Scottish Mussel (2015)

Scottish Mussel: Directed by Talulah Riley. With Martin Compston, Talulah Riley, Morgan Watkins, Joe Thomas. Ritchie is a Glaswegian chancer with low hopes and no prospects. Disillusioned with city life, he goes undercover at a Highland conservation centre to make his fortune as an illegal pearl fisher with the help of his two hapless and accident prone mates, Danny and Fraser. Here he meets Beth, a pretty English conservationist passionate about saving endangered mussels from the clutches of pearl thieves in the Scottish Highlands. Falling for her instantly, Ritchie must beat off competition in the form of Highland Ranger Ethan, a smooth talking American Adonis convinced that Beth can’t resist his charms forever. After the success of pearl fishing attracts the unwanted attentions of old school Glaswegian mobster Gavin and his work at the centre leads him to question his true motivations, Ritchie must risk life and limb to save the Highlands from ecological disaster and win Beth’s heart.

“This is a light u0026quot;feel goodu0026quot; romantic comedy thatu0026#39;s fun to watch and warm-hearted. Plotwise it follows the boy meets girl, boy screws up, boy seeks redemption arc very effectively.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe pacing is perfect, and overall the acting is good with the notable exception of the odd American accent for boyu0026#39;s love rival. Why he has to be American is never really evident, although the character is pretty unbelievable to begin with, so being a foreigner may be the only reason? There are also a lot of characters and again itu0026#39;s not clear why thatu0026#39;s necessary, but those are the only flaws. Harry Enfield is particularly well cast as the food truck owning mentor, and running mollusc jokes are well played.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is not a movie with any serious pretensions and I really donu0026#39;t see why the first reviewer here has to spill so much bile over it. Itu0026#39;s not going to win any Oscars and it isnu0026#39;t Serious Cinema (TM) — did I mention itu0026#39;s fun and entertaining, in addition to being well made and edited? Itu0026#39;s not awful, itu0026#39;s just a mostly well-executed light- hearted rom com.”