California Schemin’ Review: Rap-scallions

With California Schemin’, first-time director James McAvoy tells the true story of two Scottish rappers who hit the big time by posing as Americans.

‘It’s shite being Scottish’ reads a mural in Gavin and Billy’s hometown, an aphorism from the iconic Trainspotting that rings true for our downtrodden protagonists. It’s the early 2000s and they’re stuck working in the same dead-end call centre, hardly the future they dreamed of as kids. What they’d rather spend their time doing is making music, but nobody in the industry wants to sign a pair of Scottish rappers, as they discover during a humiliating audition in London.

The world wants the next Eminem, and as far as the two best mates are concerned, there’s only one thing stopping them from being that: they’re not American. Thus their Californian alter egos, Silibil N’ Brainz, are born. With fresh accents, bleached hair and an invented backstory, the lads set out to secure a record deal and eventually expose the hypocrisy of the British music industry. The crazy thing is, it sort of worked.

Séamus McLean Ross and Samuel Bottomley are utterly charming as Gavin and Billy respectively. Their tenacity is enthralling enough, but the chemistry of their bromance is what makes it impossible not to root for them. While Billy is happily dating Mary (a very funny Lucy Halliday), even she seems to understand that his friendship with Gavin, the more sensitive soul of the two, comes first. 

The pair can’t believe their luck when they manage to wangle meetings with the very suits that previously turned their noses up at them, and fun though those early interactions are, it’s then that the lie begins to grow into a beast they can’t contain. McAvoy appears as one of those suits, a pantomime Simon Cowell with the colourful vocabulary of Malcolm Tucker, while Rebekah Murrell plays his low-level employee who ‘discovers’ Sibil N’ Brainz and gives them her backing. It’s thanks to Murrell’s grounded performance that the film develops real stakes; in their determination to screw over the man, Gavin and Billy have neglected to consider the consequences their charade will have on honest, hardworking people who aren’t so different to themselves.

As a director, McAvoy has some nice visual flourishes up his sleeve; he’s particularly adept at shooting those big, maximalist musical numbers, but for the most part this has the look and feel of a middling British indie. There’s some intentionality in that, but the aforementioned Trainspotting reference reminds us how much more inventive Scottish cinema can be. The same goes for the script, which starts off strong and gag-heavy, but by the one-hour mark we’re in very familiar soul-searching territory. The London high life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and the boys learn to appreciate what they had before all the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll – stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before.

Throughout it all, though, there remains the thrill and disbelief that all of this actually happened. McAvoy clearly knows this story inside out and directs his film with the deft balance of comedy and tragedy that such an unlikely true story deserves. California Schemin’ will undoubtedly be a crowd pleaser in its native UK, but I hope this cheeky alternative American dream finds an audience across the pond too.

California Schemin’ was screened at TIFF on September 6, 2025. will be released in US theatres on and in UK & Irish cinemas on