Kimmy Gatewood’s directorial debut film, Good on Paper, follows the life of an American Standup comedian and an aspiring actress, Andrea Singer (Iliza Shlesinger). She meets the perfect guy in her life. However, his personality is too good to be true, and suspicion is a breeding ground for hilarious pursuits and dramatic revelations.
Lead actress Iliza Shlesinger is a real-life standup comic genius. She brings humor and hilarious tales from her own experience, writing the screenplay by herself for herself. Preamble Enough. The film mixes humor and moral values together. But the question remains, does the journey of Andrea Singer impact its audience?
‘Good on Paper’ Summary
A 34-year old standup comedian Andrea Singer aspires to be a Hollywood Actresses. But, as like all other actors, she faces a hard time dealing with auditions, and more importantly, the egotistical casting directors. Andrea resents her competitor, Serena, who moved to LA around the same time as Andrea. But, luck favored Serena, who got an early break in acting. Andrea instead became a popular standup.
Andrea meets a suited white-collar corporate-looking, unattractive man named Dennis Kelly at the airport on her way back to LA. Dennis gets attracted to Andrea, but she ignores him, unaware that he will become a prominent part of her life. The airport meeting and airplane interaction melt the ice between them. However, their real friendship starts when Dennis walks into Andrea’s standup show.
The friendship grows into love, and Dennis finally proposes to Andrea. Skeptical at first, Andrea finally accepts his proposal, hoping him to be the most perfect, “unattractive” guy she has met. However, Andrea and her best friend Margot suspect that Dennis might be lying to them. They initiate a comical espionage mission to scrutinize Dennis.
‘Good on Paper’ Ending Explained
In the end, Andrea and Margot found out that Dennis is a serial liar. He lied about his Yale degree, his mother’s illness, his house, and his job. In short, he was an imposter and a con-man.
Dennis had a Narcissistic personality disorder. He wanted to feel important. Dennis’s roommate revealed that Dennis isn’t into hedge funds and never went to Yale. He didn’t own the house and was drowning in debt. Yet, he boasted about the girls he was dating. Dennis even told his roommates his own version of the encounter with Andrea. In his narrative, Andrea walked up to him and asked for his phone number.
Margot and Andrea decided to get Dennis drunk and pushed him to confess his lies. A drunk and scared Dennis disclosed that he was infatuated by Andrea and therefore approached her on the plane. He mingled with Andrea and lied about his profession and studies so that she might get attracted to him. According to him, people respected Dennis from Yale, and it helped him break the ice easily.
Andrea let go of the malicious imposter, but Dennis charged Andrea with assault and kidnapping. Thankfully, the judge passed a favorable judgment. Andrea got a restraining order, but that is what she wanted, to stay from Dennis, the imposter.
Dennis left the room he shared with Maggie and Leslie. He disappeared from the scene totally. In revenge, Andrea sold off Dennis’s proposal ring and posted a warning on a billboard. The banner warned people about Dennis Kelly and his lies.
Good on Paper is a 2021 Comedy Drama film written by Iliza Shlesinger and directed by Kimmy Gatewood.
