The feature film adaptation of the musical about a teenager from Sheffield, England who wants to be a drag queen.
Based upon a 2011 BBC musical documentary on the life of 16-year-old drag queen, Jamie Campbell, this coming of age story is more than about coming out, it is about gaining the respect of an entire community. As the film opens, the whole town seems to be preparing for Jamie New’s (Max Harwood) sixteenth birthday. Jamie’s mother Margaret (Sarah Lancashire), who is his greatest supporter, is decorating and buying gifts while at the same time struggling to make ends meet as a single parent. While Jamie and his gal pal Pritti Pasha (Lauren Patel) both deal with constant bullying at school for different reasons, they seem to have come together to work through the sadness. While Pritti has dreams of being a doctor, Jamie is dead set on becoming a drag queen. Miss Hedge (Sharon Horgan), who is the teacher of career coaching, is having a hard time trying to convince the students of Mayfield School that they may not all get to follow their dreams and while Jamie listens intently, he doesn’t believe any of it applies to him.
As the students eagerly look forward to the prom, Jamie decides that he is going to be the Belle of the Ball, and on a visit to the local drag shop to look for a dress, he finds that Hugo Battersby (Richard E. Grant), the shop owner, was previously a drag queen and he offers to mentor Jamie so he can be the best drag queen ever. As Jamie becomes totally consumed with the idea of becoming a celebrity at the prom, his mother tries to keep him happy and motivated by lying about his father Wayne’s (Ralph Ineson) approval. Things really get nasty when Wayne lets Margaret (his ex) know that he is expecting a new son with his new wife and he wants nothing else to do with Jamie and his status. While Hugo preps Jamie for the Prom with the opportunity to practice with real drag queens, he asks him to keep it a secret and instead of doing so, Jamie lets the entire school know which leads to more problems from Dean Paxton (Samuel Bottomly), the biggest bully of them all.
In Jamie’s quest to stop hiding who he really is, he starts to get into more trouble with the school staff and is warned that if he shows up to the prom as Mimi Mi (his stage name), he will not be allowed in. He also decides to confront his father and when the real truth comes out, Jamie is devastated as even his pal Pritti cannot seem to get him back on course. By the night of prom, Jamie has decided to compromise and while he won’t go as Mimi Mi, he does choose to go as himself but still in a dress and Miss Hedge isn’t having any of it. When the students decide to protest her decision, she gives in and everyone gets to enjoy the evening after Pritti makes a bold stance for the entire group.
Director Jonathan Butterell does an excellent job with the musical adaptation along with the development of characters for the entire transformation of Jamie and the school’s unrelenting bullies. While there seems to be an insurmountable amount of opposition, in the end, everyone is able to bring something to the conversation that wasn’t all about exclusion. Kudos to the amount of progress that has been made in the ten years it took to tell Jamie’s story, once again, on a broader stage than the school’s prom.
Now playing in Select Theaters and streaming globally
on Amazon Prime Video Friday, September 17th
