California Schemin: Movie Review

An amusing and fun story of Scottish rappers.

James McAvoy is making his directorial debut with a based on a true story that I would love to say is too crazy to be true, but instead, it’s the exact right level to be believable. Two rappers from Dundee, Scotland who are desperate to be famous with many cold calls going unanswered finally land an audition for a talent scout from London (or as Billy says “London, England? Where the English people are?”).		2025 Directed by: James McAvoy Screenplay by: Elaine Gracie, Archie Thomson Based on the story by Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd Starring: Seamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottomley
Unfortunately these scouts don’t recognize their talent. They’re amused by these guys rapping with Scottish accents, and they are essentially laughed out of the building. Still confident that their talent will get them famous, Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) and Billy (Samuel Bottomley) just need to find a way in. Pretend to be American is their way in – and it works. The film mostly becomes a standard music biopic. Two best friends from a small city making it big – dealing with the fame, the girls, the drugs and the alcohol. The only thing that sets this apart is the lie. A lie that their friends back home don’t like, a lie that their new music producers and agents won’t like, but a lie that Gavin in particular is absolutely loving. There are two things that I love about McAvoy’s directorial debut. The first are the performances. Across the board, but especially the two leads, all of the acting (and this includes a number of emerging actors) is fantastic. McAvoy also directs himself in a really amusing role as the head of the music label that signs the Scottish Gavin and Billy who are now known as the Californian Silible and Brains. The two lead characters are dynamic enough to keep the film moving even when it does venture into all of the expected and unoriginal storylines. Gavin’s energy is infectious and helps keep the film from getting stuck when he develops the predictable alcohol and drugs dependency, or when Billy predictably gets too famous for his girlfriend back home. The second thing that I love about McAvoy’s directorial debut is the setting. There is an authenticity and genuineness to not just the characters but also their hometown of Dundee, Scotland. It is neither glammed up or dirtied down which so many small cities are in the movies. It’s just home. With two Scottish rappers pretending to be American, the Scottish McAvoy who made it famous in America, found the perfect story to bring to life. It’s amusing and fun, but also very fair to its subjects.