# Freak Show (film)
*Freak Show* is a 2017 American comedy-drama directed by [Trudie Styler](https://www.edgepedia.org/trudie-styler), adapted from [James St. James](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-st-james)'s young adult novel about Billy Bloom, a flamboyant, cross-dressing gay teenager who runs for homecoming queen at an ultra-conservative Southern high school.[1](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline41/freak-show) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5089534/fullcredits/) [Alex Lawther](https://www.edgepedia.org/alex-lawther) stars as Billy, with Bette Midler, Abigail Breslin, AnnaSophia Robb, Ian Nelson, and Laverne Cox in supporting roles.[3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/freak-show/credits/) The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2017 and was released in the United States by IFC Films in January 2018.[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/freak-show-2018) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freak_show)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director | Trudie Styler, her first narrative feature[1](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline41/freak-show) |
| Source | Young adult novel by James St. James; screenplay by Patrick J. Clifton and Beth Rigazio[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5089534/fullcredits/) |
| Running time | 91 minutes (95 minutes in the UK release)[1](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline41/freak-show) • [6](https://www.timeout.com/movies/freak-show) |
| Premiere | Berlin International Film Festival, 2017; nominated for Best First Feature and Generation 14plus Best Film[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/freak-show-2018) |
| US release | Limited theatrical release January 12, 2018; streaming January 16, 2018; distributed by IFC Films[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freak_show) |
| UK release | June 22, 2018, rated 12A, distributed by Miracle Communications[6](https://www.timeout.com/movies/freak-show) • [7](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/freak-show-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zotc5odu) |
| Reception | 54% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (41 reviews) and 70% from audiences; Metascore 54 from 10 reviews[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freak_show) • [8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5089534/criticreviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and characters
Billy Bloom, a self-described "transvisionary gender obliviator," has grown up in [Connecticut](https://www.edgepedia.org/connecticut) with his glamorous, theatrical mother, Muv ([Bette Midler](https://www.edgepedia.org/bette-midler)). When Muv enters rehab, Billy is sent to live with his father (Larry Pine) in the American South and enrolls in a small high school where the student body, in the Frameline festival program's words, "worships football, Christ, and conformity."[1](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline41/freak-show) • [9](https://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/films/freak-show) His father warns him that "nails that stick out get hammered down," but Billy refuses to assimilate and decides to run for homecoming queen, a move that pits him against the school's queen bee, cheerleader Lynette ([Abigail Breslin](https://www.edgepedia.org/abigail-breslin)).[1](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline41/freak-show)
Billy's allies include Blah Blah Blah ([AnnaSophia Robb](https://www.edgepedia.org/annasophia-robb)) and, unexpectedly, football star Flip (Ian Nelson), on whom he develops a crush.[1](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline41/freak-show) • [6](https://www.timeout.com/movies/freak-show) The bullying he faces escalates from verbal abuse to violence: the [British Board of Film Classification](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-board-of-film-classification)'s content advice describes a scene in which a gang of bullies attacks a teenage boy, leaving him unconscious with blood on his face, and notes that classmates use homophobic slurs while the film carries what it calls a resolutely anti-discrimination message.[7](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/freak-show-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zotc5odu) Even after Billy is put into a coma by the assault, the film keeps its comic register; Styler noted that his first words on coming around are a request for lip gloss.[10](https://moveablefest.com/trudie-styler-freak-show/)
## Production
Styler, a British actress and producer who had produced some 30 films before directing this one, cast the film after planning a September 2015 shoot.[11](https://time.com/4745270/trudie-styler-transgender-rights/) • [12](https://www.motionpictures.org/2018/01/trudie-styler-directing-first-feature-film-freak-show-cross-dressing-teenager/) Dante Spinotti, the cinematographer whom Styler had befriended on the set of *Fair Game* in 1987 and who had promised to stand beside her when she directed, served as director of photography; Dan Romer composed the music.[10](https://moveablefest.com/trudie-styler-freak-show/) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/freak-show/credits/) Producers included Styler, Jeffrey Coulter, Chris Miller, Celine Rattray, Bryan Rabin, Ember Truesdell, and Charlotte Ubben, with [Drew Barrymore](https://www.edgepedia.org/drew-barrymore) among the executive producers.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freak_show) • [3](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/freak-show/credits/) Styler's daughter [Mickey Sumner](https://www.edgepedia.org/mickey-sumner) appears as Dr. Veronica Vickers, and her other daughter, the musician [Eliot Sumner](https://www.edgepedia.org/eliot-sumner), is represented on the soundtrack.[13](https://bristolpride.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/freak-show.pdf)
