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Ja'mie Private School Girl
R1 - America - HBO Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (28th July 2014). |
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The Show
 Chris Lilley is a fairly talented guy, for several years he's crafted a decent career in Australia developing and starring in a series of mockumentary style TV shows. Starting in 2005 with "We Can Be Heroes" a series about a group of outstanding Australian citizens that are all in the running for Australian of the Year. It was a modest hit and led the way for "Summer Heights High" in 2007. This was his truly breakout series, that follows a diverse group of people at the fictional high school. It introduced us to a variety of quirky and comical characters all of which played by Lilley. But these shows didn't really reach audiences outside of Australia, until 2011 when Lilley and HBO teamed up to produce a new series, "Angry Boys" (co-produced with Australia's ABC and HBO). The series invented new characters, some funny, but others criticized as being racists, a dragon-mom character raising a professional skateboarder (who is marketed as being gay, when he's not) and a rapper, S.mouse, in which Lilley plays the role in blackface... yep, blackface. Let that sink in. The series earned decent ratings stateside but his popularity started to wain in his own home country. Lilley has now started to spin-off some of the characters into their own shows, the first being Ja'mie a posh, private school girl and the upcoming "Jonah from Tonga" (2014) which is stirring up more racists controversy. The DVD case summarizes the series as such: "Ja'mie Private School Girl" tells the continuing story of Ja'mie King (Chris Lilley), a conniving Year 12 student at Hillford Girls Grammar, a private school in Sydney, Australia. Ja'mie, the self-promoting "queen bee" of Summer Heights High, returns from an exchange semester at that public school for her last three months at Hillford, where she's the unchallenged diva among the school's most popular girls, as well as the school captain. After passing her school days cooing with fellow prefects and dissing the "boarders," Ja'mie turns her attention to conquering members of the opposite sex enrolled nearby at Kelton Boys Grammar. She also finds herself in a number of jams that incite the wrath of school officials and her parents. Her callous manipulations begin to wear thin as a few brave girls start to challenge Ja'mie's reign. But she'll stop at nothing to have the last word, emboldened by her hot-girl entourage. Clothes, cars, boys, parties ... Ja'mie has it all, and her overriding goal is to win the Hillford Medal. Lilley is capable of delivering some solidly funny television, his two earlier shows are a testament to that and "Angry Boys" had its moments, while it wasn't the best thing he'd done (by far). "Ja'mie Private School Girl" seems like he's run out of ideas. There are no more characters he can come up with, instead Lilley has started to mine the supporting players in his other broader shows and giving them their own spotlight. Initially this might seem like a good idea, the problem is that these characters lack depth and are one trick ponies. There just isn't enough to warrant their own shows, even one with only six episodes. Ja'mie was a funny (small role) in "Summer Heights High" which is what made her character so good to watch, she was the ultimate b*tch, naive, fascists, elitist, snobby, rude character. In small doses this is perfectly fine, but in bigger doses the schtick gets old quickly, not to mention annoying. Ja'mie overstays her welcome within minutes into the first episode, in a series of nauseating scenes of squealing teenage girls and nonsensical drivel that highlights the absolute worst of modern teenage culture without hardly a single redeeming feature, why would anyone want to watch that? Ja'mie worked as a supporting player in a grander vision of "Summer Heights High", but fails in her own series where she is the center of attention. Sadly the show is as empty and shallow as the character itself. It was the TV viewing equivalent to being stuck in a One Direction audience. This series includes all six episodes spread across two discs with three on each disc.
Video
Presented in the show's original broadcast format 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, this transfer is about as good as DVD gets. The show was shot on a digital format, so the transition to disc is an easy one to make. The image is mostly crisp and clean, with some noise in darker scenes. Skin tones look good, colors are well rendered if anything it's a mostly flat image, but that's to do mostly with the way the show was lit rather than the transfer itself.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included here in English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround. The English soundtrack is adequate, nothing special. In fact nothing would have been lost in presenting this in either 2.0 stereo or 2.0 surround to be honest. It's a mostly dialogue driven show with minor use of the surrounds. The dialogue is clean and distortion free, which is about the most you could really ask for. Optional subtitles are included in English, French and Spanish.
