The Standoff (2016) Reviews

As silly as the idea is I'm actually surprised this hasn't been made into a film until now. Sure it's been on episodes of TV shows, but making it a feature length story is an interesting idea. Ilyssa Goodman is a newcomer to directing films. Leigh Dunlap on the other hand has written for the Cinderella Story series. It has a slightly recognizable young cast with some whom I've never heard of. Let's see if they can pull this type of story off. I'm expecting major cheese.

Okay I saw a comparison to Willy Wonka which I can understand after the introduction scene. Oh wow they even referenced it in this! So it was as I thought pretty corny. That being said it's actually a cute and entertaining movie. I found myself laughing at some of the jokes and gags. There were a couple of dumb moments though. The story is pretty simple of course. I tend to find these competition style movies to be somewhat of a guilty pleasure.

The characters are all pretty interesting and fun. Alex Wolff's character seemed like a pothead which is a strange choice for a family friendly film. Of course they never say anything or show anything, but his characteristics suggest it. I think Klyde was definitely my favorite of the characters. Amy and Farrell were pretty typical, but they were still likable enough. The twin sisters were pretty and fairly amusing. Jerome was funny and entertaining. I would have liked for there to be more of Emerson. In fact it would have been interesting to see how far Emerson and Zane would have gotten. The rest were the typical stereotypes that still had things about them which made them decent. I thought everyone did well with their roles.

The writing was a little hammy. The story was at times cheesy, but that's understandable given the target audience. It has a likable cast that play interesting enough characters. It's a fairly simple and familiar concept. That being said I liked it. It's a pretty decent one time watch.