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“Standing Up, Falling Down” is a movie that uses such a quaint title as honest advertising—there will be jokes, but it’ll be a little cheesy too. The two qualities come to life when it’s the people who embody that process, and in this case it’s the inspired pairing of Ben Schwartz and Billy Crystal as two new friends who support each other. Yes, you’ve seen this type of story before, but “Standing Up, Falling Down” shows that there can still be a little magic—and charisma—when the material is genuinely funny.  

Schwartz stars in this indie comedy as Scott, a stand-up comedian who moves back to his parents’ home on Long Island after years of failure in Hollywood. His life story isn’t that interesting—and he seems to be aware of that by initially telling impersonal jokes on stage—but he has regrets from his past life that he needs to sort out, like the relationship with a woman named Becky ( Eloise Mumford ), which he ran away from even though she could have been The One. In the movie’s first 15 minutes or so, Scott's journey is not very original (or narratively promising) even though he shares a few good jokes with his ball-busting, scene-stealing sister Megan ( Grace Gummer ). 

It turns out that what Scott needs in his life is a bonafide bon vivant like Marty (Billy Crystal). Crystal enters the movie in a way that’s forced (as some of the script’s comic and dramatic hands can be) by crashing into a urinating Scott in a bathroom, and deciding himself to pee in the sink. That’s just the beginning of Marty’s world of irreverent humor, which Scott gets sucked into and then becomes a central part of. Whether the role was written with him in mind or not, Marty is very much a character you want from a Billy Crystal performance—very clever, a little sly in its self-amusement, always sweet. It goes from strange to charming that Marty keeps popping up in Scott’s life, first as a guy at the bar, then a fellow crasher at the wake at one of Scott's friends, and then as Marty’s dermatologist. It’s a small town, but it’s the confident mechanics of director Matt Ratner that keep putting Marty and Scott together, and eventually you support their friendship.  

Marty has problems in his life that he needs to address too—underneath all of his scarves, fedoras, and his Twitter-verified account dedicated to dermatology jokes is a melancholy made up of two deceased wives, children that won’t speak to him, and a former lifestyle he calls “The Beast.” Marty is in bold spirits when hanging out with his new comedian friend, but there’s always a little distance. And when Marty is not with Scott, he’s often alone in his gray home, surrounded by numerous blank surfaces. A character like Marty, who has clearly lived a lot of life, could be too whimsical in certain hands—but the movie's best moments frame him as a surprisingly grounded guy, who likes to do things big because he knows how quiet and lonely everything else can be.  

“Standing Up, Falling Down” asks out loud whether a person can, in the script’s laidback way of speaking, “unf**k” something. It’s a good question, of which this movie has a funny, at times aggressively poignant way of answering it. The script by Peter Hoare gets to these problems through conversations between Scott and Marty that are spiked with enough humor and sadness to keep everything moving, while being bolstered by the always-welcome screen presence of Crystal. It’s when the movie tries to squeeze some big emotions out of Crystal later on that the story can be a little flat, sending the script amiss when it starts to aim right for the heart. The movie’s sentimentality comes out better in its inspired moments of bonding, like when Scott’s family affectionately pounds back Irish car bombs at the dinner table.  

Schwartz could recently be heard as the voice of Sonic in “ Sonic the Hedgehog ,” but he does strong dramatic work here in the flesh as Scott. It’s a spirited performance that feels like it comes from the specific rhythms he can offer the world of dramatic acting, even if his character construction is one of many script elements that likely appeared synonymous on paper. And when Schwartz does get behind a microphone stand in the movie’s few stand-up scenes, he’s not just funny but at ease, giving the film a necessary air of playful introspection. To his credit, Schwartz can even sell a truly shameless sentimental speech in the third act.  

With a movie like this, chemistry is key, and “Standing Up, Falling Down” has got it. The scenes where Schwartz and Crystal crack each other up while talking about their problems always have an off-the-cuff liveliness, regardless of how much their bonding has been scripted. As the story moves through its unoriginal premise, it at least does so with two naturally funny people, playing two slap-happy guys riffing their way through the next crisis.  

