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.

A film well remembered from my youth, the first full feature from writer / director Bill Forsyth who later achieved greater success with films like "Gregory's Girl", "Comfort And Joy" and especially "Local Hero" before he "went Hollywood" and paradoxically lost his way.

Here, on a minuscule budget and working with young fledgling actors, he delivers a refreshing and often very funny comedy, set in and around a Glasgow I remember very well from the late 1970's, rainy, run-down and awaiting regeneration while its own young generation struggled to find jobs and earn money in Jim Callaghan's "Crisis What Crisis" Britain. I wouldn't say it was absolutely essential to be Scots or in particular Glasgow-born to get the situations and humour but it probably helps, particularly with the everyday Glasgow accents uttered by every character here.

The plot is a simple one, unemployed teenager Ronnie, after a failed attempt at suicide with cornflakes and milk, concocts a foolproof plan to make money for him and his small coterie of like-minded on-the-dolers. It simply involves relieving a local warehouse of a supply of kitchen sinks which sell for big money on the open market. This plan involves procuring a getaway van which turns out to belong to the local baker's but which comes with its near comatose driver who's been knocked out by a concoction of drugs put in his tea and also diverting the security man with two of the boys dragging up and leading the randy guard away, if not quite astray.

Shot in recognisable locations of the city at the time, the film is an absolute delight. The gags are quick and genuinely funny, my absolute favourite being the "Definitely no chocolate doughnuts" police A.P.B. which goes out when the gang accidentally steals another bakery van. There are sight gags, running gags, gentle gender-bending gags and lots of local scenery besides for a nostalgist like me to recall.

One or two of the young actors unsurprisingly come across as a little nervous and therefore unnatural in front of the camera but in the main, they all perform ably. I personally believe that Forsyth never topped what he achieved here. My main carp would probably be the cheap and somewhat incongruous cocktail jazz soundtrack which often fills up the background and sounds as if it was flown in from U.S. sitcoms of the day like "Soap" or "Taxi" but otherwise Forsyth shows it's possible to create comedy gold in a film without throwing the kitchen sink at 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