One Last Chance

Debut director Svaasand quotes the Coens as his major influence, but at its best this amiable 'likeable losers' comedy, set in the Speyside town of Tullybridge, captures some of that winning Forsythian mix of whimsy and gentle observational comedy. At its centre is Fitz, a kind soul with Buddhist levels of acceptance and inertia stamped into his DNA. He's played with deceptive ease by the gently charming Sives. Fitz and his long-suffering girlfriend Barbara (McIntosh) know they ought to escape, but are waylaid by their mates, the ambitious but dim local barman Seany (McKidd) and tagalong Nellie (Robertson), who embroil them in an over-elaborate and too familiar caper involving the masonic Curling Club hierarchy, hidden gold, a brutal local heavy and a case of kidnapping. This lurch into lame comic convention is a shame. As the lovely opening sequence shows, the movie's heart lies in low key satiric realism. Still, Svaasand has the courage of his affections. His film oozes warmth for its characters and basks in parochial pride, even if it sadly lacks the necessary oomph for a box office bonanza.