One Chance (2013) James Corden, Alexandra Roach, Julie Walters, Colm Meaney, Mackenzie Crook Movie Review

One Chance (2013)   3/53/53/53/53/5


James Corden in One Chance (2013)

Paul the Comedy

As a child he was bullied and as a young man he ending up working in a mobile phone shop but Paul Potts (James Corden) always had a big singing voice and a complete love of opera as well as Julz (Alexandra Roach). It is a passion for singing which leads Paul to audition for TV talent show "Britain's Got Talent" and surprising everyone who watched with his amazing singing voice.

Simple question. Is Paul Potts a big enough star and had such an interesting life that it deserves to be turned in to a movie? I am not entirely sure he has yet take his story and turn it into a comedy with some familiar British stars and what you have is an entertaining movie as long as you can detach your mind that it is the Paul Potts story. Unfortunately if you can't the chances are the comedy which dominates the movie from Paul standing on a balcony in Venice with his gut over hanging the railing to a bully being smashed over the head with a guitar is going to feel seriously out of place.

Alexandra Roach in One Chance (2013)

But as I said if you can switch off from "One Chance" supposedly being about Paul Potts and think of it as a comedy about a guy called Paul Potts who through out his life has suffered bullying, rejection, has embarrassing parents and quirky friends then it is going to be fun. It is also going to be a little inspiring as well as we watch the character of Paul learn to be himself and succeed despite having a tough time of it over the years. But the thing is that there isn't a lot more else to say when you approach "One Chance" as just a comedy.

What this all boils down to is that as a biopic I don't rate "One Chance" because of the too heavy influence of the comedy introduced to the Paul Potts story. But the comedy is great and approached as a comedy rather than a biopic and "One Chance" is a lot of uncomplicated fun.


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