''Freak Show'' is a 2017 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Trudie Styler Trudie Styler (born 6 January 1954) is an English actress and film producer. Early life and family Styler was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, the daughter of Pauline and Harry Styler, a farmer and factory worker. When Styler was two years ...

and written by Patrick J. Clifton and Beth Rigazio, based on the novel of the same name by

James St. James James St. James (born James Clark; August 1, 1966) is a television personality, author, celebutante, frequent collaborator with Mathu Andersen, and former "Club Kid", a member of the New York City club scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. St ...

. The film stars

Alex Lawther Alexander Jonathan Lawther (born 4 May 1995) is an English actor. He made his professional acting debut originating the role of John Blakemore in Sir David Hare's ''South Downs'' in the West End. He made his feature film debut playing a young ...

Abigail Breslin Abigail Kathleen Breslin (born April 14, 1996) is an American actress. She rose to prominence with the comedy-drama film '' Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at ...

AnnaSophia Robb AnnaSophia Robb (born December 8, 1993) is an American actress, model, and singer. She began as a child actress on television, making her leading debut as the titular role in '' Samantha: An American Girl Holiday'' (2004). She made her feature ...

, Ian Nelson,

Celia Weston Celia Weston is an American character actress. Weston received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in '' Dead Man Walking'' (1995), and also had supporting roles in more than 40 movies, including ''The Talented Mr. Ripley' ...

Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBT advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a Pri ...

, and

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

on February 13, 2017. It was released on January 12, 2018, by

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...

Plot

We meet Billy Bloom gazing into the mirror, planning his make-up, and know he is no ordinary teen. Flashing back to his younger years, his indulgent, flambouyant, alcoholic mother ‘muv’ (Bette Midler) worships him, actively encouraging him to dress up. It causes much arguing between his mother and conservative father Bill who separate. He lives with her for seven years in Connecticut before being transported to live in his wealthy father’s mansion in the deep south after her sudden disappearance (later revealed to be rehab). Billy retreats more into his world of fantasy dress up, ignoring housekeeper Florence’s advice to dress conservatively, like in jeans, for his first day at the local high school. However his idea of conservative is quite flambouyant, with eyeliner and lipstick, a ruffled pirate top, little black jacket and hat. He is ostentatiously overfamiliar, leading to him being quickly ostracised. Noone speaks to him positively on the first day, but on the second, not only does Mary Jane befriend him, giving the lowdown on the most prominent students, but ‘Flip’ (Mark) Kelly introduces himself. He is the school hero, and also shows Billy his support. When the three girl clique of bullies ask Billie for fashion tips, he brilliantly tears them apart, then there’s the homophobic jocks, and the loner Bernie with a deep seated resentment towards him, a mask for something deeper. (Later on, he tries it on with him in the boys toilet, but wants to stay in the closet.) Billy’s biology teacher allows students to constantly bully him, treating him stereotypically as someone assumed to be gay. To retaliate, he wears outrageous outfits for weeks to combat the onslaught of spitballs launched at him. It culminates to the day he dons a completely outlandish, mini-length wedding gown with a veil and garish red makeup. Billy’s detoured to the lecture hall, where five or six jocks beat him to within an inch of his life. Flip and another stop them, but he is in a coma for five days. Flip visits Billy regularly during the coma, and he convinces him to help him home. After seeing Larry’s Jackson Pollock, Flip opens up about his preference of art over football. Mary Jane keeps him up-to-date on developments at school, applauding his martyrdom which has paved everyone’s way. The administration expelled those who attacked him and has assemblies about hate crimes to aid tolerance. As high school is typically about conforming, fitting in and not drawing attention to yourself, Flip tries to get Billy to tone himself down during school hours. The next day, Billy does a theatrical presentation for his Great Gatsby book report dressed and acting as Zelda Fitzgerald. Later that day, an incident in gym at the rope climb, triggers a homophobic reaction towards him. Billy comes home to find Muv. Initially believing she has come to get him, his dad lets him be present so he can see she is only there for money, as she had him to produce Bill an heir. Stunned, Billy wanders off to the kitchen and Florence is kind to him. Flip comes to see Billy, and drunken Muv falls over him. Wandering to the school grounds, Billy announces his candidacy for homecoming queen against the other contender Lynette, queen of the school. They drum up support before they have to give campaign speeches to the school to gain their vote. Both come out on floats of their choosing, hers an unimaginative float of her with her friends in red, his a glittery, purple heel, he in a slinky silver sheath. The team narrowly wins the homecoming game, the last play also severely injuring Flip/Mark’s shoulder (so he can pursue art). In the auditorium, Lynette’s speech is openly hateful towards anyone who’s not straight whereas Billy’s is a plea for understanding. He gets a standing ovation, yet still loses. Billy’s dad congratulates him on his victory, of facing the challenge unafraid, and speaking his truth. On the school campus, his real triumph can be seen. People are less afraid to show themselves and there is greater tolerance, a joyful embrace of diversity.

