Butch Jamie

The premise of the movie is that the very butch Jamie Klein (Michele Ehlen) is trying to break into the Hollywood acting scene by dolling herself up for her auditions and inevitably failing miserably. In the meantime, her flat mate Lola (Olivia Nix), revels in the fact that she has a cat called Howard who is infuriatingly winning numerous roles in commercials. Jamie’s friend, David, (David Au) persuades by her to go to the next audition as she normally dresses and see what happens. As a result she wins the part but the irony is that the casting crew want her to play the role of a man. So in this twist on Tootsie, Jamie agrees and appears on set as a man, unwittingly attracting the attentions of the wardrobe mistress Jill (Tiffany Anne Carrin) who it later transpires is a lesbian desperately trying to kick the habit.

Jamie is flattered by Jill’s attentions so plays up to her butchness but at the same time reveals her more natural feminine side to Jill, so binds her even closer to her. As she is getting deeper and deeper into the deception, Jamie is also lying to Lola about the truth of her role... discovers her flatmate has secrets of her own.

Inevitably, Jamie’s identity slowly unravels as she tries to work out who she really loves after all.

This film won four awards in various Lesbian and gay Festivals in 2007 and 2008 and it’s not hard to see why. Ehlen, who also wrote and directed the film, has a light-hearted touch and employs a good deal of humour. The film constantly pokes fun at itself and various other movie genres. Nix’s performance as the perky and perennially cheerful Lola is particularly good and so is Ehlen’s, even though it’s hard to suspend disbelief and fully accept she is Male Jamie. Howeve,r the real star of this movie is Huey the cat who plays Howard! A film that will genuinely made you smile.