My Review of "Everyone is Talking about Jamie"

Everyone is Talking about Jamie is a movie I accidentally stumbled upon thinking it was based on a television series. You see there's this show from Australia back in the day called Ja'mie Private School Girl. It was about a sociopathic narcissistic private school girl. It was a male actor that played this character. I originally thought this movie was going to be based off this character and I was dead wrong.

This movie starts off with a character named Jamie New. He's a high school kid that wants to be a drag performer. Jamie doesn't want to be a female himself, he just likes dressing up in drag in order to perform dance and song numbers. It's a bit discouraging for him because his school teacher has told him to set his goals based on normative realities. There's also a school bully that rags on him all the time.

In the background of Jamie's life is his spunky friend Pritti and his wonderfully supportive mother. Unfortunately for Jamie, his father is out of the picture and doesn't want to be part of Jamie's life anymore. He's reviles Jamie and has moved onto another life with a new woman in his life. Jamie doesn't exactly know this because his mother continually covers for his father and makes up excuses for his absence. She's basically doing it so that Jamie's feelings aren't hurt.

When Jamie finally realizes his dreams of becoming a drag performer he sets this goal of going to his high school prom in drag. Upon hearing his plans of doing this teachers and students reject the idea and push back. There's not a crazy pushback but they make it known well enough that they'd prefer him not to. The story is all about Jamie preparing for this prom.

All of this is mixed in with a number of song and dance performances. The movie is apparently based on a true story. The songs are meaningful and the dance numbers are pretty well done. There's a ton of colorful imagery to keep the tone of the movie pretty upbeat and bright despite some of the more serious situations they are discussing.

There is only one darker moment in the movie but it was very brief. Jamie makes some pretty dramatic reaction in a certain scene and it was kind of over the top. I had to tell my logic part of my brain to shut up because it's all in the name of entertainment. Don't think too much or put too much emphasis on anything in this movie. This movie is purely for entertainment and fun.

I found that there was a sense of innocence throughout the whole movie which blended well with this movie because they are very innocent times in Jamie's life. They somehow made bleak and dark times seem like opportunity for growth in some of the performances.

It's definitely a movie that will bring up your spirit no matter who you are. There's this ray of light constantly beaming at you while you watch this movie. Most of the characters are fairly optimistic.

At some points it felt like a lot of the story wasn't able to fit into the runtime of the movie so they cut it out. They briefly got into the backstory of Jamie's bully but it felt like they wanted to say more. This definitely could have been a whole television series so that they could further flesh out all of the characters.

Overall, I had a good time watching this movie. Although it wasn't the movie I was expecting it was a pleasant surprise. I didn't think I'd finish the movie but it was entertaining me enough to stick with it, that's saying a lot. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. If you're feeling down and need a pick me up, then watch this movie and I'm sure it'll pick up your spirits.