the audience applauded

Excellent but underrated film

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Mark Kermode doesn't always get it right. He heaped praise on this and quite frankly, it's awful. Now granted I'm not one for musicals, but I can be persuaded, you can't knock a bit of West Side Story and the Belle and Sebastian scored God Help The Girl a few years back was fantastic. It took me three sittings to grind through this schmalzy crap though. The songs are annoying, the characters are annoying, the story largely uneventful, to the point that take the songs out of this and there'd be little left. I hoped that this would redeem Edinburgh on the movie map after the disappointment of Trainspotting 2. It does not. Choose... something else.

I am not a big fan of the Proclamers, but the movie really made the best out of it. Most of the actors sing really well. George MacKay is absolutely awesome and although I have never been there, I fell in love with Edinburgh. As a foreigner I especially loved the accents of the different actors. The only thing which made me give eight instead of ten stars is the plot, because although it is obviously a love story, so not something where you expect action, I thought that not much happened all together. Still it is a nice movie maybe for Sunday afternoons and I would recommend it to other musical fans but also to romantics.

Sunshine on Leith is a kind of 'Mamma Mia' for Scots twin brother folk/rock duo The Proclaimers - it strings a catalogue of their songs around a story of two soldiers returning from duty in Afghanistan. The opening, set in a personnel carrier where all the soldiers start to sing, is quite effective, except that it goes on far too long and the lead character is not established or marked out in any way.Once that's finally over, I think we get a kind of soap opera of two or more families and their Mike Leigh-style problems; I'm not sure because there is a long, repetitive song shoehorned into every scene, which goes on and on in that inexorable Proclaimers way that the twins Craig and Charlie manage to make work live, but when it's performed (or mimed to) by drama students (none of whom can sing and act at the same time) mugging their faces off, the song outstays its welcome over and over and over again.In every scene it's like some school production where the director said, 'well I know it's strictly not good drama, but you can all have a whacking great showstopper each, and we can all be great pals, OK?. Yes, even you, Peter Mullan, because no-one is to be left out'. The writer has just transferred River City to Andrew Lloyd Webber Hell. A TV soap script DOES NOT WQRK on the big screen, OK? After a while you start to imagine logos for advertisers drifting up on screen - SOL becomes like an endless series of outtakes from adverts for cider, as happy faces drift around glittering bars. The end may be good: it's isn't worth putting up with the first half for. You'll just want to change channel, like you do in the adverts.

Originally my draw to this film was seeing Antonia Thomas, from Misfits, and Freya Mavor from generation 3 of Skins. But, somewhere between the trailer, and the first few songs, I fell in love. Mind you, I'm not the biggest lover of musicals, but god does this make me seem like I had no idea what I have been talking about all these years.Characters & StoryThe love lives of three couples are focused on in the film. The first being Jean (Jane Horrocks) and Rab (Peter Mullan). They have been together 25 years, and a secret from Rab's past threatens their very foundation and makes Jean wonder if those 25 years were for nothing. As for the other two relationships, it deals with Rab and Jean's kids. Their daughter, Liz (Freya Mavor) is in a relationship with Ally (Kevin Guthrie) who is a veteran deeply in love with this girl. But, a simple yes or no question leads them to possibly falling apart. Lastly, Liz's older brother, Davy (George MacKay) who is also Jean and Rab's son, also is having some relationships issues. He has a whirlwind romance with Liz's friend Yvonne (Antonia Thomas) and in a "so…" type moment (in reference to what Jason talks about in That Awkward Moment) she tries to decide where she and Davy are going anywhere, relationship wise, and Davy delivers the wrong answer.As a whole though, the movie isn't fully a traditional romantic story for it deals with constant ups and downs. One moment you can be deeply in envy, and the next moment things are falling apart and you begin worrying what may happen. Then, things turn around and you get teary eyed by how cute one of the couples are being. All of this done with the music of The Pretenders pushing things along.PraiseFirst off, I don't know who The Pretenders were, but between the soundtrack for the film, or a Greatest Hits album, I plan on looking them up. The music is sort of weird, simple, yet so cute and sentimental at the same time and it really does up the power of the script. In fact, I'd say you'd likely want to download a few of the songs and may even want to perform them with friends, if not adapt them to fit your life. But, really, it is the characters which have me gushing at the seams. Everyone feels like they are fresh out of a classic young adult novel which holds a place in your heart, and from the moment you meet them you want to root for every single one's happiness.But, being how the story is, they try to play with your emotions, successfully may I add, and from scene to scene you can be brought from such giddy joy, to wanting to scream at the screen and say "NOOOOO, YOU IDIOT WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?" And just the emotional response it can get from you from the first song alone hooks you in.CriticismIn all honesty, I am a bit elated by the film so I don't see any major flaws as of the posting of this review. I must note, however, that this uses the usual formula of romance films I have been harping on since I started doing reviews. But, I do feel that it compensates by getting you really invested to the point that you don't really notice it following usual patterns. Outside of that, I will say that I don't think everyone who sings could make a career out of it, but I do think that the purpose of them singing wasn't necessarily to sound good but convey that character's emotions, so I'll give them a pass.But, even with this feeling of elation, I must note that the subplot which dealt with Rab and Eilidh's (Sara Vickers) did not get explored like it should have. Especially considering its impact on the film.Overall: Worth SeeingThis is one of the few films, alongside Short Term 12 I am likely to watch again, and have my friends see. There are hardly any elements in the film which aren't cute. Be it the different couples, Ally's little brother Brendan (John Spence) who was so sweet and cute, and the songs which are slowly getting stuck in my head. This film, for me, will at least be a personal classic. Hence why I say it is worth seeing. For those who haven't, it is a good movie to watch and, in general, while not the most complex of motion pictures, it makes up for it in so many ways.