Becoming one of the latest actors to jump into the director’s chair, James McAvoy takes on a semi-true tale of music business bravado and bluster in California Schemin’. The title card sets the tone, cheekily saying its source material is a “true lie”. California Schemin’ follows two budding rappers, Gavin Bain (Séamus McLean Ross) and Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley). In 2003 Dundee, there are not many opportunities for a wannabe rap duo. Dundee is hardly the centre of the music world, and London producers (who reassure each other that no, they cannot really be posh) look down on regional accents in mainstream popular music. To their embarrassment and fury, Gavin and Billy’s Scottish-accented rap is virtually laughed out of the room.
But the two friends are not licking their wounds for long. In a risky, vengeance-fuelled scheme, they realise that, with a bit of practice and some help from their favourite films and television shows, they can put on some more than passable American accents. Billy’s sometimes-girlfriend Mary (Lucy Halliday) acts as their cheerleader and contact with the outside world (this is before the ubiquity of mobile phones, though Gavin and Billy’s lack thereof is partially down to their own bohemian approach to life). The next time they return to London as “American” duo Silibil N’ Brains, the welcome is much different, especially when record label scout Tessa (Rebekah Murrell) takes a shine to the pair’s derring-do. But as Gavin and Billy struggle to keep their story straight and bask in the prospect of success, they find themselves pulled towards different goals. Fame and revenge are both heady drugs.
The pressure-cooker of this harebrained audacity provides both the heart and the stakes of California Schemin’. While audiences will not go into the film the same way they might to Michael, with the latter being a biopic of literally one of the most influential music artists of all time, the outcome of California Schemin’ is not necessarily a surprise – nor should it be. With any such ruse, the mystery is not whether or not it will be exposed but how, when, and with what fallout. In this respect, McAvoy, working from a script by Archie Thomson, finds the human drama inherent in Silibil N’ Brains’ brief, minor splash.
At its core, California Schemin’ is a tale of bluster and bravado that deftly understands how easy it is to be swept away in fantasy. The stakes of Gavin and Billy’s deception are quite small in the grand scheme of things, but in that moment of youth and hunger for creation, they feel like the universe.
The cast are wonderfully charming, with Ross and Bottomley’s American accents just about convincing to this American writer who now lives in Scotland. Ross brings an almost fragile vulnerability to Gavin, who seems to need music-making more out of the pair, and painfully more than Billy understands. His flirtation with international success and first, exhilarating experience of self-confidence sets up the film’s ultimate collision course. Bottomley’s Billy, on the other hand, comes in with a quiet self-belief, consequently instigating many fateful encounters to advance their journey, but misunderstands his friend’s emotional state when their paths begin to diverge. While the film’s arc hits predictable beats, the push and pull between Ross and Bottomley give it an emotional resonance and truth that keeps investment high.
Among the supporting cast, Murrell’s Tessa offers a steely grace, fighting for the boys she sees talent in and recognising fellow outsiders though she does not yet know the reason why. In the director’s cameo, McAvoy casts himself as Anthony, a foul-mouthed music executive who runs his agency in terror, ready to make and destroy music careers if he sees even a hint of promise or disappointment. Anthony is Scottish and can be his real self in his aggressive line of work – a compelling commentary on the types of accents and people the London production scene expects and accepts.
Recognisably filmed around Dundee and Glasgow as captured by director of photography James Rhodes, California Schemin’ celebrates Scotland’s unique culture, cities, and charm as much as its London characters denigrate its arts and peoples as provincial and unimportant. There are nods to other Scottish works and creators that defined the film’s era; a recurring bus stop is backed by a gigantic mural of Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting , and Glasgow’s iconic Barrowland Ballroom is the backdrop against which Silibil N’ Brains’ schemes come crashing down around them. The pride it takes in Scotland is a direct refutation of the narrow-mindedness experienced in the UK’s capital city; this film knows talent comes from everywhere.
One wonders if Gavin and Billy may have more success as themselves, not as Silibil N’ Brains, in the 2020s than they did in the early 2000s. Granted, the lyrics as depicted on screen are far from hip-hop’s finest, but these were young men just starting out and may have developed a more finessed voice with practice. Considering the expansion of the worldwide hip-hop scene – especially the success of Irish-language group Kneecap, who released their own semi-autobiographical film in 2024 to critical and commercial success – Scottish rap may soon be due its place in the sun.
A sweet and silly exploration of friendship and youthful boldness, California Schemin’ is a strong directorial debut for McAvoy.
California Schemin’ is now in limited theaters.
Learn more about the film at the IMDB site for the title.
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