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. Lattanzio, Ryan (12 September 2022). " 'My Policeman' Review: Harry Styles Represses Himself". IndieWire . Retrieved 13 September 2022. Dowd, A.A. (21 October 2022). " 'My Policeman' review: Harry Styles stumbles through forbidden love". Chron . Retrieved 5 November 2022. Hearfield, Luke (13 September 2022). "My Policeman: Styles and co aren't helped by this plodding script". Evening Standard.

The camera stays discreetly on Styles' face through that first sex scene. And a later scene between the men in bed is composed of graceful images of entwined bodies occasionally reflected in a mirror, the nudity never full-on or frontal. This is movie sex, not raw, messy real-life sex, and anyone wanting something more visceral really wants a different film. 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. Ford, Rebecca (9 June 2022). "First Look: Harry Styles Plays a Closeted Officer in My Policeman". Vanity Fair . Retrieved 9 June 2022.Johnson, G. Allen (18 October 2022). "Can Harry Styles really act? 'My Policeman' shows singer is more than a handsome face". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 9 November 2022.

Lee, Benjamin (12 September 2022). "My Policeman review – Harry Styles is arrestingly awkward in stodgy gay romance". The Guardian . Retrieved 13 September 2022. James, Caryn (14 October 2022). "My Policeman review: Harry Styles' sad love triangle film". BBC Culture . Retrieved 5 November 2022.Lang, Brent (21 July 2022). "Harry Styles Drama 'My Policeman' to World Premiere at Toronto Film Festival". Variety . Retrieved 9 November 2022. Rude, Mey (5 March 2021). "Harry Styles' Male Lover in 'My Policeman' Film Has Been Cast". Out . Retrieved 13 April 2021. 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.