Styles might look like the handsome movie star he’s being aggressively pushed as with his sleek matinee idol hair always in place but he’s all construct and no conviction, a performer as unsure of his ability as we are. There’s a crucial dissonance between the confidence he exudes on stage and the awkwardness we see on screen, a star fizzling out right before our very eyes, as uncomfortable for us as it appears to be for him. There’s too much of a visible process to his acting, the joins of what he’s doing, or trying to, always on display, with a messy, uneven accent requiring an added level of thinking to his every line of dialogue, making the character’s many instinctive moments feel sluggish and stilted. Words are over-pronounced with a sort of stage school affect that clashes with what’s supposed to be an earthy, beer-drinking vision of hyper-masculinity. Grierson, Tim (12 September 2022). " 'My Policeman': Toronto Review". Screen Daily . Retrieved 9 November 2022.

Cipirska, Isabella (5 May 2021). "Harry Styles seen filming in Hove: "It's quite exciting" ". Sussex World . Retrieved 16 June 2022. Love film and TV? Join BBC Culture Film and TV Club on Facebook, a community for cinephiles all over the world. Wiseman, Andreas (2 June 2021). " 'Timewasters' & 'Chewing Gum' Star Kadiff Kirwan Joins Harry Styles Drama 'My Policeman' ". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 2 June 2021. She’s unprepared for a marriage that is far more complicated than what she was led to expect. Tom challenges her assumptions, as well as her prejudices, about what people might want. And she feels incredible pressure.AFF announces the first 5 films for 2022". Adelaide Film Festival. 30 August 2022 . Retrieved 11 September 2022.

Marshall, Olivia (14 April 2021). "Harry Styles: Filming begins on My Policeman in Brighton". The Argus . Retrieved 4 May 2021. Marshall, Olivia (9 April 2021). "Harry Styles Spotted In London Days After My Policeman Cast Begin Production". Capital FM . Retrieved 4 May 2021. Singer Harry Styles is playing gay policeman Tom Burgess who leads a secret double life in 1950s Britain. Pink News spoke to a movie insider who revealed that Harry Styles was 'really excited about the challenge' of portraying a gay man in the 1950s — when homosexuality was still illegal in England. My Policeman Movie: When It's Coming Out And The Book It's Based On". Capital FM. 2 March 2021 . Retrieved 13 April 2021.Ellwood, Gregory (11 September 2022). " 'My Policeman' Review: Harry Styles Stars in Poignant Romance for Three [TIFF]". The Playlist . Retrieved 5 November 2022. Goldstein, Gary (21 October 2022). "Review: 'My Policeman' unspools longing and regret of a Harry Styles-centered sexual triangle". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 5 November 2022. The insider revealed that Harry shoots two sex scenes with co-star David Dawson, and there's also a scene where he's naked on-screen by himself. "Not much is going to be left to the imagination," the insider said. "Harry is throwing himself into this new role and is really excited about the challenge, even though it’s a daunting task." Lattanzio, Ryan (12 September 2022). " 'My Policeman' Review: Harry Styles Represses Himself". IndieWire . Retrieved 13 September 2022.

My Policeman had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 11 September 2022. [10] It screened at the Adelaide Film Festival from 19 October, [11] before it had a limited theatrical release on 21 October 2022, and streamed on Prime Video from 4 November 2022. [12] Critical reception Michael Grandage’s new film has been coolly received by some, but I found it an interestingly fragile and Rattiganesque melodrama of repression and regret. It is set on a gloomy English seafront and intercuts between the buttoned-up 1950s and the late 1990s. As an earnestly intended drama I can imagine it being performed on stage at a weekday matinee, the climactic speeches echoing wanly around the auditorium. But in its contrived way, it conjures a very English sort of shame. There are a few points of novelty livening up My Policeman, namely the casting of mega-pop star/fledgling movie star Harry Styles as the title character. He has an endearingly crooked smile, and a face that’s been proven to set hearts aflame. (Just witness the tabloid drama currently surrounding Styles and Olivia Wilde, director of his other big movie role of 2022.) So he does make a believable apex for the love triangle that drives the story. Beyond embodying a plausible motivation for two people to waste their lives in pursuit of a man they can never really have, however, the “Watermelon Sugar” singer adds little to the dramatic proceedings.

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Rude, Mey (5 March 2021). "Harry Styles' Male Lover in 'My Policeman' Film Has Been Cast". Out . Retrieved 13 April 2021. Lang, Brent (21 July 2022). "Harry Styles Drama 'My Policeman' to World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival". Variety . Retrieved 9 November 2022. Dowling, Amber (4 November 2022). "My Policeman Review: Harry Styles and Cast Arrest in Essential Queer Story". Consequence . Retrieved 9 November 2022.