Please Stand By

Year: 2017

Actors: Dakota Fanning, Alice Eve, Toni Collette, Jessica Rothe

Duration: 93 min

Wendy (Dakota Fanning) - a brilliant young woman with autism and a fixation on Star Trek - lives a routine life in an Oakland, California group home where she is monitored by her primary caregiver, Scottie (Toni Collette). She spends her time writing a 450-page Star Trek script to enter in Paramount Pictures' screenwriting contest in hopes of winning the $100,000 prize. Wendy is visited by her sister Audrey (Alice Eve), who shows Wendy pictures of her infant daughter, Ruby, and reveals that she is selling their childhood home. Wendy asks Audrey to take her home, arguing that she will be able to buy back the house and help Audrey care for Ruby once she wins the screenwriting contest. Audrey refuses, informing Wendy she isn't capable of caring for a baby. Unfortunately, Wendy has a meltdown and Audrey leaves the group home weeping.After Wendy misses the mail-in date to send her script to Paramount Pictures, she decides to deliver the script herself. She leaves the group home early the next morning and is followed by the group home's small dog, Pete. Wendy and Pete board a bus to Los Angeles, but are kicked off and left by the side of the road after Pete urinates on the bus. Wendy then wanders into a shanty town, where she is robbed of most of her money. She then wanders to a nearby shop and is nearly swindled out of the last of her money by an employee. An elderly woman named Rose (Marla Gibbs) intervenes to stop the employee from exploiting Wendy. Rose sympathizes with Wendy as her grandson also has autism, and lets Wendy accompany her on the senior citizens' bus. The bus driver subsequently falls asleep at the wheel, crashing the bus without warning.Following the bus crash, Wendy wakes up in a hospital in Bakersfield. Still determined to deliver her script as planned, Wendy leaves Pete at the hospital and escapes. During her escape, Wendy loses part of her script by chance. She gathers used paper and begins rewriting the script. Simultaneously, Audrey and Scottie have realized Wendy is missing. They begin to search for her and file a missing persons report. After correctly deducing that Wendy left for Los Angeles to personally deliver her script, Scottie and her son Sam (River Alexander) leave on the road. The Bakersfield hospital notifies Scottie and Audrey of Wendy's whereabouts; police continue the search from there. Scottie and Sam find the missing script pages while scouring the hospital.Wendy then attempts to buy a bus ticket to Los Angeles, but is unable as she has no money. She ultimately stows away on the next bus to Los Angeles, hiding herself inside a baggage compartment. Upon her arrival in Los Angeles, Wendy wanders around until two police officers recognize her from the missing persons report. Fortunately, Officer Frank (Patton Oswalt) gains Wendy's trust by speaking to her in Klingon. The officers bring Wendy to the police station, where she is reunited with Audrey and Scottie. They bring Wendy to Paramount Pictures so she can deliver her script as planned. Wendy runs away from the group home because her sister doesn't trust her being away from Scottie, therefore Audrey refuses to drive Wendy to the post office to drop off her script.Despite being stonewalled by a bad-mannered mailroom worker, Wendy is able to sneak past security and submit the script to the turn-in box. Satisfied that she has completed her mission, Wendy informs her sister she did this to prove that she was more capable than Audrey thought. Wendy returns to the group home where she later receives a letter from Paramount Pictures informing her that her script was not chosen, but encouraging her to continue writing. Despite the rejection from the movie studio, she is satisfied with everything she has accomplished. Wendy visits Audrey at their childhood home and holds her niece in her arms for the first time, while Audrey embraces Wendy.

Genre: Action   Adventure   Comedy   Drama