Stand-ins

I toughed this one out for 42 minutes, out of a commitment to see if it ever left the bar where three completely obnoxious women were wavering in and out of their respective stupors, reading an inane script the way my big sister would when her after-school friends played actress, with insipid music plinking away in the background, broken only by an occasional and brief flash-somewhere.. This film is only slightly less irritating then a full length feature consisting only of a baby crying in a room with a barking dog.

This is a dreadful, amateurish production, that wastes the talents of some good actresses, but they seem to have received no direction. Another viewer pointed out the inaccuracies, but there's a big one--in 1937, Rita Hayworth was not a star. She had made a few movies under the name Rita Cansino, but was not on the equal plain then with Davis, Garbo, Dietrich, etc. She hit it big in the early forties, especially with Gilda. When I first saw her character in the movie, I thought she was dressed like Katharine Hepburn, which would have been a better choice.

The concept of the movie is a good one, a group of "stand-in's for cinematic legends get together to celebrate the birthday of one of their own, fails to work. On a dramatic level, it's very stagy (mostly because the movie is an adaptation of a stage play.) It's basically another "Boy's in the Band" or "Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean." The script is cliched and over the top-Sammi Davis'[Jean Harlow's stand in] monologue at the end is particularly awful, as was the playwright's decision to make her southern and give her this "Carrie's" mom type of Southern gothic back story. The actors do fairly well with what they are given, and some ineteresting points are made about these women basking vicariously in their star's glory. For example, Greta Garbo and Bette Davis' stand ins duke it out over who's star won an Oscar, and Mae West's stand in tells of pretending to be Mae and signing autographs.

Historically, this film is a mixed bag. The stand ins are made to confront their own career's mortality when the death of a major star occurs (The film is set on June 7, 1937-the day Jean Harlow died.) Unfortunately, the film does not use historical facts to build drama-Jean was actually sick for about 10 days before she died, so her stand in would have been in limbo for all that time waiting for Jean to get better, that would have given the film more dramatic intensity. But Jean's last unfinished film is used to create friction, when Rita Hayworth's new stand in wants to use "Saratoga" to catapult her own budding career. The other major issue with history is the image presented of Jean Harlow...Sammi is impersonating her circa 1932, not circa 1937 (Jean stopped being a "Platinum Blonde" in 1935.) I know that this is nit picking, but they couldn't even get that right. Sammi looks like a tragic drag queen, and sports a terrible Southern accent.

I would only recommend this film to die hard fans of Jean Harlow and Hollywood's golden age. Dramatically and Historically it's of poor quality, but has some value for Harlow fans.

I like the concept of the hollywood stand-ins gathering in one spot. In this case, a bar, for a birthday party. I'm guessing its supposed to be formosa, on santa monica boulevard. Still open today ! It's 1937. The girls are catty, friendly, morose, proud, as they tell their stories. And trade insults. And drop names. And do drugs. While they are drinking things over, one of the stars they stand in for dies. So much talking in one location... it feels like it started as a play. One of katherine heigl's early roles. The guy who plays the bartender is an aussie, and the strange accent he's doing makes it hard to understand him sometimes. I really love the idea of the stand-ins getting together, but the first half is a big yawn... then things really pick up near the end. Directed by harvey keith. Written by ed kelleher. It's okay.

I found this movie very well. The story is original, and becomes very intense. Sammi Davis and Daphne Zuniga made a very great performance. And Harvey Keith has well succeeds in putting to us in the environment of the 30s.

Daphne Zuniga as Shirley, (Greta Garbo stand-in) Sammi Davis as Jean Harlow stand-in Katherine Heigl as Taffy, (Rita Heyworth stand-in) Charlotte Chatton as Peg, (Mae West stand-in) Jordan Ladd as Monica, (Bette Davis stand-in) with also Missy Crider and Costas Mandylor.

I love this movie! Intense!

Great performance! ****