Coming out stories can vary from film to film, but when they are of the teenage variety, there is usually drama to be found. Dramarama is not a fresh take on this momentous moment in a queer person’s life but it is a familiar set up with a fun and sometimes playful story with cookie cutter characters. The group of friends feel stagnated but also comforting to watch, a throwback to being young and ambitious and when a time when everything felt like a huge step. This story is ultimately not about someone coming out to their friends but rather a last hurrah to teenage-dom and a farewell, for now, to friends.
On the eve before Rose leaves for college, she hosts a murder mystery party for her friends to enjoy. All into drama, musicals, literature and theatricals; Claire, Ally, Oscar and Gene, lepat the chance to play one last game before they too leave for college. Being close friends, knowing each other better than themselves, there is of course the fights, the secrets revealed and the religious discussions. All the while Gene struggles without how to come out to his friends unsure how they will take this news.
Set over one night, five very close friends spend the evening and night hashing out everything they’ve kept bottled up as well as remembering the good times, including games they played, quoting films they love and just having or trying to have fun. The group all have very clear-cut personalities which is laid out so meanly by JD, the only outsider to feature in the film. Seen as the cool drop out by some, sad and pathetic by others. Rose, the party host is the uptight one, needing to control everything. Claire is the innocent prude who is happily going off to Christian college. Oscar is the blowhard who tries to impress others but really doesn’t know what he’s doing and hasn’t quite admitted to himself who he is. Ally is the straight talking honest one, out of everyone, she is open minded. Then there’s Gene, who is going to community college and just doesn’t know how to come out to his surprisingly narrow-minded friends. At least, they are narrow minded when it comes to religion which comes quite frequently throughout. At times its uncomfortable to hear their views, especially when they play a game where they pretend to be gay and re-enact tableau of gay couples getting caught in a flashlight. Really bizarre. Maybe there is some pent up energy that the group doesn’t want to admit to, at least that is most likely the case with Oscar.
The better moments are when the friends are in twos, those are when they open up to each other, sometimes tentatively, but these are still the more intimate and realistic moments. No drama, just being honest with each other. It’s clear this group of friends are going to miss one another out in the world alone so it’s nice to see that arguments are not left hanging and bad words aren’t exchanged towards the end. There is an optimistic feel to the end of the film that these friends will see each other again.