Long Outline
FANtastic
Contemporary Hi-Concept Romance
WGAw Reg. # 1602380
Evan Foley is a young short-order cook in a Los Angeles restaurant chain. As he ends his afternoon shift, his replacement and middle-aged friend Ray tells him he saw a production company filming a movie scene with famous bad-boy star Vance Pike and the Hollywood star Evan idolizes, Annabelle “Anne” Welles. On his way home, Evan stops at the shooting site and watches from behind the spectator barricade as Vance kisses Anne. With longing, Evan whispers to himself, “Why not me?”
A voice only Evan hears booms out, “Why not you?”
Evan’s vision begins to swirl in colors and he passes out. When he awakens, he finds himself on the shooting set being worried over by the production crew. From behind the barricades, there is a commotion with someone yelling, “I’m Vance Pike!” To his astonishment and wonder, he sees the person causing the ruckus is himself. But then who is he and how did he get on the set?
He’s now in the body of Vance Pike and, obviously, Vance has found himself in the body of Evan to his very vocal displeasure. Yelling that he’s Vance Pike and trying to force his way onto the set, he’s stopped by the film security and eventually taken away by the police.
Evan is coddled by the production crew, getting himself together in Vance’s trailer, and is then called upon to do one last take of the scene. Realizing he’ll get to kiss the girl of his dreams, he quickly goes over the lines to repeat what he saw Vance do.
To the crew’s amazement, he does the scene with far more emotion than Vance has ever shown, kissing Anne with real tenderness, startling her. And he’s much nicer to everyone than Vance has ever been. With shooting ended for the day, Evan lets himself be swept along on the tide of Vance’s privileged life, driven by limo to a sumptuous house in the Hollywood Hills, the driver telling him he’ll pick him up at six A.M. for the next day’s shoot. As with the others, the driver is surprised and pleased by the star’s new friendliness.
Though Evan questions what he’s doing, with his own life no longer available he doesn’t see any option but to impersonate Vance. He uses Vance’s key to get into the house where security quickly shows up as he didn’t turn off the alarm after going in. His personal assistant, Brenda, shows up on their heels, having been on the call list of the security company. She’s only been with Vance for a couple of weeks so she doesn’t really know the star very well, showing him the codes listed in her instruction manual that contains all sorts of information about Vance’s life. After everyone leaves, Evan explores the house and, as a cook, he’s amazed there’s so little food in the house. Anticipating that he’ll get to be with Anne again, he studies his lines for the next day’s scenes.
Vance is brought before a judge who commits him to a psychiatric evaluation before hearing the case of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, being taken away.
At the next day’s shoot as Vance movie-marries Anne in the final scene, the real tears in his eyes make Anne break down too, the director loving it. Anne is amazed at Vance’s new-found emotion and compliments him, and he tells Anne how wonderful he thinks she is.
As Anne leaves, Evan calls out to her, “See you at the wrap party.” One of the most down-to-earth and socially-conscious actors in Hollywood, Anne has never liked Vance Pike’s self-centered egoism and when her assistant comments on his friendliness, she voices her suspicion that it’s some act to get her to warm towards him and she isn’t buying it. When her assistant says that he is pretty, Anne says, “Skin deep. Show me the soul.”
Evan goes back to Vance’s house where Brenda is working, and she’s pleased when he tells her to “Just be your lovely self.” He’s in the shower when he sees a shadow outside the door and figures the jig is up. But it’s a hot girl who opens the door to kiss and fondle him, put out when he doesn’t invite her to join him. Downstairs, he learns they’re to go on a date to a trendy club, Fools, driving in one of his cars. When he discreetly questions Brenda why she let this girl up to surprise him in the shower, he learns that was Vance’s instruction to her. In the garage, he finds a Lamborghini, a Bentley and a Mercedes Safari SUV. The girl wants to take the comfortable Bentley, but Evan is thrilled by the Lamborghini and they leave in it to her annoyance.
At the club, they’re shown to the upstairs VIP section where Evan is approached by a star he recognizes, Matthew Brent, who’s a friend of Vance’s. Brent comments on a project they might do together, and Evan finally learns the girl’s first name, Candi, when Brent banters with her. When they return to Vance’s house, she’s surprised when he tells her goodnight, and she offers to call her girlfriend so they can have another threesome if that’s what he wants. Annoyed when he turns down that offer, she leaves in a huff.
Evan is baking a cake the next day when he gets a call from someone named Max, using the instruction manual to determine it’s Vance’s agent. He wants Vance to take a meeting about the project Brent mentioned to him, Evan confounding his agent by insisting he’s taking a break from making films. The agent tries to persuade him against the idea now that he’s hot as word about the film he just shot is that it’s a sure thing and he can have his pick of projects. Evan tells him he wants to act only with Anne Welles. The agent is befuddled – something he rarely is – but says he’ll do what he can though he privately thinks all stars are “fucking idiots.”
At the wrap party, Evan tells Anne about his desire to act again with her but is interrupted by a girl from the production crew asking him to sign her revealing shirt over her bra-less breast, Anne using the moment to escape from Vance. Anne can’t believe it when he later asks her for a date, and Evan learns how little she likes Vance Pike. The bra-less girl again breaks in, asking him to go to a club with her, and when he begs off she writes down for him her name and number with a promise of even more treats and gets her tongue in his mouth kissing him goodbye. As he watches Anne leave, he chucks the girl’s note into a trash bin.
