BEFORE SUSAN BOYLE there was Paul Potts, the overweight, chipped-tooth Welsh opera lover who silenced the sniggers and gobsmacked Simon Cowell, shooting to worldwide fame into the bargain, with his rendition of Nessun Dorma on Britain’s Got Talent.
Perhaps determined to prove that audiences cannot get enough of a rags to riches, underdog-goes-all-the-way fable, Cowell’s company Syco has produced One Chance, a new film chronicling the Paul Potts story, starring British flavor-of-the-month James Corden, as well as a strong supporting cast including Julie Walters and Colm Meaney.
And the film’s pedigree doesn’t stop with the onscreen talent. Director David Frankel (Marley & Me) has been enlisted to amp up the feelgood factor, with Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein hovering somewhere in the background, all the better to give this movie some marketing heft Stateside.
And the result is not bad at all. Our hero’s story has been a little tweaked to emphasize just how badly he was bullied and just what a shedload of bad luck he suffered – including being written off by his idol, Pavarotti, when he freezes in an audition in at a Venice Opera School. This of course is all quite obviously designed to make our hero’s ultimate triumph all the more exhilarating, but only occasionally does it wander into treacle, before swiftly being yanked back by the talents of Corden at the film’s center.
The film’s trump card, though, is understated Welsh actress Alexandra Roach (The Iron Lady), Anna Karenina, TV’s The IT Crowd), who plays muse and girlfriend to Potts, lifting him up just when his dreams seem certain to be flattened by the weight of reality.
One Chance. Directed by David Frankel, Written by Justin Zackham. Starring James Corden, Mackenzie Crook, Alexandra Roach, Colm Meaney and Julie Walters. Run time: 103 min. Rated: PG
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