Have you ever been to karaoke and there's that one person who isn't drunk but still thinks she has the most fantastic voice in town—except she's pretty lousy but no one else seems to notice? If you belong to the rabble who have been sufficiently brainwashed into thinking that lady actually has a good voice, go ahead and rent Little Voice. I'm sure you'll love it, and think that Jane Horrocks is incredibly talented.For the rest of you, you'll probably do what I did when trying to get through this movie. It's a story about a young, very strange woman who listens to records of old singers incessantly to cope with her father's death and her mother's meanness. Then, she decides to sing along, and she sounds exactly like the original singers! So, when Michael Caine, a talent scout who's recently started dating her mother, Brenda Blethyn, hears Jane singing, he decides to start promoting her in nightclubs. The only problem is, Jane is that woman at the karaoke bar who thinks she's much better than she is! She doesn't sound like Judy Garland or Marilyn Monroe—but the audience is supposed to think she does. Not only is the entire point of the film completely lost to any audience member with ears, but Jane's character is obnoxious and impossible to root for. I couldn't stand it—I turned this film off.

Such an incredible movie.LV (Jane Horrocks) is probably on the autism spectrum, a young woman who practically lives in her room listening to old records. From the front of the building, we can see her father owned a record shop. He is deceased, and his photo hangs on her wall. At night sometimes she puts on one of her records and sings to his photo. Her favorites are his - Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey, and Marilyn Monroe. And it seems she can impersonate all of them.Part of the reason LV (LV stands for Little Voice) stays in her room with the sound cranked up is to blot out her loud mother Mari (Brenda Blethyn), a woman who spends all of her time dressing cheaply and going to the local bar. When the telephone is put in at their house, LV meets Billy, the main telephone man's assistant. Billy is shy and devoted to his homing pigeons, and he takes a shine to LV, even coming back to visit her later.One night Mari picks up Ray Say, an agent for burlesque acts. He hears LV singing and realizes she has a phenomenal voice - something apparently her self-absorbed mother never noticed. Ray thinks he can make her a star. Her first attempt doesn't work out due to her shyness but he talks her into trying again. He bets everything on her, selling his meager possessions and setting her up in a show at his friend Boo's (Jim Broadbent) club. LV knocks 'em dead after seeing her father's ghost in the audience. But then Ray wants her to perform again the next night, and he invites a big agent. This starts off as a somewhat light film, in spite of the fact that LV's mother is such a horrible human being. However, the film turns into something else, terrifying and uplifting at the same time.I can't say enough about the performances. Jane Horrocks is best known for being the secretary on AbFab - she is such a wonderful actress, singer, and impersonator, she'll knock your socks off. Michael Caine reminded me a bit of Olivier in "The Entertainer" - third rate, seedy, but with plenty of anger and emotion inside. Brenda Blethyn - well, she's fantastic - a beautiful woman who can look and act like a total slut, be a sweet, lovely woman, or the tough detective Vera. Here, with her short skirts, booze, and cigarettes, she creates an unforgettable character.Ewan McGregor is adorable, so much like LV - a loner with an obsessive hobby, badly treated by his boss just as LV is by her mother. You root for them the whole time and long for both of them to be free, like Billy's birds.A very, very powerful ending - don't miss this.

When LV, "laura", (Jane Horrocks) gets on the stage and really does her stuff, we see talent that she seems to have hidden in all her other roles. Such a pity? Playing the funny but very silly Bubble in Ab- Fab is a distraction? (Mo, in "Born Romantic" is much better?)Here it is hard to believe this is the same Jane! And then she retreats into the strange fantasy world. With such a flimsy story, the movie has to include various trivial scenes just to fill out the time, ie, Billy (Ewan McGregor) and his pigeons, and then there was the blousy, brassy mother, Mari who is awful - gosh it must take really good skills to act that stuff? They get a telephone installed. Great, that fills up a few minutes and provides a few feeble laughs. "You must be the famous Phone Bill". yerss. The house has appalling electrical wiring, cue sparks, blackouts, and later a fire. The dead father gets a few minutes too.Michael Caine's role is sleazy show promoter. Nothing special there. Same for all the others?

From director Mark Herman (Brassed Off), this is a fantastic British film with some laughs, drama, sentimentality and great stars, based on the stage play "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice" by Sam Mendes (director of American Beauty). Basically LV "Little Voice" (BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Jane Horrocks) is pathetically shy and lives in seclusion listening to her late father's old records, this obviously drives her abusive, loud-mouthed mother Mari Hoff (Oscar and BAFTA nominated Brenda Blethyn) to distraction. At night however when her father's ghost (Graham Turner) visits, LV sings the songs of the great divas such as Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Dame Shirley Bassey. Mari has a new boyfriend with loathsome dead-end talent scout Ray Say (Sir Michael Caine), and one night he overhears LV's innate talent and sees a big chance for making money. He gets local run-down seedy night club owner Mr. Boo (Jim Broadbent) to hear it to, Say gambles everything and forces LV to appear on stage at the club. As they prepare the event, LV and equally shy pigeon racer and telephone engineer Bill (Ewan McGregor) form a tentative, gentle friendship. LV did have a little bit of a bad start when she could only sing in the dark, but the second night she really goes for it, knowing that she can see her Dad in the audience. At the end of the performance though, Ray, Boo and Mari are all celebrating, but LV has gone back to seclusion and solace, and on the night when big talent agent Bunny 'Starmaker' Morris (Taggart's Alex Norton) will be in the audience. Say loses his rag and tries to drag LV to the performance, to be taunted by her many impressions, and when he survives falling down the stairs, he knows his career's gone, and he expresses this on stage with a fantastic performance of Roy Orbison's "It's Over", with some dialogue about his situation thrown in. In the end, after surviving a house fire, LV reveals her real name (Laura) and confronts her Mum Mari about the death of her Dad, and it ends with her helping Billy at the pigeon huts exercising them. Also starring Philip Jackson as George and Annette Badland as Sadie. The play was especially written for Horrocks, so no wonder she is fantastic at being shy, singing as the stars and impressions, Blethyn is also great, and Caine sort of steals the show, a great film. It was nominated the BAFTAs for the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound. Sir Michael Caine was number 44, and Ewan McGregor number 9 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, Caine was number 7, and McGregor number 2 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, and Brenda Blethyn was number 19, and Jane Horrocks number 16 on The 50 Greatest British Actresses. Very good!