In a Time opinion piece published around the premiere, Styler wrote that Billy Bloom is based on the drag queen James St. James, and she connected the film's subject to Blake Brockington, a transgender man who won a homecoming king title at his high school and later died by suicide at 18 after cyberbullying.[11](https://time.com/4745270/trudie-styler-transgender-rights/) She framed the film as a story about bullying and fighting back, dealing with the prejudices suffered by young people who do not identify within traditional binary terms.[11](https://time.com/4745270/trudie-styler-transgender-rights/)
## Release and reception
The film premiered at the [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival) in February 2017, where it was nominated for the Best First Feature Award and the [Generation](https://www.edgepedia.org/generation) 14plus Best Film prize.[4](https://cinegraph.org/movies/freak-show-2018) • [11](https://time.com/4745270/trudie-styler-transgender-rights/) It screened at US festivals including Frameline41 and the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival before IFC Films gave it a limited theatrical release on January 12, 2018.[1](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline41/freak-show) • [14](https://tiglff.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/TIGLFF_ProgramBook2017_FINAL_WEB-3.pdf) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freak_show) In the United Kingdom it opened on June 22, 2018, rated 12A.[6](https://www.timeout.com/movies/freak-show)
Critical response was mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 54% Tomatometer from 41 reviews, with a critics consensus that it "relies on engaging performances and obviously good intentions to cover for its clichéd story and uneven direction," against a 70% audience score.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freak_show) Metacritic recorded a Metascore of 54 based on 10 reviews.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5089534/criticreviews/) Reviewers singled out Lawther's performance: the Los Angeles Times's Katie Walsh wrote that the film "is carried by a fully committed performance from Lawther, who quivers and swans and roars like the best of the Hollywood grand dames," and the Village Voice's Serena Donadoni called it a "bitterly funny and warmly empathetic first feature."[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5089534/criticreviews/) Time Out gave three stars out of five, judging the film enjoyable but heavy-handed, and finding some casting choices, including [John McEnroe](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-mcenroe) as a football coach, less successful.[6](https://www.timeout.com/movies/freak-show) The Guardian's review of the UK release called it a feelgood story that is defiantly celebratory while lacking the wit of its touchstones.[15](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/24/freak-show-review-feelgood-story-trudie-styler)
## Themes
The film's stated concerns are conformity, self-determination, and anti-discrimination. The Independent Cinema Office's synopsis describes it as exploring "the violence of conformity and the power of self-determination," placing its hero in a lineage running from [David Bowie](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-bowie), Lady Gaga, and Freddie Mercury to Oscar Wilde.[9](https://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/films/freak-show) Styler has said she wanted to treat bullying, which she called "an ordinary evil," through a protagonist who refuses to compromise himself or bow to student pressure, and who calls on "all freaks everywhere, which are all teenagers in the entire world."[12](https://www.motionpictures.org/2018/01/trudie-styler-directing-first-feature-film-freak-show-cross-dressing-teenager/) The BBFC's classification notes balance the depiction of homophobic abuse and a violent assault against the film's anti-discrimination message.[7](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/freak-show-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zotc5odu)
## References
1. [Freak Show, Frameline41 program note](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline41/freak-show)
2. [Freak Show (2017) full cast and crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5089534/fullcredits/)
3. [Freak Show cast and crew credits, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/freak-show/credits/)
4. [Freak Show, Cinegraph](https://cinegraph.org/movies/freak-show-2018)
5. [Freak Show, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freak_show)
6. [Freak Show review, Time Out (Anna Smith, 2018)](https://www.timeout.com/movies/freak-show)
7. [Freak Show classification, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/freak-show-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zotc5odu)
8. [Freak Show Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5089534/criticreviews/)
9. [Freak Show, Independent Cinema Office](https://www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk/films/freak-show)
10. [Interview: Trudie Styler on Stepping Up to the Outsider Art of Freak Show, Moveable Fest (2018)](https://moveablefest.com/trudie-styler-freak-show/)
11. [Trudie Styler: Society Must Accept Every Person's Gender Reality, Time (2017)](https://time.com/4745270/trudie-styler-transgender-rights/)
12. [Trudie Styler on Directing Her First Feature Film Freak Show, The Credits / Motion Pictures Association (2018)](https://www.motionpictures.org/2018/01/trudie-styler-directing-first-feature-film-freak-show-cross-dressing-teenager/)
13. [Freak Show (12A) festival notes, Bristol Pride](https://bristolpride.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/freak-show.pdf)
14. [Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 2017 program book](https://tiglff.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/TIGLFF_ProgramBook2017_FINAL_WEB-3.pdf)
15. [Freak Show review, The Guardian (2018)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/24/freak-show-review-feelgood-story-trudie-styler)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2017 to 2018 › Titles A to J*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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