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Standing Up, Falling Down (2020)

Billy Crystal as Marty

Ben Schwartz as Scott

Eloise Mumford as Becky

Grace Gummer as Megan

Nate Corddry as Adam

Jill Hennessy as Vanessa

Caitlin McGee as Taylor

• Matt Ratner
• Peter Hoare

Cinematographer

• Noah Rosenthal
• Shayar Bhansali
• David Schwartz

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‘Standing Up, Falling Down’: Film Review

This pleasant if slight dramedy has failed comic Ben Schwartz gaining an unlikely pal in alcoholic dermatologist Billy Crystal.

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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Ultimately pleasant if slight, “Standing Up, Falling Down” arrives at that modest impact despite the fact that the major characters here insist on behaving in ways that are meant to be funny, but too often land more in the “obnoxious” zone. This seriocomedy, with Ben Schwartz as a failed comedian and Billy Crystal as a wacky dermatologist he befriends, is actually stronger in its middleweight dramatic departments than it is in convincing us that these newly-met buddies are really good-hearted charmers — as opposed to tactless misanthropes who’ve quite understandably alienated most of those around them.

A different movie might have actually explored that second, rather bleak reality. But “Standing Up” wants to be cute and heartwarming. That it eventually succeeds, more or less, pays testament to producer turned first-time feature helmer Matt Ratner ’s adept handling, and a cast that does their considerable best with iffy material. The screenplay by Peter Hoare is a step up from that of his prior indie feature, “Killing Hasselhoff,” but still leans too heavily on supposedly outre humor that just isn’t very original or sharp.

Nonetheless, thanks largely to the performers (and Crystal in particular), the end result is diverting enough if unmemorable. Having debuted at Tribeca last spring, the film ends its festival tour this week in Palm Springs, then gets a theatrical release from Shout! starting Feb. 21. Its primary exposure will no doubt be on the small screen, starting with a simultaneous on-demand launch.

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Crawling back home to Long Island after failing to make it as a professional comic is Scott (Ben Schwartz), whose self-pity is unalleviated by the fact that neither his variably supportive parents (Debra Monk, Kevin Dunn) or acidly sparring sister (Grace Gummer) ever thought he had a chance. (Nor do we: Both at the start, when he’s seen bombing on stage, and later when he’s supposed to be killing it, Scott’s act is tepid at best.) Perhaps even worse, four years ago he “skipped town like an a–hole” in pursuit of that elusive dream, abandoning the perfect girlfriend (Eloise Mumford as Becky) who’s since moved on with her life and married someone else. Indeed, everyone seems to have arrived at a viable grown-up life with spouse and gainful employment, save Scott.

Catching a drink with one such responsible-adult old friend, he has a rude but piquant encounter with a drunk older bar patron who recommends a dermatologist after noticing a stress rash on Scott’s arm. That skin doc and the drunk turn out to be the same: Marty (Crystal), a twice-widowed unhappy loner not on good terms with his grown kids, who wiles away his non-working hours on booze and karaoke despite having little talent for handling either.

The two men meet again by accident at a remote acquaintance’s wake. They disrupt that solemn occasion with loud banter that really isn’t funny, even managing to knock over an elderly lady as they beat a shamed retreat. Clearly, they’re meant for each other. Many Jager shots later, they’ve bonded, having exchanged the basics of why they’re both miserable and generally disliked. They do entertain one another, if no one else.

Though briskly paced, “Standing Up” is a bit uneventful. The only things that really happen are that Scott does a local comedy gig, has an abortive reunion with the somewhat inexplicably still-smitten Becky, and meets a potential Ms. Right (Caitlin McGee). Marty tries to force a reconciliation with his estranged son (Nate Corddry) in the sole scene with any real heft. There’s a climactic tragedy kick-dropped into the narrative that theoretically allows some kind of collective catharsis. But the story and character psychology here lack sufficient substance to make us feel, as we’re intended, that the main characters have truly changed each other for the better.

That said, the performers do often provide their own degrees of drollery and shading, lending nuance even when the writing is less than inspired. Monk, David Castaneda, Nik Sadhnani, and others contribute pleasing comic sparks in roles that probably didn’t suggest much potential on the page. And though his character in many ways seems the most contrived, Crystal pulls it off, making Marty a credible mix of good intentions, bad behavior, and naturally deadpan timing. Despite several scenes in which he’s being a loose cannon (esp. as a guy frequently at risk of being eighty-sixed from his favorite bar), his turn is primarily marked by a judicious understatement that elevates the entire film’s game.

