Mistakenly lured by the cast listing of John Hughes who turned out not to be the one I was expecting, I'm glad I had an opportunity to see this forgotten, low budget British comedy.

This was a great absurdist comedy about a bunch of working class (and some unemployed) young British (and Scottish) lads who decide that a good way out of their persistent daily slump is to break into a warehouse and steal its stock of stainless steel sinks, for which they could make a killing on. The entire movie is pretty much introducing you to their misery (in a humorous manner, no less) and then the planning (which is quite amusing). For an extremely low budget with a sometimes difficult to discern dialog (poor audio, though there is some noticeable re-dubbing),I was pleasantly surprised, especially after being disappointed with director Bill Forsyth's American comedy, "Breaking In." Here, you have a pleasant cast of assorted (and somewhat clueless, but well-meaning) young guys and their rather innocuous, but desperate attempt, to make some money. Check it out if you can find it.

I remember the Monday morning after THAT SINKING FEELING received its first broadcast on British television in 1982 , all my classmates were discussing it: " Did you see that bit where the guy said ... " and I remember thinking that my peers had been watching another film because I recalled distinctly hating it .

The problem I had was the very episodic nature of the movie . THAT SINKING FEELING feels like 90 minutes of self contained sketches rather than a feature length comedy , and maybe this is why everyone was discussing " That bit where .... " it's really not the most cohesive screenplay you'll see . Secondly as a comedy it's made the cardinal sin of being silly rather than funny . The plot revolves around a group of Glasgow teenagers wanting to commit a heist but we see them getting beaten up by children and not having enough money to buy a cup of tea in a cafe , the point is spelled out in far too bold letters that these are pathetic criminals as if we didn't know this . There's also a joke where two characters are discussing the robbery they're going to pull when one exclaims " Let's get out of here , it's like a public park " The camera then pulls away to indeed show the conversation was taking place in a public park . If the joke was lame it was rendered even lamer still by the fact the camera isn't locked on the actors close enough before the joke was revealed , we knew they were sitting on a park bench long before the punch line !

Maybe I shouldn't be too hard since Bill Forsyth has made a successful guerilla film , but I should point out to people reading this page before seeing the movie that Bill Forsyth is a very idiosyncratic film maker whose movies lack a universal appeal , that's probably why we hear so little from him these days

I found this very difficult at first with unfunny jokes and a rather embarrassing ineptitude on display. Gradually, however, things got not so bad. Most likely shot in sequence it was probably asking too much of young and inexperienced Robert Buchanan to perform those somewhat dodgy early soliloquays and it is evident that as the film progresses, so does his confidence and quality of performance. Similarly as the plot unfolds we get to find the various youngsters more appealing and able to adjust to both the situation and the strong accents. Such a culture shock at first it is only afterwards one can fully appreciate the many endearing and amusing touches. The young girl bouncing a ball is on hand to lend a cigarette and provide a light between bounces. A seemingly weird sequence to an electrical shop to listen to some sales pitch only makes sense when viewed as a way to get a free cigarette and so on. By the end, although still stunned at the audacity of much of this uncompromising and in your face 'naturalism' there is a smile lurking somewhere and despite the constant rain a feeling of warmth for the whole enterprise. Added bonus for anyone who knows Glasgow is that this is mostly filmed on location in and around the city and shows much of the old industrial buildings and canal as it was in the late 70s.