Everybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)

Inspiring, with catchy songs, this musical about a high school boy who dreams of being a drag queen is the kind of film that will slap a smile on your face, make you tear up a little bit, and leave you humming. Really what more could you ask for. Like its spiritual theatrical cousin Kinky Boots, Everybody's Talking About Jamie is delightful if a little on the safe side. But it does blow the snoozey Prom out of the water by having actually singable music and characters that feel more than phoned in. 

This story is based on a real life event which was captured in a British documentary. While I'm sure it glosses over some of the more challenging events, it sounds like the real Jamie's story is quite similar to this and thank God we live in a time when a boy can perhaps cause a stir by showing up to prom in drag, but become a folk hero in doing so. Yet for me stories like that, which cast the hero as outsider, never allow him to have sexual or at least (age appropriate) romantic agency, and have him magically redeem all those around him who have oppressed him, always leave me a little disappointed. We can all be inspired by the boy in a dress but we don't necessarily want to see him kiss another boy and we certainly don't want to see the way our heteronormative violence toward queer youth gets reinforced by our society norms. Instead lets just cheer for him and his fashion choices as he... doesn't even get a dance in at the end? In the world of this film, in the end Jamie is loved and accepted by all (with one notable exception) and Jamie goes out of his way to make sure his bullies also feel included and loved. What a saint!  

But, that's the end of my rant on this. Jamie is a delightful film and the cast is joyful. Newcomer Harwood kicks down the door and struts right into stardom. Everyone is having a great time in this and it is infectious. One are in which the film truly succeeds is the way it pays tribute to the generations past, those that maybe didn't have it so easy, perhaps didn't all survive, and yet paved the way for Jamie and his generation to strut. 

So perhaps it's a little on the inspiration porn side of the equation. It sure will make you smile and believe that it does get better. 

Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Starring: Max Harwood, Sarah Lancashire, Lauren Patel, Richard E Grant, Shobna Gulati, John McCrea, Bianca Del Rio

Director: Johnathan Butterell

Writer: Tom MacRae