Treacle JR (15)

Starring: Aidan Gillen, Tom Fisher, Riann Steele

After his excellent debut feature The Low Down, 10 years ago, Jamie Thraves seemed to drop off the radar. Now he's back with an odd-couple comedy about a man named Tom (Tom Fisher) who abandons his wife and kid to live rough on the streets of south London.

One day in A&E a loquacious Irish misfit Aidan (Aidan Gillen) attaches himself to Tom, and a stumbling friendship is born, despite the mean intervention of Aidan's flatmate (Riann Steele). Thraves's compassion for people on the margins feels sincere, but he has given too much rope to Gillen's shouty performance as the free spirit: his actorly speech-impediment and enthusiasm for the drums are not the endearing tics he believes them to be. Even the way he eats biscuits is annoying. The more interesting character of Tom, and his apparent mental breakdown, are, after a great opening, barely explored.