Sitting in Bars with Cake ending explained: Does Corinne die?

Sitting in Bars with Cake is a tearjearker. There’s no getting around that. By the end of its two hour runtime, you will be a mess. But you’ll also feel full. For the period of time that you’re watching the film, you go on a journey with best friends Jane (Yara Shahidi) and Corinne (Odessa A’zion) in the city of Los Angeles as one grows more into herself and the other struggles to make peace with the cards she’s been dealt by life.

However, this Prime Video movie isn’t only about loss and discovery. It’s a heartfelt look at friendship and the ways in which we should be there for the people we love even when we aren’t ready to hear what they have to say or when stepping into your humanity means not being the most reasonable of people. It’s how we learn to be better for ourselves and for those around us.

Sitting in Bars with Cake covers a lot over the course of its story. Hidden Remote is here to answer the questions you have after watching, or for those who want to be spoiled, what you should be preferred for before tuning it. We’ll start with the toughest one, which may affect when you decide to sit down and stream the film.

Does Corinne die in Sitting in Bars with Cake?

Yes. She does. There’s a medical emergency in the third act of the film that reveals Corinne’s tumor has appeared in a different location in her brain. It’s become a glioblastoma and, due to its placement, it can’t be operated on. Her previous treatment plan also won’t be effective. Corinne’s doctor does suggest clinical trials but, after her parents research and speak to the doctors running the programs, she doesn’t qualify for any of them.

The rest of the movie is centered on the end of Corinne’s life and Jane’s determination to bring fun and joy to her friend by continuing to cake bar even though she can’t come along. Jane promises her that she’ll make all 50 cakes just like they talked about and she does this even when Corinne passes.

The 50th was supposed to be her best friend’s birthday cake so, on her birthday despite Corinne’s death, Jane takes the cake to the luchador themed bar to celebrate and she brings a souvenir, in the form of a luchador figurine, to Corrine’s tombstone and tells her all about it. The tombstone reads: “Lived for the music, stayed for the cake.”

Do Jane and Oliver get together in Sitting in Bars with Cake?

Yes, they do but it’s not a lasting relationship. Jane tells Corinne that she and Oliver had gotten to the point where they needed to figure out whether they were going on dates or if they were dating. Upon some self-reflection, Jane realized that she liked Oliver and enjoyed his company but she’d been more concerned with wanting him to like her because she never felt like she could be liked.

Now that she’d settled more into herself, Jane was coming to see that she didn’t want to take the relationship further. Jane let Oliver know that she wasn’t in a place to be considering a romance as she’s learning about herself and wants to keep doing that. They parted amicably.

Does Jane tell her parents she doesn’t want to be a lawyer?

Yes, though it’s not without some prompting. After Jane confesses to Corinne that she doesn’t actually want to go to law school, her best friend tells her that that’s not a secret. Everyone but her parents knows that’s not what she wants to do with her life.

At a dinner with their parents, Corinne tells Jane’s that their daughter doesn’t want to be a lawyer. They’re thrown by that news and Jane lies, saying to them that Corinne’s wrong. The two young women argue about it in the bathroom but, later in the movie as Corinne is being taken care of at home, Jane finally tells her parents that she doesn’t want to go to law school.

She believes that she can still make a difference, but she wants to do so in her own way. Corrine overhears the conversation and smiles. Jane’s own way turns out to be opening a bakery the year after Corinne’s passing. It’s called Silver Lake Cake Bar.

Is Silver Lake Cake Bar a real place?

No. Jane’s cake bar isn’t real.

Is Sitting in Bars with Cake a true story?

The film is based on a true story. Audrey Shulman, the screenwriter for the film, published the book Sitting in Bars with Cake: Lessons and Recipes from One Year of Trying to Bake My Way to a Boyfriend back in 2015. It was the true story of her time spent bringing cakes to bars in order to meet people. So the cakes shown throughout the film are actual recipes from the book.

Shulman also lost her best friend, Chrissy, to brain cancer during this time. Jane and Corinne’s friendship, cake barring, and navigation of a cancer diagnosis and treatment was inspired by Shulman and Chrissy’s lives. She dedicated the film to her best friend.

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