Nos soirées gâteau-bar

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.

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.

As described by the literal title of this 2023 tearjerker, it's a wafer-thin concept wrapped around a familiar terminal illness story based on a significant chapter in screenwriter Audrey Shulman's own life. Directed in an uneven manner by Trish Sie, the plot focuses on best friends Jane and Corinne, early twenty-somethings who have been close since age seven. Similar to this film's predecessors from 1971's "Brian's Song" to 2022's "Spoiler Alert", the two are total opposites in their approach to life, but they bond even deeper through the inevitable tragedy. The two leads do solid work - Odessa A'zion as the outgoing Corinne and Yara Shahidi as introverted Jane even though her character's awkwardness is laid on awfully thick initially. The emotionalism behind the drama really can't transcend the predictable plot machinations and aggressive tearjerking moments like the concluding karaoke scene. The supporting performances feel marginalized, in particular, Rish Shah as Jane's smitten love interest and an underutilized Bette Midler as Corinne's firebrand boss. Ron Livingston and Martha Kelly manage a few good moments as Corinne's parents. Fans of this familiar film genre will likely enjoy it.

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.

If you are expecting a romance or comedy, this is not the movie for you. But it is a lovely movie of friendship and finding and following your dreams. Good cast. Clever premise. A different take on the coming of age movie that's relevant to today's world. Bring lots and lots and lots of tissues because you will start crying halfway through it and won't necessarily stop crying. Heart wrenchingly lovely-you should be clued in by Bette Midler that you will be getting something more like Beaches. The cakes are fantastic to look at and in the end you'll be satisfied, as long as you realize Corrine is a foil and it's all about Jane.