Please Stand By

To be honest, I think I like the main character of this movie more than I like the movie itself, so while I do return to rewatch this movie often, I don't think I ever watch it enough to warrant owning an actual DVD copy of it. Especially since I do navigate some rewatches with a liberal use of scene selection and fast-foward.

I see sporadic reviews of this movie, and the perception of the portrayal of autism in it seems to be both varied and vague. Of the reviewers who do identify themselves as autistic, some criticize this movie in vague terms for "relying on overused stereotypes" and being written/acted by neurotypicals, while others seem to feel adequately represented by it. I do not ever approach "Autism Media" through the lens of wanting to "be represented", though. With an identity like Autism that is explicitly a spectrum that covers a wide array of functioning and traits and experiences, trying to seek out "Perfect Representation" is a sunk-cost game; you are never going to create an autistic character who is capable of representing/reflecting Every individual on the Autism Spectrum - this is impossible. I find it confusing how often we as a community repeat the phrase "If you've met one person with autism, you've met One Person with autism" and still somehow seem to approach every piece of media with an autistic character with the expectation that every autistic person should be able to perfectly relate to this character without exception.

Wendy is autistic, and I personally do not find any flaws in her traits nor her portrayal. There is something to be said about the disappointing trend of Autistic characters in media being portrayed by Neurotypicals, but I don't consider Dakota Fanning's acting to be poor nor offensive - I think she did a well enough job at it. Wendy has a flat affect and tends to speak in a monotone, and I like that the movie portrays her like this. Perhaps I am somewhat a minority, but because I am an autistic person who has both those traits, I don't consider a "flat performance" an outdated or offensive stereotype, it's simply how I exist in my body (and I'll admit to find it hurtful how many other autistic people will mock/deride autistic characters for having these traits). I also don't think that Wendy's autism is ever boiled down to simply "being quirky" by the film, and I think that it did a decent job in creating her character for the script and portraying it on the screen.

That said, I don't know if I like any parts of this movie that aren't specifically Wendy's character LMAO. I find the constant turns the plot takes tend to be convoluted and vaguely confusing just for the sheer number of things that have to go wrong to keep the film on its rails. This movie seems to label itself as a "Comedy" but I'm confused by which parts of the script are meant to be 'funny'. The soundtrack is bewilderingly repetitive and somewhat tonally dissonant in certain scenes. I also don't particularly like any of the supporting cast, and I find it difficult to determine who the film Wants us to identify as "correct" in their opinions.

Wendy is an autistic woman who lives in a group home that is run by a woman named Scottie. Wendy does not like living in this home, and there don't appear to be any attempts made to solve the problems that she has or to improve the quality of life that she experiences living there. She doesn't seem to get along very well with some of her housemates, has a chunk of her daily routine cordoned off for vague "lessons" (the film shows us scenes where Scottie makes Wendy practice several seconds of uninterrupted eye-contact, identifying/mimicking facial expressions, and something called "Names and Places" - I don't know what that entails, but I know Wendy doesn't like it and based off of the former two, I'm inclined to agree with her), and says "I have to eat pizza on Thursdays even if I don't want to. I can't watch TV when I want to. I can't write when I want to." -- her movements throughout her life are extremely restricted and regulated in ways that Wendy does not seem to have any say in. It's also clear that no one in the home are interested in engaging with Wendy in any kind of meaningful way -- her interests are dismissed and undermined and her goals in life seem to be equally ignored.

In particular, the 'inciting incident' for the plot of this movie is caused after Wendy has a meltdown. She had planned to go to the post office that afternoon to turn in her script to ensure it would arrive at the studio by the deadline, but because she is recovering from the upset, she sleeps through the day and misses the working hours of the post office. Wendy has clearly been working on her script for a very long time, talks about submitting it for the contest often, and even asks Scottie to read the script and give her thoughts on it. The people around her should already know When the deadline is (Wendy even has a poster with the contest information hung up on a wall), When Wendy was planning to go to the Post Office, and should have been willing/able to either remind Wendy of it or even deliver the script themselves. Yes, obviously, if the script had been turned in on time, there would be no Plot for this movie to portray, but to me it feels less like a "mistake" and more of a case where no one is willing to engage with Wendy as an individual. If Scottie is dedicated enough to her job to micromanage Wendy's daily schedule in such a restrictive way, she should also have the brain space to give half a shit about Wendy's desires and wants regarding the script she's been working on tirelessly.

