Fleeting fame is the made-to-order special in “Fake Stacy”, with the story of Claire (Meagan Mangum) who was a major one-hit wonder on television with the show “Two of a Mind”, which had her in a double role as twin sisters in a prep school, who were far from twins in appearance. One was the sexy blonde, who was well liked by the student body, and the other was bookish, very inward in her appearance with mousy hair and not too concerned about her heavily dark lipstick.
This story is introduced to us first at a coffee shop as she passes by a patron who looks at her and then into the camera, and begins the story of who Claire is. The girl behind the counter, as she is putting Claire’s tip into a plastic bag (apparently whatever Claire touches is still valuable, as this happens a second time later on), continues the story and Larry King even gets into the act in a brief cameo, with a piece of the puzzle that’s Claire.
As it so happens, Claire didn’t have too much of a teenage life either with the show, what with playing two characters. Switching from one to the other was taxing enough on her, especially with having to batten down the front hatches when it came to playing the bookish sister. The nicest thing anyone did for her came in the form of a guy she slept with, when he wished her a happy birthday.
“Fake Stacy” manages to be amusing with its story of a pop culture icon, who soon disappeared off the radar, and also to be a little creative with its storytelling technique, which may have a slight shade of “Slacker”, in going from one person to the next, but that’s not such a big deal as it helps this well-written short.
