The Stand In

This satire misfires.

As movies go, The Stand In certainly isn't a headliner. Yet like its title character, the movie and its star get about as much mileage as they can out of this opportunity.

The film's meanders somewhere between comedy-ish and drama-ish, never managing either.

While Barrymore throws herself into her dual roles with enthusiastic aplomb, this is a sluggish, brazenly unlikeable comedy-drama hybrid that's one of the year's more disappointing failures.

What's a bigger offense than a movie wasting away a committed Drew Barrymore performance? That would be a movie wasting away two committed Drew Barrymore performances.

Drew Barrymore plays two roles in "The Stand In" and it's tough to decide which is more intolerable.

The Stand In is an exercise in cinematic soul-sucking banality.

Even Barrymore's boundless charm can't save The Stand In.

It's a feature length revenge fantasy, in which the adoring civilian finally finds out firsthand how exhausting and dehumanizing it is to be a celebrity.

Despite some funny bits, "The Stand In" is more of a drama about those who make comedies, somewhat like Judd Apatow's "Funny People." If you go into it knowing this, it'll take you far less time to plug into it.