Cheap Stand-Ins (DVD) (Harvey Keith (II)) Price

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Customer Reviews of Stand-Ins

"Stand-In's" stink!
Stagy, contrived and utterly pretentious production about famous 30's actress stand-ins who congregate at a drearily elegant bar, their only thing in common being the same profession. These women are an assortment of the disillusioned and the daydreamy, or a combination of both, encountering difficulty knowing who they are since they're always "standing in somebody's shadow" and sometimes are in danger of losing their identity as they take on the persona of their famous counterparts. The only non stand-in is bartender Jack Turner (Costas Mandylor), an aspiring dancer who spends most of his time breaking into twirls like a human top, and gazing in the mirror as he runs his fingers through his hair. The rest of the gang consists of Daphne Zuniga as Shirley, Garbo's stand-in, Monica (Jordan Ladd) for Bette Davis, Peggy (Charlotte Chatton) for Mae West, Rhonda (Missy Gordon) for Dietrich, and Martha-Anne (Sammi Davis) doubles for Harlow. Talk about crackpot casting! None of these actresses bears the slightest resemblance to her famous counterpart, a fact which is hard to overlook--except perhaps Davis, but unfortunately she looks more like a drag queen parody of the Platinum Blonde! The movie opens dramatically with a grainy B&W apocraphal recreation of the tragically true event of failed starlet Peg Entwistle's sensationalized suicide off the HOLLYWOOD sign in 1932. Fast forward to 1937, when the stand-in's wait for Martha-Anne to show up for her 32nd birthday party. While waiting, junkie Shirley shoots up some dope, then engages in a spirited tiff with Monica as to who deserved the 1935 Oscar more (Garbo or Davis?) and taking it personally as if they were those stars themselves instead of just their stand-ins, and Peggy relates a pathetic tale of how proud she was to sign autographs when taken for Mae West. The rest of the time they spend dancing, engaging in industry gossip and insulting one another. To show how creative and artistic (wacky in my view) these characters are, the script has them blurting verses from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" as well as inane poems throughout the film. Then Rhonda shows up with the weirdly named Taffy, Rita Hayworth's 19-year old stand-in. Katherine Heigl plays her and ends up stealing the show with her subtle internalized characterization consisitng of scheming determination and lost vulnerability, and though she's too babyfaced and wholesome to be a deadringer for the sultry star, she bears an effective resemblance and in some lighting and camera angles looks uncannily like Hayworth.

When Martha-Anne finally arrives for her party she steps in the bar just as Harlow's death is announced on the radio, and her distraught emotional state is further rattled by Taffy's devious plans to backstab Martha-Anne so she can become Harlow's double in the actress' unfinished picture, which she hopes will get her some publicity and notice. By underestimating Martha-Anne's anger over using Harlow's death as a golden opportunity and stepping stone as well as her love and devotion for her dead "boss," this turns out to be a fatal move for Taffy, a duplicitous character but ultimately sympathetic since there are tragic filial motivations for her desperate need to succeed and not become another Peg Entwistle. Besides the stagey feel, miscasting, and uninspiring dialogue, the other big drawbacks for the chronologically, historically correct are these--Martha-Anne first hears of Harlow's illness and death on the radio after she's just finished doubling for the "healthy" star, but in reality Harlow was gravely ill days before her eventual death and Martha-Anne thus would have been in professional "limbo" during this time. The other drawback is including Hayworth as a 30's star--while she was acting at the time, she was just a starlet and didn't become a full-fledged star until the 40's, therefore a lowly contract player wouldn't have rated a stand-in. I'm not trying to be nitpicky here, but these things are distractingly obvious to any classic film buff and the writers' should know better, but I'm afraid they counted too much on the audiences' ignorance.

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Thoroughly entertaining, superbly produced, memorable film.
Stand-Ins is about six young women, each of whom is a 1937 era Hollywood studio employee who, because of their physical resemblance, takes the place of a famous actress (Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, Mae West, Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow) and "stands in" on the film set when directors want to check lighting, camera angels, etc. and don't wish to tire out their stars for such mundane technical production steps in the making of their movies. The setting is a local bar where the six women gather together with the bar tender to celebrate the birthday of a seventh member of their little club of fellow stand-ins. Fascinating character developments with startlingly and intimate revelations throughout the afternoon, a sudden and surprising crisis, all are backgrounded with informative behind-the-scenes movie making insights. Stand-Ins is thoroughly entertaining, superbly produced, memorable enacted film that will enhance any community library video movie collection.

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Must stop drooling now....
Worth watching for no other reason than for Katherine Heigl !