In bed, Evan watches an online video of Anne on a talkshow and finds she has a foundation, Mentor House, that houses older orphaned children and tries to match them with people interested in adopting. In the video, she explains how most couples want infants so that older orphans most often never find a real family. Anne, who came from a close family, has an adopted older sister who was just such a child. Evan goes to the website for Mentor House, writing down the information he finds.
When Evan shows up at the afternoon meeting on the Mentor House playground, Anne is suspicious about his motives but lets him stay when she realizes that his fame is an attraction for the couples at the get-together.
Vance is back before the judge who lectures him about not engaging in any more harassing activity then dismisses his case, freeing him.
At the meeting, Evan notices eight-year-old Amanda Lerner sitting by herself on a swing. Evan brings her ice-cream and when he talks with her he finds she has a quick intelligence and a thick protective shell. When he asks if she’s enjoying the party, she says, “This is a party? Pretty boring.” When he offers to push her on the swing, she says, “No thanks,” and walks away.
He comments to Anne about the little girl’s protective shell and she tells him Amanda has no family at all, her father dying in a motorcycle accident when she was an infant, her mother a drug-addict who died from an overdose when Amanda was six. When Evan says, “That just breaks my heart,” and tells her it’s important work she’s doing, Anne is amazed. Vance Pike, disgusting Hollywood stud, talking about a young orphaned girl breaking his heart?
Evan mingles with the couples, being charming and encouraging them to adopt, also watching Amanda who notices his attention and, though she tries not to show it, smiles to herself. Afterwards, Anne thanks him for coming to the meeting. And while she’s seen a new side to him, she still doesn’t want to go to dinner with him.
When Evan returns to Vance’s house, Vance sneaks into the garage as Evan is parking and accosts Evan, demanding Evan switch them back. Evan tries to calm him, explaining he doesn’t know how they switched bodies, not mentioning his words “Why not me?” when it happened. Unlike Vance, he’s not eager to return to his life as an unknown short-order cook, especially when he’s getting closer to Anne. He tells Vance he’s been keeping up appearances for him, finishing the film, going out with Candi. Vance is amused that Evan turned down Candi’s offer of a threesome and that he went to Anne Welles’s orphan get-together, commenting that she hates him and he can’t stand her. He also doesn’t like Brenda, his new assistant.
Vance decides that as neither of them know when or if they’ll ever change back, it’s best that Evan continue to impersonate him and use his contacts to break Vance into the film business. Vance tells him that by the time they switch back, Evan may be a big star, too, Evan saying he’d rather own a restaurant. Vance tells him, ‘Nope. Evan Foley is going to the top. Enjoy the ride.”
Vance makes Evan accompany him to Fools so he can get in the VIP lounge where they meet Candi and another girl. Candi is still mad at Evan over his treatment of her, but Vance’s confident egoism attracts both girls. When Evan wants to leave alone, Vance tells him he’s not using his star-power effectively, that it will make people do whatever he wants. Evan gets an idea how to use his power, and it isn’t to pick up girls.
He leaves and buys a map to the star’s homes to find where Anne lives and goes to her estate, getting her to reluctantly see him as he tells her he has a great idea for the orphaned children. He tells her they can use their star power to take the children and couples on outings to places like Disneyland, making the get-togethers much more fun and, hopefully, effective. She likes the idea and warms towards Evan, surprised as he asks for a diet soda when she invites him to have a drink. This is not the Vance Pike she expected. They laugh together, and when Evan leaves, he’s thrilled he’ll be going with Anne on the first Mentor House excursion.
Vance makes Evan introduce him to his agent, Evan explaining they’re old friends and now Vance wants to break into acting. The agent isn’t thrilled to be forced to do anything for this unknown, but he values Evan as a meal-ticket client so he pretends to go along.
The Mentor House outing to Disneyland is a great success and Anne is more attracted to Evan as she watches his tender interaction with Amanda, successfully breaking through her shell. On the Space Mountain ride, Amanda feigns indifference but ends up clinging to Evan. On the Jungle Land boat ride, he comforts her when she cries a bit thinking of how she read The Jungle Book to her mother, Evan touched that the little girl read to her own mother rather than the other way round. As he comforts her and tells her not to worry, magical things will happen for her, she asks if he believes in magic and he says he knows it happens. She believes in it, too, saying, “Sometimes magic happens.” Anne has to swallow a tear watching them. Pirates of the Caribbean is Amanda’s favorite ride, not so sad now as she remembers how her mother and she watched all the movies.
Anne is amazed at how different her fellow star is from her earlier impression, finding herself with a new appreciation of him. Back at Mentor House after the outing, she tells him she’s thrilled the way he’s gotten to Amanda who was so wounded Anne feared she’d never come out of it. In fact, one of the couples, the Bandas, have decided to take in Amanda as a foster child with the intention of adopting her. Evan’s glad for her, but at the same time, he’s taken back as he’s drawn to the little girl. He considers telling Anne the truth about himself but decides it’s not the time, thrilled when she agrees to go and have a drink with him.
