The charming director of James McAvoy director

In the early 2000s, a pair of Scottish guys with blue eyes with dreams of becoming the next Eminem – but rejected as a sound resembling “The Rapping Proclamers” – has passed as hip -hoppers in the south of California, remarkably succeeding in making a hoax that made them sign by a large record label.

This is what is what is VH1 episodes Behind music are made of, but in the talented hands of James McAvoy, making his director’s debut, these well -traveled tropes and falls make a dramatic comedy of the Outsider which turns out to be difficult to resist.

With a charismatic cast led by Seamus McLean Ross and Samuel Bottomley, California Schemin ‘ is a stirred rhythm that may not have started to reinvent the wheel, but nevertheless makes a dynamic excursion. It would not be surprising that the film emerged from Tiff, where it was given as a world premiere, obtaining an American theatrical distribution agreement.

It is difficult to establish a Hip-Hop street credit when you are two children with Dundee’s baby’s face, Rap Duo Billy Boyd (Bottomley) and Gavin Bain (Ross), better known as Silibil N ‘Brains, occupied their watch hours with bars with a Scottish decidly brogue. Realizing They’re Going To Need To Up Their Game If They Have a Shot Of Making It Into The Big Leagues, They Grab a Map of California and Proceeds to Create A Fake Backstory for themselves: They Claim to Hail from Hemet (!) After their first, “The Projects of Beverly,“ The Projects of Beverly Hills, ”Fails to Fool A Record Exec (James Corden) and they Cobble Together A Similar of an American Accent Studying Movies Like Jerry Maguire And The usual suspects.

“You look American,” notes Billy’s girlfriend, Mary (Lucy Halliday). “You seem, like, entitled!”

They take the Silibil n ‘Brains restarted for a test in a club, where they capture the attention of a talent scout (Rebekah Murrell) for neoton records in England. A producer of Hotshot (McAvoy) agrees to sign boys to a registration contract.

Initially, the plan is to drop its facade during a planned appearance in a popular MTV program where they would denounce the “racism” of the industry. But Gavin, finding himself swept by the more excessive excessive signs of their new lifestyle and their growing resentment towards Mary’s emotional trough on Billy, returns to the agreement, leading to a widen corner between them.

Taking its Bathroom Tell Warm bearings in 2010, Straight Outta Scotlandwho in turn inspired the BBC Four 2013 documentary, The big hip hop hoaxTheir story had an understandable attraction for McAvoy, himself no stranger to the concepts of authenticity and remaining faithful to oneself. Despite his originality from Glasgow, during his 30 years as a cinema actor, there was only one handful of times when he really played Scottish characters.

Sharing a tangible atmosphere for the characters and their community class, McAvoy demonstrates sincerity not linked to his staging approach, which, especially before things take a darker turn in the second period, evokes the kind of easy charm found in the films of his colleague Bill Forsyth.

Since the history of Silibil n ‘brains played quickly and loose with the truth, it is not surprising that the scenario of Elaine Gracie and Archie Thomson obviously takes its own dramatic license. For example, their record contract was in fact with Sony Music Uk and their breakup occurred years before the revelation of the hoax; It was not the cause of the split, as the film shows.

At the end of the day, Bain and Boyd may have dubbed the public, but they did not have to hang your head at Vanilli. Aside from false accents, it was always their own voice making rap. And while this 15 -minute scheme of creation could be too familiar, California Schemin ‘s The ultimate success is everything in delivery.