MY POLICEMAN
Starring: Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, Gina McKee, Linus Roache, David Dawson and Rupert Everett
Director: Michael Grandage
JACOB
Although My Policeman plays at being an important film, it doesn’t really have the heart to believe in its own narrative or the writing to keep it afloat. An overlong and supremely jumbled structure costs it emotional cohesion, forcing the viewer to half-care about three separate stories, only one of which occurs uninterrupted, and none of which produce characters we want to follow. Even the older counterparts don’t ultimately get much to do. Emma Corrin and David Dawson turn in decent performances, but it’s clear that Harry Styles isn’t where he needs to be to carry films such as this.
ADRIANO
My Policeman is a dud. From the start to the very end, I was just bored. Nothing interesting happens, and its script is just flat-out bad. That said, most of the performances are quite good, especially Emma Corrin. As for Harry Styles, he tries his best, but he should probably stick to music. Although he is fine in the smaller moments, he’s laughably bad in the bigger ones. I had to keep stopping myself from dozing off through the runtime because of how dull everything is (and I didn’t always succeed in staying awake). Overall, just a really terrible movie.
PAIGE
Let’s just say that My Policeman isn’t nearly as close to the level of prestige LBGTQ+ storytelling that Call Me By Your Name is. I will admit that it has something, but the pacing of the film tends to pull you in and out of two completely different movies, which left me wanting one over the other. It’s a dull and dry movie that should’ve made its primary focus on the injustice and freedom of what love presents us instead of just settling for a tragic romance story.
This film was reviewed by Adriano as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.