Returning home from this modest first date, Evan finds Vance royally pissed off as he was blown off at the audition he went to. Vance tries a whacko way to reswitch bodies, having them hold hands while they endure an electric shock which doesn’t go well though they survive.
Evan finds an upscale restaurant for sale, discussing with the owner about purchasing it. As he leaves, Anne calls in a panic as Amanda has run away from the Bandas. Evan picks up Anne at her house and, thinking where Amanda might have gone, they recall how much she liked Disneyland and said she wanted to go back there soon, so they decide to look for her there.
They’re relieved to find Amanda out front, having just enough money to take the bus to get there but not enough to get in. After absorbing their lecture on not running away, Amanda is thrilled when Evan suggests they go in. Anne lets herself be pulled along, smiling as she comments, “My two children...”
Afterwards, as they drive Amanda back to the Banda’s house telling her how scared the Bandas were and how much they love her, Amanda laments “If they adopt me, I'm Amanda Banda – ughh.” Despite themselves, Anne and Evan have to laugh. Amanda says she’s never seen Evan in one of his films and he and Anne agree they should make a PG film together. Amanda asks if she can be in it, too, and Anne offers to take her to acting classes.
When Evan asks if they’re hungry and Amanda exclaims, “Ice cream!” Evan takes them to his house (Vance’s sumptuous house in the hills) for a ‘special treat’ where he puts together an elaborate pirate ship ice-cream cake they all love. Anne is amazed that he likes to cook and he tells them about the restaurant he’s thinking of buying and how if he gets it they can come anytime and they’ll all have their ‘special treat.’
As Amanda watches Anne and Evan affectionately interact, she suddenly looks less cheerful and when Anne asks what’s wrong, she blurts out, “I want you guys to be my parents.” She goes on, “Who knew where I'd be today and came and got me? You, nobody else. You guys love each other and I love you. Why can't we be a family? Why can't I be with the people I love?” They don’t have an answer, and as Evan looks at Anne, he might be asking the same question.
After returning Amanda to the Bandas, Anne and Evan agree it was a surprising day and what a compliment it is that Amanda wants them to be her parents. Pulling up at Anne’s estate, she’s amused when Evan says, “Home again, home again, hippity hop,” explaining it’s a saying left over from his childhood. She asks if he’d like to come in, have a diet soda. Thinking it might be the time to tell Anne his secret, he says he doesn’t know about the diet soda, but that he’d love to.
Inside at the doorway, Evan mentions that thing he wanted to tell her, but Anne stops him with an intimate kiss and leads him upstairs, both of them quietly filled with anticipation.
Returning home the next morning, Evan’s look makes Vance guess that he spent the night with Anne. He’s irritated that she’d sleep with him when he was Evan but not when he was himself. By chance, he hits on the words, “Why not me?” When the colors begin spinning in Evan’s vision, he knows what’s happening but is powerless to stop it. When they come to with Brenda frantic over finding them passed out on the kitchen floor, Vance is thrilled to be back in his own body, promptly firing Brenda who leaves in tears. Evan is despondent, realizing it’s too late with Anne which makes Vance think perhaps it’s his opportunity now.
Vance meets Anne at an upscale restaurant. As Anne watches him flirt with a fan outside the door, an hour late for their dinner, she’s puzzled and not very pleased. And their dinner does nothing to assuage her, Vance his own crass self again. When she gets a call that Amanda has made the Bandas bring her back to Mentor House and Vance refuses to go along to talk with her, she knows their relationship is over.
Amanda is defiant at first about not wanting to be with the Bandas, saying that Anne knows who she wants to be with. Anne has to tell her that will never happen, that she and Vance don’t love each other, he’s quirky and changes, and while there are part of him she loves, there are others she doesn’t. She tells Amanda, “You can't be with someone unless you love them totally – and I don't love him that way. We can't be your parents.” She tries to soothe Amanda by telling her they’ll always be close friends and she’ll come to get her at the Banda’s and take her to acting classes and she can be in Anne’s movies. Amanda says, “Unless you die,” and Anne knows Amanda’s fear and tries to comfort her. Amanda runs and hugs Anne and says she loves her, and Anne ends up crying. Amanda tells her she’s sorry she made her cry and Anne tells her, “It's all right. They're tears of joy because I love you and we'll always be friends.”
Evan is at the restaurant explaining that he’s Vance Pike’s partner and they still want to buy the place, getting the papers for Vance to sign. He goes to Vance’s house and gets him to agree to become his partner, Vance appreciative that Evan was accommodating when he was the star and Vance was the nobody. The doorbell rings and they find it’s Amanda. Vance doesn’t know who the child is until Evan addresses her. Amanda has snuck out of the house to persuade Vance to get back together with Anne because she knows they love each other, Vance laughing at the suggestion. As they all talk, she perceives that Vance is not how he was – but Evan is. Evan seems to know all about her, telling her that he and Anne are friends and she told him all about her. Evan tells Amanda he’ll drive her back to Mentor House, having the phone number in his wallet and calling them about what’s happened. She finds that Evan knows how to get to Mentor House while Vance doesn’t. Before leaving, she pointedly asks Vance if she can have a ‘special treat’ and Vance says he doesn’t have any candy, maybe she’d like a soda. Obviously, Vance now doesn’t know anything about any special treat, and when Amanda looks at Evan, he tries to look innocent.
