What Goes Up

"What Goes Up" tells the story of Campbell Babbitt, an emotionally damaged journalist from NYC who goes to Concord (NH) to cover the hometown hooplah for the Space Shuttle Challenger launch. After having found out about an old friend of his' apparently suicide he becomes entangled in the petty businesses of his late friend's student and tries to uncover the truth of his death.

Or at least this is the most probable synopsis, 'cuz the movie ain't discernible at all. It aims to be profound and leave a certain message, but still, it's really convoluted & unclear. The cast has some potential and big names (Hilary Duff, Steve Coogan, Josh Peck etc.) but no one of them seems to be at easy with the script and what they have to do.

The movie certainly has some interesting scenes, but near the end it delivers the most outrageous scene you can shoot at least from my point of view, something really abhorrent! It gives me an ante-litteram Euphoria vibe at times throughout its entire length, something that I really despise.

The only positive thing I found out about it it's the fact that Hilary & Josh have become great friends years after the shooting & releasing of this film and both still cannot make sense of what this movie should be.

Maybe in the future I'll be able to re-evaluate "What Goes Up" but for now my vote is negative!

worked on it, great talent, great script, great crew. i wish that there wasn't as much ego involved with this project! it had so much potential and I have to say that steve coogan, josh peck and molly shannon were out of this world! what a pleasure. some of the local talent were fantastic as well. our two favourite misfits "the girls" you know who you are, were wonderfully quirky and adorable to say the least.

production was a nightmare.

local crew were treated as second class.

what is with the director not thanking the local crew?

not so nice my fine flying friend.

'WHAT GOES UP must come down' and that seems to be one way of looking at this funky little film written by Robert Lawson and writer/director Jonathan Glatzer. Given Steve Coogan's comedic talents it is able to rise above an implausible script and come close to be entertaining.

The time frame is January 1986 and Campbell Babbitt (the last name is well chosen as a reference to Sinclair Lewis' novel 'Babbitt' - a satire of American culture, society, and behavior, it critiques the vacuity of middle-class American life and its pressure on individuals toward conformity) played by Steve Coogan is a reporter for New York World, writing a series about a woman who became a 'hero' by turning the anguish of seeing her son murdered in to acts of civil service (the woman whom Babbitt has grown to love commits suicide, and out of cherishing her memory he continues to write stories as though she were still alive - an act that Babbitt's editor Donna (Molly Price) finds ridiculous and sends Babbitt of to New Hampshire to cool off and to over the upcoming Space Shuttle Challenger).

Babbitt arrives in a little town in new Hampshire (the town is preparing to celebrate the Shutttle launch as Christa McAuliffe was raised there) to discover that his old friend Sam who was planning to become a priest but opted for teaching had a class of 'problem kids' who adored him. Babbitt discovers Sam's body in the street. The class of odd kids mourn Sam's passing: he was their hero. What Babbitt discovers is a group of kids each of whom is challenged with a problem and is trying to find ways to overcome those problems: Lucy Diamond - a reference to the Beatles song - (Hillary Duff) was in love with Sam; Tess Sulivan (Olivia Thirlby) claims she saw Lucy and Sam in an intimate moment, suggesting that Sam's act resulted in his jumping off his roof in suicide (Tess has private problems at home that lead to an unwanted pregnancy); Jim (Josh Peck) is the guardian of the coffin and funeral and 'burial' of Sam; Peggy (Sarah Lind) is a paraplegic who talks Fenster (Max Hoffman, son of Dustin Hoffman) into being her first sexual encounter; Ann (Ingrid Nilson) and her 'twin' Sue (Andrea Brooks) provide comic relief in their bizarre antics; Lute (Laura Carswell) is the dissatisfied choral assistant to the weirdo-choir director and pageant designer Penelope Little (Molly Shannon).

In the midst of this strange crew and situation Babbitt as a reporter tries to sort every thing out, falls for Lucy, and is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his woe begotten story in New York. His influence helps the kids sort out their priorities and leads Babbitt to find a way out of his own unwanted heroism. The story ends before we know the result of the Challenger explosion - and the creation of a real hero in Christa McAuliffe. But there really isn't a beginning or an end to a story in the ordinary sense of a film. WHAT GOES UP merely puts before the viewer the lives of some odd people and lets us watch how they cope. It has a bit of comedy, though dark, and a lot of tender moments that don't come into focus until movies end. For many this film will perplex: for others it will satisfy. It is an offbeat tale with a lot of innuendoes.

Grady Harp

I really thought this film was made with an honesty few teen centered films usually possess. Intriguing performances and slightly surreal situations make the film well worth the watch. Coogan is delightfully flawed and the surrounding cast truly resonates. Although I was prepared to be distracted by Hilary Duff, I thought she shined brightly and held her own quite well. The truth is that most filmmakers when tackling tougher issues as ones presented in What Goes Up tend to talk down and diminish their audience while the makers of this film seem undaunted by the regular Hollywood mission of going for cheap humor and glamorized sexuality. There is a gravity here that hangs like a thick cloud over this cast and I suspect this movie will be looked upon later as having more layers than it would initially seem.

'What Goes Up' written and directed by first timers Jonathan Glatzer and Robert Lawson, is not a perfect film but it is by no means a terrible film either. At current the film has received 145 votes and has a score of 4.8, well that's just ridiculous and in the review below I hope to explain why.

The Film starts off with much promise, Steve Coogan's acting is superb and the rest of the cast do a very good job too. For the first hour this is a very good film, it's deep, engrossing, and imaginative as it sets up for what seems to be a powerful and emotive story with an interesting array if characters and some brilliant cinematography. I found myself truly captivated, the integration of the Challenger disaster was done very tactfully and we frequently get some wonderful shots from Space that I really liked. However, about an hour in it starts to lose pace followed by a slight loss of direction as the main character, Campbell Babbitt, undergoes a sudden change that really doesn't suit and is poorly developed. The film then goes the same way as Campbell becoming a bit annoying and awkward at times. By the end I found myself feeling a little disappointed as it had thrown almost all the potential it had shown early on, settling of a generic and uninspired end.

All in all 'What Goes Up' is OK, great in parts whilst boring and unoriginal in others, yet, for all its faults I liked it. It may not be perfect but come on people, even 'Little Nicky' has a 5/10 and trust me this is much, much better than 'Little Nicky'. The first hour and brilliant cinematography ensure that 'What Goes Up' is not a 4.8, it's a film defiantly worth watching and one I would happily recommend.

6/10