Standing Up, Falling Down: Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz bond in a gentle movie about failure and friendship

By Karen Gordon

Rating: B

It’s a rare thing to see a movie about failure that a) is plays like a gentle rom com, and b) is not about utter neurosis. But Standing Up, Falling Down is a small sweet, slightly flawed movie that is both of those things.
Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation) stars as 34-year-old Scott. After four years, he’s giving up his dream of making it as a stand-up comedian in Los Angeles and heads back home to his parents’ place in Long Island moving back into his childhood bedroom. 

Scott ends up bonding with Marty (Billy Crystal), his dermatologist, a generous guy with an avuncular sense of humour, who spends his nights drinking too much at various local bars and pool halls. 

Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz sort each other’s lives out in Standing Up, Falling Down

Both men are at turning points in their lives, thinking over their past mistakes and wondering how to put things right.  Marty has had two marriages and two children, one of whom can’t forgive his father. 

For Scott, beyond the career failure, he’s wondering whether he made a bad mistake when he dumped his long term girlfriend, Becky (Eloise Mumford), when he moved to L.A.. She’s since married a mutual friend. Another closed door? There are questions that don’t have easy answers, He’s a bit too level-headed and self-aware to be plunged into a funk, even if he doesn’t know what’s next.

Standing Up, Falling Down, is the directorial debut of producer Matt Ratner (Manson Family Vacation), from a script by Peter Hoare (Killing Hasselhoff). Ratner has done some really nice things with this. He’s kept the story small, the tone natural and focused on the relationships in Scott’s world.  

On top that, it’s refreshing to see a movie about people busted back to zero who aren’t tearing themselves apart for comedic effect.

Part of the success of the movie are the performances of Schwartz and Crystal, both intelligent actors who can convey a world of emotion in a shrug. They’re a really good pair. In the naturalistic little movie, the two actors calibrate their performances beautifully, the comedy never being forced. They give each other time and space to react, and the rhythm of their relationship grounds the movie. 

Where the film gets in trouble is in the last quarter or so, when Scott is put into some situations that make a movie that has up until now felt natural, suddenly shift into something more conventional, as if the filmmakers were rushing to wrap up the storyline.

But even still, by that point the movie has woven its charm. Standing Up, Falling Down manages quite a feat. An appealing movie about failure at any age, without any easy answers.

Standing Up, Falling Down. Written by Peter Hoare, directed by Matt Ratner. Opens Friday, February 21 at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto.