Another year, another Christmas TV movie that tries to make Scotland look like a gorgeous winter wonderland full of ruggedly handsome, yet sensitive, souls. Not that Scotland isn't a gorgeous place anyway, as I am wont to tell people whenever I get the opportunity. But it's always odd to see the hunger that people have for entertainment that presents the unabashedly tartan-covered shortbread-tin version of the place.
Nathan (Alex Trumble) is an author who is struggling to finish his popular book series. He is struggling so much, in fact, that he's decided to spend most of his time working as a ski instructor. His publishers are worried, but they don't want to turn up and apply pressure in a way that could spectacularly backfire. The head of the company (a cameo from Patsy Kensit) thinks she has a great plan, however, when she decides to send her sister/co-owner, Tiffany (Caprice Bourret). Tiffany takes her nephew, Logan (Jett Bourret Comfort), and the two soon become won over by the Scottish landscape and people.
There's not much in the filmography of director Graham Pritz-Bennett to show any particular aptitude for this material, and it's the first screenplay by writer JJ Moon to be turned into a feature. Judging them only by this, I would have to say that I'd prefer not to see either of them rush back to this kind of thing. Hampered by one or two of the stars, they present something that has painfully unfunny comedy moments, a complete lack of charm, and a seeming determination to keep reminding viewers of how cheap it all is (e.g. the scene with snow falling down on just one particular part of the frame whenever a character is shown from a certain angle).
Bourret (who will be known to many UK viewers from the days when she was just labelled Caprice) isn't a very good actress, despite now having appeared in over a dozen features. Mind you, she may be available at favourable rates as long as there's also a role for at least one of her children (Comfort being her son in real life, and this isn't the first time he's appeared alongside his mother). It might seem rude to say that at least the youngster is a bit better onscreen than his mother, but at least I'm not then spending too much time complaining harshly about a child. Trumble is okay, I guess, but a bit of a non-entity, especially when sharing scenes with the slightly more charismatic Dominic Watters.
I have said it many times before, and will undoubtedly say it again (usually during the Christmas season), but watching a bad Christmas TV movie, something properly lifeless and somehow more cynical, is a hell of a way to realise just how good so many of the other Christmas TV movies are. While you may not revisit many, and may not even watch half as many as I do, seeing films at the shoddier end of the spectrum, like this one, really makes you appreciate even the minimal levels of care and professionalism present in so many others. So I guess I am saying that the best way to view A Scottish Christmas Secret is as a guide on how not to put together a Christmas TV movie.
3/10
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