The paperback of “Straight Outta Scotland” by Gavin Bain, which tells the real-life yarn on which James McAvoy ‘s directing debut is based, boasts a cover quote from the patron saint of working-class Scot-lit, Irvine Welsh: “One of the most amazing, high-octane, hedonistic morality tales of our time.” McAvoy’s take on the story of Bain (Seamus McLean Ross) and best mate Billy Boyd (Samuel Bottomley), who as rap duo Silibil N’ Brains briefly hoodwinked the UK hip-hop establishment into thinking they were California MCs rather than call-center employees from Dundee, is a little more housebroken than that.

But even though McAvoy, working from Archie Thomson and Elaine Gracie’s screenplay, domesticates the tale into a familiar but effective underdog narrative, it is by no means unworthy of

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