Ratner appears to have absorbed the same less-is-more wisdom, and if “Standing Up” consistently feels familiar, it nevertheless resists emphasizing the more broadly comedic or maudlin elements you might expect. Its smooth craftsmanship extends to all packaging elements, with an above-average attention to creating an inviting warmth from the visual contributors, while David Schwartz provides an appropriately low-key, acoustic-guitar-based score.

Reviewed online, San Francisco, Dec. 16, 2019. (In Palm Springs, Tribeca, Nashville film festivals.) Running time: 91 MIN.

• Production: A Shout! Studios release of a Tilted Windmill, Mangano Movies & Media, Whitewater Films presentation, in association with Face Productions. Producers: Chris Mangano, Matt Ratner, Rick Rosenthal, John Hermann, Gabrielle Nadig. Executive producers: Billy Crystal, Peter Hoare, Ben Schwartz, Bert Kern, Nicholas Morton, Matt Bronson, Matthew Jacobs, Alexander R. Madorsky. Co-producer: Joanna Colbert.
• Crew: Director: Matt Ratner. Screenplay: Peter Hoare. Camera (color, HD): Noah M. Rosenthal. Editor: Shayar Bhansali. Music: David Schwartz.
• With: Billy Crystal, Ben Schwartz, Eloise Mumford, Grace Gummer , Nate Corddry, Jill Hennessy, Caitlin McGee, David Castaneda, Debra Monk, Kevin Dunn, John Behlmann, Leonard Ouzts, Nathan James, Hassan Johnson, Nik Sadhnani.

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‘standing up, falling down’: film review | palm springs 2020.

Billy Crystal plays an alcoholic doctor and Ben Schwartz plays a failed stand-up comic in 'Standing Up, Falling Down,' a story of friendship and regret.

By Stephen Farber

Stephen Farber

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A lot of talented people contributed to a small but satisfying comedy that has played at a couple of festivals (most recently Palm Springs) and will be released in February. The nifty title, Standing Up, Falling Down , refers to the main character’s gig as a stand-up comic, but it also encapsulates the troubled lives of the two protagonists. Scott Rollins (Ben Schwartz) is a failed comic who retreats from Los Angeles to move in with his parents in Long Island. There he strikes up an unlikely friendship with Marty (a superb Billy Crystal), a dermatologist who harbors regrets and failures far more profound than Scott’s career disappointments.

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Peter Hoare’s script etches the characters convincingly. Scott’s constant wisecracks cannot entirely camouflage the disappointments that led to his moving back home at the age of 34. He flounders in contemplating career options, and he also fantasizes about reconnecting with an ex-girlfriend who is now married to one of their classmates. While out carousing at a local bar, Scott runs into a neighborhood drunk who turns out to be a doctor whom Scott consults to treat a case of hives. These two men trade jokes and war stories, and although both of them are damaged, they draw a bit of strength from their friendship.

Release date: Feb 21, 2020

Director Matt Ratner gets strong performances from both Schwartz (a veteran of TV series like Parks and Recreation ) and Crystal. In fact, this may be the best performance that Crystal has ever given; instead of wallowing in the schmaltzy emotion that he has sometimes exhibited in his more dramatic roles, Crystal finds the character’s self-sabotaging edge as well as his prickly sense of humor. Their relationship unfolds unpredictably and unsentimentally.

Both the director and the writer also deserve credit for etching a rich gallery of supporting characters, every one of whom is expertly played. Grace Gummer brings a tart sense of humor to her role as Scott’s impatient sister, and David Castaneda is winning as her boyfriend, a local security guard whose attempts at belligerence cannot entirely mask his innate kindness. As Marty’s estranged son, Nate Corddry plays his role with a convincing bitterness that banishes any hint of treacle. And as Scott’s parents, veteran actors Debra Monk and Kevin Dunn manage to turn potentially stock roles into complex, lived-in characters.

Eloise Mumford has warmth and sensuality as Scott’s ex-girlfriend, Becky, and their romantic encounter does not turn out predictably. John Behlmann as Becky’s husband has one superb scene in which he reveals his insecurity about being married to a woman who continues to harbor feelings for “the one who got away.” The greatest virtue of the movie is the vibrancy of all these characterizations and of a plot that takes several unexpected but always satisfying turns. The bittersweet ending is leavened with just the right note of acerbic humor.

