Feel-good true-life stories may be formulaic, but sometimes all it takes is a couple of genuinely charming performances to carry you through. That’s the case in this cinematic tale of Paul Potts (James Corden), a sadsack of a lad from Wales who longs to fulfill his dream of becoming an opera singer, and who eventually got a shot on
Britain’s Got Talent. Director David Frankel (
The Devil Wears Prada) and screenwriter Justin Zackham take a chance on following Paul’s story through all the actual obstacles he faced—getting shot down during an audition for Pavarotti, voice-threatening thyroid surgery, a serious bicycle accident—that start to feel absurd after a while. But Corden makes for such a likeable Paul—and Alexandra Roach just as darling as the girl he meets in an online chat room—that their tentative romance carries the story through every moment when you could easily get mired in Paul’s implausible road to success. Sure, you have to wade through the clashes between Paul traditional, give-up-your-dreams-and-be-practical dad (Colm Meany), but as underdog narratives go, it’s a keeper.
By
Scott Renshaw