Everybody's Talking About Jamie

I've missed Broadway musicals, I love heartfelt movies, and drag, AND cameos with my favorite drag queen Bianca, so this was all around fantastic for me. The singing was top notch, couple songs weren't the best, but the story touched me, and I shed a few tears.

Plus if you love dancing and singing, you don't want to miss this movie!!!

I can only image the ridiculously low score for this film is due to homophobia and general intolerance because it is way, way better than 5.6.

This is a hugely enjoyable film, with some fabulous performances from all of the cast. In these times where we seem to be going backwards in terms of tolerance, it's great to see such a positive film about identity and sexuality, of wanting to be different and showing relationships between people of such different backgrounds and origins.

Richard E Grant is absolutely fantastic as the old drag queen just as Max Harwood is as the young one. Love the relationships between Jamie and Pritti, Sarah Lancashire is great as always she always is and Shobna Gulati is a hoot.

I really hope that people look past the score here and read the glowing reviews of the films. Even as someone who is straight and who likes different music to this, I found this film to thoroughly entertaining .

Max Harwood delivers a standout debut performance in this camp coming-of-age musical, which features dazzling musical numbers, great costumes and set designs and an over-the-top drag queen performance by the wonderful Richard E. Grant. I could do with less of the gay clichéd themes - they are cringey.

I'll start by saying I'm a huge fan of live musicals and I really think West End and Broadway actors are some of the most talented performers around! I'm so sick of musical adaptions where it's such a priority to cast famous actors even when they can't sing (Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Beauty and the Beast, the list goes on). To compensate they have to auto-tune the living daylights out of every song so it sounds like you're listening to some kind of tone-deaf, mechanical monster or, when even that fails, they have the actors basically speak the songs (cough Emma Watson cough). I also don't know who decided that James Corden is the musical star du jour but I'd like to know how we get them to cease and desist. It also upsets me when they brutally cut loads of the songs for no apparent reason and/or add in new songs that are clearly just tacked on for unfathomable reasons (a la Aladdin and pretty much every movie musical I've already mentioned).

Anyway, enough moaning about other movie musicals. Given the movie's title, I shall join everybody else talking about Jamie. I like that it's not a carbon copy of the musical (otherwise why not just do an awesome Hamilton-style stage recording) but instead acknowledges that this is a new and different medium from the stage and uses this to its full advantage. All of the cast are talented actors and singers. Max Harwood is the perfect Jamie: sweet, naive and endearing with the most gorgeous voice. His performance is very different from John McCrea's but equally beautiful. All of the other actors do a great job making this as heartwarming, enjoyable and moving as the live musical with a beautiful and meaningful message about encouraging people to be their true and honest selves.

I've no idea who is giving low ratings to this but I'd really encourage everyone to watch it and make up their own minds.

Based on the West End musical of the same name, itself adapted from the BBC Three documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, Everybody's Talking About Jamie is the latest jump from stage to screen. Produced in cooperation with the stage production's creative team, the film introduces the extraordinary Max Harwood as the titular Sheffield teen who battles prejudice to find his identity.

Jamie New is your average 16-year-old boy. He goes to high school, has to pass maths, spends time with his best friend... oh, and he enjoys crossdressing. His mother is the most supportive parent any gay kid could ask for but his father has given up on him completely. Mum can't bear to break her son's heart and covers for the neglect.

In his search for his drag persona, Jamie meets drag shop owner Hugo (the always fabulous Richard E. Grant), who once housed warrior queen Loco Chanelle in her blood red dress. Hugo takes Jamie under his frock to help this insecure lad unleash his inner divinity.

The film makes it clear from the get-go that the viewer is getting a musical, with the disclaimer: "This story really happened... and then we added the singing and dancing." Jonathan Butterell, of the original production, makes his feature film directorial debut here, with a screenplay by Tom MacRae from his own book. In the vein of other stage-to-screen adaptations this year, I've come to the conclusion that anything cut was done for good reason. It's noticeable here as a chunk of the original score is absent.

Harwood is a force not to be reckoned with in his very first role. A young star with the heart and the humor to embody such a complex but relatable character. His co-stars are no less talented. Lauren Patel plays Pritti, a studious young woman with a biting wit and all the best friend qualities a gay kid needs. Sharon Horgan really struts her stuff as the practical Year 11 instructor Miss Hedge. And while I'll sing the praises of Richard E. Grant until the end of time, the MVP goes to Sarah Lancashire, who, as Jamie's mother Margaret, has such raw emotional depth that'll bring tears, see "He's My Boy".

However, the film is not without its issues. While Jamie is a genuine delight, one can't shake the feeling that the filmmakers played this daring story too safe. There are points where provocativity could be more... well, provocative, but it's overshadowed by a constant fairy tale light, as if protecting the audience from the realities that come with seeking one's identity via crossdressing. This imbalance of reality vs fantasy causes an uneven tone.

Is it perfect? No. Is it a delight? Oh, most definitely. Sometimes that's all you need. I showered praise on Jamie at its Frameline premiere, but a rewatch in its limited theatrical release made me realize (likely thanks to the absence of a cheering crowd) the nitpicks. I think I wanted so badly to love it three months prior to official release, but it's still a fun little movie that should provide a bright light for everyone... at least until they get emotionally manipulated by Dear Evan Hansen.