‘The Full Monty” star Robert Carlyle gives a quietly engaging performance as a Golden State farmworker with a secret in the likable indie “California Solo.”
Carlyle plays a slightly beaten-down Scotsman with an ex-wife, a teen daughter he hasn’t seen in years and a past he’d rather forget: He was once the second- most-important member of an Oasis-like Brit-pop band. A flirtatious customer (Alexia Rasmussen) at the farm stand where he works tries to nudge him back toward his former life, but he isn’t interested in doing anything like that anymore. Anything like what? “Anything interesting,” he says.
Around the time Marshall Lewy’s finely etched film reveals what happened to the leader of the band, it begins to sputter a little, and the story trickles to a disappointing close. But Carlyle, who first gained attention here for his unforgettable work in “Trainspotting,” remains an essential character actor.