Movie Review - Dramarama (Outfest 2020)

This is the feature debut of writer-director Jonathan Wysocki. He himself compares this film to Lawrence Kasdan's The Big Chill (1983), which is exactly what I thought as the film progressed. Since that Kasdan classic was released, it has been seminal or copied with slight variations. Kasdan's film has become a template for independent filmmakers to tell stories about friendships and certain interpersonal dynamics. The Big Chill has almost become a genre onto itself, an easy to produce one that limits a group of characters to one location for usually a limited period of time, usually not more than a weekend getaway, as often a way to get conflict through proximity with triggers introduced here and there. As structure goes, yes, Kasdan's film is very much the exemplar for Wysocki. His film begins as something that would be akin to Donald Glover's Mystery Team (2009). However, given the semi-autobiographical nature, this film could also be Wysocki's version of Lady Bird (2017).

That Oscar-nominated, Greta Gerwig film was very much a kind of memoir of Gerwig's life. So is this of Wysocki. Instead of Sacramento, California, in 2002, Wysocki lands us 500 miles south, in Escondido, California, in the year 1994. Both films though center on a high school senior on the verge of going to college and in contemplation of how life will change. Gerwig's film was more about that senior's relationship with her mother. Wysocki's focus is more on his protagonist's one with his friends, and, yes, Kasdan may have been a north star for Wysocki, but, I can't imagine that the oft-cited John Huges was not also perhaps a guide, as one could perhaps feel a bit of The Breakfast Club (1985) and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) mixed in this film as well.

Nick Pugliese stars as Gene, the senior in question. It's late in the summer, late August. He and his friends have already graduated from high school and he and they have decided to spend the night together one last time before most of them move on to college. All of his friends are drama nerds and film geeks. They all probably met doing school plays and musicals. Their favorite past time is probably going to see movies or going to the theater. All of them aspire to work in the entertainment industry. Gene is more into drawing though, comics or graphic design. Of all of them, he's not really going to a fancy school. He's more destined for community college in Escondido, which only adds to his insecurities.

In addition to not going to a fancy college like his four, principal friends, he's also insecure about the fact that he's gay and hasn't had the courage to tell them. He's unsure of how they would react. Given that despite holding seeming liberal views because they're all artists at heart, all four of his friends were raised in religious households and are actually quite conservative in some of their thoughts and actions. As the night progresses, those conservative thoughts and actions might just for some of them be an "act," which is ironic, given that they're all drama nerds and love to "act."

Anna Grace Barlow (The Fosters and Scream Queens) co-stars as Rose who is hosting the party and sleepover that Gene is attending. She's leaving the next day to New York to go to NYU. She aspires to be on Broadway and win a Tony Award. She's at one point described as callow meaning immature, which could be used to describe most of her friends. She instigates this party, which is a costume party and encourages everyone to dress up in a Victorian outfit, but she's no more silly or playful than the rest who all like to goof around and engage in theater games, doing improvisations and riffing on various acting styles and tricks. She along with the others has fun with it and is hopeful and optimistic, if perhaps a little naive.

Nico Greetham (Power Rangers Ninja Steel and Glee) also co-stars as Oscar, the aspiring actor who is attending UCLA. Danielle Kay plays Ally, the aspiring opera singer. Megan Suri (Atypical) plays Claire, the aspiring costume designer and more religious and reserved one. Rounding out the cast is Zak Henri (Awkward. and Bunheads) as JD, the rebel, pizza delivery boy and cynical jerk.

Like those aforementioned Hughes films, this flick takes place all in the course of one day. As such, the film is restricted as to what it can and can't do. One might expect some grand revelations and there are that. Some come out of nowhere. Others come in refreshing and strangely non-melodramatic or non-histrionic ways. For kids who are trying to be over-the-top, a lot of nuance and subtlety come through in their performances. Wysocki has assembled a great cast of young actors. While one might assume this will be a coming-out narrative, perhaps in the vein of Stephen Cone's The Wise Kids (2012), it's not.

It's about a kind of repression and living in a bubble, but, not necessarily a bubble of negativity. It's a bubble of love and acceptance where these friends exist. Obviously, there is perhaps some unhealthy aspect to it, as the bubble keeps them at time from the real world or at least some of the harsh realities of it. Yet, these kids aren't totally closed off. It's funny to see them reference so much that is outside that bubble in terms of mass media. If one is a fan of late 80's and early 90's pop culture, there is so much that is thrown out to be absorbed, from things on stage to things on the small and big screen, from Clue (1985) to The Real World (1992) to Jurassic Park (1993), and a lot of it coming in the form of fart jokes. As juvenile as that might seem, this is one of the funniest films of the year and one to be remembered years from now as Hughes films are.

Not Rated but for general audiences.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 31 mins.

Streamed through OutfestNow.com.