Somewhere in the middle disastrous, gossip-ridden advertising campaign for Olivia Wilde’s film don’t worry darlinga short clip was released from a scene between Harry Styles and Florence Pugh, along with a Lively profile by Styles in Rolling Stone magazine. But the extensive profile and eye-catching cover photo were largely overlooked in the clip’s internet vote, leading to debates about the acting quality of the 28-year-old pop star. Film Twitter mercilessly mocked him. His army of Stans rallied in his defense. As you can imagine, that went well.
Harry Styles is hardly the first singer — or athlete, or wrestler, or whatever — to ride his popularity into film acting and then get some harsh notes. But the combination of his extreme fame, starring in the film, and starring in his backstage drama (he began dating Wilde on set, reportedly sparking a falling out between Wilde and Pugh) added pressure and increased public interest. Suddenly it seemed a matter of international concern: Can Harry Styles act?
Now, with the release of the queer drama, we can enjoy another round of this debate my cop, which debuted in American theaters on October 21st and is coming to Amazon Prime Video on November 4th. Completely different don’t worry darling, this is a humble and sober film, not to mention a rather dreary one. If Styles wasn’t in it, it wouldn’t be worth a second look. But he is my cop was drawn into the maelstrom of Styles’ fame and the angry opposition of the film world.
While both films draw on the considerable appeal of seeing Harry Styles in sharp 1950s tailoring, my cop is a better showcase for his talents. Styles plays Tom, a police officer in Brighton on the south coast of England in the 1950s when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK. He courts the teacher Marion (Emma Corrin) and the couple around the museum curator Patrick (David Dawson). With a setting set in the 1990s, with the three characters played by older actors, and a time and perspective shift halfway through, the film coyly resolves Tom’s conflicted relationship with Patrick and his own sexuality, and the sad resolution this little love triangle.
It says a lot about that my cop‘s cautious sexual politics, which even the film’s nominally more contemporary and enlightened setting dates back to the ’90s. Screenwriter Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) and director Michael Grandage (genius), based on a novel by Bethan Roberts, just seem to want to wallow in repression of the past, complete with tasteful melancholy. This is a trade item for a certain type of prestigious British production, the prime example being Merchant-Ivory’s Heartbreak The rest of the day. my cop follows the template conscientiously. It may resonate well with the older matinee screening folks, although it’s hard to imagine Harry Styles’ Gen Z fandom connecting with anything other than the decent sex scenes.
As a young Tom, Styles is handsome, charming, and awkward in a way that works. The camera adores him and his fantastic swirling quiff. He’s got a screen magnetism that goes beyond his good looks, too: there’s something very worth seeing and readable about him, an endearing frankness and innocence without which Tom’s hidden denial and the way he uses Marion could seem frosty or cynical. It’s a big role with moments of emotional intensity, but Tom’s confusion and oppression are always visible, which suits Styles well.
In as Jack don’t worry darling, the twists and turns of the script require Styles to understand the hidden layers, diverse personalities and dark impulses of his character. Those chameleonic shifts are over him, which is what kept him at sea in this film. As an actor, he probably finds more appropriate expression in roles where his heart is always on his sleeve.
That doesn’t mean he’s bad at acting. In fact, its disarming lack of depth, when used judiciously, can be a major asset. Just look at his scenes in Christopher Nolans Dunkirk. The 2017 film was Styles’ first acting debut, but while his role is small, it has to deliver some of the film’s biggest emotional beats: he furiously tries to throw a silent soldier out of a sinking boat after realizing that he may not be English, and cowers in shame at the hostile reception expecting the defeated forces of Britain to meet on their return home. In the first of these scenes, his naked despair is terrifying; in the second it is pathetic. Both times the audience is with him.
But Styles is missing a very important part of an actor’s skill that wasn’t so obvious in Dunkirk, but is painfully exposed in his two most recent films. He just can’t speak well.
It’s not that it’s unclear or difficult to understand. But on the contrary. He has an oddly deliberate, childlike rhythm in which every syllable seems to have equal weight. He sounds to everyone like a 12-year-old reading in class. His speech pattern is reinforced by his North West English accent (he grew up in Cheshire, south of Manchester) with its long vowels. It’s an awkward way of speaking, and it leads to some unintentionally funny line readings — often at the worst possible moments, when he’s working his hardest emotionally. In a crucial scene in my cop
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This might be the real reason for viewers don’t worry darling clip struggled to understand what accent he wanted if it’s just his natural accent. (Though it’s weird that the film has to construct some convoluted in-universe reason for having it.) No language seems entirely natural coming out of Style’s mouth. It’s like he’s learning to speak from scratch. Each line sounds like a line.
This may seem like a fatal mistake for an actor, but verbal cadence is a skill far easier to teach than holding the camera’s gaze or the audience’s sympathy. Styles does both better than many people working in this field. With the work — and by working with directors who can get him to relax and be himself, as Nolan clearly did — he could still be a movie star.
Marvel Studios certainly hopes so. eternal‘ Mid-credit scene revealed Styles’ casting as Eros, aka Starfox, Thanos’ carefree playboy brother. His garbled, leaden delivery of his few lines and the awful American accent he uses for them make Starfox’s inclusion in future MCU films seem like a liability. But before he opens his mouth — as he strolls into the frame with a lopsided smile and a twinkle in his eye — there’s a brief burst of that compelling, carefree star power he has on stage but his kind generally doesn’t have in serious film roles has shown him so far. If only he could loosen his tongue, he could be adorable.
