Sheffield teen, Jamie New (Max Harwood) gets exactly what he wanted for his sixteenth birthday: a pair of ruby red heels.  The shoes are only the first part of his new outfit that he creates in pursuit of his childhood dream to become a drag queen.  Along the way he will find supporters and mentors that help him develop his persona and remain confident in himself in the face of detractors. 

Produced in part by Twentieth Century Studios and then sold to Amazon for streaming on Prime, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a musical, coming of age comedy directed by Jonathan Butterell, the co-writer of the stage musical which Tom MacRae adapted here for the screen.  The script has a few good jokes here and there but many of them land flat, disappointing as the framework of their setup is glaringly obvious.  As far as the book is concerned, its full of very stilted dialogue that either just recaps the song and dance number prior or is a very leaden hand that clumsily leads into the next song.  

The songs are all very simply composed with repetitive pop rhythms and sound incredibly similar to each other.  When the numbers lean into the more stylized approach is when the film performs at its best.  The bright, bold colors of the sets and costumes work very well in the context of the story, and while even though this aesthetic spills over into the world of the film, when the characters are singing or dancing in the real world the overproduced nature of the film becomes incredibly apparent.  Manufactured camp almost never works, and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is the latest film to learn that lesson the hard way.   

The film is incredibly blunt with its messaging – acceptance – and while that is not a bad thing, it creates a rather stale narrative as Jamie is always shown to be the hero that will overcome all.  It is important, especially for films aimed at LGBTQ+ youth, that the message of acceptance of who you are rings loud and clear, but where Jamie stumbles is that as the title character, he is completely insufferable.  He operates at the center of the universe and everyone around him suffers from Stockholm Syndrome as prisoners of Jamie’s own narcissism.  The script often makes him the smartest person in the room which results in an endless barrage of cutting cattiness which the characters – friends and family alike – whom he hurts with his words and actions often find themselves apologizing to Jamie for not letting him run rampant and unchecked through their lives. 

There are a few moments in the film that are handled with care.  Jamie’s main mentor in the drag community is Hugo (Richard Grant), an older performer who lived through the AIDS crisis in the 80s.  It is a very inventive sequence in how his backstory is delivered and tells a very touching story all too familiar for many of a man who lived, loved, and lost in an effort to be true to himself.  It adds gravity and context to the story and was a very powerful sequence.  Later there is some closure with Jamie and his father (Ralph Ineson) in a simple scene that serves the purpose, but any development or reflection on it is quickly shied away from by the script in the same way that any reflection on Hugo’s contribution to the movement towards acceptance decades prior is wholly ignored. 

Running parallel to the development of Jamie’s drag persona is typical highschool senior prom and graduation drama.  It is all pretty contrived; there’s the best friend Pritti (Lauren Patel), the bully Dean (Samuel Bottonley), and the teacher Miss Hedge (Sharon Horgan). They perform well enough as their caricatures, but the script does not support them enough to do anything interesting as they are just particles trapped in Jamie’s orbit. 

Harwood, too, gives a very strong performance as the title character despite the truly rotten character the script has him play.  He finds the few moments of likeability and genuine feeling to keep us sympathetic towards him for the 115-minute duration before returning to his bratty antics.  In his film debut, he fully embraces the style and choices made by the creative team and does not shy away from the camera.  The young actor has a bright future ahead of him if he chooses to pursue, be it on film or on stage.   

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has its heart in the right place, and it is a nice change of pace to see coming of age films with positive messaging for LGBTQ+ youth as opposed to the dime-a-dozen tragedies.  Its handling of the lead role is so mismanaged which makes it a hard film to recommend in good conscience.  While gay characters should not have to shoulder the burned of morality in their films, Jamie is downright mean to everyone around him and not at all an enjoyable character to watch during this entirely too long film.