While all this sounds familiar and predictable, there’s a freshness I mentioned at the start that, quite frankly, is refreshing. First, The Stand In is a dark comedy. I’d even remove the “comedy” label and call it a drama. It’s devoid of the sweetness you’d expect from a Drew Barrymore movie, and it works. Both Candy and the stand-in are deeply flawed characters, and the film is continually shifting your loyalties and sympathies between the two.
There’s a moment between Candy and her ex-manager Louis (T.J. Miller) where she is trying to explain that her stand-in has assumed her identity and completely taken over her life. Louis’ response is brilliant in its irony and, at that point, kicked the movie to the next level… again, a refreshing change. Even the romance between Candy, “Candy,” and the carpenter Steve (Michael Zegen) goes into uncharted territories.
“…Barrymore gives new and different performances to stand-out from her typical work.”
The Stand In covers themes of fame, Hollywood phoniness, cancel culture, and plain ol’ falling in love. I don’t want to overstate how good The Stand In is. It’s good, fun to watch, and thankfully predictably unpredictable and deserves a recommendation. It’s hard to pull off comedies, and while the laugh-out-loud moments are scarce, Drew Barrymore gives new and different performances to stand-out from her typical work. If there is a negative, you might be put off at times by how horrible the characters are, but that’s intentional.
Let me end by saying that I actually went on IMDB while watching The Stand In to see if Drew was playing the stand-in. They went as far as to make the stand-in look different enough from Candy and chose not ever to make the two look identical because that’s not the gimmick or point of this story. It’s worth watching for fans, former fans, and non-fans of Drew Barrymore.
"…covers themes of fame, Hollywood phoniness, cancel culture, and plain ol' falling in love."
