'The Angels' Share' sees Ken Loach and screen writing partner Paul Laverty in relatively lighthearted mode: as usual with Loach, there's a sympathetic description of the plight of the urban poor, but there's also a cock-and-bull story about a money-making escapade, plus an extended plug for the Scotch whiskey industry. It's amiable and funny, but in places it feels formulaic: Loach is a gifted director at portraying everyday life, but his work with Laverty tends to follow a predictable template, and in this film, which lacks the rawest edges of his best work, this is a little too obviously exposed. Unusual too is the apparent sympathy for men so rich they could spend a million pounds on a cask of peaty alcohol.

'Never judge a book by it's cover' is a line used roughly halfway through this relatively benign recent effort from British directing stalwart Ken Loach. This is a maxim to keep in mind if approaching Angel's Share with the poster's main advertising soundbite 'Scotland's answer to The Full Monty' as a trusted precursor. Like wine or whisky tasting itself, much of a film's effect is to do with the aftertaste, and it is only in the closing third of the film that the aforementioned tagline could bolster a challenge to be relevant at all, as Angel's Share, upon full viewing, provides an awkward mixture of traditional 'Loachian' working-class realism with lovable-rogue, schadenfreude comedy.There is much to like and take away from Angel's Share, including great dialogue, brilliant comedy and memorable characters. The problem is that these elements span what feels like two films fighting each other to exist in one, with neither sitting comfortably together or allowing the viewer to solidify a perspective to settle on in terms of their relation to the main characters. It could certainly be argued that this should precisely be the case for the parts of the film which reflect how ambiguously and inconsistently characters in real life can behave, but when Loach suddenly wants to do good on that tagline, all that comes before betrays the impish, happy-go-lucky final third that is well written yet foreboded by scenes not dissimilar from the violence in films like Sweet Sixteen. Imagine some of the generic, heart-warming, feel-good comedy scenes in The Full Monty interspersed with gang beatings and attempted grievous bodily harm and you can imagine the failed dichotomy displayed during Angel's Share.This disharmony in tone, however, is pleasingly the only main fault of the film, which can certainly be included as another of Loach's great accomplishments. Taken on a scene-by-scene basis, both the characters and the actors portraying them are addictively watchable, as they blunder and plunder as worst and best they can in the context of their worlds. The theme, born from the meaning of the title itself, is subtly explored and comes wonderfully full circle as that aftertaste at the end is about to kick in. There is honest drama amongst the frivolous escapading, much coming via the standout performance by John Henshaw as the poor guy charged with overseeing the group's community service tasks. It also includes the only known example to me of the use of '(I'm Gonna Be)' 500 Miles by The Proclaimers where the lyrics actually fit the context of the story as opposed to simply occupying a clip because they are Scottish (other stereotypes do exist, however, such as Irn Bru and kilt wearing, though these also exist in logical situations even if they may grate some at the front end).Loach's style is never compromised as regards to the way the film is shot, even if it strays in tone come the end of the story. Glasgow is shown rather than shown off, with barely an establishing shot in sight, helping to bring the viewer down to the level at which the characters themselves exist at - drab interiors, hostile alleyways, rundown tenement areas, etc. It is when the group set off on their daring 'heist' that the beautiful shots of the Highlands offer a sensible contrast as a visual metaphor - the job at hand providing faint hope of starting afresh (even though it is still a crime they are intending to commit). An awful, almost ten-minute tour of the whiskey distillery makes you feel like you've wandered into the filming of a tour itself rather than still watching a film, but is subsequently saved by the attempted pilfering of the 'Holy Grail' of whiskies - perfectly paced and ramped up with tension. In fact the crux of the story is so well crafted it almost makes you forget how little reason you should have to root for the success of the group's plan in the first place. Intentionally ambiguous yet jarringly inconsistent, Angel's Share succeeds in delivering an entertaining and memorable mixture of comedy and drama. Just ignore that tagline, and watch out for the aftertaste . . .

Robbie, a young man on a community payback scheme trying to turn his life around for the sake of his newborn son, comes up with a plan to give him a financial head start. He recruits his fellow offenders to his caper.The Glasgow-set collaborations of Ken Loach and Paul Laverty always sit somewhere on a spectrum that runs between socialist realist politics and crowd-pleasing mischief. This outing sits more towards the crowd-pleasing end. As such, the young protagonist's underclass credentials are evidenced merely by his scars, tracksuit and chest-puffing in the face of his adversaries. His partner only ever speaks to him about pulling up his socks for their child; stilted, clunky exchanges that supply information and do nothing for characterisation. The young woman's thuggish family are cardboard cut-out neds who speak in clichés. So, characterisation is simplistic and dialogue always pure exposition. However, anyone looking for some pay off in the plot will be sorely disappointed. It is pretty obvious from the beginning how things will play out, with the exception of one genuinely surprising, and humanistic, twist. At one point Robbie is being chased by bad guys when his father-in-law incredulously appears like Batman in his Nedmobile to rescue him, before snarling more ned clichés at him. Paul Brannigan as Robbie has a certain look and charisma, but he can't act. The young actor's story, in many respects paralleling the character he plays, is touching, and perhaps Loach and Laverty are using cinema to smuggle in some kind of social rehabilitation programme for worthy but underprivileged young men. But one part of me wishes they'd use real actors, or at least send their discoveries to acting school before filming starts.As someone who grew up in inner-city Glasgow I always feel I *should* like these Loach/Laverty films, and wonder if my conflicted emotions come from the part of me that is Glasgow. But 'The Angel's Share' has made up my mind for me - these films are just below-par cinema. I get that the script is meant to be a fable, but not one line of dialogue stayed with me, or resonated to a deeper place. The characters, like those in 'My Name is Joe', are all meant to be lovable rapscallions, but the visceral violence that can be a very real event in Glasgow is not represented here, and the truly pitiful aspects of these young men's pathetic and self-destructive delusions about 'masculinity' require a complexity of portrayal that seems beyond these filmmakers. There is a psychology and dialectic at work that defies easy ideological explanation, but that ease is all Loach and Laverty ever reach for. Loach's so-called naturalistic directing is simply workmanlike camera-work that fails to add shade or depth to character. I can't think of one shot in this film that struck me as cinematic.I applaud the good intentions of Loach and Laverty, but their execution is sorely lacking. I think the praise they garner comes more from the middle class guilt of broadsheet critics, and the desperate relief of disenfranchised Glaswegians at ANY attempt at all to portray their lives on screen. Wooden acting, under-realised framing, and a flat, under-developed script - apart from a few chuckles at comments by dim-witted characters, what exactly is there to like here? What is this film doing that was not done by Bill Forsyth 30 years ago, only ten times better? These filmmakers need to be judged by the same standards that apply to the likes of Kevin Macdonald, Edgar Wright and Christopher Nolan. Glasgow is a great city that lends itself to cinema, and its people have a myriad of human tales to tell. It is a potential criminally untapped by Loach and Laverty.

This movie is very funny, we spend good time watching it. Characters are appealing and touching and we have lots of sympathy with them. We realize how it's important to believe in our dreams even we have many problems. I think this movie gives hope to everyone who feels desperate. I advise you all to watch it.This movie is very funny, we spend good time watching it. Characters are appealing and touching and we have lots of sympathy with them. We realize how it's important to believe in our dreams even we have many problems. I think this movie gives hope to everyone who feels desperate. I advise you all to watch it.