One of my personal favorite films of the year is the warmhearted Scottish dramedy The Angels’ Share directed by Ken Loach. It’s a film that’s filled with genuine heart, passion, laugh out loud comedic moments and proper life themes that should capture the hearts of nearly every audience member that gives it a shot.
To the outside world, Robbie (Paul Brannigan) is considered an angry and violent thug but when he narrowly escapes going to prison in exchange for 300 hours of community service he meets Harry (John Henshaw), the man in charge of his sentence and a group of other delinquents that also avoided jail time. After Robbie’s girlfriend gives birth and he is jumped by her father with other thugs out looking to settle a grudge, Harry looks after Robbie in an attempt to protect him from making a grave mistake and, in doing so, introduces him to Scotch Whiskey. It’s at that moment that they discover that Robbie has a nose for Scotch and soon Robbie and his ragtag group of friends Mo (Jasmin Riggins), Rhino (William Ruane), and the incredibly stupid Albert (Gary Maitland) become interested in scotch. When the cash strapped group find out that an incredibly rare barrel of whiskey is being auctioned off they decide that’s the last heist they need to pull off in order to restart their lives.
The Angels’ Share is a film about second chances. Its approach to this idea may be a bit a bit muddled due to the illegal nature of the third act of the film, but the film is certainly an uplifting crowd-pleaser and shows that when given an opportunity, people can turn their lives around for the better. Furthermore, not only do second chances help, but it also shows the importance of mentorship and how important having one can be when trying to guide a troubled person down the path of redemption. It’s for those two reasons alone that the film hits so close to home for me and why I really took a liking to the film.
Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty have made an excellent film that’s not only well balanced in terms of drama and comedy, but one that feels so realistic and down-to-earth that it could have been based off a true story. The reason it works so well is because the dialogue is fluid and simple and the acting doesn’t feel like acting. In fact, it feels like we’re actually watching real people living their lives and facing the consequences for their actions. What’s more impressive is that this is Paul Brannigan’s first feature film and for a feature debut he delivers a touching and honest performance that captures your heart and inspires you, a rarity for a first-timer.
While I loved the spirit of the film and the themes presented throughout, my favorite part of the film was listening to one of the troublemaker’s named Albert speak. He might possibly be the dumbest character in the history of cinema, and I’m not talking Leslie Nielsen i
n The Naked Gun or Mr. Magoo stupid, I’m talking beyond that level with an even more serious face to convince you he is literally that dumb. Albert is the first character we meet in the film and that scene, by itself, is a riot and it only gets funnier from there when he admits that he has no idea “who Mona Lisa is” or why Edinburgh Castle is on a cliff. I almost want to say you should watch the movie just for Gary Maitland’s performance in those scenes.
While it may not make any top 10 lists come the end of this year except for maybe mine, The Angels’ Share is a film that I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to enjoy a well-rounded piece of cinema that’s also inspiring, good natured and occasionally side-splitting funny. This is one of those movies that you’re likely to never see unless someone tells you about it and I’m hoping this review will convince people to check it out because it truly is a wonderful film that expertly blends comedy, crime and drama with a sense of realism.
As for the disc, the DVD doesn’t come with much in the way of special features which is a shame since I would have figured there would have been a great set of outtakes with Albert. That being said, the film comes with the theatrical trailer and 10 deleted scenes, most of which I’m glad didn’t make the final cut but one or two that I thought would have been nice additions to keep since they were pretty funny.
Movie rating: A warmhearted, uplifting and comical crowd-pleaser that’s sure to win the hearts of all that watch it (8/10)
DVD rating: 3.8/10
The Angels’ Share is now available on DVD from IFC
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