Review: I must be becoming soppy in my old age, because I really enjoyed this heartwarming tale about a guy who is down on his luck, but he has an amazing talent to sing opera and he follows his dreams by becoming a success. The characters were well chosen by the director and the storyline is written very well. You grow to like the main character and you feel for his amazing trail of bad luck throughout his life. The love story is really sweet, and his parents support was witty and emotional. To be honest, I wasn't expecting that much from this film, but I really enjoyed the mixture of emotions. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: It's amazing to see how far James Corden has come from his early years in Gavin & Stacey to winning many awards and now starring in a very well made movie. Everyone can't help but like the guy which is why we see him on the TV quite a lot nowadays. Julie Walters is getting better with age, along with Colm Meaney who seems to be popping up in loads of movies nowadays. Anyway, this movie is definitely worth a watch if you into witty, emotional dramas.

Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $7.5million

I recommend this movie to people who are into there witty biopics about an opera singers journey to fame. 6/10

Paul Potts (James Corden) has always sang opera since he was a kid and has always been bullied by the mean kids in his industrial town. He pursues his dream to Italy where he is given a devastating blow. His confidence is shot and then he signs up for Britain's Got Talent.

There is no drama. It is predictable. Corden is a less confident Corden. It is not terribly original or different. The only surprise happens when he gets hit by the car. Quite frankly, it tries hard and really achieves halfway. I'm sure that this is a well known story for Brits and changing it would be sacrilegious. It doesn't mean that some minor changes aren't necessary. Confidence is the central theme for Paul. The movie set it up very well up to his confrontation with his father. When dad claims that he hasn't chased his dream, that's the moment of the hero's clarity. He can still show his nervousness but he cannot give it voice. He has to go beyond that at that point. He has to change for his character to grow.

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.