STARRING
Dane Bowman, Chelsea Brandt, Chris Ciccarelli, Barry Finnegan, Mike Kopera, Melanie L. Lewis, Jon Luke Thomas, and Liza de Weerd WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY
Joe McClean MPAA RATING
NR RUNNING TIME
87 Mins. DISTRIBUTED BY
Independent OFFICIAL WEBSITE
"The Drama Club" Opens in L.A.
In Joe McClean's latest film, The Drama Club, twenty years have passed since this group of friends has gathered together since meeting as part of, you guessed it, the drama club.
There's Cory (Jon Thomas), the former class clown who arrives with his wife, Kat (Chelsea Brandt), an outsider who struggles to fit in with people she's heard about over the years.
Nathan (Barry Finnegan) shows up far different than everyone remembers, a buffed up hottie whose rather extreme makeover comes courtesy of the emotional abuse inflicted by Luke (Chris Ciccarell), who longs for the days when he was king and his life wasn't falling apart.
Hannah (Melanie Lewis) is living a straight and narrow path as a Christian who claims her virginity despite that one and only time way back when with Nathan. Then, there's Elle (Liza de Weerd), the former Miss Popular who has settled down with Keith (Mike Kopera) into family life while Aaron (Dane Bowman) is the talented guy who stayed local and carries a deep secret with him.
The Drama Club is, indeed, filled with a dramatic group of people whose baggage of twenty years ago seems to continue to linger despite the years that have gone past. On this crazy, alcohol-fueled reunion, The Drama Club will remember the past, fight about the present, deal with ongoing tensions and much more.
Okay, "much more" might be an exaggeration.
The Drama Club is, for the most part, your fairly typical ensemble piece with old grudges that will either be resolved or won't be resolved and old relationships that will spark while tensions in current relationships will rise to the surface. At times lightly comical and other times dramatic in tone, The Drama Club benefits greatly from a solid ensemble cast and top notch production values courtesy of Grzegorz Gill's pristine lensing and Michael Teoli's laid back and comfortable original music.
Written and directed by Joe McClean (Life Tracker), The Drama Club recently opened in L.A. at the Arena on November 11th and continues McClean's history of creating quality indie cinema. For more information on the film, visit its official website linked to in the credits.
