The Wee Man

Based on the exploits of notorious Scottish hard man Paul Ferris (Martin Compston), this grim and uninvolving crime saga trots out the old chestnut about honour among thieves but attracts scant sympathy for its dubious lead character. Reliable as ever, leading man Compston (‘Sweet Sixteen’) exudes a basic likeability on screen, which is just about the only thing this blood-soaked trudge through Glaswegian headlines has got going for it, as a bullied kid gets a taste for revenge and becomes a footsoldier for the city’s biggest racketeer (a bland Patrick Bergin). That Ferris’s self-styled principles differentiate him from rival schemers and psychos is supposed to attract us, yet the internecine blood-letting swiftly becomes turgidly academic, and the low-key ending suggests even the filmmakers have tired of the story. Thirteen years on from his Britpack romp ‘Love, Honour and Obey’, Ray Burdis’s clunky writing and direction show distinct signs of being a little rusty – and the intermittent ‘Godfather’ references were not one of his better ideas.