Harry Styles’ Acting Flops Again in ‘My Policeman’ at TIFF
Fairly or not, My Policeman will likely exacerbate claims that Harry Styles is engaged in queerbaiting. More pressingly, though, it calls into question whether the pop superstar is cut out for the big screen.
The second straight Styles drama (following Don’t Worry Darling) is about the dangerous unreliability of traditional heterosexual marriages. Michael Grandage adaption of Bethan Roberts’ 2012 novel—premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival before receiving a limited theatrical U.S. release on October 21—is led by a creaky and mannered performance from its headliner.
Styles strikes a handsome figure but fails to sell himself as a closeted 1950s Brighton, England, copper caught between his lover and his girlfriend. At no point does Styles fully inhabit his role, in large part because there’s rarely a moment when he isn’t visibly acting.