Instant Favorite.

Excellent, a Must See

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

To be fair to the film, they got the Pol Pot jokes out of the way early on in the movie. The rest of the film is a wannabe, quirky, humorous, rags to riches feel good film with every cliché thrown at it.Personally I think James Corden is a decent enough actor and he has proved that on stage several times such as The History Boys. However he has his detractors who cannot get over his comedy roles or just because he is fat or laddish in behaviour.Based loosely true events Corden plays Paul Potts a mobile phone salesman who has always loved opera. He has been bullied since he was young, shy, gawky, overweight and always seems to be down on his luck and could never get that big break. Even his father seems to be embarrassed by him.In reality Paul Potts was an elected Lib Dem councillor for several years, his siblings have been ignored in the film and he sang in several Opera productions on his way to the big time.We see Potts save money to go to an opera school in Venice, he auditions in front of Pavarotti but gets too nervous. He falls in love with a girl he met through the internet but every time something good happens bad luck gets in his way such as a burst appendix or a bike accident. That is until he wins Britain's got Talent.Its a film that is aimed at the audience who enjoyed his performance in the talent show, voted for him and purchased his album. I have no idea how good of an opera singer he really is. These days the Classical charts are full of what I term Karaoke opera singers who sing snippets of popular opera tunes, you know the bits even philistines like me would recognise such as 'Just one Cornetto' or is it 'O sole mio?'The film produced by Simon Cowell's production company with product placement by Carphone Warehouse is heavily manipulative and contrived just like some of Cowell's shows.I found the film to be tedious, unoriginal and unfunny. The cast do their best with a poor script, Corden is charming enough more to with his skills as an actor than the actual cookie cutter screenplay itself.

This movie came and went so fast, partly I suspect because we've all had our fill of reality TV, on TV! At least we seem to wish to avoid it at the movies. In fact this film is not about reality TV, it's a much bigger and more engaging piece, a real romance,talent and ambition, bullying, and the insidious way people support it, depending upon whose the bully. It's also about drive, hard knocks, mean spiritedness and redemptive love. Excellent performances from the two leads.. Paul Potts life really was leading up to X Afactor before X Factor ever existed...there was always going to be a 'One a Chance'. Highly recommended.

This is a touching story with moments of sadness, joy and humor. As far as I can tell it is based pretty closely on the true life of Paul Potts. I liked the realism portrayed in the characters and the situations; for once Hollywood restrained itself. For classical music lovers, the music is a treat. Until the end--after an incredible soundtrack of great pieces written by the masters and performed by true artists, we are treated to an over- credits song by... Taylor Swift. WHAT??? NOOOOOO!!! WHY??? Who on earth made the choice to include that--performer--in this? Nothing worse than having your ears and senses assaulted with garbage after first being primed by some of the best music ever written. That's like having a lunch of fine French cuisine and then being presented with a Twinkie for dessert. Thanks a lot, whatever idiot included that favorite of teenyboppers everywhere in this otherwise-fine film.

Other reviews for this movie (from "professional" reviewers) all point out how shallow this movie is when it comes to showing the feelings Paul is having at the various things that happen to him throughout his life. This may very well be the case. But this movie was not made to be a Doctoral Thesis on the effects of bullying. Rather, it was made to show how, once a young man becomes a coward in his youth, it is almost impossible to overcome later in life. The scene in the alley (when the chick comes to his rescue with the guitar) shows how, as an adult, Paul could only get the barest semblance of rage at his life-long tormentor, even though he had all the reason in the world to go ballistic. After losing his voice, he was unwilling to take a chance at being ridiculed by an audience, so he almost didn't even fill-in the form for Britain's Got Talent. He almost didn't go on stage (several times). There must be a lot of kids getting bullied in England for their love of opera. Just this year, there was another case -- Lucy Kay -- who went through the same torture. She finished second, and has been signed by Simon Cowell personally for one of his labels.Yes, this movie will not win an Oscar -- or even play in any American theaters -- but you need to see it. If you bullied fellow school mates when you were young, you might want to go find those now-grown-up kids and apologize. If you were bullied, this movie will inspire you.