On the way, he lectures her about not running away and how much the Bandas love her, Amanda questioning him again about how he knows so much about her. He stops at the restaurant to give the owner the purchase papers, and Amanda says this was Vance’s restaurant, Evan saying they’ll be partners, that he’ll be the cook. Amanda says Vance was the one who liked to cook, Evan saying they’ll both cook. Amanda looks at him and says, “You can make special treats here,” Evan again trying not very successfully to look like he knows nothing about it. As they’re leaving, she looks at Evan and says, “Sometimes magic happens” and Evan again has to pretend ignorance.
At Mentor House, Anne runs out to meet them and it’s obvious to Amanda that Evan and Anne have never met before even though he’s said they were friends. Evan thinks for one last time to tell Anne the truth but chickens out. He slips up as he’s leaving by saying, “Home again, home again, hippity hop,” Anne looking at him with wonder this time. As he watches Anne and Amanda walk away, he laments, “Too fantastic – too late.”
Inside, as Anne talks with Amanda, Amanda insists that Evan is really Vance, giving all her arguments. Anne focuses on her need to accept the Bandas so she’ll have a loving family, that despite all Amanda has done, they want to have her back, Anne asking her to promise not to run away again. Amanda promises, but behind her back she’s crossed her fingers. As Anne is leaving, one of the staff comments on her getting to go home at last and Anne finds herself responding, “Home again, home again, hip... Hippity hop.” It gives her pause, “but it's ridiculous – just a little girl's wishful thinking,” and she leaves.
Evan is in the chain restaurant where he used to work, at a table talking with Vance’s fired assistant, Brenda, whom he’s hiring to work with him and his cook friend from the chain, Ray, both of them thrilled to have the jobs. Brenda admits that when he was staying with Vance, she thought he wasn’t very nice, but now she sees how wrong she was. Evan excuses himself saying he has something else important he has to attend to, pays the bill and leaves.
In the parking lot at Mentor House, he gathers himself and goes inside. He talks with the executive director who quizzes him about his personal situation. He tells her about opening a restaurant with his partner, the famous movie star Vance Pike, and she wonders if they’re life partners seeking to adopt. No, he didn’t mean that, he’s straight and single and, despite his hopes for the restaurant, he’s poor, and she has to tell him it’s unlikely he’d be approved for an adoption and that the child he’s enquiring about, Amanda, is going to a family though she can’t go into specifics. He tells her he knows all about the Bandas and how Amanda ran away and that he and Anne found her at Disneyland and he saw how happy she can be. The director isn’t encouraging about his chances to adopt, and he leaves in disappointment. As he walks to his old car, Amanda watches him from an upstairs window.
That evening, Anne speeds into the parking lot and runs inside, the director apologizing for Amanda having disappeared once again, saying she’s very clever. When Anne wonders if she might have gone back to Disneyland, the director says how when Mr. Foley was there earlier wanting to put in an application to adopt Amanda he mentioned about their finding Amanda at Disneyland together.
Anne is astonished, saying “He said that he and I found her at Disneyland? Evan Foley said that?” The director confirms it and Anne rushes out, promising to find Amanda.
Evan is in the restaurant when Amanda comes in. They look at one another for a moment before Evan gives up, telling her, “They won't let me adopt you. I want to, but I can't.”
Amanda rushes to embrace him, saying she knew it was him. Evan tells her, “I don't know how it happened, what happened. But it let me meet you and Anne, so I'm glad. I just…I wish...” He can’t speak, and Amanda tells him, “It will be all right.”
Before he takes her back, they’ll have their ‘special treat,’ heading in the restaurant’s kitchen to make it together.
Anne arrives in a frenzy at Vance’s house and he is his usual egoistic self, utterly disinterested in Amanda going missing again, saying “You'd better lock her up.” Anne is sure of the fantastic truth now and asks where Evan is, Vance saying maybe he’s at the restaurant, asking what she wants with him.
“It was never you,” she says, Vance protesting it has always been him, Anne replying, “No. You're always an asshole,” quickly leaving with Vance yelling she’s always a bitch as he slams his door.
Evan and Amanda bring out the pirate cake to the table set with a tablecloth, plates and a candle, sitting down so Amanda can carefully slice off the heads of “those wicked fellows” as she says in her mock pirate voice.
The door opens and Anne enters, stands and says, “You two are having our special treat without me? I don't think so.”
Evan is flustered then says, “Anne, I… I know this doesn't make sense, but...”
Anne responds, “Strangely, it finally does make sense. And I'm so glad. Home again, home again, hippity hop.”
She smiles, Evan relaxes and smiles, Amanda looks ecstatic. Evan holds the seat for Anne, she sits, Evan sits. Amanda takes Anne's hand then Evan's, Evan puts out his other hand for Anne who takes it, and the circle is complete.
AMANDA
(happily)
I told you – sometimes magic happens!
