The true story of Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts’ rise from a cellphone-selling ugly duckling to an aria-singing swan puts Hollywood’s best screenwriters to shame. So, it’s no surprise someone would try to capture Potts’ magic in movie form. Fortunately, One Chance fell into the capable hands of director David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada), whose polish mutes the script’s occasional false note, although he does color strictly within the lines.
One Chance eagerly follows in the tradition of feel-good British working-class films like Billy Elliot and Brassed Off as it chronicles its portly young opera devotee’s struggles in the inhospitable cultural climes of Welsh coal country. But the story diverges briefly into postcard territory when Potts, played by James Corden, travels to opera school in Venice, Italy, only to lose his nerve in front of Luciano Pavarotti. Heartbroken, he returns home to find his troubles are far from over, but that’s all a prelude to his moment shining under Simon Cowell’s stern gaze. Even if Frankel’s light attempts at dramatic tension feel perfunctory, Corden’s genial performance provides the film with a beating heart, breathing life into its foreordained fairy-tale ending.
-John Lopez