An uplifting drama based on a documentary which was subsequently turned into an award-winning stage musical, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie can’t help but leave you smiling. Max Harwood plays Jamie, a boy from Sheffield who wants to be a drag queen. His loving mum, Sarah Lancashire, supports him but is nursing a broken heart – Jamie’s father, Ralph Ineson, wants nothing to do with him after discovering him in a dress and makeup years earlier.

Jamie also encounters bullying at school, courtesy of Dean Paxton (Samuel Bottomley) and the restrictive headset of Sharon Horgan’s teacher Miss Hedge, who wants her pupils to be realistic about their life prospects rather than being who they want to be. Jamie has allies in best mate and diligent worker Pritti, an excellent Lauren Patel, and Richard E Grant’s ageing drag queen Loco Chanelle, helping along a path to go to the school’s upcoming prom in drag.

Much singing and dancing occurs courtesy of Dan Gillespie Sells’ score, a lot of the songs playing like music videos: Horgan gets a black and white art gallery with Warholian splashes of colour for her song. The standout numbers, however, are Sarah Lancashire’s simple heartfelt ballad {He’s My Boy}, and {This Was Me} – which is partially sung by Grant, before being taken over by Holly Johnson, touchingly outlining the struggles the gay community has had for decades a la {It’s A Sin}.

Not everything lands, there’s little sense of jeopardy throughout and a series of speeches change people’s minds very easily, but it has a warmth and verve that transcends with a {Billy Elliot} vibe. Harwood makes a likeable debut and Jonathan Butterell’s surehanded transition of the stage show has a positive message that cannot be ignored: be what you want to be.

Dir: Jonathan Butterell (12A, 115 mins)

Out now via Amazon Prime and in a limited number of UK cinemas – including Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff until Thurs 30 Sept

words KEIRON SELF