Everybody’s Talking About Jamie review – superficial charmer with a star turn

The movie adaptation of the West End musical based on the real-life story of an aspiring teenage drag queen from Sheffield, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie wears its feelgood message of acceptance and empowerment as proudly and showily as young Jamie wears his glitter heels and falsies. Following in the already well-worn footsteps of films such as The Prom and Trudie Styler’s similarly themed teen drag drama, Freak Show, Jamie might not be striding into new territory exactly, but it’s a superficial charmer of a movie.

Much of the film’s appeal comes from its star, newcomer Max Harwood, who, despite a chiffon-wisp of a singing voice claims every frame with his knife-sharp cheekbones and charisma to match. It’s all sassily disposable stuff until a musical number rasped by Richard E Grant, as veteran drag mentor Hugo, which provides Jamie with a whistle-stop tour of the past 40 years of LGBTQ history, and the film with a sudden jolt of added emotional depth.

• In cinemas and on Amazon Prime