Standby (2014) Reviews

• Rather Charming Irish Rom Com

  t-dooley-69-3869162015-05-21

  Alan is at a bit of a low point in his life. He was jilted at the altar, he works in Tourist Information at Dublin Airport – with his mum - and he still lives with his divorced father. He is in a band that is so unsuccessful that they are considering giving up music altogether and just being a Weddings band. Then on Valentine's Day a beautiful American rocks up to his desk looking for a hotel as her flight to the Big Apple has been held up and she is now on a stand by for the next flight home. He has always held a soft spot for her and so chances his arm and invites her out for a 'night to remember' in the fair city of Dublin. Now this ticks all the boxes in terms of plot ingredients and we have a very inclusive night of entertainment with as much thrown into the mix as is humanly possible- to say what that is though would spoil all the surprises. There are quite a few laughs here but some are a tad too bleedin' obvious and haters of stereo types will point at the far too many on show here making this a bit of a cliché central. However, it is still a really nice film and Brian Gleeson (son of Brendan) is really likable as the down at luck Alan. His muse in the shape of Jessica Pare ('Mad Men') is both enchanting and vulnerable in equal measure. I really like Dublin and as a backdrop it works really well, but this keeps itself firmly in the realm of rom com, so if you like that you will not be disappointed; if you yearn for gritty realism and despise clichés then do not even consider this one – I for one quite enjoyed it.

• A jewel of a film

  diegotarabilla2019-03-27

  I find this movie might have been underrated. Perhaps critics sometimes confuse simplicity and fidelity to the purposes of a genre, with limitations. A genre, in this case romantic, is necessarily limited in its scope and predictable; but those are not shortcomings, but merits of a genre, as classic tragedies and comedies show. To me it was a very good romantic movie, neat, elegant and charming. Classic. I watched it twice and the second time I enjoyed it even more; to me is a good sign that the film will stand the pass of time very well.

• Cheesy, Clichéd and Unrealistic

  daveymitchell2014-11-26

  I had high hopes for this movie as the trailer had potential but alas I'm smiling at how bad this movie was put together as a whole. Don't get me wrong I love a bit of cheesiness but this movie, I just couldn't buy. First of all, the two romantic leads are not very believable as a couple, a bit hard to put them together lets just say. Some of the airport settings do not exist in the airport, and the way the airline is portrayed as is hilariously bad. The continuity is all over the place for where Alan and his Dad live. Alice is for some reason in Dublin and stuck on 'standby' for a flight to New York, who just so happens to not get on her flight so spends the night with Alan. They must of started their night at 5 pm drinking as they ended up getting a kebab in Zaytoon's after going for a meal, a drink, a bike ride, a rooftop view, a wedding reception, a gay night, then a house party. They of course just happen to end up in bed together and are running late for her flight that she is in not such of a rush to catch. Of course you can guess what happens in the end. Shows Dublin in a pretty light but thats about all this has going for it. Wait for the DVD.....and then only if you're bored...and female.

• Hathaway & McGregor; Before Sunrise; Festivity. But one thing—Live-in-the-Moment Ending Was a Rush.

  hamass-mujadid2015-06-21

  In the name of Xenia (that's personal,) I now move forward with it. R&R, with a rather frisky direction, take a mediocre idea, but with grip, in the most essential elements—the "feel" and "relation"—making Standby a rather strange piece to like. They might have tried to imitate some similar examples of the same genres, but instead, ended up with an original of their own. And from directors who don't even have their images on IMDb, I think this was a rather admirable attempt by both, and by the writer (he's currently bad at luck too.) Standby delivers a love story with a colloquial interface, much like done by Linklater every nine years with Hawke & Delpy. Here, it were Jessica Pare (Alice & Anne Hathaway) and Brian Gleeson (Alan & Evan McGregor) roaming around the streets of Dublin with apparent indications of "I'll give you a great time whenever you'll come to Ireland" but frequent crossovers of past and emotions would intervene and spoil the moment, but sometimes, that would give them even more edge to be honest and even closer. Spoilers include Alice's boyfriend back in America, their eight-year old twenty-something stupidity, Alan's hatred of Lonnie Donegan (I stand with him—he IS a bloke,) and Alan's divorced father (whom he lives with at the visually stinky apartment) and mother (whom he works with at Tourist Information of "toilet inquiries,") all of which makes him a "grand bloke" in the eyes of most. And then there's Beatrice, the physically attractive, yet overly-open character, who takes a blink of an eye to fall for someone, doesn't care about anyone and speaks what she feels in the highly erotic accent. Beatrice makes Alan feel the worst; with her bold utterances, Alan practically feels like sh*t. Yet with all the non-sense and depression, Alan finds hope and happiness through the words of a reservation officer—"Yeah. Life's short. Why not?" And thus begins his venture to give Alice the time of her life. The initial definitive goes in vain as chronology progresses, as both of them fail to keep them to themselves. While this idea (like at the wedding to Viagra-taker 60+ romanticize(rs) , as whole, is a mundane and mainstream romantic concept, the colloquialism of both characters, along with brilliant characterization of all supplementary roles, filled the gaps brilliantly. From Jack O' Diamonds to hipster, from "where's the ATM machine" to divorced men's support group, and from everything else to anything else, Standby didn't fail to amuse. The jokes and the blokes were all GRAND, so to say. And the night's progression consistently reverberated of Before Sunrise, Begin Again and virtually all convivial movies with a certain level of soberness and decency. Standby didn't try to overdo itself, which most movies with low budget and good plot tend to do. For example, One Day stars one of my finest actresses of all time (Anne Hathaway) but the movie sucked big time; the whole idea of showing whereabouts and how-about(s) was lame from the very start, so was Hathaway's British accent (I'm sorry Xenia.) This one, while starring the infamous doppelganger of Anne Hathaway (Jessica Pare,) has profoundly surprised me (in a good way, of course.) But like most low-budget, low-hanging dramas, and especially comical reflections, Standby fails to strongly defy the logic behind all proceedings. Sure, it had a captivating effect for most of the time, and even its ending compelled audiences to forsake the very notion of logic and go with the way Standby's delivering it. But somewhere along the way, that resilient force strikes itself down, and you're left in isolation trying to find the reasoning of it all, but you can't, because there was no reasoning. For whatever and however things might be and go, CBA is the Superman behind every practical decision. Sure, the Valentine's Day and a young, cheerful couple intrinsically conciliating is a striking thought for couples paying to watch it in the cinema, but all rational audiences should have had the audacity to at least criticize it—coincident and incidents make accidents—in their minds. Alice gets the cellphone, and the cellphone had the video, ready to be played, rather than the home screen, which Alice found it more comfortable and sensible to play than to get to the plane, for it was the "final call" after all. But even when they found themselves at an Indian restaurant when earlier, they couldn't get a taxi after fleeing from a rave party, which evidences R&R&PR's lack of professionalism and sharp eye for flaws and goofs, Standby strived, and successfully indeed to cater for love guys' expectations (well, certainly mine) of what a couple must do on a Valentine's Day. As for the verdict, Standby manages to keep everyone intact until the very end, but after the end, the stance is rather ambivalent. Comically, romantically, and ordinarily, it suffices, quite brilliantly in fact. But logically, sensibly, and rationally, it still has a lot of ground to cover, but, all this vanishes away quite happily when you see who worked on the movie. If it were Woody Allen, John Carney, Linklater, or Richard Curtis, this might only have been an average, with the exception of Allen, where it would have been a straight "2." But R&R&PR have shown their potential in this one, like Carney did in Once, and I really hope they work on themselves to reveal some even better conceptualities of their imagination.