The Stand In

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.

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.

The movie doesn't suck that much. It's still watchable (cause it's Drew Barrymore, or course), but I'm not really satisfied with it. I thought the genre is comedy, but after I've watched the whole movie, it didn't feel like a comedy. It's more like a drama / thriller. The part where the stand-in started doing illegal stuff, it gave me a mild chilling vibe. It can easily turn into a thriller movie. As a comedy it gave me zero out of 10 stars. As a thriller it gave me 3 out of 10 stars. The only reason I gave it 5 stars is Drew. Actually, she's the only reason I decided to watch this movie.

This was beyond bad from start to finish. Do yourself a favour and do not rent or watch this horror of a movie. Made it through only because we paid for it. It was an embarrassment for Drew Barrymore and we kept asking ourselves, why on earth did she do this movie. It's uncomfortable to watch and not at all funny.