Ratner’s visual evocation of this Long Island community is competent but not inspired, which is perhaps not surprising for a first-time director. But he more than compensates with his gift for casting and for bringing the best out of a group of experienced actors. Although there is nothing groundbreaking about the story told in Standing Up , a series of small grace notes help to freshen this dissection of lost souls searching for second chances.

Production companies: Tilted Windmill Productions, Mangano Movies, Whitewater Films Cast: Billy Crystal, Ben Schwartz, Eloise Mumford, Grace Gummer, Nate Corddry, David Castaneda, Debra Monk, Kevin Dunn Director: Matt Ratner Screenwriter: Peter Hoare Producers: Chris Mangano, Matt Ratner, Rick Rosenthal, John Hermann, Gabrielle Nadig Executive producers: Billy Crystal, Peter Hoare, Ben Schwartz, Bert Kern, Nicholas Morton, Matt Bronson, Matthew Jacobs, Alexander R. Madorsky Cinematographer: Noah M. Rosenthal Production designer: Michael Fitzgerald Costume designer: Maria Kenny Editor: Shayar Bhansali Music: David Schwartz Casting: Rebecca Dealy Venue: Palm Springs International Film Festival

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Standing Up, Falling Down Reviews

“Standing Up” is an often whimsical look at second chances and new beginnings. On the flipside it’s about remorse, loss, and self-destruction.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 25, 2022

This is a Crystal we've never seen before, and while many of us have suspected that he has always had it in him, "Standing Up, Falling Down" is proof that Crystal may still have a second productive career as a great character actor.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Jun 14, 2022

Standing Up, Falling Down does seem to be reaching for a slice of life narrative, à la Paterson, but it reads more like melodrama.

Full Review | Mar 22, 2021

…a nice chance to see that Crystal can still shine, with Schwartz supporting nicely with a self-deprecating, wry performance; it would be nice to see more of both men’s undisputable comic talents, but this accomplished two-hander will do for now…

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 1, 2021

It is so good to see Billy Crystal, playing Marty, back on the big screen...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 3, 2021

Schwartz and Crystal are an appealing odd couple, trading quips with the ease of two seasoned comedians. More than that, though, they are believable and compelling when they aren't being funny, and displaying the flawed sides of their personalities.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 30, 2021

The story is a familiar crowd-pleaser, but the relatable humor, funny scenarios, and down-to-earth writing elevate this film above the rest.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5 / 5 | Dec 19, 2020

Come for Billy Crystal's performance, and stay because you'll just end up wanting to.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Dec 9, 2020

A welcome surprise with a small budget but big heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 3, 2020

Overall, Standing Up, Falling Down is a laidback comedy with plenty of heart. Despite its seemingly ordinary story, Schwartz and Crystal fill it with laughter.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 30, 2020

An unexpected delight, this modest movie is buoyed by the charming performances from the two leads as well as a sincerity that helps the rather cliched moments seem fresh.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Nov 27, 2020

Standing Up, Falling Down does not introduce to any new story per se... Where the film charms and excels is in combining Scott and Marty's individual stories with the friendship that evolves between.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 8, 2020

Billy Crystal has...found a worthy return in this big-hearted comedy about two hard-drinking, emotionally tormented loners who, despite themselves, strike up the most meaningful friendship of their lives.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 25, 2020

The parts in the film that are meant to be tear-jerking moments have the subtlety of a hammer, but the well-cast ensemble's performances (not surprisingly, [Billy] Crystal is the standout) make the movie appealing to watch overall.

Full Review | Jul 12, 2020

Peter Hoare's script contains bromantic clichés, it's true. But just as many scenes confound.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 5, 2020

What keeps you hanging on is the Teflon likeability of the leads, welcome vital signs in a film of otherwise aggressive modesty.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 1, 2020

The film has a melancholy tone, mixing humour with day-to-day disappointment. This makes it feel refreshingly un-pushy, finding moments that are funny and dramatic without straining for anything momentous.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 1, 2020

The schmaltz is gone, as is the self-love, and instead we have a sweetly empathetic turn...