Cast

as Billy Bloom, a funny, good-hearted teenager and the new student at an ultra-conservative high school ** Eddie Schweighardt as young Billy Bloom *

as Lynette, the head cheerleader and high school queen bee, and Billy's rival *

Mickey Sumner Brigitte Michael "Mickey" Sumner (born 19 January 1984) is an English actress best known for her film roles as Sophie Levee in ''Frances Ha'' (2012) and Farrah in '' The Mend'' (2014) and her television roles as Katia on '' Low Winter Sun'' (20 ...

as Dr. Veronica Vickers *

as Muv, Billy's mother *

Larry Pine Larry Pine (born March 3, 1945) is an American actor. A veteran of the Broadway stage, he began his career playing the role of Fop in the 1968 production of ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. He has since starred in film and television, with recurring roles ...

as Billy's father *

as Blah Blah Blah / Mary Jane * Ian Nelson as Mark "Flip" Kelly, Billy's friend *

Lorraine Toussaint Lorraine Toussaint () is a Trinidadian-American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Black Reel Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Toussaint began her career in theatre before ...

as Flossie, Billy's nanny *

as Felicia, a reporter *

Willa Fitzgerald Willa Fitzgerald (born January 17, 1991) is an American actress. She is known for her starring role as Emma Duval in MTV's ''Scream''. She has played cheer coach Colette French in the USA Network's television drama series '' Dare Me'' and offic ...

as Tiffany *

as Florence * Walden Hudson as Bib Oberman

Production

On October 2, 2015, it was announced that

would make her directorial debut with the young adult

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

film ''Freak Show'', based on the novel of same name by

. Patrick J. Clifton and Beth Rigazio adapted the novel, while producers on the film would be

Celine Rattray Celine Rattray (born 1975) is an English film producer who co-founded the production company Maven Pictures. In 2010, she won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for '' The Kids Are All Right''. In 2020, she and Trudie Styl ...

, Charlotte Ubben, and Styler through Maven Pictures along with

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

and Nancy Juvonen's

Flower Films Flower Films is an American production company owned by Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen. Filmography Film * ''Never Been Kissed'' (1999) * '' Charlie's Angels'' (2000) * ''Donnie Darko'' (2001) * '' Duplex'' (2003) * '' Charlie's Angels: Fu ...

, and Jeffrey Coulter and Bryan Rabin.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

on the film began on October 27, 2015, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Dan Romer Dan Romer is an American film composer, music producer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Career As a film composer, Romer's scores include four-time Oscar-nominated ''Beasts of the Southern Wild'', '' Beasts of No Nation'', '' Chasing Coral' ...

composed the film's score.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on February 13, 2017. Shortly after,

acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released on January 12, 2018.

Reception

, the film holds a 53% approval rating on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 43 reviews with an average rating of 5.62/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Freak Show'' relies on engaging performances and obviously good intentions to cover for its clichéd story and uneven direction – and for some viewers, it may well be enough." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". The

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

said "Trudie Styler's sparkly but superficial directorial debut is a gay coming-of-age tale that presumes more love for its fabulous hero than it earns."

References

External links

* * * * {{Facebook 2017 films 2017 comedy-drama films 2017 directorial debut films 2017 LGBT-related films 2010s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 2010s high school films 2010s teen comedy-drama films American coming-of-age comedy-drama films American high school films American teen comedy-drama films American teen LGBT-related films Cross-dressing in American films Films based on American novels Films based on young adult literature Films directed by Trudie Styler Films produced by Trudie Styler Films scored by Dan Romer Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Flower Films films Gay-related films LGBT-related comedy-drama films LGBT-related coming-of-age films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films