Movie Review: I Swear

 Movie Number 12 of 2026

The Movie: I Swear

The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens

Runtime: 2 hours

Stars: 4 

This is a little cracker of a film. I went in, not expecting too much and came out, heart-warmed, a little more knowledgeable, and happy to have seen a glorious British film based on a true story. 

This one comes highly recommended. 

At the start of the film, we meet John Davidson (Robert Aramayo) on the verge of receiving an MBE from the Queen. John's nervous. Of course he is. John has Tourette Syndrome - anything could happen. And some very funny moments occur in the film. 

Yet this is not about making Tourette's the whipping boy of this film. This biopic gives in some pretty harrowing details John's journey, from his first symptoms to his family situation, to the unrelenting bullying that happened to him at school. The poor kid saw only one way out, which lead him to being drugged and institutionalised, and finally living back with his mother (Shirley Henderson) in the Scottish border town of Galashiels.

It's when, some ten years on, when he meets an old school friend, who takes him hope for dinner that things change. He meets Dottie (Maxine Peake), his mate's mum, who helps him turn his life around. A psychiatric nurse by training, allegedly, she has terminal cancer and sees John as a pet project - but it becomes so much more. 

We see John's life slowly turn around. He finds first job, becomes a trusted member of staff, and becomes an activist, educating the country about Tourette over the back end of the film. 

Kirk Jones' script and direction are on point in this. John is a smart, sensitive, intelligent kid who has a condition that keeps him back and puts him in danger. You quickly feel for him and his plight, championing his actions and watching what can happen when you're understood, rather than ostracised. 

And sure, it's a bit twee in places, but it's a fabulous story. As John says at one point, "The problem is not Tourette's, the problem is that people don't know enough about Tourette's."

Robert Aramayo is excellent in this as the hapless, but seeking John. 

If you'd like to know a bit more about the real John Davidson, have a look here. 

I loved this. It feels honest and real. It comes highly recommended. 

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