The Stand In

Drew Barrymore plays Candy Black. She started as a carpenter, was called in to work on a movie, and when the actress who was supposed to take a comedy fall didn't show up, Miss Barrymore stepped in, and rose to be the female comedy star of Hollywood, with the stereotypical problems: temperament, substance abuse. When one of her fellow actresses is injured on set, it's all about Miss Barrymore, and she walks off the set. five years later she's living like a recluse in a huge house with a front gate like Paramount, in trouble with the IRS, and under judicial order to go to rehab. Which she is too depressed to do.

Drew Barrymore also plays Paula, who was Candy Black's stand-in, and pretty much a dead ringer. So Miss Black tracks down Paula, has her go to rehab in her place. Now the public is anxious to rehabilitate Candy Black, the studios see profit, but she is not interested. She wants to stay at home and make furniture. So Paul takes her place....and her life.

Although listed as a comedy, it is not one. It is a serious movie with themes about the problems of publicity, and the issues of identity. Miss Barrymore, whose profile is looking a lot like her famous grandfather's, is up to the dual roles. If the issues of the movie are not hers, in her first movie in five years, she is certainly convincing. Unfortunately, the script does not offer much that is original in execution.

Miss Barrymore has a stand-in in this movie, Brooke Carrell. She also has two stunt doubles, Luci Romberg and Heidi Pascoe as the stunt double for "Paula". Why they needed 23 producers (including Miss Barrymore) is a mystery to me.

I enjoyed this film. I almost didn't watch it after reading the reviews but was able to see a few that really explained the genre. I'm glad I gave it a chance. It is definitely a dark comedy/drama with a bit if a twisted thriller in there too. Barrymore was excellent as usual and her creepy stand-in played her part well. This is an odd little film and it is worth watching for those who want to see something interesting with good production.

The story is a bit trite. A few laughs though so not terrible. Barrymore's performance is really very good I'll have to admit. Pity the script wasn't up to it.

Up until the first half of the film, I kept waiting for any comedy scene that might come up. But after the first half I realized that this is definitely not a comedy. Since Drew Barrymore has been known for doing many romantic comedies, I thought this one will be one of them. Even though this idea of switching places have been done before many times, the idea of the film about a movie star with anger management issue, as she steps out of the spotlight and becomes a recluse, is interesting in a way. It's very poorly executed. Mainly it's because it's very hard to sympathize with either characters, Candy black is very mean and foulmouthed, and her stand-in who seemed like a nice person at first, turned out to be an opportunist, who wants to steal her identity and become a movie star herself. I guess the only normal character was Michael Zegen, except the weird story he tells about the Nazi incident !!!! Also in what world is the stand-in supposed to be an exact copy of Candy Black, with her obvious change in her nose, and why does she speaks in this weird tone of voice?? Drew Barrymore is a lovely actress, but this film is very bad on some many levels. What a waste of talent for great supporting actors like T.J. Miller, Ellie Kemper and Holland Taylor. Now that we know it's not a comedy, I wish i could say it's a drama, or a thriller, but it's also not that.

That line delivered in the movie by agent Louis (not even his real name, he adds), portrayed by T. J. Miller, of all the controversial actors, sums up "The Stand In" quite well, and not only regarding the business of making movies. That fakeness permeates the audience, critics, fans and social-media followers, too. The paparazzi aren't harassing stars when they venture outside their fortified mansions for no reason, and it's the same one that encourages fans to look for selfies even when the celebrity is gut-punched and lying on the street. It's why something like "Framing Britney Spears" exists, where fans hypocritically both claim to want to free her and have her be obliged to perform for them and be a continued subject of gossip and harassment, while still others are ostracized by so-called "cancel culture" and put on apology tours of comebacks. Albeit less objectionable, it's the same for movie expectations. Critics claiming they want something different--that subverts their expectations and not just another sequel or formulaic "hit me where it hurts." So, here we have "The Stand In" advertised as a comedy or romance, but it really isn't, and that also mocks the brand of bubbly slapstick and rom-com antics that stars like Drew Barrymore (as well as a supporting cast and cameos from comedic veterans Holland Taylor, Ellie Kemper, Lena Dunham, Richard Kind, Miller and others) are known for, as well as recruiting talk-show hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Kelly Ripa to mock how phony their crafts are, and the movie is widely panned. Maybe there's a reason TV is full of junk and most of the box office, in non-pandemic years at least, is occupied by the MCU and other franchise installments or otherwise safe-and-predictable Disney-type fare. The whole business is fake.

So incisively reflexive is this that I'm rating "The Stand In" higher than I might otherwise for such a considerably flawed picture. I mean, its resolution is ultimately to seclude oneself in a Shaker community--although, granted, it's somewhat amusing that the rom-com aspect of the narrative revolves so much around a Christian sect known for their celibacy (if you haven't heard of Shakers, that's probably why, as one's numbers tend to dwindle without procreation). And, it could've been funny, perhaps, if it hadn't imitated "Single White Female" (1992) instead.

Besides the casting of Miller and maybe others--I'm not hip to all the celebrity scandals--Barrymore and her star persona fits well in the reflexive construction. It would've been more apt had the movie made her character acting royalty, like the real actress is as part of the Barrymore clan and put into films as soon as she could walk, instead of a carpenter, but at least there's the drug abuse and rehab here, which is in line with the art-reflecting-life theme. Supporting the fake and doubled nature of cinematic representation, there's two Barrymores, too. Kind of like "An American Pickle" (2020), but the dual roles aren't a pointless vanity exercise. Actors-playing-actors, inside and outside the films-within-the-film, "reality" and illusion. They reflect the duality and duplicity of cinema itself while also holding up a mirror to the culture surrounding it--the whole fake business. That's clever reflexive filmmaking, so big whoop if it doesn't meet generic expectations of humor and romance. Good, I'll take "The Stand In" over an entire listicle of Barrymore rom-coms any day.