Critics do not have many positive things to say about singer and actor Harry Stylesâ new LGBT film.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, âMy Policemanâ follows âthree young people â policeman Tom (Harry Styles), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin), and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson) â as they embark on an emotional journey in 1950s Britain.â
The description continues, âFlashing forward to the 1990s, Tom (Linus Roache), Marion (Gina McKee), and Patrick (Rupert Everett) are still reeling with longing and regret, but now they have one last chance to repair the damage of the past. Based on the book by Bethan Roberts, director Michael Grandage carves a visually transporting, heart-stopping portrait of three people caught up in the shifting tides of history, liberty, and forgiveness.â
The film will be available to stream on Amazon Prime on November 4.
Watch the trailer for the film below:
The reviews have been pouring in and critics do not appear thrilled with the film.
The Guardianâs Guy Lodge penned his review titled, âEven Harry Stylesâ presence canât make My Policemanâs discussion of queerness interesting.â
Lodge argued the âdrab, turgid finished film feels scarcely less bland and timid than the compromised, straight-angled prestige gay dramas of less liberated times.â
He continues, âWhat could be a rather ruthless, lacerating story of ruinous self-denial and homophobic betrayal instead emerges as a one-note study of gay martyrdom, one so narrowly focused on queer repression that queer expression never gets a look-in.â
Lodge goes on to claim the film, cinematically, is âas flat and grey as the drizzly south coast seascapes to which the charactersâ older incarnations are confined: one wonders if the Styles stans who have been cheerleading the film for months will be surprised by how much screen time is given over to Gina McKee staring glumly out of picture windows.â
Katie Walsh of The Wrap suggests it is âjust the troubling muddle of the script and direction that leaves one wanting much, much moreâ from the film.
The Independentâs Jessie Thompson takes issue with Stylesâ acting.
âIn My Policeman, Harry Styles plays an officer of the law in 1950s Brighton â which is ironic, because his acting is criminally bad. He does not have to say anything, but anything he does say will be delivered as though he read it on a piece of paper five minutes previously,â Thompson wrote.
The review argues Stylesâs presence is âleaden,â adding, âThe accent is all over the place. And he doesnât have the technique to convey whatever ideas he may have had about his character.â
Similarly, Styles did not receive overwhelmingly positive reviews for his acting in âDonât Worry Darling.â
A review published by The Atlantic suggested Styles is âperhaps the movieâs biggest issue beyond its underbaked screenplay; heâs an oddly flat presence despite his status as a global superstar.â
