Schemers (DVD)

Stars: Conor Berry, Tara Lee, Sean Connor, Grant Robert Keelan, Alastair Thomson Mills, Paula Masterson, Blair Robertson

Director: Dave Mclean

If you can get past the sometimes impenetrable Scottish accents, the first 40 minutes of this autobiographical film are lively and sometimes amusing. But it does get bogged down after that in a welter of gigs and gangsters, with little to lift the momentum until the final scenes.

It's 1979/80 and, in the Scottish coastal city of Dundee, Davie (Berry), after having his leg badly broken by the psycho husband of the woman he was about to have with sex with, conceives the idea of promoting music acts in the city. With the help of his friends Scot (Connor) and John (Keelan), the latter forever pinching the holiday find to the disgust of his wife (Robertson), they get the project going.

Things go pretty well, with some up and coming bands making the trip up to Scotland, until Davie (also an incurable gambler) and his friends have to go to local gangsters for more funding. Finally, in an attempt to pay back money they don't have, Davie & Co hire the famous heavy metal band Iron Maiden from London without a clue as to the many ramifications that will entail, to say nothing of the creature comforts the band will require.

The three would-be enterpreneurs are all well played, but the rest of the acting is bland, and the leading lady (Lee) is pretty lifeless. Masterson is better as Keelan's long-suffering but loving wife. Available on digital download.

David Quinlan

UK 2019. UK Distributor: Lightbulb/Munro Film Services. Colour (uncredited).
86 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 1, Swearing 2.

Review date: 22 Jan 2021