Please Stand By (2018)

What makes it different from others?

Let's be realistic.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

If you're not a Star Trek fan, don't be put off, it's a minor sub plot. Great film which shows some of the struggles autistic people suffer everyday but with a lighthearted take. Worth the watch!

I could not help giving this movie a 10/10. As a mother with a son with autism this movie gave me so much hope for the future not only for my son yet for my niece who also has autism. It's about time that Autism is brought to light to the mainstream public since most don't understand it or don't even know about it. Dakota Fanning nailed the part of Wendy & her autism. The not making eye contact, looking at pictures of people to put faces to moods. I went through that with my son yet at a much younger age (he's 23 now & still struggles). Not only watching Wendy have a job gives me hope for my son & niece since neither of them are as high in the autism spectrum as the character Wendy. Every autistic child/adult normally has (at least) one thing that they are exceptionally good at. In fact autistic children will score genius on I.Q. tests. While Wendy's is Star Trek & writing, my so excells with computers & also with computer games, & my niece is already a prodigy when it comes to graphic novel art, & drawing characters on a computer at the age of 12. Her Dad just graduated in the field of graphic design for computer games so he gave her all of his school equipment that he used & she's almost surpassed him without any education instruction. This movie shows an array of not just the difficulties with living with autism yet how far some might be willing to go out of their comfort zone to achieve their dream.

Although institutionalization was shown as a very intimate & positive environment, which is a positive, in many cases it's not so homey and in fact even in small family placement the adopting family can be in it mostly for the large amount of money allocated for care each month. Anyway, enjoyable story. Acting was good all around although autistic portrayal a bit too cinematic. Would have been interesting to have Elle Fanning aged to play the role of the elder sister. Odd closing scenes where Wendy's (Dakota) chihuahua, Pete (which he performed skillfully), was able to find his way home not to Wendy's home institution, but to her sister's house. Also, that the house had an unexplained "For Sale" sign in the yard.

If you're watching this movie just because the girl is autistic you're an awful human being, instead of making something based of something real they just create this movie to pretend that these things could really happen and maybe it could happen but it's just a fantasy, maybe a dream.