The Understudy

Actress Marin Ireland is well known in US theatre, but here she holds her own on the big screen as the central character Rebecca who's seemingly resigned to her acting career never quite getting off the ground. This story of the highs and lows of being an understudy will ring true for all performers, and will give an insight into the nightmare of life trying to get a showbiz break for everyone else. Rebecca's situation is tragically funny as she deals with the rejection both at auditions and within her family. There are some terrific gags in this, both visually and verbally, with a wonderful contemporary dialogue from the filmmakers that rattles along and makes you feel like you're in the company of real people - kind of handy when the whole thing takes a dark turn but maintains our belief in the story and the characters. With an award winning soundtrack and a terrific and eclectic cast - including Gloria Reuben and Tom Wopat! - this is an excellent indie production that deserves much acclaim.

The Understudy is an allegory that we can all relate to, albeit somewhat uncomfortably; a black comedy that seamlessly transforms wishful thinking into a sort of telekinetic mayhem and turns Norman Vincent Peale's "power of positive thinking" on its head. Marin Ireland as Rebecca is a revelation. Her supporting cast is stellar. With the certain critical success of The Understudy, I hope we hear from co-directors Connolly and Davis again and again. One only hopes that the more established and perhaps undeserving directors in their path don't suffer the same fate as those unfortunates that Rebecca sought to supplant and that stood in the way of her ambitions. But, then again, some do deserve such a fate, if only in one's imagination.

Andrew Malekoff, Long Beach, New York