Wendy's sister Audrey is equally frustrating to me. I don't consider it an inherent Flaw that Audrey is unwilling to be Wendy's main caretaker -- again, perhaps I am a minority, but I think it is better for someone to be upfront about this than forcing themselves to take on roles they don't want, especially when this can often lead to neglect and abuse, and I think it's merely a fact of life that not everyone is willing or Capable of being a caretaker for a disabled person. The frustration I feel has more to do with Audrey's unwillingness to engage with Wendy as a Person. During Audrey's visit with Wendy, Wendy expresses her desire to leave the group home and move in with Audrey -- Audrey responds to this with belligerence and arguments that escalate to screaming that pushes Wendy into a meltdown, rather than any attempt to understand why Wendy wants this or how they can attempt to find a middleground. I don't think it's a flaw that Audrey does not want to be Wendy's caretaker; I do think it's a flaw that Wendy has been alive for 21 years and Audrey clearly has no interest in understanding nor accommodating her. It shouldn't be expected that Audrey should be willing/capable to take care of Wendy; but it should be expected that she should know how to have even a basic conversation with Wendy and know better than to shout at her, ignore when Wendy asks her to stop talking, and attempt to grab Wendy from behind after she's started having a meltdown.

I have seen some people complain about the fact that Wendy is portrayed as an autistic character living in a group home. I disagree with this. Institutions and Group Homes are a regular fact of life for many autistic and otherwise disabled people, I'd consider it absurd to find the inclusion of a character in those circumstances "offensive". That said, I think it should absolutely be more readily contended with that such institutions often aren't very good places to live -- even when they aren't outright abusive/neglectful, they are often controlling and being constantly surveiled/critiqued can be torturous itself -- and I wish the movie was willing to allow Wendy to be RIGHT when she complains about her living situation. She's 21 years old -- she should be allowed to choose what she wants to eat for dinner and when she gets to watch television, she should be allowed to make decisions and have autonomy in her life. That scene where Wendy has a conversation with an elderly woman and is told "I don't wanna be anybody's burden. People have their own lives, and after a while, those lives don't include you" and then seems to internalize this? Throw that whole thing away; Wendy should not be forced to endure a living situation she is not happy with simply because she cannot live independently; she 100% deserves to have a say in her care, priorities, and daily life. Self-determination is not just for the abled or independent.

Sigh, but I suppose that's enough about this. The movie is kind of contrived and not necessarily very good; but I like Wendy a lot. I like her brash snark and her occasionally short-temper. I love the scene towards the end where she spends a couple of seconds scripting sentences under her breath to herself before turning around to confront another character directly. I like the way she uses the small notebook she keeps around her neck as a way to jot down 'rules' that she learns (such as the fact that you need a Ticket when riding a bus someplace long-distance) and reminders and to-do lists for herself; I also like the array of other comfort object she keeps on her lanyards alongside it. I love the way Wendy finds little technicalities to convince herself to break rules (covering up the 'No Dogs' sign on the bus with her hand as she walks past it so she can pretend she didn't see it, or deciding that since she isn't allowed to leave the group home at night, she'll have to get up at Dawn and leave then -- even looking up the exact time of sunrise). I like the scenes where Wendy hangs out with her fellow employees at the mall -- the way she's allowed to seem outwardly "disinterested" in them without them seeming bothered or demanding more engagement from her, and the way at least some of them seem to genuinely like her and find her interesting to engage with (at the very least, I'm glad someone is willing to engage with her on her interests). I like the precise and particular way she speaks in both her word choice and intonation, and the equally precise way she sometimes moves her body. I love the little glimpses we're allowed to get into the screenplay that she wrote for the contest -- her prose is delightful and the plot points that she mentions all seem like they'd be so interesting and engaging (I wish the film-writers would pony up and write and release a copy of her saga for us to read in real life). I love the way she paces and holds herself when she starts to get overwhelmed (and yes, I even like and relate to the way she hits/holds her head), her use of the echolalic phrase "Please Stand By" to calm herself down, and the way she will recite quotes from both the Star Trek show and her screenplay to herself under her breath. I like how she uses knitting as both a stim, a way to express her interests, and an excuse to avoid eye-contact in conversations (since we see in an early scene that Wendy can easily knit without looking at her work). The way she talks herself through problems and anxities out loud as she tries to find solutions for them is also very resonant.

I suppose there are a few scenes scattered throughout the movie where I do find genuine comedy. Like the scene on the bus to Los Angeles when Wendy's little dog Pete lets her know he has to pee. Wendy gets up to ask the bus driver if there's a restroom, and when she's told it's broken, she turns around to find Pete lifting his leg in the middle of the aisle and sternly shouts "Don't do it, Pete", which is funny enough on its own, but the way she turns to look at him after they are kicked off the bus and flatly tells him "This is what happens when you pee on the bus" is even funnier. Or at the end, when she asks the man in the mail room "Do you know who I am?" and waits patiently for him to finish laughing at her and tell her "No" before replying "Good" and shoving her script through the slot, safe in the knowledge that he won't be able to remove hers from the rest by that point. Also the frank way she responds to the question "Do you enjoy your job?" with "No, it sucks. But at least I get to make Cinnabons" -- almost one-to-one how I answer questions about my job ("No, it sucks. But at least I get to count/sort objects), 10/10.

TL;DR, I love Wendy but I hate the shape of the source material around her. Maybe I really do need to settle down and write some fanfic about her to content myself with the circumstances a little better. But while I'm on the topic of fanfiction; Wendy should have posted her script to a fan forum after she got her verdict from the contest runners. Would have hit top likes/comments in no time at all, I know it.