Mr. Movie: ‘Everybody’s Talking about Jamie’ isn’t worth the talk of the town

“Everybody’s Talking about Jamie” is about a 16-year old kid in Sheffield, England, who decides to become a drag queen.

Not only does that set things aflame but when Jamie announces he’s going to prom in drag, school officials and some students get a bit miffed.

Side-taking follows.

In this case — as the producers announce at the beginning of the film — the events are true and the music is added for fun. And in places, the music is — arguably — entertaining.

All of this is inspired by a popular musical launched in 2017. It was — in turn — inspired by a BBC3 documentary in 2011, “Jamie: Drag Queen at 16.”

The dialogue and lyrics come from Tom MacRae and the music is courtesy of Dan Gillespie Sells. MacRae penned the movie’s screenplay.

Newcomers Max Harwood and Lauren Patel star as Jamie New and his best pal friend, Pritti Pasha.

Jamie’s mom is wonderfully done by “Last Tango in Halifax” star Sarah Lancashire. She’s protective yet gives Jamie the space to be what he wants.

Lancashire plays the role in a low key, very believable way. The boy’s inspiration comes a former drag queen done quite nicely by Oscar nominee, Richard E. Grant (2019’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”).

He’s fabulous here, too.

In his inaugural trip behind the camera, director Jonathan Butterell and the producers do a superb job of casting this movie. Harwood is a trip as Jamie. He’s definitely a boy but one with a unique perspective on life. Harwood plays Jamie as non-sexual and obsessed with cross-dressing.

And as a singer, Harwood can belt it out.

His vocals top the rest of the cast. While some of Harwood’s cast and classmates can sing, the sometimes excellent music helps those in the cast whose vocal skills are adequate at best.

Butterell’s directing and ability to stage song and dance numbers is — like those in his cast who can’t sing all that well — adequate. Most of us have seen this style of musical so many times we’ve grown weary.

An event happens. Pop. Up comes a song. Each has a proper place in the plot. There’s the laugh songs, the best friend songs, school songs. From there it’s on to the sad songs which lead to you don’t understand me songs.

And all of those songs push the plot toward the giant everybody’s happy finale.

That about sums it up. Musically, some of Sells’ music is bright and fun, and MacRae’s lyrics help tell what little story there is. But it’s a musical and musicals tend to have two-dimensional stories packed with two-dimensional characters.

What’s missing is the drama that likely came from the real New’s decision and the bullying that came with that decision. Other than a couple of very touching, and well done scenes, that part of the story is glossed over in the movie.

This is leads us to where I am most critical of movies like “Everybody’s Talking about Jamie.” I’m just not a fan of musicals. Never have been and never will be.

I’m a rock drummer and love, and still play, rock, blues and soul. Pop music — like that given to us by Sells and MacRae — just doesn’t work for me. So my review is somewhat biased.

To be fair. People loving Glee, Grease and other movie musicals, will probably enjoy this one. In the end — though — most musical fans will probably find “Jamie” to be average.

So is everybody talking about Jamie? They really aren’t. Not yet, at least.

I am giving this a so-so rating because I found the movie to be just so-so. I liked the story and its anti-bullying message, and I found the actors charming.

While a few songs were pretty good, most of the music just didn’t work for me and at just under two-hours it is a bit long and over-produced.

Rated PG-13 for mature themes and some language. It’s streaming on Amazon Prime.

Rating: 3 out of 5

This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 9:39 AM with the headline "Mr. Movie: ‘Everybody’s Talking about Jamie’ isn’t worth the talk of the town."