Standing Up, Falling Down

Scott Rollins (Ben Schwartz) has returned to his Long Island family home after four years of failed standup attempts in L.A. He joins his younger sister Megan (Grace Gummer) as too old to still live with mom and dad. He finds dermatologist Marty (Billy Crystal) peeing in the sink and befriends the troubled elder. He reconnects with married ex Becky (Eloise Mumford).

Scott is a bit sad and not too funny. The same goes for this movie. It's a very familiar story. There isn't much plot. The best relationship is probably Schwartz and Gummer. Quite frankly, it may be interesting to try them in a traditional rom-com. They have a good banter together. As for Schwartz and Crystal, I expected more comedic power. Both are essentially playing sad characters and that drains some of the energy out of their partnership. It seems that everything is toned down a bit including Scott's standup comedy and that keeps the movie at a low simmer.

Drama and comedy, not the ideal mix if you ask me, as most of the time there is more drama than comedy and that's also the case in Standing Up, Falling Down. That said I thought this movie wasn't that bad, I didn't laugh much, but the story is strange enough enjoyable to watch. It's just about different people trying to get their life back on the right track. It's rather sad than funny. The acting of Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz was good and that made it worth watching. I mostly knew Schwartz as Jean-Ralphio from the American comedy TV series Parks and Recreation where he played a rather annoying character but in this movie he proves he can play something different. As a drama this movie works, not so much as a comedy, but that's only my opinion. Goodenough for a one time viewing.

Billy Crystal's nuanced performance meets very good writing in a tale about uncommon friendships and uncommon redemption. Not a perfect film, but great performances and quick pacing enable the writing and plot to tell an efficient, funny, touching story well.

By all means it should be a 70 tops, but it has heart, a great chemistry between the characters and good balance between drama and comedy. Ben Schwartz is great here but Billy Crystal really steals the show.

I saw this film at the Glasgow Film Festival. It starts off very well for the first 30 mins and I was very engaged. Thereafter the film gets bogged down and never moves out of second gear. A shame as a good and interesting film was struggling to get out.