Please Stand By - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Please Stand By

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Child actors always have a hard time of it when they get into their adult years. Too many times a child actor shines when they are under 18, and can command a great audience, but once they reach the peak of their aging process, they suddenly lose their luster to the general public and fade off into the background where they either take on low budget roles, or quit acting altogether. There are outliers like Neil Patrick Harris, Ron Howard, Natalie Portman, and Drew Barrymore, but a majority of the child stars do follow that original synopsis. Dakota Fanning is a bit of an odd bird in that respect. She was a powerhouse as a child actor, and commanded some MAJOR roles before the age of 15 (her younger sister Elle isn’t doing too badly herself), but once she got into adulthood she faded from the major blockbusters. HOWEVER, that didn’t mean she was going to fade from film altogether, or do direct to video schlock. Instead she has recrafted her brand image into doing heavily powerful dramatic roles such as Please Stand By, as well as interesting TV dramas like her role in The Alienest. In fact, her inclusion into Please Stand By is the main attractant, as her role is the stand out performance, and elevates and otherwise unmemorable film into something rather interesting.

Wendy is an autistic young woman who is forced to live in a group home due to her condition. Her day’s are structured rather heavily, with every minute detail planned out to the letter, so that Wendy is able to live a fairly normal life. She is even able to function as a member of society by working at Cinnabon (yum), and watches Star Trek re-runs at night on TVLand. This acts as the catalyst for the film, as Wendy has been working for months on a script for a Paramount Star Trek contest, where the winner will get $100,000 as the grand prize. With a script of over 400 pages and an intricate plot line, Wendy is ready to turn it in in opes of using the money to allow her to move back in with her sister Audrey (Alice Eve) and live a normal life, when she misses the deadline to mail in the script.

Being that the group home (run by a woman named Scottie...played by Toni Collette...another little wink nod to the Star Trek pulp fiction tone of the movie) is rather loosely run, Wendy decides to pack up a few things and slip out of the home and head on out to L.A. to deliver her script in person. Please Stand By suddenly shifts to a road trip type movie, with Wendy’s soft naivety and innocence counter balanced with a sort of incredibly impressive ingenuity and strength. The girl’s condition and social awkwardness doesn’t stop her in the slightest, as she traverses from San Francisco to Los Angeles, meeting some fascinating people along the way which gives us an insight into the struggles of her life.

Please Stand By is a fascinating film to watch, and made all the more interesting by Dakota Fanning’s nuanced performance as Wendy. One of the biggest appeals of the movie is watching Wendy draw strength from the pulp fiction elements of Star Trek and her TV watching to fuel her trip. There are little winks and nods along the way as well, including the name of her group home administrator (Scottie), and Alice Eve’s inclusion as the sister (Alice Eve played Carol Marcus on Star Trek: Into Darkness). Wendy herself is really the mainstay though, as Fanning plays the young girl with a mixture of strange awkwardness and a sense of sweet determination. Other characters in the movie really shine, but there is a moment with Patton Oswalt as a nerdy Police Officer that really makes him the second best character in the movie.

There’s a few ridiculous moments to the movie, but most people are more than willing to over look those ludicrous moments due to Fanning’s excellent acting. Fannding plays Wendy in such as way that she isn’t a bundle of nervous movement and awkwardness that separates us from the character. Instead she starts out as horrifically unrelatable, but as the film progresses you become more and more intimate with the character. Suddenly doesn’t seem like a mentally ill person, but rather a unique individual with quirks and tics, but also a sense of being a REAL person underneath it all. This becomes the film’s biggest asset, as it allows you to bond with Wendy instead of viewing her as someone in need of help.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language




Video:

Once again, Please Stand By is shot digitally by Aussie cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson (who also did Ben Lewin’s previous film The Sessions), and the results are nothing short of jaw dropping. The digitally shot production is extremely sharp and clean, with brightly saturated primary colors (Wendy’s daily sweater’s are amazingly bright and pop off the screen), with lusciously lit backdrops and a tendency to push whites only in extreme circumstances. Backgrounds are razor sharp, showing every bit of texture on a stone wall, or the dirt and grime under Wendy’s finger nails. Facial details are well defined and accurate skin tones gives us a very impressive look to the film. Blacks are deep and inky, although I did notice some washed out blacks in a few scenes due to the “mildly” boosted white levels. It’s a very clean and sharp looking film from beginning to end and makes for a great looking Blu-ray.






Audio:

Please Stand By comes to Blu-ray with a very nice sounding 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix, and is very much in line with most dramatic films. The surrounds are given a nice amount of material to work with, employing soft music and delicate background sounds to give life the world that Wendy lives in. Little sounds of people humming in the background, or the rush of traffic behind her as she goes to her job, but otherwise, it’s a fairly front heavy film. Dialog and minor sounds of movement and displacement act as the major elements of the track and the movie keeps that typical dramatic front heaviness going throughout the 93 minute runtime. The film’s 5.1 mix isn’t always wild and kinetic, but there are a few moments of boisterous activity that give it a bit of a kick In the pants. The 5.1 mix doesn’t tax your home theater system, but is very well done considering the elements it has to work with and the mix does everything asked of it without complaining








Extras:

• Making of Please Stand By - Featurette
• Cast and Crew Interviews
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Please Stand By is a solid film from Lewin, and while it doesn’t rise to the greatness that was The Sessions, it is a good film that really shines due to letting Dakota Fanning bring Wendy to life for us. She’s mesmerizing to watch, and the inclusion of Star Trek into her mental issues adds a sense of camaraderie and intimacy that makes people of all walks of life feel like they have a sense of commonality with the young woman. Magnolia Pictures’ Blu-ray is very well done in the technical specs, and while the extras are intriguing, they are fairly minimalist as well. All in all, I enjoyed the drama and would definitely recommend checking it out.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Dakota Fanning, Toni Collette, Alice Eve
Directed by: Ben Lewin
Written by: Michael Golamco (Screenplay and Stage Play)
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 93 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: May 1st, 2018

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Check It Out

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will definitely check this one out.

 

[JimShaw]

Good review and afterwards, I ordered and was pleasantly surprised to find it was a very good, enjoyable movie.

Afterwards, I asked my wife what she thought. She said, "I loved it"

So did a number of my neighbors who I loan my movies to