy at all," making it "absolutely perfect for low-maintenance Christmas viewing," and praised the sight of "two great-looking actors who aren’t in the full flush of youth falling for one another."

Digital Spy's Gabriella Geisinger observed that the actors "manage to imbue their characters with a believable earnestness that belies the over cheese," but found the film "mostly devoid of any socio-political landscape, which is a bit odd when a film is built on a system as controversial as aristocracy." The National offered a harsher take, calling the "main characters obnoxious, the class politics extremely dubious and the portrayal of rural village life incredibly patronising," yet added that "if you haven’t watched Cary Elwes try to catch fake snowflakes on his tongue, you haven’t lived." The film's attempts at Scottish accents and its use of Scottish words and terms also drew mixed reactions.

Did You Know?

• Dalmeny House, a Gothic Revival mansion to the north-west of Edinburgh, was used as the location for the film's Dun Dunbar Castle.
• Tantallon Castle was also used as a filming location.
• The music in the film features the song 'Celtic Heart' by Glasgow band Starsky & the Fox.