Stand-In Love (2023)

Open your eyes and see what's right in front of you

A classic friends to lovers story. It reminded me of When Harry Met Sally and Harry's final confession that went something like "When I realized I wanted to spend forever with you, I wanted that forever to start right away!" That scene popped into my head as I was watching this cute short movie!

Stand-in Love is a part of an omnibus series (short movies based on true stories) and this one is about Cess and Zia who are the best of friends, confiding in each other, supporting each other, being there for each other. Until one day, Zia asks Cess to pretend to be her girlfriend in order to practice pick up lines. Cess is happy to go along with the pretense until an off the cuff remark by her friends makes her realize she has developed feelings beyond simple friendship for Zia. That scares her and she bolts away. But one day she hears Cess is dating a girl and that gets her in the panic mode and she accepts that she really loves and cherishes Zia.

I loved the story. It was nothing very original but the actresses managed to bring forth the feelings of love, doubt, hesitation, rejection very convincingly. They had great chemistry and were obviously very much at ease with each other. The development of their relationship was not rushed and the stages were clearly shown. A quick and a nice watch....

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