FADE OUT
THE END
FANtastic
Contemporary Hi-Concept Romance
WGAw Reg. # 1602380
Evan Foley is a young short-order cook in a Los Angeles restaurant chain. As he ends his afternoon shift, his replacement and middle-aged friend Ray tells him he saw a production company filming a movie scene with famous bad-boy star Vance Pike and the Hollywood star Evan idolizes, Annabelle “Anne” Welles. On his way home, Evan stops at the shooting site and watches from behind the spectator barricade as Vance kisses Anne. With longing, Evan whispers to himself, “Why not me?”
A voice only Evan hears booms out, “Why not you?”
Evan’s vision begins to swirl in colors and he passes out. When he awakens, he finds himself on the shooting set being worried over by the production crew. From behind the barricades, there is a commotion with someone yelling, “I’m Vance Pike!” To his astonishment and wonder, he sees the person causing the ruckus is himself. But then who is he and how did he get on the set?
He’s now in the body of Vance Pike and, obviously, Vance has found himself in the body of Evan to his very vocal displeasure. Yelling that he’s Vance Pike and trying to force his way onto the set, he’s stopped by the film security and eventually taken away by the police.
Evan is coddled by the production crew, getting himself together in Vance’s trailer, and is then called upon to do one last take of the scene. Realizing he’ll get to kiss the girl of his dreams, he quickly goes over the lines to repeat what he saw Vance do.
To the crew’s amazement, he does the scene with far more emotion than Vance has ever shown, kissing Anne with real tenderness, startling her. And he’s much nicer to everyone than Vance has ever been. With shooting ended for the day, Evan lets himself be swept along on the tide of Vance’s privileged life, driven by limo to a sumptuous house in the Hollywood Hills, the driver telling him he’ll pick him up at six A.M. for the next day’s shoot. As with the others, the driver is surprised and pleased by the star’s new friendliness.
Though Evan questions what he’s doing, with his own life no longer available he doesn’t see any option but to impersonate Vance. He uses Vance’s key to get into the house where security quickly shows up as he didn’t turn off the alarm after going in. His personal assistant, Brenda, shows up on their heels, having been on the call list of the security company. She’s only been with Vance for a couple of weeks so she doesn’t really know the star very well, showing him the codes listed in her instruction manual that contains all sorts of information about Vance’s life. After everyone leaves, Evan explores the house and, as a cook, he’s amazed there’s so little food in the house. Anticipating that he’ll get to be with Anne again, he studies his lines for the next day’s scenes.
Vance is brought before a judge who commits him to a psychiatric evaluation before hearing the case of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, being taken away.
At the next day’s shoot as Vance movie-marries Anne in the final scene, the real tears in his eyes make Anne break down too, the director loving it. Anne is amazed at Vance’s new-found emotion and compliments him, and he tells Anne how wonderful he thinks she is.
As Anne leaves, Evan calls out to her, “See you at the wrap party.” One of the most down-to-earth and socially-conscious actors in Hollywood, Anne has never liked Vance Pike’s self-centered egoism and when her assistant comments on his friendliness, she voices her suspicion that it’s some act to get her to warm towards him and she isn’t buying it. When her assistant says that he is pretty, Anne says, “Skin deep. Show me the soul.”
Evan goes back to Vance’s house where Brenda is working, and she’s pleased when he tells her to “Just be your lovely self.” He’s in the shower when he sees a shadow outside the door and figures the jig is up. But it’s a hot girl who opens the door to kiss and fondle him, put out when he doesn’t invite her to join him. Downstairs, he learns they’re to go on a date to a trendy club, Fools, driving in one of his cars. When he discreetly questions Brenda why she let this girl up to surprise him in the shower, he learns that was Vance’s instruction to her. In the garage, he finds a Lamborghini, a Bentley and a Mercedes Safari SUV. The girl wants to take the comfortable Bentley, but Evan is thrilled by the Lamborghini and they leave in it to her annoyance.
At the club, they’re shown to the upstairs VIP section where Evan is approached by a star he recognizes, Matthew Brent, who’s a friend of Vance’s. Brent comments on a project they might do together, and Evan finally learns the girl’s first name, Candi, when Brent banters with her. When they return to Vance’s house, she’s surprised when he tells her goodnight, and she offers to call her girlfriend so they can have another threesome if that’s what he wants. Annoyed when he turns down that offer, she leaves in a huff.
Evan is baking a cake the next day when he gets a call from someone named Max, using the instruction manual to determine it’s Vance’s agent. He wants Vance to take a meeting about the project Brent mentioned to him, Evan confounding his agent by insisting he’s taking a break from making films. The agent tries to persuade him against the idea now that he’s hot as word about the film he just shot is that it’s a sure thing and he can have his pick of projects. Evan tells him he wants to act only with Anne Welles. The agent is befuddled – something he rarely is – but says he’ll do what he can though he privately thinks all stars are “fucking idiots.”
At the wrap party, Evan tells Anne about his desire to act again with her but is interrupted by a girl from the production crew asking him to sign her revealing shirt over her bra-less breast, Anne using the moment to escape from Vance. Anne can’t believe it when he later asks her for a date, and Evan learns how little she likes Vance Pike. The bra-less girl again breaks in, asking him to go to a club with her, and when he begs off she writes down for him her name and number with a promise of even more treats and gets her tongue in his mouth kissing him goodbye. As he watches Anne leave, he chucks the girl’s note into a trash bin.
