CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’
(director: James McAvoy; screenwriters: Archie Thomson, Elaine Gracie; cinematographer: James Rhodes; editor: Joe Sawyer; music: Raffertie; cast: Seamus McLean Ross (Gavin Bain), Samuel Bottomley (Billy Boyd), Lucy Halliday (Mary Boyd), Rebekah Murrell (Tessa), James McAvoy (record company boss), James Corden (Music Executive), Amber Anderson (Amy); Runtime: 107; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Paul Aniello, Simon Kay, Danny Page, Michael Mendelsohn; Patriot Pictures; 2025-UK/USA)
“If you like rap music, the soundtrack is spot-on.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Scottish X-Men actor James McAvoy makes his directorial debut a fun one with this flighty rap film. It’s loosely based on a true story set in the early 2000s. The co-writers Archie Thomson and Elaine Gracie make the screenplay humorous as they get behind the pretenders who have the talent even if they’re not who they say they are.
Gavin (Seamus McLean Ross) and his pal Billy (Samuel Bottomley) both work dead-end jobs at a cable internet sales company in Dundee, Scotland. They dream about being white rappers and gaining fame and fortune. This means leaving their small town for a big city like London. Billy is seeing the local girl Mary (Lucy Halliday), so he doesn’t mind staying home even if rap music is not popular there. Gavin is obsessed with his dream, so he convinces his pal to try their rapper act in London. But every record company in London turns them down, evidently biased against Scottish rappers.
In response, the boys name themselves Silibil N’ Brains, with Billy being Silibil and Gavin being Brains, and they learn through the movies how to speak like Americans. They take their act to a London club and are introduced as LA rappers. The club crowd is with them. In the audience is a record company scout Tessa (Rebekah Murrell), who finds them weird but recommends them anyway o her uptight record company boss (James McAvoy). He signs them to a modest contract to make their first album.
Their success turns them into party animals, as they get into the London drug scene. The gist of the film is watching them try to get over as LA based rappers. There are some dark moments when the friends are heading in different directions and their friendship is tested.
Their bubble bursts when their hoax is exposed.
If you like rap music, the soundtrack is spot-on. The musical ability of the boys is right-on. What it lacks is enough quiet moments to suss out what the rappers are all about.
It played at the Toronto International Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 10/8/2025 GRADE: B-
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