Dramarama is a 2020 coming of age comedy drama film directed by Jonathan Wysocki. It stars an Ensemble Cast composed of Anna Grace Barlow, Danielle Kay, Megan Suri, Nick Pugliese, and Nico Greetham.
The year is 1994. Five recently graduated high school theater friends are holding one last murder mystery slumber party before parting ways for college. One of them, Gene, plans on coming out as gay during the party, but hesitates due to his friends' religious beliefs. But as the night progresses, it turns out that Gene isn't the only one keeping secrets from the others.
No relation to Total DramaRama.
Dramarama provides examples of:
- Ambiguously Gay: Oscar vehemently states that he's not gay, but at some points seems to be denying it too aggressively. His relationship with Gene seems to have homoerotic undertones at some points, with even Gene being unsure about the signals he gets from Oscar.
- Arc Words: The single words JD uses to describe the group stick with them, as they try to deny that they are those things. In particular, Claire struggles with being considered "puritanical" by JD and the others.
- Brick Joke: Ally and Claire spread out tampons and pads across Rose's bed as a misaimed joke. In the final scene, Gene gets in his car and discovers that Ally has hidden tampons in his overhead console.
- Book Ends: An early scene in the film shows Gene alone in his car, rehearsing his speech for coming out to his friends. The last scene in the film is Gene again alone in his car again after saying goodbye to everyone.
- Bottle Episode: Almost the entire movie takes place at Rose's house, with the exception of a few scenes at the end.
- Chekhov's Gun: Ally reacts negatively when Rose suggests the group watches a taping of their production of The Glass Menagerie since she wasn't in it. It later comes out that Ally is upset Rose suggested Claire play Laura over her, even though she wanted the part.
- Christianity is Catholic: Averted. It is explicitly stated that Ally is Lutheran, which leads to a debate over the two denominations' interpretations of the Eucharist.
- Coming-Out Story: Subverted- although Gene initially plans on telling the group he is gay, he backs out of it and remains closeted at the end of the film. However, Ally seems to catch on that Gene's coworker story isn't really about a coworker.
- Dude, Not Funny!: While the "homosexual flashlight" game is based on sexual innuendo, Oscar thinks Gene crosses a line when he spits over the side of the bed and says "sorry, I don't swallow".
- I Have This Friend: Gene initially brings up the subject of homosexuality to Oscar by claiming his coworker is struggling with being gay. The lie gets complicated when Ally points out that Gene works alone.
- Longing Look: Gene gives one to Oscar while the two are getting changed.
- Mistaken for Gay: Invoked with "homosexual flashlight", a game the group plays where the goal is for two people of the same sex to appear like they've been caught in the act when a flashlight is turned on.
- Performance Artist: All of the friends to some degree, but especially Rose.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Rose delivers one to JD when he returns to their party later in the night, claiming that he only insults the group because he is intimidated by their close friendship.
- Shout-Out: Rose's dead cat is named "Grizabella".
- What the Hell, Hero?: Nearly everyone in the main friend group gets delivered one when they cross some various line with another. Notable ones include Rose telling Oscar to apologize after calling Gene a loser, and everyone getting upset at Gene for revealing Oscar bombed his UCLA audition.