In bed, Evan watches an online video of Anne on a talkshow and finds she has a foundation, Mentor House, that houses older orphaned children and tries to match them with people interested in adopting. In the video, she explains how most couples want infants so that older orphans most often never find a real family. Anne, who came from a close family, has an adopted older sister who was just such a child. Evan goes to the website for Mentor House, writing down the information he finds.
When Evan shows up at the afternoon meeting on the Mentor House playground, Anne is suspicious about his motives but lets him stay when she realizes that his fame is an attraction for the couples at the get-together.
Vance is back before the judge who lectures him about not engaging in any more harassing activity then dismisses his case, freeing him.
At the meeting, Evan notices eight-year-old Amanda Lerner sitting by herself on a swing. Evan brings her ice-cream and when he talks with her he finds she has a quick intelligence and a thick protective shell. When he asks if she’s enjoying the party, she says, “This is a party? Pretty boring.” When he offers to push her on the swing, she says, “No thanks,” and walks away.
He comments to Anne about the little girl’s protective shell and she tells him Amanda has no family at all, her father dying in a motorcycle accident when she was an infant, her mother a drug-addict who died from an overdose when Amanda was six. When Evan says, “That just breaks my heart,” and tells her it’s important work she’s doing, Anne is amazed. Vance Pike, disgusting Hollywood stud, talking about a young orphaned girl breaking his heart?
Evan mingles with the couples, being charming and encouraging them to adopt, also watching Amanda who notices his attention and, though she tries not to show it, smiles to herself. Afterwards, Anne thanks him for coming to the meeting. And while she’s seen a new side to him, she still doesn’t want to go to dinner with him.
When Evan returns to Vance’s house, Vance sneaks into the garage as Evan is parking and accosts Evan, demanding Evan switch them back. Evan tries to calm him, explaining he doesn’t know how they switched bodies, not mentioning his words “Why not me?” when it happened. Unlike Vance, he’s not eager to return to his life as an unknown short-order cook, especially when he’s getting closer to Anne. He tells Vance he’s been keeping up appearances for him, finishing the film, going out with Candi. Vance is amused that Evan turned down Candi’s offer of a threesome and that he went to Anne Welles’s orphan get-together, commenting that she hates him and he can’t stand her. He also doesn’t like Brenda, his new assistant.
Vance decides that as neither of them know when or if they’ll ever change back, it’s best that Evan continue to impersonate him and use his contacts to break Vance into the film business. Vance tells him that by the time they switch back, Evan may be a big star, too, Evan saying he’d rather own a restaurant. Vance tells him, ‘Nope. Evan Foley is going to the top. Enjoy the ride.”
Vance makes Evan accompany him to Fools so he can get in the VIP lounge where they meet Candi and another girl. Candi is still mad at Evan over his treatment of her, but Vance’s confident egoism attracts both girls. When Evan wants to leave alone, Vance tells him he’s not using his star-power effectively, that it will make people do whatever he wants. Evan gets an idea how to use his power, and it isn’t to pick up girls.
He leaves and buys a map to the star’s homes to find where Anne lives and goes to her estate, getting her to reluctantly see him as he tells her he has a great idea for the orphaned children. He tells her they can use their star power to take the children and couples on outings to places like Disneyland, making the get-togethers much more fun and, hopefully, effective. She likes the idea and warms towards Evan, surprised as he asks for a diet soda when she invites him to have a drink. This is not the Vance Pike she expected. They laugh together, and when Evan leaves, he’s thrilled he’ll be going with Anne on the first Mentor House excursion.
Vance makes Evan introduce him to his agent, Evan explaining they’re old friends and now Vance wants to break into acting. The agent isn’t thrilled to be forced to do anything for this unknown, but he values Evan as a meal-ticket client so he pretends to go along.
The Mentor House outing to Disneyland is a great success and Anne is more attracted to Evan as she watches his tender interaction with Amanda, successfully breaking through her shell. On the Space Mountain ride, Amanda feigns indifference but ends up clinging to Evan. On the Jungle Land boat ride, he comforts her when she cries a bit thinking of how she read The Jungle Book to her mother, Evan touched that the little girl read to her own mother rather than the other way round. As he comforts her and tells her not to worry, magical things will happen for her, she asks if he believes in magic and he says he knows it happens. She believes in it, too, saying, “Sometimes magic happens.” Anne has to swallow a tear watching them. Pirates of the Caribbean is Amanda’s favorite ride, not so sad now as she remembers how her mother and she watched all the movies.
Anne is amazed at how different her fellow star is from her earlier impression, finding herself with a new appreciation of him. Back at Mentor House after the outing, she tells him she’s thrilled the way he’s gotten to Amanda who was so wounded Anne feared she’d never come out of it. In fact, one of the couples, the Bandas, have decided to take in Amanda as a foster child with the intention of adopting her. Evan’s glad for her, but at the same time, he’s taken back as he’s drawn to the little girl. He considers telling Anne the truth about himself but decides it’s not the time, thrilled when she agrees to go and have a drink with him.
