Sitting in Bars With Cake Review: The Amazon Prime Video film stars Yara Shahidi as Jane, Odessa A’zion as Corinne, Martha Kelly as Ruth, Ron Livingston as Fred, Rish Shah as Owen and others. Directed by Trish Sie, it is based on Audrey Shulman’s book of the same name. Audrey also wrote the screenplay of the film. The runtime is 1 hour 59 minutes.
Sitting in Bars with Cake Review Contains No Spoilers
Sitting in Bars With Cake Movie Review: Plot Summary
In Sitting in Bars With Cake, we meet Jane and Corinne, two best friends living together in Los Angeles (LA). Jane is a shy cake baker, and Corinne is quite confident and a social animal. Corinne wants Jane to be out there and show the world her amazing baking skills. She suggests to Jane that they should take one cake every night and sit at a bar. It will help them to meet new people, especially men.
Jane and Corinne start their adventure of sitting in bars with freshly baked cakes and meeting interesting people. Sadly, Corinne gets diagnosed with a brain tumour, and their search for love comes to a standstill. The movie then emphasises Jane and Corinne’s friendship and how they deal with the entire unfortunate situation.
Sitting in Bars With Cake Review: Discussion
Sitting in Bars With Cake is based on Audrey Shulman’s life, where she and her friend Chrissy would sit at the bars with cake to befriend interesting people. It is one of her life’s important chapters and an ode of love to Chrissy. The Prime Video film has its heart in the right place while it tells us the story of Jane and Corinne.
Jane and Corinne’s platonic love, care and admiration for each other, along with differences and fights, rightly depict the magic of female friendships. Seeing the girls happy together and excited about their cake-barring activity to suddenly having to grow up and appreciate every moment after Corrine’s diagnosis is an engaging and heartwarming watch. We love certain qualities about our friends that we wish we had, and Jane and Corinne are no different. The story rightly exhibits the feeling and joy of having a fulfilling friendship.
While Jane and Corinne’s premise moved me, what didn’t work for me was the love story. Without giving spoilers, I would safely say that Jane’s romantic track doesn’t do much to the story. Yes, it shows Jane becoming confident at the end, but more comes from the circumstances she and Corinne have to deal with. The love track distracts us from the emotional build-up and investment in the friendship aspect.
The last 20 minutes are an emotional roller coaster ride. It makes you smile and crushes you. Actors Yara Shahidi and Odessa A’zion earnestly express the excitement and turmoil of their characters, Jane and Corinne. The chemistry in their friendship makes you yearn for a bond like that. But the actors shine in the last 20 minutes as we get closer to seeing the expected conclusion.
Ron Livington and Martha Kelly play Corinne’s parents. While Ron played his part well, Martha’s deadpan dialogue delivery irks you, considering she’s the mother who’s overwhelmed to learn about her daughter’s diagnosis.
Sitting in Bars With Cake Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, Sitting in Bars With Cake is a tale of meaningful and endearing big-slice female friendships that warm as well as devastate you. However, The romantic track is a killjoy. Otherwise, the simplicity in storytelling and direction brings out the authentic sentiments of true friendship and loss.
The movie is streaming on Prime Video from September 8, 2023.
Also Read: Tahir’s House Review: Quirky Chaos That Consolidates Dysfunctional Families as a Universal Emotion
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