Its saccharine-sweet ending aside, 'Moon Dogs' is a very enjoyable low-budget comedy-drama road movie set in Scotland.
Highly-strung Michael (the pleasingly chunky Jack Parry Jones) and modern folk musician Thor (Christy O'Donnell, who has nice skin but should stop with the facial hair until he can grow it convincingly) are step-brothers living on the Shetland Islands. Michael would have gone to Glasgow University had his chances in his exams not been scuppered by an attempt to rescue Thor, whom he mistakenly thought was committing suicide. But his girlfriend *did* go to Glasgow, and, convinced she is having an affair, Michael asks Thor to accompany him to the city (Thor, it turns out, has his own reasons for going). But the pair are skint, so it's going to be a long, hard journey - and on the way they meet Caitlin (Tara Lee), a sexy wannabe singer whom they are soon following like attentive poodles.
Parry Jones has a nice line in confused frustration and handles most of the film's out-and-out comedy moments. Lee does very well as the femme fatale using her sexuality to twist the boys around her little finger. O'Donnell is less noticeable, but that is because although he is a constant presence in the film, he mostly stays in the background while Parry Jones and Lee hog the screen. But the big emoting scene near to the end is his and he plays it well. There's also a nice turn from Tanya Franks as a grumpy bride.
As I said, the mawkishness at the end is not welcome, but on the whole this is a very enjoyable film set in the bleakly gorgeous Scottish countryside and well worth seeing - although, devoid as it is of big stars (excepting Denis Lawson in a cameo), I wonder if it will manage to break out of the festival circuit (I saw it at 2016's Edinburgh International Film Festival).
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