American writer/director Charles Martin Smith here draws on an incident that is part of Scottish Nationalist legend, but creates a film that is more like an Ealing comedy than a stirring drama in the vein of Braveheart. On Christmas Day in 1950, four students broke into Westminster Abbey to remove Scotland's coronation stone and return it to its homeland. And while Mel Gibson overcame huge odds to turn the story of William Wallace into an international hit, Smith (whose acting credits include American Graffiti and The Untouchables) faced an even greater challenge in dramatising this story, as it lacks exciting action scenes or any genuine sense of suspense. Stone of Destiny attempts to rekindle the feisty, subversive spirit of Whisky Galore! and Passport to Pimlico, but lacks their spark and wit. Still, it's a gentle and likeable comedy drama that is not only set in 1950, but could easily have been made back then, too.

Tells of the daring heist of The Stone of Destiny in the 1950s by a charming group of idealistic Scottish undergraduates, whose action rekindled Scottish nationalistic pride.