Returning home from this modest first date, Evan finds Vance royally pissed off as he was blown off at the audition he went to. Vance tries a whacko way to reswitch bodies, having them hold hands while they endure an electric shock which doesn’t go well though they survive.
Evan finds an upscale restaurant for sale, discussing with the owner about purchasing it. As he leaves, Anne calls in a panic as Amanda has run away from the Bandas. Evan picks up Anne at her house and, thinking where Amanda might have gone, they recall how much she liked Disneyland and said she wanted to go back there soon, so they decide to look for her there.
They’re relieved to find Amanda out front, having just enough money to take the bus to get there but not enough to get in. After absorbing their lecture on not running away, Amanda is thrilled when Evan suggests they go in. Anne lets herself be pulled along, smiling as she comments, “My two children...”
Afterwards, as they drive Amanda back to the Banda’s house telling her how scared the Bandas were and how much they love her, Amanda laments “If they adopt me, I'm Amanda Banda – ughh.” Despite themselves, Anne and Evan have to laugh. Amanda says she’s never seen Evan in one of his films and he and Anne agree they should make a PG film together. Amanda asks if she can be in it, too, and Anne offers to take her to acting classes.
When Evan asks if they’re hungry and Amanda exclaims, “Ice cream!” Evan takes them to his house (Vance’s sumptuous house in the hills) for a ‘special treat’ where he puts together an elaborate pirate ship ice-cream cake they all love. Anne is amazed that he likes to cook and he tells them about the restaurant he’s thinking of buying and how if he gets it they can come anytime and they’ll all have their ‘special treat.’
As Amanda watches Anne and Evan affectionately interact, she suddenly looks less cheerful and when Anne asks what’s wrong, she blurts out, “I want you guys to be my parents.” She goes on, “Who knew where I'd be today and came and got me? You, nobody else. You guys love each other and I love you. Why can't we be a family? Why can't I be with the people I love?” They don’t have an answer, and as Evan looks at Anne, he might be asking the same question.
After returning Amanda to the Bandas, Anne and Evan agree it was a surprising day and what a compliment it is that Amanda wants them to be her parents. Pulling up at Anne’s estate, she’s amused when Evan says, “Home again, home again, hippity hop,” explaining it’s a saying left over from his childhood. She asks if he’d like to come in, have a diet soda. Thinking it might be the time to tell Anne his secret, he says he doesn’t know about the diet soda, but that he’d love to.
Inside at the doorway, Evan mentions that thing he wanted to tell her, but Anne stops him with an intimate kiss and leads him upstairs, both of them quietly filled with anticipation.
Returning home the next morning, Evan’s look makes Vance guess that he spent the night with Anne. He’s irritated that she’d sleep with him when he was Evan but not when he was himself. By chance, he hits on the words, “Why not me?” When the colors begin spinning in Evan’s vision, he knows what’s happening but is powerless to stop it. When they come to with Brenda frantic over finding them passed out on the kitchen floor, Vance is thrilled to be back in his own body, promptly firing Brenda who leaves in tears. Evan is despondent, realizing it’s too late with Anne which makes Vance think perhaps it’s his opportunity now.
Vance meets Anne at an upscale restaurant. As Anne watches him flirt with a fan outside the door, an hour late for their dinner, she’s puzzled and not very pleased. And their dinner does nothing to assuage her, Vance his own crass self again. When she gets a call that Amanda has made the Bandas bring her back to Mentor House and Vance refuses to go along to talk with her, she knows their relationship is over.
Amanda is defiant at first about not wanting to be with the Bandas, saying that Anne knows who she wants to be with. Anne has to tell her that will never happen, that she and Vance don’t love each other, he’s quirky and changes, and while there are part of him she loves, there are others she doesn’t. She tells Amanda, “You can't be with someone unless you love them totally – and I don't love him that way. We can't be your parents.” She tries to soothe Amanda by telling her they’ll always be close friends and she’ll come to get her at the Banda’s and take her to acting classes and she can be in Anne’s movies. Amanda says, “Unless you die,” and Anne knows Amanda’s fear and tries to comfort her. Amanda runs and hugs Anne and says she loves her, and Anne ends up crying. Amanda tells her she’s sorry she made her cry and Anne tells her, “It's all right. They're tears of joy because I love you and we'll always be friends.”
Evan is at the restaurant explaining that he’s Vance Pike’s partner and they still want to buy the place, getting the papers for Vance to sign. He goes to Vance’s house and gets him to agree to become his partner, Vance appreciative that Evan was accommodating when he was the star and Vance was the nobody. The doorbell rings and they find it’s Amanda. Vance doesn’t know who the child is until Evan addresses her. Amanda has snuck out of the house to persuade Vance to get back together with Anne because she knows they love each other, Vance laughing at the suggestion. As they all talk, she perceives that Vance is not how he was – but Evan is. Evan seems to know all about her, telling her that he and Anne are friends and she told him all about her. Evan tells Amanda he’ll drive her back to Mentor House, having the phone number in his wallet and calling them about what’s happened. She finds that Evan knows how to get to Mentor House while Vance doesn’t. Before leaving, she pointedly asks Vance if she can have a ‘special treat’ and Vance says he doesn’t have any candy, maybe she’d like a soda. Obviously, Vance now doesn’t know anything about any special treat, and when Amanda looks at Evan, he tries to look innocent.
