ONE CHANCE (2013)

Genre: Drama
Director: David Frankel
Cast: James Corden, Alexandra Roach, Julie Walters, Colm Meaney, Mackenzie Crook, Valeria Bilello
RunTime: 1 hr 43 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: GVP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 1 May 2014

Synopsis: The true story of Paul Potts, a shy, bullied shop assistant by day and an amateur opera singer by night who became a phenomenon after being chosen for -- and ultimately winning -- "Britain's Got Talent".

Movie Review:

Before Susan Boyle became a household name from her participation in ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, there was a chubby cell-phone salesman from Wales named Paul Potts who blew the judges away on the programme with Puccini's aria “Nessun Dorma”. As unlikely as the possibility of the son of a steelworker performing a pitch-perfect rendition of the operatic tune may sound, the talent show sensation who grew up a misfit in an industrial steel town wiped the smirk off Simon Cowell’s face with his gorgeous performance, eventually going on as one of the judges predicted to win the first season of that reality show.

Produced by none other than Cowell himself, ‘One Chance’ is the dramatisation of Potts’ rise from obscurity as he overcomes a litany of misfortunes - a disastrous audition for his idol Pavarotti, a ruptured appendicitis, a car accident, financial woes - to realise his dream of being an opera singer. That’s not all. Potts also has to contend with an incessant childhood bully, a less-than-supportive father, and a severe lack of confidence on his journey to embrace his love for opera - though he does find comfort and encouragement in a girl he meets in an Internet chat room and subsequently falls in love with.

If all that sounds like material ripe for a typical Hollywood feel-good underdog tale, it is. At the helm of this crowd-pleaser is ‘The Devil Wears Prada’s’ David Frankel, working from a script by ‘The Bucket List’s’ Justin Zackham, and just by that pedigree alone, you can probably guess that Hollywood may have some influence over how this against-the-odds tale of triumph is told. And true enough, some details have been changed in order to fit a more conventional storytelling formula - most glaringly, that the real-life Potts was in fact a city councillor in Bristol where he lived before moving to Port Talbot.

Despite the creative liberties, there is no denying that Frankel’s retelling is a funny and immensely appealing heart warmer that, like ‘The Full Monty’ and ‘Billy Elliot’, tugs at your heartstrings with its story of characters who overcome adversity and low self-esteem to become more than their blue-collar environments would allow them to. You’ll find yourself rooting for Potts no sooner than he stands up in front of a local pub full of hecklers dressed like a clown to perform Pagliacci in order to win himself the prize money of a talent competition to pay for opera school in Venice; and even more so when he returns home after crashing and burning his all-important audition, as his father proclaims that he’s had his great adventure and proceeds to sign him up for a job at the local steel mill.

As the likeable loser who refuses to let his circumstances get the better of him, Tony Award winning actor James Corden gives a thoroughly winning performance from which much of the film’s charm derives. The British comedian best known for his stage appearances in ‘The History Boys’ and ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ is effortlessly likeable in the lead role, and he receives warm support from the adorable Alexandra Roach as his delightful wife Julz as well as Colm Meaney and Julie Walters as his working-class parents; in particular, some of the most heartfelt bits of the film are found in the unassuming relationship between Potts and Julz - played with winning chemistry between Corden and Roach - whose marriage is put through the wringer in tandem with the ups and downs Potts faces in the pursuit of his dream.

So even though it does hew closely to formula, ‘One Chance’ is sweet, funny, poignant and inspirational stuff that reinforces the possibilities that passion and perseverance may bring. Call it schmaltzy mush if you may, but there is genuine heart in this true story of one man’s triumph against adversity from both within and without. And right at the centre of this uplifting story is a love story, a romance that begins with one of the most disarmingly affecting meet-cute encounters that we have seen in recent times and transforms into a moving reaffirming model of true love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. 

Movie Rating:

(It’s crowd-pleasing stuff all right, and formulaic though it may be, also sweet, funny, heartfelt and ultimately winning)

Review by Gabriel Chong