There's quite a long history of whimsical Scottish (and especially Glasgow-based) comedies attractive enough to have tempted me to give this one a try too. It's weakish, but more or less makes the grade, even though I'll never find organised crime (even small-scale) or cannabis-growing (even small-scale) funny.
So what we are (I was) left with is a trio of Scottish ne'erdowells always on the look out for making some beer-money illegally, and now tempted to try and earn by exploiting the already-endangered freshwater mussels that still inhabit certain Scottish rivers ... for their pearls of course . This is a true enough conservation story, and so enigmatic that it deserves a comedy to be made out of it. So in steps Talulah Riley as Director and star (appearing as "Beth" somebody who runs a conservation centre in the Highlands).
Now let's face it, if you're anything like me, you'll quite possibly think Riley is quite ludicrously attractive - albeit in a very specific way. As a matter of fact, I also like her voice and the way she delivers her lines. So frankly I was well in with this film, which - shall we say - does the best it can in this regard with the assets at its disposal.
While two of the small-time Glasgow crooks play well enough, but are nobody you've ever heard of, the third one is the familiar Martin Compston (of "Line of Duty" fame), who swots up (far from perfetly) on rare species in order to: a) flirt with the hot Beth, and b) find the locations of colonies of mussels for his friends to check out for pearls (and hence wealth).
If you think that's a really underhand combination of things to do, well, so does Beth when she finds out. So Compston as Ritchie has to do something REALLY big to make amends (even then surprising that Beth would go for that, but - hey - this is a dumb movie).
Anyway, this Ritchie does in fine style at the end of the film, which brings together and mobilises other eccentric characters we've seen at different points in the film, including Harry Enfield as Bill, whose main claim to fame is that he'll fry up pretty much anything at his mobile fish and chip place; as well as Ritchie's old headmaster in the shape of the ever-welcome James Dreyfus.
In the meanwhile we get a bit or romantic stuff, a factoid or two about how awful it is that species are heading for extinction (indeed so), an injured otter, eccentric and funnyish comedy on various themes, and the odd moment of pretty scenery. And of course the divine Talulah.
Perhaps it's enough if you've got a spare 90 minutes, and especially if you're going on to write a thesis about Scottish comedies (other examples of which are well - most likely even more - worth watching).
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