California Schemin’ Review

James McAvoy makes his directorial debut with a biopic about Silibil N’ Brains, a rap duo that fooled the British music industry into thinking they were an emerging American hip-hop act.

Billy “Silibil” Boyd (Samuel Bottomley) and Gavin “Brains” Bain (Séamus McLean Ross) are best friends and rap partners in Dundee. When they travel to London to audition at a record company, they get rejected for being too Scottish. The pair plot their revenge by pretending to be an American duo, and when they become successful reveal their real nationality. However, the lure of fame and musical success becomes too hard for one member of the pair to let go.

California Schemin’ will automatically be compared to Kneecap. Both were musical biopics about hip-hop acts based in the British Isles that explored ideas of cultural identity and had involvement of X-Men actors. Kneecap was an acclaimed film that won the NEXT Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and performed well at the BIFAs, whilst California Schemin’ premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. California Schemin’ even promoted itself in a similar way to Kneecap since they highlighted a comedic, anti-establishment vibe.

Kneecap and California Schemin’ did take different approaches to the theme of cultural identity. Kneecap was about asserting Irish identity during a national debate about the Irish language, whilst in California Schemin’, the duo had to hide the fact that they were Scottish. Silibil and Brains were dismissed because of their nationality, even being called the hip-hop Pretenders by the people running the auditions. To make the hoax believable, Billy and Gavin had to pretend to be American all the time, even amongst themselves, but one of the pair did get too absorbed by the fantasy.

When it comes to Scottish film, one of the first to come to mind is Trainspotting. That was a stylistic and entertaining film, and California Schemin’ did seem like it was using the 1996 film as an influence. There was even a direct reference to Trainspotting with a mural of Ewan McGregor climbing out of a toilet and the quote ‘it’s shite being Scottish.’ The first act of California Schemin’ did seem like it was going to be a fairly light film. Gavin was chased by a group of schoolboys until being picked up by Billy. Billy showed he was good at telesales because he put on a posh English accent, and the pair practised their American accents when watching popular films and TV shows. Even when the pair moved to London, their attempts to break into the music industry were portrayed as fun antics, like trying to fool a douche music executive and sneaking into a nightclub so they could hijack the stage.

California Schemin’ became a more serious film after the duo landed their record deal. There was a ticking bomb where they will be exposed as frauds. Their actions could destroy the career of the one person who had faith in them. Tessa (Rebekah Murrell) pointed out that she was marginalised because she was a black woman in an industry dominated by white people. She said that even if the talent was black, the management would be white, and even a black-dominated genre was gaining more white artists.

The change in tone was also marked by a shift in the duo’s dynamic. Billy led the scheme to pretend to be American, and Gavin was the more nervous about the hoax. Gavin was also the most determined to become successful, and when he got a taste of it, he wasn’t going to let go. It was suggested early in the film that Gavin had mental health issues, and when he was successful, he ended up believing in his American persona. The record deal was Gavin’s last shot, whilst Billy could return to a job and a loving girlfriend back in Dundee.

When California Schemin’ became a more serious film, it also became a more conventional rise-and-fall story. This ended up being to the film’s detriment since it made California Schemin’ into an overly safe, predictable film. The sense of fun and energy of the first act disappeared because of the story shift. Nor does it truly devote itself to satirising the music industry, where they claim they want authenticity but get fooled by a pair telling an elaborate lie. It’s a real shame, considering the true story was even more remarkable because Silibil N’ Brains were able to keep the hoax going for three years and toured with Eminem.

California Schemin’ was a film that had noble ambitions as it explores many issues, but it was too by-the-numbers to truly stand out. The Scottish film does pale in comparison to its Irish counterpart.