Mic Drop Diva

starring: CAYLA BRADY & CHRIS QUARTUCCIO

Ivy, a talented high-school sophomore with an angelic voice, befriends Vanessa-only to be used and manipulated into being her voice double. When Ivy discovers Vanessa is cheating with her boyfriend, she turns to her childhood best friend, quarterback Blake. Can she reclaim her spotlight?

REVIEW

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Well this was unexpectedly fun.

The whole voice double thing is a good set up, but slightly ruined by the odd auto tune voice used which is apparently the voice of an angel. Thankfully all the music stuff soon gets dropped and more about the characters

And this does a great job of leaning into the comedy, Ivy not being a pushover but fighting back, lots of smiling yearning from Blake and it's fun

There is a bit of a revenge plot, and Vanessa does totally lose the plot at the end, but we stay on the right side of high stakes without it straying into abuse and melodrama

We have running gags, cute Easter eggs for Quarterback Next Door Fans (moving in together, the villain being called Vanessa) and another super romance at the heart of it

I can't tell you how good @caylatbrady and @chris.quartuccio are when paired together. Especially Chris, when he works with Cayla he just seems so comfortable, so relaxed and it is joyous to watch. And clearly put glasses on Cayla Brady and she is a born comedienne (thinking Dora and My Eyes, My Eyes)

There is always a fear of when a central pairing is repeatedly put together you end up tiring of it, but I can't see that ever being the case here. It would be nice if a future project lets them both out of High School, would love to see them in a different setting. Pirate vertical perhaps? Wild West? Come to the UK and film in Scotland. Let's have them bring running around in tartan in the highlands. Anyway you get my point. They are amazing and here for more

@christineoswald is very very nice but very very mean here as Vanessa. I'm scared. Do love the moment where she finally tips into attempted murder and even her minions think she has gone too far

@_jake_kaufman does a super job as Tyler, his comedy skills when wooing Ivy (the finger air guns) and puppy dog eyes made him almost redeemable. It's got so many layers, confused and brainless guy who gets played heavily by Vanessa.

Everyone is super, it's not perfect, we have yet another pulled open shirt and scrawled words but overall this is a move in a positive direction by @reelshortapp - away from some of the OTT nastiness of the past year. More please.

💖 Top swoonworthy moment:

Ah Hanks & Ryan, Bogart & Bacall and now Quartuccio & Brady. Classic movie pairings. This works because of these two. It's comfort watching, you know you are in safe hands, who will fill your phone screen with warmth, connection and love. I never tire of watching them together - and here we have lots of super moments with a very well done friends to lovers story, that dodges the 'does he like me does he not like me' loop some get stuck in, and instead slowly builds the relationship. And because we are in the hands of pros they can switch between comedy to bickering to chemistry to emotion.

🦹🏼‍♂️ Top villain award:

Oh my goodness Vanessa - we go from manipulating bestie to full on attempted murder. It's full on demented, and there are consequences here (hello prison). Because Christine Oswald is great we do see he spiral as Vanessa gets more and more jealous of Ivy and loses all sense of perspective. And Tyler – ha ha ha! The desperate attempts to woo lvy back are hilarious, and the moment where Ivy calls him out his delusions is magnificent. And because Jakob Kaufman can do really good puppy dog eyes I almost felt bad for Tyler at one point. Almost.

😂 Comedy gold:

So many good moments - Ivy going cross eyed and fainting at seeing Blake naked. Blake and Tyler thinking Ivy needs rescuing and she has taken down the boys locker room with a mop. Also unintentional but the fact Blake turns up in a tux to the talent show, and everyone else is in school uniform or t-shirt & jeans. And that we never speak of the record deal again…

🎺 Unsung hero:

Take a bow Shelby Howes. There is a running gag from him getting hit in the face by the basketball Blake saves Ivy from, getting jumped by the bullies, and popping up throughout the story. I LIVE for details and running gags like this. Thank you!

✍🏼 DETAILS

2026

Available on Reelshort