Please Stand By

Lewin can't quite transcend the inconsistencies and dwindling credibility of the concept or give the material a driving pulse, even with its race-to-the-deadline setup.

You can guess how most of its scenes will play before you even come to them, and it has a circumspect, sanitized quality, as if meant to be shown in group homes without causing undue upset.

Touches the viewer with the subtle emotional wallop of a feather brushing against the heart.

A sensitive character study whose story beats are a little bit overly familiar.

Lewin ... posits this as a whimsical road comedy, but I couldn't help questioning both the logic and the consistency.

Please Stand By deflates into a perfectly watchable but soft parable in which a can-do young American loses a battle, only to win the war of growing up, while the adults in the room confront their own unhelpful rigidities.

A lukewarm movie with its heart in the right place.

Checking off all the autism boxes rather than imbuing an unconventional character with additional depth ultimately dooms Please Stand By to mediocrity.

The movie functions well as a road film and a film about overcoming obstacles, however it almost telegraphs its ambition for awards. [Full Review in Spanish]

Dakota Fanning becomes the motor and heart of this road movie that, unfortunately, ends up taking the shortcuts of balsamic fiction. [Full Review in Spanish]