"The Stand In" tries everything and face plants

The Stand In (2020)

The gimmick behind “The Stand In” is having Drew Barrymore in dual roles (and, for what it’s worth, a cameo-sized third one). Unfortunately, seeing Barrymore twice (or thrice) does not make this high-concept life-swap comedy doubly funny, charming, life-affirming, or whatever its goal was supposed to be. Working from a script by Sam Bain (2019’s “Corporate Animals”) that wants to be many things, director Jamie Babbit (2015’s “Addicted to Fresno”) gets to try out a farce, a satire, a dark comedy, and even a romantic comedy without ever landing the tonal tightrope this uneven movie needed to walk. For every different movie it tries to be, “The Stand In” feels like a wasted opportunity any way you slice it.

Candy Black (Drew Barrymore) is a beloved comedy star whose claim to fame is falling down and face-planting in a movie and uttering her signature catchphrase, “Hit me where it hurts!” Off-camera, Candy is angry, self-loathing, and addicted to drugs and alcohol. Following a violent incident with a fellow actor (Ellie Kemper) and an on-set meltdown that went viral and ended her career, she becomes a recluse, never to leave her White House-sized mansion in Long Island. Five years later, Candy is a frumpy mess who has taken up her true passion for carpentry, as well as a penpal relationship with fellow furniture-making boyfriend Steve (Michael Zegen). Candy’s former longtime stand-in Paula (also Drew Barrymore) hasn’t been doing well in the interim, either, receiving little work and living in her car. When Paula pays Candy a visit, she agrees to take Candy’s place for a rehab stint so Candy can keep her relationship with Steve going. Once “Candy” completes her 90 days, Paula begins getting a lot of publicity and requests to make late-night show appearances to make her comeback as “a whole new Candy Black” and go on an apology tour. She’s strangely easier to work with, but her agent (T.J. Miller) doesn’t care if she isn’t the real Candy. Paula loves the selfie-grabbing attention so much that she tries to hide Candy away and forge a relationship with Steve. 

The biggest compliment to be paid to “The Stand In” is that the messy result doesn’t turn out to be as terrible as the time when Drew Barrymore’s buddy Adam Sandler played twins in “Jack and Jill.” This script at least attempts to be more than just a dumb farce with a whiff of Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” where Sandler poked fun at a career of making lame yet popular comedies. Back on screen since 2015's underseen "Miss You Already," Barrymore can be a charming performer, and she is game for this, too, but there’s no rooting for Candy or Paula (with a bigger nose, a slightly nasally voice, and a much more well-meaning attitude). Candy is at least taking back her life after spending most of it in the spotlight, but she is never seen as likable, just self-loathing and grating. On the other hand, Paula (who has always felt like a “coat stand”) comes off sweet and sympathetic, but once the trading-places deal kicks in, Paula becomes more than duplicitous and selfish. Not only does she catfish Steve, but she drugs Candy and dumps her limp body in the backyard into a pile of leaves. 

Even by the metric of a mistaken-identity farce, “The Stand In” is strained, exhaustingly convoluted, and not very funny. If this is an industry satire of lowest-common-denominator slapstick comedies, it’s all too easy. If it’s a cautionary tale about the disillusionment of being a celebrity and the Hollywood machine chewing you up and spitting you out, it isn't smart enough. There are plenty of TV-host faces that show up, like Jimmy Fallon, Andy Cohen, Kelly Rippa, and Savannah Guthrie, but a dizzying supporting cast also goes underutilized, including the likes of Holland Taylor, Ellie Kemper, Andrew Rannells, Lena Dunham, Michelle Buteau, Richard Kind, and Charlie Barnett. If “The Stand In” were as lame as the pratfall-heavy comedies on which Candy Black made her name, it could be written off and forgotten. Instead, “The Stand In” is a different kind of mediocrity in that it could have been so much more but face plants every time and ends with a big ol' shrug.

Grade: C -

Saban Films is releasing “The Stand-In” (101 min.) in select theaters, on demand, and digital on December 11, 2020.