Standing Up, Falling Down (2019)

“That’s why the good Lord gave us weed and booze. They’re numbing agents against regret, because regret is real. It’s one of the few things in the world that is.” – Marty

Number of Times Seen – 1 (6 Dec 2020)

Brief Synopsis – Two lost souls find one another in a bar and strike up an unusual friendship.

My Take on it – This is a film that I knew nothing about before I saw a review of it yesterday by my friend Allie of Often Off Topic.

Her enthusiastic review of this movie made me quite curious to watch this film because I’m such a big fan of Billy Crystal.

Unfortunately, my opinion of it isn’t even close to being as enthusiastic as hers is.

The premise of this film is quite good, but they fall completely flat in the delivery of things.

Crystal is an amazing actor, but this is a role that doesn’t work well for him no matter how hard he tries.

The story doesn’t develop the characters well enough and it makes things so much hard to care about the characters.

Most of the characters, supporting and lead come across as being far too stereotypical and shallow which hurts things far too much.

The chemistry between Crystal and hos co-lead Ben Schwartz is completely off and it’s so hard to even believe that these two characters can hit it off so quickly especially given the way that they first meet… in the bathroom of a bar.

The film has a great message, but the delivery fall short and too much of what happens feels a bit too convenient as things progress.

The plot has lots of holes in it which makes it even harder to like any of the characters.

Bottom Line – Interesting idea that falls flat in its delivery. Crystal is a great actor, but this role doesn’t work for him very well. The characters aren’t developed well enough for the viewer to really care about them and they mostly come across as feeling far too stereotypical in everything that they say or do. The chemistry between Crystal and Schwartz is quite lacking and it’s very hard to believe that these two characters can hit it off so easily especially when they meet in the bathroom of a bar. The message of the film isn’t delivered well enough and things feel too convenient in the way that the story progresses. In addition, they have far too many holes in this plot which makes it even harder to like the characters.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – On 11/27/2017, police were called to respond to a vehicle that had “crashed” into a pizza and ice cream shop in Long Island, only to learn the “scene” turned out to be a scene for this film starring Billy Crystal. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)