''The Stand In'' is a 2020 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Jamie Babbit Jamie Merill Babbit (born November 16, 1970) is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films ''But I'm a Cheerleader'', ''The Quiet'' and ''Itty Bitty Titty Committee''. She has also directed episodes of television prog ...

, written by

Sam Bain Sam Bain (born 3 August 1971) is a British comedy writer, best known for the Channel 4 sitcom ''Peep Show''. He attended St Paul's School in London before graduating from the University of Manchester, where he met his writing partner Jesse Armst ...

, and starring

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

Michael Zegen Michael Jonathan Zegen (born February 20, 1979) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''Rescue Me (American TV series), Rescue Me'' (2004–2011), ''Boardwalk Empire'' (2011–2014), and ''The Marvelous Mr ...

T.J. Miller Todd Joseph Miller (born June 4, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. In 2008, he made his acting debut in ''Cloverfield'', and from 2010 to 2014, he voiced Tuffnut Thorston in the first two '' How to Train Your Dragon'' films. From 2014 to ...

and

Holland Taylor Holland Virginia Taylor (born January 14, 1943) is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's ''The Practice'' (1998–2003). F ...

. It was released on December 11, 2020.

Plot

Actress Candy Black, was once was a blockbuster comedic star, however, after years of drug abuse and anger issues, she's considered difficult. On one of her movies, ''Entrapment Babys set, she refuses to work until her stand in Paula reveals the director may replace her with

Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, producer, writer, and fashion designer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and tw ...

. During the scene, her co-star Jenna Jones hits her with a solid marble statue instead of a breakaway vase. In a rage, Black shatters an ashtray and a shard hits Jones' eye. The video goes viral, ruining her career. Candy locks herself up in her

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

mansion for five years, while facing many legal issues from her addictions and

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

. Her romantic

pen pal Pen pals (or penpals, pen-pals, penfriends or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of le ...

relationship with Steve Grady, also passionate about Shaker carpentry is her one joy - however, she secretly writes as Cathy Tyler, her actual legal name. In May 2019, she is sentenced to months in rehab, jeopardizing their plan to finally meet. She asks her former manager Louis to find her former stand-in Paula, now a struggling actress living in her car. Inviting Paula to her mansion, Candy asks her to attend rehab for her. She agrees, only if Candy resumes acting, with Paula as her stand-in. In rehab, Paula meets director's assistant Ingrid, who offers her a cameo in a reboot of their former collaboration ''Saddle Up''. Upon release, Paula tells Cathy, but she refuses because filming conflicts with her first date with Steve. Desperate to resume work, Paula, as Steve, messages Cathy, claiming to be married and severing contact. Then as Cathy, attending her first date with Steve, initially planning to break up with him, but quickly falls for and begins dating him. Although the ''Saddle Up'' cameo is still in limbo, Paula convinces Cathy to appear in a series of six-figure talk show apology appearances. This puts Paula in contact with Louis (who doesn't know she's Paula), as well as their new publicist Simon. He asks her on a date and she accepts, but they are interrupted when Paula and Steve spot each other (Steve sees Cathy/Paula was Candy Black after watching her on a television interview). Paula and Steve go back to his apartment and have sex. Several days later, the ''Saddle Up'' offer is a go. Paula drugs Cathy to host another date with Steve at the mansion, dumping her in the backyard. During the date, Steve admits he is actually Larry Cooper from

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, infamous for accidentally peeing on the New Orleans Holocaust Memorial while drunk. Cathy's high drug tolerance results in a quick recovery from being drugged, so she enters the mansion bathroom to vomit. Steve narrowly misses seeing her there before he leaves. Cathy and Paula then have a physical fight, leading to Paula dragging Cathy outside, locking her out, and getting the police to remove the 'crazed stalker'. Cathy seeks help from Louis. However, when he discovers Paula is who's been making Candy Black's comeback, he drops her for Paula. She then applies for a construction job as a carpenter, so she breaks into the mansion to retrieve some certification papers. Steve spots Cathy, and recognizes her voice from the phone. Paula walks in behind him, and the three are in the same room for the first time. Confusion ensues over their respective secret identities, and Cathy realizes Paula sabotaged her relationship with Steve to further their career. Cathy storms out, and Steve dumps Paula to reunite with Cathy. Steve and Cathy go to his townhouse and start building a relationship, while Paula films for the ''Saddle Up'' reboot as Candy Black. Uncomfortable doing the physical gags, Paula begs Cathy to resume working as Candy. She goes downstairs to personally refuse Paula's offer, and after complimenting her

Method acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

skills over the past few months, she gut-punches her for trying to sabotage her and Steve. As Cathy goes inside, a group of teenagers take selfies next to a downed Paula. One year later, Paula is successfully working as Candy Black and dating her publicist Simon. No longer living in her own shadow, Cathy and Steve have a happy, quiet, successful life as woodworkers in a Shaker community with her own business.

