I Swear Review

I Swear is a biopic about John Davidson, a Tourette’s campaigner and activist in Scotland.

In 1983, John Davidson (Scott Ellis Watson) is a 13-year-old boy about to start secondary school, and is a promising goalkeeper. It’s at this age that he begins to show signs of Tourette’s Syndrome, leading him to be dismissed as a troublemaker by his school and parents.

As an adult (Robert Aramayo), John has become a recluse living with his mother (Shirley Henderson). His life takes a change for the better when he meets his old friend’s mother, Dottie (Maxine Peake), a former mental health nurse.

I Swear premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, and I saw it at an Odeon Unseen screening. It was a crowd pleaser: the audience laughed and cried, and the conversations afterwards were mostly positive. It did the job it set out to do: raise awareness of Tourette’s symptoms, and it did so in an entertaining manner. The film was written, directed, and produced by Kirk James, who has made comedies and dramas like Waking Ned, What to Expect When You’re Expecting and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. James used all his experience for this film, and considering his multiple roles, it seemed like I Swear was a passion project for him.

I Swear had a lot of emotion throughout its run time. For a film marketed as a comedy, it had death, illness, a suicide attempt, and crime. The weight of the subject was felt early in the film, with John developing his symptoms, and he was treated poorly by everyone around him. John had really awful parents. Shirley Henderson’s performance felt similar to Judy Davis’ in the Australian drama Nitram, someone who was resentful towards caring for her adult son. The heartstrings were pulled hard during the final act when John was performing his educational work at various institutions, and providing help to people, the help he never received. A lot of the emotion came from John’s relationship with Dottie and Tommy (Peter Mullan), who acted as his surrogate parents, giving him the love and support he should have had as a youngster.

Whilst I Swear was framed as a biopic, its true aim was to raise awareness about Tourette’s and show the experience many people have had with it. In real life, Davidson was the subject of a number of documentaries since he was 16 and acted as an advocate at an earlier stage in his life. The film took some liberties with historical facts, but it was done to serve a bigger cause. However, I Swear does have to compete with one of the best South Park episodes.

Most of the comedy in I Swear was based on John’s Tourette’s. He would swear at random moments or say the worst thing possible at any given time. His first outburst was during his MBE ceremony, and he shouted “Fuck the Queen” in the presence of her majesty. This worked when John was around his surrogate parents, who understood what John was going through. Aramayo and Watson delivered great performances, especially Watson, as John, particularly when he struggled with his tics and attempted to suppress them. John’s Tourette’s symptoms also had horrific consequences since he ended up swearing at the wrong person.

I Swear is a film that will play well with a British audience due to its mix of comedy and drama. It has a slightly anarchist spirit that can appeal to middle-class audiences.