Please Stand By

Please Stand By is a 2017 film directed by Ben Lewin. It made it's way to Baltimore's Parkway theater in January 2018. The screenplay is based on the play of the same name. The film, based in Oakland and LA, is a character study of Wendy, a 21 year old autistic young lady living in a group home. She is fixated on Star Trek and ultimately wants to submit a nearly 500 page script to a Star Trek writing competition. When denied the opportunity to mail out her script, Wendy embarks on the journey to hand deliver her script to Universal Studios.

Please Stand By is probably one of the better movie depictions of an autistic individual. That being said, it was generic at times, typical Hollywood, of family ditching the autistic relative into a more understanding environment because of the lack of desire to want to care for the individual. The somewhat predictable script, of the individual in question going on some type of journey of self discovery to prove family wrong, is evoked heavily throughout this film.
It's not uncommon for many films, to add a significant amount of behavioral ticks that make it hard to fully believe or encapsulate a character. Dakota Fanning, who played Wendy managed to embrace and play the role relatively well. I had wondered going into the film if Fanning, a former child star would be able to pick up a role of this nature. I was pleasantly surprised. While she got many of the typical ticks down well: eye contact struggle, the need for routine, inability to process certain emotions, louder more monotone type voice and the struggles with being touched. There were a few inconsistencies with some of the behaviors, but to the basic viewer, these small subtle glitches may go unnoticed. Despite the traditional Hollywood, small budget indie film approach, Please Stand By did bring a well rounded cast together. The story-line did have some novel approaches, with the use of fan fiction and the strong obsessive behavior of an individual on the spectrum. The casting alone should be a good enough reason to see the film, and it's a nice homage to aspiring nerd writers everywhere. Overall, a nice light hearted/feel good movie.