"CHA!" movie pics

When I was in Utah a few weeks ago, we sat down as a family and watched some old home movies. We happened to come across one that I made probably in 1998, with my high-school friends Julie and Heidi. The movie is probably about 20 minutes long. We named the movie "CHA!" after the Vancome Lady on MAD TV (who would say, "Tcha, you know what, uh-uh!").

The premise of the movie is that two unpopular, nerdy girls (who play "Hi Ho Cherry-O" for fun) walk into a magical closet and emerge as beautiful and popular girls. Julie and I played these girls.  

As soon as Julie emerged from the closet, a boy called her on the phone (to emphasize her popularity and desirability!). (Actually, it's funny because every time a character becomes popular, the phone rings and a boy is calling. This was funny to watch, because the boys who are on the line are always the names of the boys that we actually liked at the time.)

My line: "I need to go into the closet too. I want to be popular like Julie." 

As soon as we both become popular, Julie and I did a Michael Jackson dance (that Julie choreographed!) to "The Way You Make Me Feel"

After we became popular, Julie and I decided to throw a party. However, our nerdy friends Tootsie and Flootsie (played by my sister V and her friend Patricia) tried to crash our party and we had to get rid of them.  

After we got rid of the party, our popular friends (also played by V and Patricia) came over. 

Heidi played a mystical goddess who appeared to me and Julie. This is where the "Cha..." line to comes into the film. Heidi reprimands the popular girls for their mean behavior toward their nerdy friends. 

Julie and I resolve to be nice to the unpopular girls... 

...including Heidi, who came skipping down the road toward us. 

Heidi asks if we want to do some coloring in her coloring book (a nerdy activity!)... 

Julie and I decide to be kind to Heidi and stay friends with her. We pull her out of a tree (she is saying "Where's Heidi?" like the character Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape) and decide to invite her to visit the magical closet.

And we all have become beautiful and popular, thanks to the CHA! closet. We end the movie by saying, "And we owe it all to CHA!"

It was fun to watch this movie so many years later, especially since I don't get to see Heidi and Julie very often. My family got a kick out of it, and we also noticed that a lot of my mom's clothes and accessories (like the bag Heidi carries) were used for the nerdy characters (although the Hawaiian shirt that I wore was mine). The yellow, polyester, faux-patchwork quilt shirt that Julie wears in the first scene is one shirt that particularly reminds me of my mom. I think this old shirt was thrown out a few years ago, so I'm glad that we have it captured on film.