California Schemin'

by Mike McGranaghan

Actor James McAvoy makes his directorial debut with California Schemin’, a true tale of the biggest music industry frauds since Milli Vanilli.

Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley) and Gavin Bain (Seamus McLean Ross) are two young Scottish dudes from the town of Dundee. They’ve long shared a dream of becoming a popular rap duo. Efforts to gain the notice of record companies have been unsuccessful because conventional wisdom says rappers don’t come from Scotland. That’s when the lads hit upon an idea. They perfect American accents and pitch themselves as Silibil N’ Brains, a new group straight from California in the good old United States, home to many a great rapper. The ruse works, starting them on a trajectory toward stardom under the watchful eye of music executive Anthony Reid (McAvoy). Keeping the lie going proves challenging, as does staying on the same page about how to handle their newfound success.

The movie partially follows a cliched template. There’s a scene where the working-class guys marvel at the lush penthouse they get to stay in. Groupies and drugs threaten to divide them. Stuff like that. What sets the story apart is that Billy and Gavin hatch a plan to expose themselves live on MTV, with the goal of calling out prejudice within the industry. Comedy and drama are both generated from their inability to agree on when the time is right to do this.

McAvoy gives the film a freewheeling quality in its early scenes, humorously capturing the wild energy Silibil N’ Brains have. He then slides it over into darker territory, homing in on how burgeoning fame takes a toll on the friendship between the two Scots. The handling of the “dark” side does take a slightly superficial approach, never going as deep as it could and opting for easy resolutions. You’ve seen the drill before – two close characters have a major falling out before spontaneously forgiving each other at the end.

Despite that flaw, the picture still works overall. Bottomley and Ross have great chemistry together, earning laughs from their characters’ combination of enthusiasm and defiance. McAvoy ably backs them up, playing Anthony as though he’s Simon Cowell’s meaner brother. Most enjoyable of all is how the movie explores the importance of image in music. You can make great tunes and get nowhere because the image is wrong. Conversely, a terrific image can compensate for mediocre music. Embedded into the plot is a sharp theme pertaining to how society is all too willing to buy into pop culture’s deceptions.

California Schemin’ of course ends with footage of the real guys, along with updates about what happened to them after the movie’s events unfolded. Their story may not be as well known as Milli Vanilli’s, but it’s got enough craziness to leave viewers amazed for 107 minutes.