Bares, Bolos e Amizades

Greetings again from the darkness. By coming clean up front, my hope is that forgiveness and understanding is in order, and maybe others will be diverted from the same path I took. Between the film's title, the trailer, and knowing it was based on Audrey Shulman's book and true story, my assumption was that this was going to be a straightforward, good old fashioned chick flick. And although comparisons to BEACHES (1988) are not without merit, director Trish Sie (PITCH PERFECT 3, 2017) serves up additional layers (yes, pun intended).

Jane (Yara Shahidi, "Blackish", Ticker Bell in PETER PAN & WENDY, 2023) and Corinne (Odessa A'zion, HELLRAISER, 2022) are lifelong friends, roommates and polar opposite twenty-somethings. Jane is an introvert who is pleasing her parents by studying for the LSAT in order to become a lawyer. Corinne is an extroverted party girl hoping to move up at the creative agency where she works for a tough boss played by Bette Midler.

Jane is really committed to two things: her friendship with Corinne and baking desserts, especially cakes. Corinne comes up with a strategy to help Jane meet more men. The plan is for Jane to bake 50 cakes over the next year, and the group will take each cake to a different bar to meet new people. They map out the bars geographically by stereotypes of local guys, and hang it on the wall. Corinee calls this "Cake-barring", and Jane reluctantly agrees to participate, and we are along for the ride and an introduction to the beautiful SoCal people. The plan is progressing swimmingly until Corinne is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

Taking care of her friend becomes Jane's focus, going against the preferences of Corinne's parents, a bearded Mr. Fix-it played by Ron Livingston, and a deadpan mom played by Martha Kelly ("Baskets"). Corinne insists that the cake-barring continue, even as her health declines. Jane does find a boyfriend (Rish Shah), and during all of this, learns quite a lot about herself.

Cancer plays a more substantial role than the trailer would lead us to believe, and at the core, this film is about friendship and self-discovery. Corinne remains steadfast with cake-barring because she understands her friend Jane needs to build her confidence in social settings - and her delicious cakes are just the ticket.

Audrey Shulman's book is based on her experiences of a similar year, and though it's not a cookbook, it does contain 35 recipes. Here, director Sie uses very creative counters/chapters to keep us up to speed on the latest flavor, and the film admits to a year of 'hospitals and bars", It's also the first time I recall hearing the phrase "underwear bully", so kudos for that! The additional layers mentioned above are quite satisfying despite some of the unavoidable cliches. It's a pleasure to see grown women in a true friendship built on doing the right thing for the other, and also for themselves.

Releasing exclusively on Prime Video on September 8, 2023.

"Sitting in Bars with Cake" is the strongest of all the Amazon Prime movies I've seen so far. Its intimate focus on the friendship between the two lead characters is beautiful and I think with some stronger acting and filmmaking it could have been great.

The strength of this movie is its nearly complete focus on portraying the lives of the two main characters -- they feel like real developed people and there is genuine growth and emotion by the end of the film.

However it is held back from elevating to the likes of "Dallas Buyer's Club" by some technical factors, including -- the movie's lighting in half the scenes is far too dark and it is difficult to see what's going on, the audio seems to get garbled and the dialogue approaches Nolan levels of inaudible at times, and while Yara Shahidi did a serviceable job a stronger actress could have brought more out of the relationship (this is on full display whenever Ron Livingston and Martha Kelly are on screen as they elevate every scene they're in).

I'm between a 6 and 7 on this -- overall it is a good movie and great story that could have achieved even more if they had just ironed out a few small kinks.

Knowing nothing about this movie going in, the first 20 minutes sets up like it's going to be a romantic comedy. Introvert learns how to be outgoing and gains the confidence to talk to the guy she has a crush on. What you get instead is something much more poignant and, at times, tough to watch. The whole second half of the movie is pretty sad, with just a few moments of much-needed levity from Corinne's parents. It's not a great movie, but it's hard not to get caught up in the story and feel something by the end. It did make me want to bake a cake or two. And I love the idea of the two Billies tour. Let's make that happen.

Shy Jane (Yara Shahidi) and outgoing Corinne (Odessa A'zion) are longtime best friends living together in L. A. Jane likes to bake cakes and brings one to a club. Corinne suggests keep making cakes for their club nights. There is a dark life turn.

The cake premise is silly. I get that it's a true story. It's silly as preparation for this dark turn. Jane needs to be more shy and nerdy. Corinne is bringing her out of her shell. The movie should steer harder into that premise. Yara Shahidi is too self-assured. She's a cool chick. Her persona is far from Jane. The movie needs to try harder or pick another actress. Once the dark turn happens, It's sappy to the core and that's great. It should wallow in the sappiness. I'm happy with the second half.

It's so fitting that Bette Midler appears in this movie as it does have strong Beaches vibes. I love her role as boss lady with a big heart. But the real gems are the two leads who play best friends. We see their highs and lows, their wrestling with the decisions in young adult life, but also their complete sacrificial love for one another as the movie progresses. Another thing I loved was that both girls had strong parental support (imperfect, but definitely loving and supportive). It's rare these days to have main characters with parents still married. Love that. You get really drawn into loving both female leads. I loved the ending, which I don't often say with movies. It felt right and good. This is sweet. Sad, yes, but so sweet and endearing. It will stick with you.