Seth is a rough kid in a tough neck of the woods. He has no dreams and wants only to not see his mother drunk and with yet another man. When he has a chance to change his life and doesn’t, it might seem that his life will go down the failed path. When his mother is killed in an accident, he is left in charge of his father. This being the same father he has never seen and who wants nothing to do with him since his birth. This unknown father is more than happy to dump him in a posh singing school and keep him out of sight.  The only problem is that he just cannot stop singing and singing well. He becomes a well known singer and ever has some success in growing past the prejudice.He will overcome…

I guess you will know by now that this is the sort of film that every saturday afternoon or switch off evening is made of. It takes you down its road of conventions and simple narrative, only occasionally playing with a plot device here (Father is a empty hearted moron) and a character point there (the kid is empty emotionally and has no real centre!) These shifts are so slight that it does not feel different or alternative. It never feels new or fresh but that is not what it wants from you or itself.

I know we all have seen these films and often they are made either very poorly or balance between average. They are made this way because they target a group of film fans that love the conventions and the comforts. They love the fact that the kid wins, they love the happy ending of this now perfect life and above all they love the warm glow they feel at the end. this is no bad thing and the film does these things fairly well. It gives our hero a chance and it gives us some nice music. It also gives us some very flat performances from some great talent. Hoffman looks tired and bored and so he should be. This is below his range and he wants to walk out but cant. Bates is also tired of the deal. The lead actor, Garrett Wareing looks to fresh and cute to be anything but unremarkable. They are also not helped by a director that cares to much for composition. I never say this but today I must. Girard must learn that these sort of films do not need to look beautiful. They have to play simple and not be a Hallmark channel film or more truthfully, a film made by someone who does not care.

So to the disc and Curzon are lacking here. They too seem to have not cared and given weak additions that are so not worth the time. So to sum up… The film looks great, plays like a post puberty boy and has nothing added to give you any reason to care….