Mike McCahill 

Svengali review – the enthusiasm wears off

This movie about the business of rock music gets stuck in mediocre sitcom territory, writes Mike McCahill
  
  

Svengali
Music-biz chancer … Svengali Photograph: PR

This music-biz romp – concerning a Welsh chancer's attempts to push Libertines-like ladrockers the Premature Congratulations around Soho – hopes bushy-tailed enthusiasm can usher us past a shortfall of jokes, and displays an abiding cluelessness about developing its source (writer-star Jonny Owen's well-regarded web series) beyond middling sitcom territory. Cameos from TV faces and a summery visual sheen provide further distractions from the script's fundamental issues of cred: you just don't believe Owen's hapless protagonist would get as far as he does. Hard to dislike entirely, but that initial pep wears off – and it's sad that any project should now be wasting Vicky McClure in the tagalong girlfriend role.

 

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