Extras
HBO has includes a series of behind the scenes featurettes, a collection of deleted scenes, a blooper reel and a single bonus trailer. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: First up we have the "Behind the Scenes Episode 1" featurettes, these take viewers into the production process, with some fly-on-the-wall behind the scenes footage and interviews with key cast and crew, they can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option: - "Opening Titles" runs for 3 minutes 28 seconds. - "Casting in Schools" runs for 5 minutes 41 seconds. - "Driving with Ja'mie" runs for 4 minutes 20 seconds,. - "The King House" runs for 6 minutes 38 seconds. "Behind the Scenes Episode 3" featurette: - "The Party" which runs for 10 minutes 59 seconds. There's a section that features a series of deleted scenes, broken down per episode, these can also be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option, this show features a lot of improvisation and these scenes show off some of those moments: - Episode 1: -- "Prefects Only" runs for 2 minutes 12 seconds. -- "Fatness" runs for 1 minute 13 seconds. -- "Asians" runs for 1 minute 34 seconds. -- "The Africans" runs for 3 minutes 9 seconds. -- "Sleepover" runs for 2 minutes 15 seconds. -- "Hotness" runs for 1 minute 7 seconds. -- "Being Prefects" runs for 1 minute 22 seconds. -- "Being Nice" runs for 1 minute 24 seconds. -- "Painting" runs for 3 minutes 16 seconds. -- "Rowing" runs for 2 minutes 50 seconds. - Episode 2: -- "HSC Dance" runs for 2 minutes 28 seconds. -- "Getting into Uni" runs for 1 minute 30 seconds. -- "Coaching Courtney" runs for 1 minute 54 seconds. -- "Guy Advice" runs for 1 minute 45 seconds. -- "Mitchell Date" runs for 1 minute 37 seconds. -- "Pre-Drinks" runs for 4 minutes 25 seconds. - Episode 3: -- "Kwami's Dance" runs for 49 seconds. -- "Kwami's Makeover" runs for 45 seconds. -- "Party Prep" runs for 2 minutes 11 seconds. -- "Security Briefing" runs for 1 minute 22 seconds. The disc includes a single bonus trailer for: - "HBO" spot which runs for 3 minutes 27 seconds. DISC TWO: The second disc also includes more the same, again playable individually or with a 'play all' option, "Behind the Scenes Episode 4" featurette: - "The Fight" which runs for 3 minutes 58 seconds. "Behind the Scenes Episode 5" featurette: - "Muck Up Day" which runs for 7 minutes 2 seconds. "Behind the Scenes Episode 6" featurettes: - "Presentation Day" which runs for 4 minutes 43 seconds. - "The Finale" which runs for 3 minutes 18 seconds. - "Blaxland College" which runs for 7 minutes 48 seconds. - "The Prefects Reflect" which runs for 7 minutes 41 seconds. Another collection of deleted scenes playable individually or with a 'play all' option and broken down per episode: - Episode 4: -- "New Boyfriend" runs for 1 minute 31 seconds. -- "Totem Tennis" runs for 1 minute 15 seconds. -- "Waxing Mitchell" runs for 1 minute 47 seconds. -- "Gym Session" runs for 2 minutes 4 seconds. -- "Wedding Plans" runs for 59 seconds. -- "Scary Movie" runs for 3 minutes 23 seconds. -- "Skyping Mitchell" runs for 6 minutes 6 seconds. -- "Kwami Hugs" runs for 2 minutes 47 seconds. -- "Self Harm" runs for 48 seconds. -- "Learning to be Me" runs for 2 minutes 28 seconds. - Episode 5: -- "Sisters Busted" runs for 1 minute 45 seconds. -- "Muck Up Tears" runs for 1 minutes 35 seconds. -- "Medal Threat" runs for 4 minutes 6 seconds. - Episode 6: -- "Mitchell Vs. Kwami" runs for 3 minutes 21 seconds. -- "Presentation Day Rant" runs for 54 seconds. -- "Goodbye Ja'mie" runs for 2 minutes 17 seconds. -- "Blaxland Friends" runs for 2 minutes 15 seconds. -- "Bongo Dance" runs for 1 minute 44 seconds. -- "Lipstick Lesbian" runs for 1 minute 38 seconds. -- "Dating Astrid" runs for 2 minutes 5 seconds. -- "Blaxland Recess" runs for 1 minute 5 seconds. -- "Being Bi" runs for 52 seconds. There is also a bloopers reel that runs for 8 minutes 26 seconds and includes the usual collection of line flubs and missed cues.
Packaging
Packaged in a clear 2-disc keep case.
Overall
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