With sharp cinematography compellingly capturing Edinburgh’s seedier side, this snarling slice of underdog life works well when focusing on aspiring stand-up Stephen McCole delivering his sardonic routines or seething at his ex-wife Jo Hartley’s treachery. However, it threatens to derail after loner Malcolm Shields kidnaps McCole’s young daughter to coerce him into exacting revenge on the now-senile reformatory principal who had abused them as boys.
Relishing the erudite screenplay, McCole impresses whether wallowing in self-pity, spitting comic bile or facing up to the shame and rage he thought he’d long conquered. But debuting director Justin Molotnikov dissipates any tension during the increasingly implausible denouement.
