Stream It or Skip It: ‘A Castle for Christmas’ on Netflix, Where Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes Are a Match Made in Scotland

Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes get too close for comfort in Netflix’s A Castle for Christmas. She’s an author in need of an escape and he’s a Scottish duke with a lot on his plate. They’re total opposites who have nothing in common and definitely won’t fall in love—not even while cohabitating in a stately castle during the holidays! 

A CASTLE FOR CHRISTMAS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Brooke Shields plays Sophie Brown, the world’s most famous romance novelist. Her Emma Gale series is so popular that her decision to kill off the main love interest has incited a major backlash, one that can only be solved with a damage control visit to the always chaotic Drew Barrymore Show. Instead of sticking around and dealing with the drama, Sophie hightails it to Scotland to visit the castle that her father lived in when he was a boy—well, he lived on the property.

The castle, Dun Dunbar, has fallen on hard times despite the hard work of the current owner, a duke named Myles (Cary Elwes). After learning that the castle’s for sale, Sophie gets a bright idea: she’s gonna buy the castle, get in touch with her Scottish roots, write a new novel, and fix her life! Myles agrees to this—if, and only if, she agrees to live in the castle with him until Christmas while he shows her the ropes. His ulterior motive: show this American just how hard it is to own and maintain a castle and scare her away for good. Will these two be in love by the holidays, or will they both be spending Christmas alone this year?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The American-in-Europe vibe is very much Cameron Diaz’s half of The Holiday. And this being a Netflix Christmas romance set in yet another castle, this film fits right in with A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch (even more than you suspect).

Performance Worth Watching: Sophie’s new best buds are all members of a knitting group that meets up in a quaint inn’s downstairs pub. Honestly, sounds like the dream, right? Give it up for Maisie (Andi Osho), Helen (Tina Gray), Rhona (Eilidh Loan), and Angus (Stephen Oswald), a solid quartet who bring a bunch of fun with them every time they’re onscreen.

Memorable Dialogue: “I thought dukes were supposed to be gentlemen.” “Those are English dukes.”

A Holiday Tradition: Sophie wants to revive the old tradition of throwing a big Christmas Eve party for the entire village in Dun Dunbar.

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: While it’s pretty generic, Sophie really does get a castle for Christmas. It’s a gift that she buys for herself, if you want to get technical, but still—a gift is a gift.

Our Take: A Christmas Prince really kicked the trend of pairing the holidays with European (sometimes vaguely European) royalty into high gear in 2017 and it’s still speeding along in 2021. For example, A Castle for Christmas (Netflix) and Christmas at Castle Hart (Hallmark) are two new holiday movies debuting the same weekend! There’s also Christmas with a Prince: The Royal Baby (UPtv), The Princess Switch 3 (Netflix), Royally Wrapped for Christmas (GAC Family), Christmas with a Crown (Lifetime), A Royal Queens Christmas (Hallmark)—these are just movies coming out this year. I bring this up because A Castle for Christmas has a whole lot of competition in this sub-sub-genre.

That’s why having Brooke Shields and Cary Elwes as the leads makes A Castle for Christmas a must watch if you’re in the mood for some royal-adjacent holiday romance. These two bring all of their charms with them, and their chemistry is so good that it’s shocking these two have never acted together before. They make so much sense together, even when their characters aren’t seeing eye to eye.

But what really makes this movie stand out from other Netflix holiday fare is the production value. The film, with all of its Scottish actors and locations, really does transport you. And all of the supporting players, from the harried literary agent to Sophie’s daughter and every townsperson in between, are way more grounded than you’d expect (while still clearly being part of the holiday romcom milieu). The most surprising thing to me, though, was hearing the likes of Regina Spektor and Belle & Sebastian in a Netflix Christmas romance instead of the generic, upbeat music snippets from session musicians that we always get in these movies. I dunno, it made A Castle for Christmas feel a teeny bit fancier! But also there are two scenes set at The Drew Barrymore Show that are incredibly chaotic, so this Netflix movie still delivers the necessary WTF moments.

Oh—and for all the other diehard Netflix holiday romcom heads out there, A Castle for Christmas has a connection to the larger A Christmas Prince-iverse that is totally incongruous, unnecessary, excessive, and confusing—and I loved it. At this point, Netflix—or actually MPCA, the production company that makes all these movies—definitely knows what they are doing and I swear, if this doesn’t lead to Brooke Shields teaming up with a bunch of Vanessas Hudgens to save the kingdom of Aldovia from Sir Cole’s archenemy, the Christmas dragon, I will riot.

Anyway—A Castle for Christmas is exactly what you think it’s going to be and then some, which is exactly what you want from these movies. Shields and Elwes, together again for the first time!

Our Call: STREAM IT. You want to see Cary Elwes in a Highland dress black tie getup.

Stream A Castle for Christmas on Netflix