| Read It and Weep | |
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DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Paul Hoen |
| Produced by | Don Schain Sheri Singer |
| Written by | Patrick J. Clifton Beth Rigazio Julia DeVillers |
| Starring | Kay Panabaker Danielle Panabaker Allison Scagliotti Jason Dolley |
| Cinematography | Gordon Lonsdale |
| Editing by | Louis F. Cioffi |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | Disney Channel |
| Release date | July 21, 2006 |
| Running time | 84 minutes |
Read It and Weep (previously titled How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller) is a 2006 Disney Channel Original Movie which premiered on July 21, 2006. It is based on the novel by Julia DeVillers. Sisters Kay and Danielle Panabaker star as Jamie Bartlett and her alter ego Isabella (Iz or Is), respectively. Both sisters have starred in previous Disney Channel movies: Kay in Life Is Ruff, and Danielle in Stuck in the Suburbs.
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Read It and Weep begins with Jameson (Jamie) Bartlett (Kay Panabaker), who has three best friends, one named Connor (who has a crush on her) (Jason Dolley), Lindsay, and Harmony (Alexandra Krosney), and an enemy named Sawyer Sullivan (or as she likes to call her, Myrna), whose boyfriend Marco is the object of Jamie's affection. She also owns a tablet PC which she writes in every day. In that journal she writes about a character named "Isabella," or "Is" (Danielle Panabaker), a popular girl with incredible powers based the character loosely upon herself. Jamie uses her alter-world to write her feelings about her fellow classmates, friends, and her life.
As an English assignment, she has to write an essay of her choice. Her printer dies and Lenny wouldn't let her use his so she intends to send her essay to Lindsay, but she accidentally sends her journal. After Lindsay turns the journal in for the English assignment, it wins a writing contest. Jamie's book attracts a lot of publicity and eventually becomes a bestseller. She appears at many book signings, reality TV shows and is often interviewed. Soon, success gets the better of Jamie; she becomes increasingly materialistic and critical of the world around her, quitting her job at her father's pizza place, ridiculing her brother's guitar playing and favoring fame over her friends. Her newfound popularity is dashed when she reveals on a television interview that the antagonist of her novel is based on Sawyer.
As Jamie's classmates learn that the book was based on Jamie's negative feelings toward her school, she wishes to restore her relationships but her friends are unwilling to trust her again. Her friends begin to reject and avoid her, and that is shown when she logs onto a chat room, and one-by-one each person who was originally logged on, logged off as soon as they saw her, except for her friend Connor. When she asks him if he hates her, he responds "I only hate what you've become," then she writes "me too," and she logs off. Jamie then realizes her mistakes, and also discovers some hidden feelings for Connor. Connor writes a positive letter to the editor. When it appears in the school paper the next day, she thinks it was Marco, not Connor. Then Connor became jealous.
To make up for her mistakes, she apologizes to her brother, Lenny, encouraging him to take up his guitar playing once more, despite what she'd said. Jamie overhears her parents conversation about having to close down the pizza parlor because of Jamie's unpopularity, so Jamie feels guilty.
When she gets ready for the prom, Jamie confronts Is, a figment of her imagination who tries to make Jamie like she is and acts like the main antagonist of the movie (next to Sawyer/Myrna), and demands her to stop. She then proceeds to go to the prom, where she tries to apologize to everyone. They do not accept her apology at first, but gradually they do, and Jamie finds Connor just as he is leaving. She asks for his forgiveness, and he forgives her, and they kiss. They walk back into the prom, where Lenny performs a song dedicated to Jamie.
After the prom, which was ocean-themed, Jamie invites everyone to eat at her parents' pizza parlor. When Lenny rushes into the kitchen to help cook the pizza, his jacket, which was covered in seaweed from the prom, accidentally lands on some of the pizzas, covering them in seaweed. They do not know this, but when the pizza is delivered to the customers, they love it, and Jamie's father finally figures out the secret of how to save their business, ending the film on a happy note.
The movie was based on the book How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller. Julia DeVillers, the author of the book from which the movie was made, has a cameo in a pizza parlor scene. There are a number of differences between the book and the film.
Read It and Weep was filmed at Murray High School & Downtown Salt Lake City. Murray High School was also the set of: Take Down (1978), the auditorium scene of High School Musical (2006), Minutemen (2008)[1] and High School Musical: Get in the Picture (2008).[2]
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