Read It and Weep
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DVD details
Actor: Alexandra Krosney, Allison Scagliotti, Danielle Panabaker, Kay Panabaker, Marquise BrownBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 84 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-16
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Product features:
- This Disney Channel program is based on the book HOW MY PRIVATE, PERSONAL JOURNAL BECAME A BESTSELLER by Julia Devillers. The film stars Kay Panabaker as Jamie, a 14-year-old girl dealing with more than her fair share of gossip, cliques, and social frustration at the hands of her school's popular, mean crowd. When she writes about these awful experiences in her journal, she changes people'
DVD Reviews of Read It and Weep
DVD Review: A Limited Potential Audience
Summary: 3 Stars
Read It and Weep (2006) tries to package elements of 1996's "Harriet the Spy" into an episode of "Naturally Sadie" and then throws in the standard "teenage girl's upward social mobility causes her to neglect her best friends". This is one of those movies that give film producer's anxiety attacks about their job security. It not only looks good on paper (the book from which it was adapted is excellent) but it is very well executed. Good songs, Kay Panabaker has an effortless charm and does a slick voice-over narration, the acting for the camera direction is excellent (even getting a nice performance from Jason Dolley-which will strike anyone who has seen him on "Corey in the House" as quite an achievement), and the budget was large enough for professional production design.
So why is the whole less than the sum of its parts? And why did this movie fail to generate any real reaction despite an aggressive promotional campaign on the Disney Channel? My guess is that when all is said and done the thing just doesn't have any bite, having had the book's more realistic and controversial elements stripped out for the adaptation. Couple that with the fact that the movie's structure sends the wrong message; heroine Jamie Bartlett is perfectly fine with her celebrity status and unconcerned about blowing off her friends until she overreaches and her new world begins to fall apart. It is not the shallowness of her new world that she finds objectionable but the fact that she has soon alienated everyone she has been trying to impress.
Then there is fact that none (absolutely zero) of the movie's comedy elements are humorous. It's not meant to be a comedy but the producers have clearly inserted stuff (the pizza selections for example) only for their comic qualities. Unfortunately none of this stuff is even remotely funny.
Finally there is the whole imaginary alter ego thing (Kay's older sister Danielle), a character who pops in and out of countless scenes as a kind of counterpoint to the voice-over commentary. Ultimately this adds nothing to the story and the repositioning of the character with each sentence is genuinely irritating. If they had to go with this kind of thing it would have been better to have the competing angel and devil whispering in her ear. The reason being that the alter ego thing is too close to actual schizophrenia; not the mentally stable heroine role model Disney should be showcasing to an unsuspecting preteen market.
High school sophomore Jamie Bartlett (Kay Panabaker, "Phil of the Future") has three semi geek friends (who would only be geeks in a teen movie), and documents her life in a journal-the names are changed to protect the innocent. The journal is accidentally turned in as a school assignment and then published and quickly becomes a bestseller. Jamie is plunged into the life of a big-time celebrity and elevated to the top of the school's social hierarchy.
Although it should be obvious that he characters in her journal have real-life in-school counterparts, no one seems to notice or to particularly care. Then during a talk show interview Jamie slips up and reveals that the journal's villainess is based on new friend and school queen bee Sawyer Sullivan (Allison Scagliotti-Smith). Since this should have already been clear to everyone, the viewer must work to suspend disbelief as Jamie's adoring classmates turn against her for the nasty characterizations in her journal.
The DVD (and the Disney Channel broadcasts) are in 4:3. The DVD has two featurettes. "Making of Read It and Weep" (4:30) talks about making the movie. The second featurette focuses on which cast members keep journals and on the Panabaker sisters discussing their careers from the perspective of sisters.
There is also a Jordan Pruitt two-minute video of her singing "Outside Looking In". The music video interweaves various types of students taking class photos with the song about fitting in.
The "Read It and Weep" premise should have gotten a better treatment but the movie should be enjoyable for many in the middle school crowd; especially if they are crushing on one or more of the actors. There is little that is worth the interest and attention of younger or older viewers.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Description of Read It and Weep
Join Jamie (Kay Panabaker) on her wild adventure as she goes from regular girl to media darling after her journal is accidentally turned in for a writing contest and becomes a best-selling book. Even though she gave fictional names to the nasty popular crowd at school and characterized herself as the very cool "IS" (Danielle Panabaker), Jamie?s world spins totally out of control when the truth comes out. With the help of her true friends, she learns some major lessons about the importance of being yourself. Own all the drama and fun in this new Zapped Edition DVD including Jordan Pruitt?s never-before-seen music video, a special making-of bonus featurette, exclusive interviews with the cast and more!Bestsellers in DVD
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