Review: 'Please Stand By' misses the mark in portrayal of autistic woman

Review: ‘Please Stand By’ misses the mark in portrayal of autistic woman

By Katie Walsh

Jan. 25, 2018 12:15 PM PT

“Please Stand By,” directed by Ben Lewin and adapted by Michael Golamco from his one-act play of the same name, stars Dakota Fanning as Wendy, an autistic Bay Area woman on an epic journey to deliver her 462-page “Star Trek” spec script to Paramount Studios in Los Angeles and submit it for a fan contest.

Perhaps it’s the expansion of a one-act play to a feature film, or perhaps it’s simply the casting of a neurotypical person in the role of a character with autism spectrum disorder, but something about “Please Stand By” just doesn’t quite come together.

The plot is a classic adventure tale, as Wendy slips away from her group home in San Francisco to travel to L.A., script in hand, before the contest deadline. Her journey is complicated by disasters and near-misses that strain the suspension of disbelief.

If the purpose of the story is to follow this unique young woman as she’s forced outside of her comfort zone to face her fears, that’s undermined by the contrivances required to keep this misadventure rolling. They demand that Wendy be in some ways impaired, despite how high-functioning she is. It feels like the plot dictates the character, not the other way around.

Fanning commits to a remote and unexpressive performance; as Wendy she speaks stiffly and never makes eye contact. As thorough as it is, it’s inauthentic to deny her character any emotional expression. “Please Stand By” has its surface charms — the always lovely Toni Collette as Wendy’s counselor Scotty; a spectacular performance by a chihuahua playing her dog Pete, Patton Oswalt as a Trekkie LAPD cop — but if you look under the hood, the film just doesn’t work.

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