Movie review
August 17, 2021 · 150 min · Japanese
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Everybody's Talking About Jamie.
Woke representation / casting
Casting uses British actors fitting the Sheffield working-class setting and premise; openly gay actor Max Harwood plays the gay lead authentically with no visible mismatches, race/gender swaps, or quota-style emphasis.
Woke political dialogue
Recurring dialogue and lyrics affirm queer pride, critique homophobic bullying and rigid masculinity (school slurs, father's disapproval), and position drag as empowering self-expression in noticeable but not nonstop activist style.
Identity-driven story themes
The full story engine centers Jamie's gay identity and drag queen aspirations, public coming-out via prom and stage performance, and support network versus prejudice, with no competing major themes.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Depicts working-class school culture and traditional father figures as sources of conformity pressure and homophobia while celebrating drag community resilience; stays at personal/family level rather than broad modern systemic framing of patriarchy or institutions.
Review
Everybody's Talking About Jamie is a 2021 musical comedy-drama following 16-year-old Jamie New, a gay teen in working-class Sheffield who dreams of becoming a drag queen and attends his school prom in drag. Supported by his mother and friends while facing homophobic bullying and an unsupportive father, he pursues stage performance as self-expression. The narrative places queer identity, drag culture, and overcoming prejudice at the center of the plot and musical numbers, with these elements driving character arcs and thematic messaging throughout.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No meaningful backlash treating the film as pushing woke, activist, or left-wing messaging; coverage focused on entertainment value with negligible "agenda" complaints.
Creator track record context
No relevant prior activist, political, or identity-driven projects for director or writers; this stands as a one-off personal adaptation of a real story.
Production
