My Review of "The Stand In"

The Stand In came out very quietly in 2020. I haven't heard of the movie until it became available for stream on Netflix. What I thought would be a predictable movie ended up as... a predictable movie. At least it has some interesting messages throughout the movie. Not everyone will like this type of humor but I think I understood what they were trying to get at.

The movie starts out innocently enough. There's this actress named Candy Black and she's at the height of her career. While making a movie she seems to be going through some sort of narcotic binge in her trailer. Everyone on set is waiting for her to show up but she doesn't want to come out and do the movie.

Meanwhile her stand in by the name of Paula is being pushed around on set. Paula looks remarkably similar to Candy but has none of the self confidence. Unfortunately for Paula, her well being really depends on Candy. If Candy doesn't work then she doesn't get any work as a stand in for Candy.

Out of desperation Paula coaxes Candy to come on stage to finish her scene. Unfortunately there was a mishap on set that causes Candy to go berserk. This act of outrage pretty much ends the career for Candy as she doesn't want to continue to act anymore. She's been doing it for 20 years and decided enough was enough.

5 years later Paula is still looking for work as she can't really be a stand in for anyone else but Candy. She's out of work and in desperate need of some income. Luckily for her this is probably where Candy is at her lowest moment. Candy had become broke from her drug use and is required to go to rehab.

Candy suddenly got the great idea to call her old stand in to go to rehab for her. They looked very similar so why not? Desperate for the money Paula agrees. In rehab, Paula meets some of Candy's old associates. They really want Candy back in the film industry and Paula knows that Candy doesn't want to go back.

When Paula finally gets out of rehab she tries to get some compensation for her effort. Sadly, Candy no longer has any money. Instead the two make an arrangement where Paula would stand in for Candy for appearances. Paula would make half the amount for doing so.

Since Paula has never experienced this type of fame, she gets addicted to it and the movie goes over the top from there. It seems like every character in this movie has some sort of lie that they have hiding from everyone else in the world.

At first I thought this movie was going to be a, "the grass is greener on the other side" type of movie and it sort of is. They do a little more to explain why we believe the grass is greener on the other side and show us how fame can come at an enormous cost.

They explore the entertainment industry and show us some of its faults. Everything is based on the value of what others can make of you. In the end Candy Black is simply a product that is being sold. It didn't really matter who was Candy Black as long as the product could be sold to the masses to make money. A question of Candy's integrity was added to the equation too.

Fame could look like fun but it's a daily grind of extremes. Sometimes we don't realize how much famous people have to do to please the public. There are times when they have to put their integrity aside in order to continue their fame.

They kind of glamorize the life of anonymity but it really depends on the person. I think if anyone has been in the spotlight for 20 years would probably want to live a low key life after a while.

As a black comedy it works pretty well. They have a lot of funny awkward moments where Paula was supposed to pretend to know everything about Candy and had to ad lib in order to get out of her awkward situations. There are also a lot of extreme reactions that were pretty funny. Keep in mind dark comedies are not for everyone. I have watched a lot of dark comedies to understand what they're laughing at. The dark dry humor of awkward and terrifying situations is an acquired taste. I never used to like them but at least now I can appreciate them.

Overall, I thought that there were some fascinating perspectives in this movie. This movie isn't for everyone. The type of humor is again an acquired taste but I did actually understand where they were going with this one so I was on board. I have to give this movie a 6.5 out of 10. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't mind blowing either. If you like dark comedies then you just might have to check this movie out.