Sometimes saccharine is just sweet enough. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie piles it on thick, but what else are drag queens supposed to do when applying their makeup. Amazon Prime’s latest film acquisition is a charming delight. It’s packed with warmth, heart and plenty of sass. While it is very much a story rooted in the now, Jamie’s love of drag comes from understanding of the queens that came before him. In fact, what’s so interesting about the film is that the main antagonists aren’t his peers (though some are harsh), it’s from a generation above that hasn’t evolved with the times.
Simply put, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a crowd pleaser worthy of any crown...
The dance sequences in "Everybody's Talking About Jamie" have a wonderful energy to them.
In the small English town of Sheffield, Jamie (Max Harwood) is asked by his teacher, Miss Hedge (Sharon Horgan), to be realistic about his career prospects. The fabulous Jamie can’t be bothered with being a shelf stocker or bricklayer, he knows he’s destined to be a star. It isn’t until his supportive mother, Margaret (Sarah Lancashire), buys him ruby high heels on his sixteenth birthday that he realizes he was born to be a drag queen. “Jamie New, so nice he came out twice,” he tells his best friend Pritti (Lauren Patel). How does one become a drag queen in this small country town? Jamie googles and finds a dress shop by Miss Loco Chanelle (Richard E. Grant), an elder drag queen who takes Jamie under his wings and shows him the ropes. Jamie trains to go in full drag to his senior prom, a decision that sends shockwaves through the school community.
The times have changed over the decades. After 13 seasons of the Emmy winning show RuPaul’s Drag Race, which has spawned many international iterations, drag has become a part of mainstream culture. So how does one tell the story of an underdog drag queen in this new world where there is more mainstream acceptance? First off, queer people are still at risk of violence and persecution in many parts of the world. Secondly, the main villain isn’t exactly those in the younger generation, but those in the past wanting to uphold the status quo. This is something that Everybody’s Talking About Jamie understands and dramatizes really well.
Yes, Jamie has plenty of bullies, particularly Dean Paxton (Samuel Bottomley), a meathead jock who can’t help but hurl homophobic and racist slurs at Jamie and Pritti. However, Jamie and Pritti are both able to serve back ace retorts. A person can be in the minority and still feel powered to assert one’s individuality in the world of the film. However, the more hurtful barbs are reserved for Jamie’s career counselor, Miss Hedge. It’s not just that she wants Jamie to be more realistic. There’s a passive cruelty to the way she others Jamie out and makes him feel like the problem. As one of the main people opposing Jamie coming to prom in drag, Miss Hedge insists it will ruin the prom for other kids, namely Dean, whom she wants to help. She puts the needs of some kids above the needs of others, and doesn’t understand that she’s doing it. That makes for a very interesting opposing force. She’s someone who believes she is doing the right thing because of the environment and generation she was raised in. The war over Jamie attending the prom in drag makes for a much more compelling conflict than Netflix's unfocused The Prom, which felt too overtly concerned with its A-list stars that it forgets about the queer teens in the center.
Luckily, there are more forces of good than opposition in Jamie’s life. His Mother, Margaret (Sarah Lancashire), works extra shifts to give Jamie a nice sixteenth birthday. Alongside her sassy best friend, Ray (Shobna Gulati), the two women provide a loving, supportive structure for Jamie to grow up in. There’s a radical acceptance that governs Margaret’s parenting. Unfortunately, in caring for her son’s emotions, Margaret withholds a critical truth from Jamie - that his Father (Ralph Ineson) is purposefully absent from his life because of Jamie’s sexuality.
Lauren Patel and Max Harwood both emerge as talented young stars in "Everybody's Talking About Jamie."One of the best dynamics in the film is between Jamie and Pritti, two very different kids joined together because of their shared status as outcasts. While Jamie dreams of being a drag queen, Pritti dreams of being a doctor. She spends all her free time studying, though Jamie often tries to distract her to help him make his dreams a reality. As sweet as their relationship is, the movie does not ignore the transactional nature that exists between Jamie and Pritti. He often takes Pritti away from her dreams in order to help fulfill his own dreams. It’s insights like these that take the movie up a notch.
In order for the story to work, one has to fall in love with Jamie and his star potential. Luckily, Max Harwood lives up to the star potential needed to be Jamie. Though he can be big, bold and fabulous, Harwood never forgets that underneath Jamie’s panache is a scared teenager afraid of failure. Lurking behind even the most gregarious person is a huge dollop of self-consciousness.
While the movie definitely charms, the story does more of the heavy lifting than the songs. The glitzy musical breaks do fit in and add flair to the true story, which could be much more drab without them. Yet, days later, only a few were still lodged in my head. The catchiest comes from Sharon Horgan’s Miss Hedge. Her big number, “Work of Art,” feels as if it were sung by Jessie Ware through a sneer. After a botched makeup attempt, Miss Hedge forces Jamie to walk through the halls, hoping the embarrassment would discourage him from trying again. Too bad Jamie is an expert at turning jeers into encouragement. The whole scene recalls a Madonna music video, stylized perfectly to take us on Jamie's journey from shame to fierceness.
Every movie should make room for a Richard E. Grant supporting character.
The other musical sequence that stands out is “This Was Me,” as Hugo (aka Miss Loco Chanelle) educates Jamie on drag queens’ role during the AIDS crisis. The archival footage over Grant’s sweet voice easily mines tears from audience members. It also grounds this potentially paperweight movie in an essential way. Just by growing up in the 2020s, Jamie has profound privilege that he never had to grapple with. Before this, Jamie wanted to be a drag queen so he could be pretty and put on a show. Yet, what he understands is being a drag queen is more about being a fighter, a liberator and an activist. So many members of the LGBTQ+ community fought and died, particularly black trans women, so that people like Jamie could express themselves freely. Unfortunately, today many queer groups still do not enjoy the privilege that white cis gay men like Jamie enjoy. A stronger film with more teeth would’ve continued to thread this line through the entire film.
Still, for what we’ve got, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is a thoughtful and earnest musical that will make you laugh, cheer and shed the occasional tear. B+
Everybody's Talking About Jamie premieres on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, September 17th.