Reviews by:
@ryan_the_nixon
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2021
12A
director: Jonathan Butterell
starring: Max Harwood, Lauren Patel, Sarah Lancashire, Shobna Gulati, Richard E Grant, Sharon Horgan, Samuel Bottomley, Ralph Ineson etc
Jamie New is a 16-year-old who doesn't quite fit in. Instead of pursuing a traditional career, he dreams of becoming a drag queen. Uncertain about his future, Jamie knows one thing for sure, he's going to be a sensation. Supported by his loving mother and amazing friends, Jamie overcomes discrimination and bullying to step out of the darkness and into the spotlight. I really enjoyed this film, but for me it didn’t reach its full potential.
My first few positives would be the charming opening. Likeable characters, with great cinematography and soundtrack. As well as great representation and performances. I think the film had a charming opening that set the tone for the film well. It set up the grounded day to day storyworld, with the extravagant and Confident Jamie, and it was nice to see his daily routine. It set up more of a grounded tone before the musical numbers kicked in which was nice. I thought the cast was very likeable. Jamie was an outgoing, passionate and fear free character that wasn’t afraid to be himself. He stood up for himself and was a charming and great character. I also thought the supporting cast was very likeable, and Jamie’s mum was amazing as his number 1 fan, and she supported him through all his decisions. I loved the cinematography of the film; it balanced a more grounded feel with beautiful countryside locations. With some colourful and fun shots with the musical numbers that really stood out and transported you to a different place. The soundtrack was also excellent, all the songs were catchy, upbeat, and put a smile on my face. I also thought the representation here was fantastic. The LGTBQ+ representation was fantastic and the themes surrounding it were handled very well, I also really liked the unconventional friendships with the Jamie and his best friends. As its conflicting with religion. But I found it refreshing and was a great element to the film. The performances were very strong. Sarah Lancashire and Max Harwood delivered charming and passionate performances and really bought the film to life. Richard E Grant was a big standout as well. He stole every scene he was in. He was bold, delightfully campy and an amazing presence on screen.
My first few negatives would be the generic conflict, corny dialogue and falling into genre tropes. As well as some unlikeable characters. For me the film followed a lot of genre tropes. Whether it was the generic conflict within the school, or the predictable plot it did feel sort of safe in terms of fitting into the genre and didn’t do too much to get out of that. I also found some of the dialogue to be very corny. Some of it was just not executed well and very cheesy. It was very on the nose and felt out of place within the particular scenes and it just had my eyes rolling occasionally. For me I found the film made some of the characters way to unlikeable. The teacher played by Sharon Horgan was cruel and just nasty. I think they should have toned down her character a lot and she didn’t fit in with the film. She was practically telling Jamie to not be himself and threatened him with way too much. It just felt unneeded and didn’t sit right with me.
My next few positives would be the chemistry between the cast and the character background. As well as how upbeat and cheerful the film is, with some great humour. The cast all worked well together and had excellent chemistry. The relationships felt so authentic and genuine, and the relationship that Jamie had with his mum was incredibly heart-warming. I also really liked the character background for Jamie, this gave more of a focus for the craving of acceptance from his father and gave Jamie something to overcome and therefore his character had more depth. I also just loved how upbeat and cheerful the film was, it put a smile on my face. That made the generic elements still for the most part work because its heart was always in the right place and the film was just charming to watch, plus some of the humour was great. Some of the comebacks and the attitude from Jamie was brilliant, I also found Richard E grant hilarious, and he suited his role excellently.
My final few negatives would be the lack of emotional connection to the film. As well as the underused characters with a lack of depth, and the unfocused direction. For me this film lacked an emotional core. It glazed over or rushed a lot of the more complex themes and relationships. They could have gone deeper into Richard E grants character and one montage about the aids crisis in the 80’s just didn’t add the emotional resonance needed. And I felt like the film didn’t include the father in the film enough so his relationship with Jamie just didn’t go anywhere which I thought was a missed opportunity at a lot more depth and emotion. I also thought there was a missed opportunity with a lot of characters and how underused they were, they teased more depth to certain characters especially Dean (Samuel Bottomley), but they never went anywhere with the characters. Finally, the films direction for me lacked focus. The film worked best when Jamie was discovering himself and exploring his love for drag, his relationship with Richard E grants character was great. But then the film switched directions completely and went away from that storyline and for me the film lacked one clear focus and through line, so it felt jumbled and messy.
My final few positives would be the uplifting and deep themes, as well as the good character development and heart-warming final act. This film was full of heart with its themes on acceptance, rejection and family handled well and with loads of charm and in a good amount of depth. Despite its lack of emotional connection, it was certainly still heart-warming, and it still executed its themes well. I also thought the character development for Jamie was great. He really grew as a person and discovered who he really wanted to be, with the full support of people around him he became a better person. I also thought the final act was uplifting and well executed. The soundtrack was great, Jamie was accepted, and it was just sweet and charming to watch, it was a good kind of cheese that made me feel good.
Overall, everybody’s talking about Jamie has an excellent cast and musical numbers. As well as an infectious charm that never dims, plus its heart is always in the right place. But its lack of focus and emotional core stops it from shining as much as it wants to.
Overall rating 71/100
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