Cast

as Paula/Kathy Tyler/Candy Black *

as Steve Grady/Larry Cooper * Charlie Barnett as Simon *

Ellie Kemper Elizabeth Claire Kemper (born May 2, 1980) is an American actress and comedian. She has been nominated for a Critics' Choice Movie Award, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Satellite Awards, and seven Scre ...

as Jenna Jones *

as Barbara Cox *

as Louis *

Andrew Rannells Andrew Scott Rannells (born August 23, 1978) is an American film, stage, television and voice actor. Rannells is best known for originating the role of Elder Kevin Price in the 2011 Broadway musical ''The Book of Mormon'' for which he was nomin ...

as Nico *

Lena Dunham Lena Dunham (, born May 13, 1986) is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is known as the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series ''Girls'' (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations a ...

as Lisa * Adrian Martinez as Reporter Banjo *

Michelle Buteau Michelle Buteau (born July 24, 1977) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, television host, and podcast host. Early life Buteau was born in New Jersey to a Haitian father of partial Lebanese descent and a Jamaican mother of half-French desc ...

as Ingrid *

Richard Kind Richard Bruce Kind (born November 22, 1956) is an American actor and comedian, known for his roles as Dr. Mark Devanow in ''Mad About You'' (1992–1999, 2019), Paul Lassiter in ''Spin City'' (1996–2002), Andy in ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' (2002 ...

as Wes *

Dolly Wells Dorothy Perpetua Wells (born Gatacre; 5 December 1971)Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, vol. III, 2003, pg 3046 is an English actress and writer. She co-wrote and starred in the Sky Living series ''Doll & Em'' (2014–2015) with Emily ...

as Second AD Daisy *

Graham Norton Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), better known by his stage name Graham Norton, is an Irish actor, author, comedian, commentator, and presenter. Well known for his work in the UK, he is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy ...

Bridget Everett Bridget Everett (born April 21, 1972) is an American comedian, actress, singer, writer, and cabaret performer. She has starred in the semi-autobiographical 2022 HBO series '' Somebody Somewhere'', the movie ''Fun Mom Dinner'', and in a one-hour ...

Jimmy Fallon James Thomas Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American comedian, television host, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' and as the host of the late-night talk show ''The Ton ...

Savannah Guthrie Savannah Clark Guthrie (born December 27, 1971) is an American broadcast journalist and attorney. She is a main co-anchor of the NBC News, morning show ''Today'', a position she has held since July 2012. Guthrie joined NBC News in September 2 ...

Meghan McCain Meghan Marguerite McCain (born October 23, 1984) is an American television personality, columnist, and author. She has worked for ABC News, Fox News, and MSNBC. The daughter of politician John McCain and diplomat Cindy McCain, she has been a pub ...

Andy Cohen Andrew Joseph Cohen (born June 2, 1968) is an American radio and television talk show host, producer, and writer. Cohen is the host and executive producer of Bravo's late night talk show, '' Watch What Happens Live!'' He also has a pop culture ...

Giuliana Rancic Giuliana Rancic (; ; born August 17, 1974) is an Italian-American entertainment reporter and television personality. She is a co-anchor of ''E! News'' and resides in Chicago and Los Angeles. Early life Rancic was born in Naples, Italy and immigra ...

, Jason Kennedy,

Kelly Ripa Kelly Ripa (; born October 2, 1970) is an American actress and talk show host. Since 2001, she has been the co-host of the syndicated morning talk show '' Live! with Kelly and Ryan'' in various formats. As an actress, Ripa's best known roles ...

and

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...

as themselves

Production

In February 2018,

joined the cast of the film and served as a producer under her company banner, with

directing from a screenplay by

. In January 2019,

joined the cast of the film. In February 2019, Charlie Barnett,

and

joined the cast of the film.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in January 2019. In February, filming took place in Lexington and

Versailles, Kentucky Versailles () is a home rule-class city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. It lies by road west of Lexington and is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Versailles has a population of 9,316 according to 2017 cen ...

Release

It was scheduled to premiere at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

on April 23, 2020. However, the festival was canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In July 2020,

Saban Films Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment firm based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment, and communications investments. Formed in 2010 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, part of Univision Commun ...

acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on December 11, 2020. It was released on Netflix on April 10, 2021.

Reception

The film received negative reviews from film critics. It holds approval rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on reviews, with an average of . The website's critics consensus reads: "Despite impressively committed work from Drew Barrymore in a dual role, ''The Stand In'' struggles to find the humor in a premise with no shortage of comedic potential." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film holds a rating of 38 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stand-In, The (2020 film) American romantic comedy films Films about actors Films about lookalikes Films directed by Jamie Babbit Films set in country houses Films shot in Kentucky Films shot in New York City Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Flower Films films Saban Films films 2020 romantic comedy films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films