THE STORY – Two Scottish rappers pretend to be American to achieve their dreams of hip-hop stardom, with predictably messy results.
THE CAST – James McAvoy, Séamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottomley, Lucy Halliday & Rebekah Murrell
THE TEAM – James McAvoy (Director), Archie Thomson & Elaine Grace (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 107 Minutes
Directorial debuts by established actors are invariably interesting but risky propositions, and James McAvoy’s turn in the director’s chair – “California Schemin’” – is no exception. The film tells the real life, and highly improbable, story of two young men who aspire to be `hop stars but are convinced they will never be accepted in England because of their Scottish ancestry and accent. As McAvoy explained at the world premiere of his film at TIFF, he wanted to make a Scottish story. And so he did, but unfortunately he never decides what kind of story he wants to make, and the turbulent film that results ends up being difficult to swallow.
In the early 2000s, Bill and Gavin (played by young Scottish stars Samuel Bottomley and Seamus McLean Ross respectively) are aspiring artists and best friends. They run away from bullies during the day and do everything together, including incessantly leaving voice messages to recording companies with their admittedly creative and catchy hip-hop lyrics. They have no success, until a Scottish music producer played by McAvoy announces a talent search across the country. The duo travels to London, but decides – in fact, they correctly realize – that they will be instinctively rejected by the Brits and also by the other musicians. “It is black artists and white management,” their manager (played by Rebekah Murrell) later explains. I had heard about English discrimination against the Welsh before, but it’s inherently believable that the two would face their own ostracizing. Critically, they seek out to deceive everyone not for their own benefit, but to become successful and then expose the system as unfairly rigged against them.
Things start according to plan, and the duo finds a measure of success. The abrasive, toxic producer played by McAvoy signs them up with the manager played by Murrell, and their fame begins to slowly increase in methodical ways. The best part of “California Schemin’” may be that it explains in specific detail how a musical artist goes from unknown, to building a slow and steady fan base, to playing in specific venues and on certain shows to build excitement, to launching a single. The breakneck speed with which most musical biopics go from inconnu to world famous sometimes makes it hard to connect with those characters.
But that’s about all that “California Schemin’” has going for it. From the get-go, it exhibits all the first-time director problems that will make you instinctively groan. Like a young kid discovering the camera for the first time, and all the tricks it can turn, McAvoy oscillates endlessly between grainy footage, TV footage, real footage, and clear footage. At times, the movie even feels as if it’s filmed documentary style. A good director creates a mood without letting you know he’s right there, but unfortunately the mood here is ambulatory and the director’s presence is very obvious. The lyrics and music remain good throughout the movie, but even solid editing is hurt by the constant mood swings.
Great direction also involves extracting solid performances from the cast, particularly the stars. In this film, both characters are supposed to be inherently likable, at least at first – their motivations are laudable if not honest, but they’re not selfish. Later, though, Gavin (now known as Brains, part of the duo they call Silibil and Brains) becomes intoxicated with fame and success, while Bill (now Silibil) wants out of the scheme. Both actors, though, take their newfound character motivations to an extreme. Gavin’s scheming manipulator gives way to a troubled, lying substance abuser, with McLean Ross overplaying him while failing to nail the accent. Bottomley, for his part, takes Bill to the opposite extreme: a totally hapless, confused young man who wants to tell the truth but seems unable to just speak it out loud, as if the victim of domestic violence. It’s not just the director, then, but also the actors that exhibit tremendous greenness, and they make the film difficult to connect with.
Surely, the story is more nuanced and more complex than this. Surely, Bill could have spoken up half a film earlier. Surely, Gavin was not that manipulative or cunning. In its attempt to create extreme good vs. extreme evil characters, “California Schemin’” schemes one click too far. I would have loved to see how this story plays out a bit more naturally, with characters that are more nuanced and that get carried away before eventually being caught by the circumstances and not by incredible moments of emotional blackmail. “California Schemin’” tells a remarkable and interesting story, one that could be a compelling and even emotional movie. The movie that that premiered at TIFF unfortunately is not that movie.
