[1] The film stars newcomer Max Harwood with Sarah Lancashire, Lauren Patel, Shobna Gulati, Ralph Ineson, Adeel Akhtar, Samuel Bottomley, Sharon Horgan, and Richard E. Grant.
Jamie's estranged father, Wayne, who has lived with his girlfriend Cheryl for some time, is expected to arrive at the party, but at the last minute he messages Margaret to cancel his appearance.
Jamie is disappointed about his father's absence and reminisces about their strained relationship and an unspecified hurtful small comment made in his childhood that he is still struggling to overcome ("Wall in My Head").
At school, Jamie shows the heels to his best friend Pritti Pasha - a girl constantly harassed for her religion - and confesses his desire to be a drag queen.
Jamie informs his mother and Ray of the visit to the shop and his upcoming drag show, and over the next few weeks earns enough money to buy the dress.
After embarrassedly attempting to explain the eyebrow incident, Hedge humiliates Jamie by demanding he return to class with his makeup intact ("Work of Art").
At a meeting with the head teacher, Hedge demands that Jamie not wear a dress to prom and claims he will selfishly ruin the special night for everyone else.
Newly confident, Jamie goes to visit his father to thank him for the flowers, and Wayne harshly reveals the truth about Margaret's lies, and his own disinterest and disappointment, telling him he had always longed for a better son.
Jamie, in an angry and confused downward spiral, shoplifts alcohol, gets drunk, and sneaks into a sports game that Wayne is attending, going onto the field to briefly reveal himself to his father in partial drag.
[6] In June 2019, it was revealed that Richard E. Grant, John McCrea, Sharon Horgan, Sarah Lancashire and Shobna Gulati and newcomer Max Harwood had joined the cast, with original stage director Jonathan Butterell making his feature film debut from a screenplay by Tom MacRae.
[11] Alongside the film's musical numbers, the soundtrack includes contributions from Becky Hill, Todrick Hall, Sophie Ellis-Bextor (who had previously recorded a version of "Work of Art" in 2017), Chaka Khan and The Feeling.
During his debut show as Mimi, Jamie lip-syncs to "Don’t Even Know It" as performed by Beverley Knight, which is found within the “Over the Top” track on the album.
The film was originally scheduled to be released on 23 October 2020,[12] but was postponed to 22 January 2021, by Disney, the parent company of 20th Century, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The website's critics consensus reads: "It may not be as effervescent as its title character, but Everybody's Talking About Jamie remains an infectiously enjoyable musical with an uplifting message.
[21] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter gave a positive review, saying "There's abundant joy, spirited resilience and sweet humor on tap that should be especially infectious for young LGBTQ audiences, or anyone with experience of outsider stigmatization.
"[22] Less favorable reviews criticized the film for incoherent "all frosting, no cake"[23] slant, for "barrage of grimacing uplift",[24] for having "plenty of empowerment but not much depth",[25] for being full of "drag-lite drag scenes" and "'Glee'-colored dance numbers", which "won’t be showing up in lip synchs anytime soon".