Chris Atkins’ highly entertaining documentary about the soldier turned million-selling singer-songwriter effectively marks the apotheosis of James Blunt’s superb comeback – his rearguard action, in fact, against all the tabloid journalists, trolls and panel-show comics who were using him as a punchline, nettled at his overwhelming success and poshness.
Using skills honed at boarding school, and the possibilities of social media, Blunt neutralised the bullies by laughing at himself first, while also (with a dash of ruthless cunning) picking on civilians, quote-tweeting some member of the general public making a nasty remark and adding a very good gag notionally at his own expense but also embarrassing his tormentor. His Twitter game turned it around – though his sales never appear to have been really affected by the mockery. And throughout this fly-on-the-wall account of Blunt’s international tour, much delayed by Covid, the star retains a very droll and unashamedly well-bred irony, wit and down-to-earth attitude.
