2026 has already proved to be a big year for Scottish cinema, with the release of James McAvoy\u2019s California Schemin\u2019<\/em>, the story of two Scottish rappers who pretended to be American to help them get a record deal, and Glasgow-based documentary Everybody To Kenmure Street<\/em>. But while McAvoy was keen to eschew twee stereotypes in his directorial debut, Brian Cox\u2019s first foray into filmmaking could easily be mistaken for a Visit Scotland ad.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Having opened with the first of many montages of admittedly stunning drone footage of the Scottish Highlands, we hear the rumbling baritone of Cox as Sandy, narrating an olive branch of a letter to estranged younger brother Donal (Alan Cumming). After his beloved Chicago dive bar burns down, Donal, along with daughter Amy (Alexandra Shipp) and granddaughter Sasha (Alexandra Wilkie), returns to Glenrothan and his family\u2019s distillery for the first time in decades for an uneasy reconciliation.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n As if a Hallmark movie upped its star power.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n For those of us who know Cox best as terrifying tycoon Logan Roy in Succession<\/em> or Hannibal Lecktor in Manhunter<\/em>, it\u2019s difficult to believe that the same person could have made something so treacly. The talented cast, which also includes a criminally underused Shirley Henderson as the distillery manager and Donal\u2019s spurned first love, are lumbered with awful expositional dialogue, trite truisms and a few weak stabs at humour. The score is syrupy and overbearing, but at least thankfully devoid of bagpipes.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Frustratingly, there\u2019s some untapped potential here for genuine dramatic tension, with flashbacks revealing the brothers\u2019 mistreatment by their father and that it was Sandy, not Donal, who as a young man was desperate to leave Glenrothan and see the world. But ultimately, we\u2019re not in the realm of real human behaviour; it\u2019s as if a Hallmark movie upped its star power and decided to focus on fraternal love for a change.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/div>\n Cox evidently harbours a profound love for his homeland, and it\u2019s nice to see Alan Cumming and Shirley Henderson speaking in their native Scottish accents for a change. But while it may inspire you to book a Highland holiday, there\u2019s little else to take away from such a soppy passion project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Having spent decades in Chicago, Donal (Alan Cumming) returns to his homeland in the Scottish Highlands with his daughter and granddaughter in tow to reunite with estranged brother Sandy (Brian Cox). The future of Sandy\u2019s whisky distillery is in jeopardy, but old wounds must heal before a new heir is chosen. 2026 has already proved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Glenrothan\"](\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/glenrothan.jpg\")
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