I'll Be There (2003)

I stumbled across the movie flipping thru the movie channels and stopped to watch when I saw Craig (I regularly watch his Late, Late Show). I didn't realize it was Charlotte Church until the credits rolled. She stopped my 8 yr old girl in her tracks and she started watched when Charlotte sang at the Royal Academy scene. I really enjoyed the movie. Having watched his show for some time now it was easy to see the parallels he drew from his own life (drinking, sobriety, music, etc). The scene in which the two former band mates where joking about his wife's name being Nessie and they lived in Loch Ness..you could tell they were having a ball when they filmed it. The music scenes where a bit stiff for Craig and the father-in-law.

In the final credits it lists "in memory of David "Kam" Covner 1070-2002" Who is he? P.S. My wife and I both loved this little gem. Watched it on a cold and damp Saturday with smiles on our faces. Ms. Church has a sweet voice and she can act right there with the best of them. Craig Fergesun really fooled us though, we kind of thought that he was only good for late night television (and only just) when all of a sudden here's this real actor, playing a character with real acting skills.( I know that sounds bad Craig, sorry. I mean it as a complement.) Ms. Richardson, ah yes. What a beauty! She and Ms. Church really could be mother and daughter, both in looks and the way they interact with each other.

A problem with I'll Be There is that there are too many clichés in it. The entire opening scene with Paul Kerr's drunken accident is made up of pure clichés, and really doesn't give you a very good first impression of the movie.But it's not a bad movie. It seems to be made partly to fictionalize Charlotte Church's real life, for reading her IMDb biography page, there seems to be a lot of details in the movie that are taken from her real life.The movie would have been much better served being a straight drama rather than a part-time comedy. The comedy aspects of it weren't effective, and almost embarrassingly unfunny. If the movie had ditched the comedy part and spent some time exploring the story in more depth, it could have been a lot better. And would have been a lot sweeter, too.7 out of 10.

"I'll Be There" has a cute but implausible plot, mediocre acting, and terrible sound quality, which would not be completely horrible in an ordinary movie, but in a movie that's entire purpose is to allow the lead actress to show off her voice, it's a disaster. The plot is quite obviously put together merely so that Charlotte Church can sing, but the poor recording quality of the movie does not even let the plot follow through with its motive. Charlotte Church's beautiful, first class voice is completely butchered. The movie would be worthwhile just to here her sing if someone on the crew had managed to obtain decent recording equipment. As this is not the case, it is a bit of a waste of time. The plot is cute enough that it can keep the attention of the viewer, and Charlotte Church plays her part fairly well. She has a very pretty face that lights up at the right moments and aids the movie considerably. Otherwise, the acting is mediocre, and the movie is not worth wasting money on.