On the way, he lectures her about not running away and how much the Bandas love her, Amanda questioning him again about how he knows so much about her. He stops at the restaurant to give the owner the purchase papers, and Amanda says this was Vance’s restaurant, Evan saying they’ll be partners, that he’ll be the cook. Amanda says Vance was the one who liked to cook, Evan saying they’ll both cook. Amanda looks at him and says, “You can make special treats here,” Evan again trying not very successfully to look like he knows nothing about it. As they’re leaving, she looks at Evan and says, “Sometimes magic happens” and Evan again has to pretend ignorance.
At Mentor House, Anne runs out to meet them and it’s obvious to Amanda that Evan and Anne have never met before even though he’s said they were friends. Evan thinks for one last time to tell Anne the truth but chickens out. He slips up as he’s leaving by saying, “Home again, home again, hippity hop,” Anne looking at him with wonder this time. As he watches Anne and Amanda walk away, he laments, “Too fantastic – too late.”
Inside, as Anne talks with Amanda, Amanda insists that Evan is really Vance, giving all her arguments. Anne focuses on her need to accept the Bandas so she’ll have a loving family, that despite all Amanda has done, they want to have her back, Anne asking her to promise not to run away again. Amanda promises, but behind her back she’s crossed her fingers. As Anne is leaving, one of the staff comments on her getting to go home at last and Anne finds herself responding, “Home again, home again, hip... Hippity hop.” It gives her pause, “but it's ridiculous – just a little girl's wishful thinking,” and she leaves.
Evan is in the chain restaurant where he used to work, at a table talking with Vance’s fired assistant, Brenda, whom he’s hiring to work with him and his cook friend from the chain, Ray, both of them thrilled to have the jobs. Brenda admits that when he was staying with Vance, she thought he wasn’t very nice, but now she sees how wrong she was. Evan excuses himself saying he has something else important he has to attend to, pays the bill and leaves.
In the parking lot at Mentor House, he gathers himself and goes inside. He talks with the executive director who quizzes him about his personal situation. He tells her about opening a restaurant with his partner, the famous movie star Vance Pike, and she wonders if they’re life partners seeking to adopt. No, he didn’t mean that, he’s straight and single and, despite his hopes for the restaurant, he’s poor, and she has to tell him it’s unlikely he’d be approved for an adoption and that the child he’s enquiring about, Amanda, is going to a family though she can’t go into specifics. He tells her he knows all about the Bandas and how Amanda ran away and that he and Anne found her at Disneyland and he saw how happy she can be. The director isn’t encouraging about his chances to adopt, and he leaves in disappointment. As he walks to his old car, Amanda watches him from an upstairs window.
That evening, Anne speeds into the parking lot and runs inside, the director apologizing for Amanda having disappeared once again, saying she’s very clever. When Anne wonders if she might have gone back to Disneyland, the director says how when Mr. Foley was there earlier wanting to put in an application to adopt Amanda he mentioned about their finding Amanda at Disneyland together.
Anne is astonished, saying “He said that he and I found her at Disneyland? Evan Foley said that?” The director confirms it and Anne rushes out, promising to find Amanda.
Evan is in the restaurant when Amanda comes in. They look at one another for a moment before Evan gives up, telling her, “They won't let me adopt you. I want to, but I can't.”
Amanda rushes to embrace him, saying she knew it was him. Evan tells her, “I don't know how it happened, what happened. But it let me meet you and Anne, so I'm glad. I just…I wish...” He can’t speak, and Amanda tells him, “It will be all right.”
Before he takes her back, they’ll have their ‘special treat,’ heading in the restaurant’s kitchen to make it together.
Anne arrives in a frenzy at Vance’s house and he is his usual egoistic self, utterly disinterested in Amanda going missing again, saying “You'd better lock her up.” Anne is sure of the fantastic truth now and asks where Evan is, Vance saying maybe he’s at the restaurant, asking what she wants with him.
“It was never you,” she says, Vance protesting it has always been him, Anne replying, “No. You're always an asshole,” quickly leaving with Vance yelling she’s always a bitch as he slams his door.
Evan and Amanda bring out the pirate cake to the table set with a tablecloth, plates and a candle, sitting down so Amanda can carefully slice off the heads of “those wicked fellows” as she says in her mock pirate voice.
The door opens and Anne enters, stands and says, “You two are having our special treat without me? I don't think so.”
Evan is flustered then says, “Anne, I… I know this doesn't make sense, but...”
Anne responds, “Strangely, it finally does make sense. And I'm so glad. Home again, home again, hippity hop.”
She smiles, Evan relaxes and smiles, Amanda looks ecstatic. Evan holds the seat for Anne, she sits, Evan sits. Amanda takes Anne's hand then Evan's, Evan puts out his other hand for Anne who takes it, and the circle is complete.
AMANDA
(happily)
I told you – sometimes magic happens!
FADE OUT
THE END
