Svengali

Stuffed with clichés, caricatures and guest stars, this genial adaptation of Jonny Owen's cult internet series has an infectious energy (and a more than decent soundtrack) that carries it over the contrivances. Owen plays the Welsh postman and music fanatic whose campaign to interest London record mavens in his undiscovered combo, the Premature Congratulations, includes sending the band's demo out on cassette tape. Despite becoming the hottest property in the business after a disastrous debut gig, the band is virtually an irrelevance, as writer-producer Owen concentrates on his charismatic innocent abroad and his relationship with long-suffering girlfriend Vicky McClure. The haphazard plot consistently feels webisodic, and few of the cameos by the likes of Martin Freeman, Maxine Peake, Alan McGee and Katy Brand work. But, for all its many faults, the movie feels less calculated than Sara Sugarman's similarly themed Vinyl, as it wears its overstatement and sentimentality with guileless pride.