Loving Out Loud

It’s not senioritis. Cass’s got a bad case of pressure-cooker-life. Pressure: she studies, works as a car mechanic and waitress for the family business, plus babysits her precocious kid sister Rosie. Pressure: she needs to pass chemistry to graduate. So far her D, won’t cut it. Pressure: parents want her to go to college. Pressure: counselor says, “be a prosthetist.” What? “Make limbs for amputees.” Euh. Pressure: her randy boyfriend Bret wants to “give it to her” for her 18th birthday. What’s wrong with her? The sex thing, she just isn’t feelin’ it. SHE WANTS TO FEEL FREE! PLAY DRUMS IN A BAND! Her old school cop father says, “not under my roof.”

Hot dreams of kissing a woman stir Cass’s soul. She breaks up with Brett. Studies her ass off and passes chemistry without his help. Graduates early. Auditions for a struggling, queer rock band named the FEMADDIX. She rocks, she clicks, she’s in, but.

Her father kicks her out. She needs a badass makeover. And the band must shape up or lose their ambitious manager Matt. In three months, they must be ready for a month-long US pride tour. A tall order for this carousing, disorganized band of merry dykes. Dani, the Asian lead singer, is a groupie magnet. Maria, the bassist, and Latinx fashionista, gives Cass her makeover. Sam, the mixed-race lead guitarist, with her heart on ice, resents Cass, having been put in charge of keeping her in line. Cass’s cache of skills helps all of them up their game, eat healthy, exercise, maintain their van, and write music.

First gig, they rock the socks off their audience. Cass can’t believe her eyes when Jules, the woman in her dreams, appears at the show. She’s a jazz musician and takes a shine to Cass. Sam sees sparks fly. “DUDE, THAT’S MATT’S GIRLFRIEND. DON’T FUCK THIS UP FOR US.” But, like a moth to a flame, Cass can’t resist. A long-neglected trophy girlfriend, Jules finds a deep and steadfast love with Cass, who teaches her to cook and makes her hotel suite a home.

As Jules and Cass’s dreams of a life together grow, so does Jules’s belly. Cass learns the truth. Is she still fucking him? No. Does he know? Yes, but he didn’t want to be a father. He wanted her to get rid of it. She couldn’t. Cass proposes marriage, and she’ll quit the band after the tour. Jules is overjoyed.

Sam wrestles the truth out of Cass and is livid about this love affair that could destroy the band. To save themselves, Dani tells Matt. He sends them off on tour immediately, and he whisks Jules away on a kidnap vacation to Hawaii before she can get to city hall to marry Cass. Matt does a 180. He proposes marriage and promises to be the man Jules needs. Torn, Jules grapples hard with her decision. Overhearing that Sony music is scouting the band, she knows she must set Cass free and marry Matt.

On the road, with the help of the band, Cass drags herself through the tour to the New York Pride’s main stage. The throng goes wild for the Femaddix, including the Sony scouts. Backstage, Matt hands out his wedding invitations. Furious, Cass gives him a flurry of knuckle sandwiches.

The next day, Jules calls Cass and expresses undying love, and pushes her to live her dream. Cass’s heart is shattered. Back home, she’s despondent, but the band kicks her off the pity pot and slowly resuscitates her back to life. Bret appears at a Femaddix concert, intent on wooing Cass back. Still longing for Jules, she uses him. Big mistake, he wants more…

Fast forward, the band attends Jules and Matt’s wedding. Jules’s water breaks before the “I do!” Hot to the hospital, Cass meets baby Cheri and asks Jules one last time for her hand, but leaves crushed again.

Band life goes on, and one night after a gig, while loading up the van, Sam’s notebook falls out of her duffle. Cass discovers a love song Sam wrote for her. Busted. Cass confesses she needs Sam, but still nursing a bruised heart, she asks to go slow. Sam cracks a killer smile, suggests lunch and a movie. Ready to leave, the band creeps around the back of the van to see Cass leap into Sam’s arms. The band whoops and cheers. All their tattooed arms entwine in a group hug.