'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.
Review of The Angels' Share
