The Stand In

The Stand In
Image source: Google

Ratings: 2/5

Duration: 101 Minutes

Original Language: English

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Director: Jamie Babbit

Writer: Sam Bain

Producer: Tom McNulty, Caddy Vanasirikul, Brian O'Shea, Ember Truesdell, Chris Miller

Music: Daniel Wohl

Cinematography: Eric Moynier

Editing: Patrick Colman

Released On: 11 December 2020

Cast: Adrian Martinez, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Barnett, Drew Barrymore, Ellie Kemper, Holland Taylor, Lena Dunham, Michael Zegen, Michelle Buteau, T.J. Miller, Teddy Coluca, Wendy Meredith

Plot: It begins with a few clips that showcase the path to stardom of Cady Black (Drew Barrymore). That opening showreels are styled to look like video clips from an online listicle. Those videos depict a few phenomenal hits like ‘Pippi Bongstocking’ and ‘BMX Blackout’ delivered by Cady Black. One thing common in all those clips is Candy Black, thudding to earth each time finding a new way to deliver her catchphrase, "Hit me where it hurts!"

Like most Hollywood actors, Cady Black is shown to have some serious issues one such being alcoholism.  Struggling with severe alcoholism issues, Candy falls from grace almost overnight after she has a major meltdown on the set of her latest film. She is shown to grotesquely injure a collaborator (Ellie Kemper). And because of that her stand-in Paula (Barrymore’s other role) also loses her job.

Her life is about to derail completely. Followed by this is the sizable tax debt. Given her situation, of being a tax evader and leading the life of a drunken recluse, Black receives a court order to attend mandatory rehab years after this incident. This petrifies Cady and moves the earth from below her feet. She is suddenly brought to the present moment where she tries to find ways to get away from this situation. And eventually, she hits her jackpot.

Paula, her stand-in, that she never noticed before is going to be her biggest savior. Paula is basically her identical twin (as shown in the movie) and who better than her can attend the rehab on Cady’s behalf. Paula agrees to illegally put in the obligatory time on Candy’s behalf with the condition of getting her old job back while freeing up Candy’s schedule.

Meanwhile, Cady continues lounging around her massive mansion. While Paula goes to rehab on Candy’s behalf, the star pursues her ongoing interest in woodworking and her year-long virtual romantic relationship with the shaker-style furniture maker Steve (Michael Zegen) she is met online.

Later on, and very predictably, Paula, who wants to be a proper actor but has been struggling ever since her stand-in work for Candy dried up, finds she quite likes being in the spotlight impersonating Candy.

With Louis' encouragement and the willingness of journalists and onlookers to believe that a leopard can swap spots for stripes, she goes on a media apology tour, prompting a series of fake TV appearances with Meghan McCain, Savannah Guthrie, Jimmy Fallon and Andy Cohen.

She even manages to fool Steve into believing she is Candy.

Will Paula become Cady for the rest of her life? Will Cady get her stardom back? All these questions are revealed in the movie on a later stage.

Review: One will not know where to list down the disappointments when it comes to the movie – The Stand-In. And what is a bigger offence than a movie wasting away not just one but two of Drew Barrymore’s performances. Alas, here comes ‘The Stand-In’, doing exactly that as a well-intentioned but broad and ill-realized showbiz satire, in which the talented performer plays a pair of characters with polar-opposite existences that intertwine in a painfully unfunny fashion.

One could only wonder how this disaster happened despite having an A team as the cast and crew. Conceived by a promising team — director Jamie Babbit, who made a wholehearted contribution to the LGBTQ canon with her 1999 debut ‘But I’m A Cheerleader’ and ‘Four Lions’ scribe Sam Bain — ‘The Stand-In’ poses as a Hollywood send-up with something to say on female rivalry and cost of stardom, only to come out on an end that feels toothless and curiously dated.

Everything about this movie is a big disappointment. The storyline is sour, and the drab dialogues are peppered with bad words intended to make it seem edgy but fail to disguise the absence of wit or imagination. An implausibly watered-down ending that resolves things all too neatly between Paula and Candy doesn’t help the matters either. In that regard, ‘The Stand-In’ never hits nearly as hard as it should. But boy, does its glibness hurt.