Chemistry between the leads is key. Schwartz comfortably holds his own against the evergreen Crystal, twinkle still firmly in his eye.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 3, 2020

In Standing Up, Falling Down, this new style of comedy is light on laughs, but big on heart, weaving together a story of hope, redemption, and second chances with a solid cast led by Ben Schwartz and Billy Crystal.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Feb 28, 2020

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Standing up, falling down, common sense media reviewers.

Crystal, Schwartz make regret funny; substance use, cursing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Human beings are complicated: flaws, weaknesses an

Characters are humanly complicated, with flaws and

Romantic elements are at backbone of story: A 65-y

Multiple uses and variations of "ass," "bitch," "d

Some jokes are made in which the names of well-kno

Conflicting messages about alcohol consumption: Ma

Parents need to know that Standing Up, Falling Down is a buddy comedy starring Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz that deals with regret and loss. The mature themes are likely to be best appreciated by adults who've lived long enough to understand the idea of making life-altering mistakes. The movie presents a…

Positive Messages

Human beings are complicated: flaws, weaknesses and bad decisions don't necessarily sum up someone's overall character. Happiness is fleeting, sadness fades, but "regret is real." Our selfish actions can create an irreversible impact on others' lives. Communication is a theme.

Positive Role Models

Characters are humanly complicated, with flaws and weaknesses. Two positive supporting characters are diversely cast.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Romantic elements are at backbone of story: A 65-year-old often reflects on the success and failure of his two marriages, and a 34-year-old is obsessed with "the one that got away." A couple kisses passionately. Brief moment of implied masturbation. A man wakes up in a strange bed lying next to a bra and a note. Movie has theme of infidelity creating more problems in the long term than it solves in the short term. Characters joke about sexual acts using crude terminology; in other moments, they use the correct terms for genitalia.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Multiple uses and variations of "ass," "bitch," "d--k," "hell," "screw," "s--t," "f--k" etc. A couple of crude words are used to describe sex acts.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Some jokes are made in which the names of well-known restaurants are used for punch lines, but it doesn't feel like product placement. A character's surf suit has the brand name emblazoned across the chest.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Conflicting messages about alcohol consumption: Marty is an alcoholic, and while that's shown to have some negative consequences, booze is also shown as a tool for bonding and good times. Several characters are shown smoking joints and/or high for comedic effect.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Standing Up, Falling Down is a buddy comedy starring Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz that deals with regret and loss. The mature themes are likely to be best appreciated by adults who've lived long enough to understand the idea of making life-altering mistakes. The movie presents a complex take on drinking and marijuana use: Marty (Crystal) is an alcoholic who persuades Scott (Schwartz) to drink aggressively and to smoke pot (even coaching him through it). While everyone seems a bit exasperated with Marty's substance use, it still leads to fun, sex (implied), and friendship (a cop even gets high with him). Expect lots of swearing ("s--t," "f--k"), as well as some very crude terms for sexual acts. There's a moment of implied masturbation and a passionate make-out scene between a single man and a woman who's married to someone else. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN, after Scott's ( Ben Schwartz ) stand-up career hits the skids in Los Angeles, he moves back home to live with his parents in Long Island. While he's trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life, Scott becomes friends with his 65-year-old dermatologist, Marty ( Billy Crystal ), an alcoholic who's trying to resolve family issues.

Is It Any Good?

Crystal and Schwartz are comedy prizefighters: One jibs, the other jabs, and viewers are knocked out. The duo make a sensational comedy team, combining the old guard with the new. It feels authentic, nostalgic, exciting, and right. As Scott and Marty, the two comedians almost feel like extensions of each other. Their interactions are comfortable, and the dialogue so natural you might think they wrote it themselves (which is a real credit to screenwriter Peter Hoare). But the zippy patter goes well beyond that. Scott is a comedian, and humor roils in all of the little interactions of life -- whether it be a dad who doesn't stop watching TV to greet an estranged son or a mother who doesn't knock. Then there's Scott's other dynamic pairing: his relationship with his sister, Megan (brilliantly played by Grace Gummer ). The siblings' interactions are full of quick-witted burns and loving slams.

Standing Up, Falling Down asks, in the characters' words, this question: Once you've "f--ked up" a relationship, can you "unf--k" it? The themes include life-altering mistakes, depression, suicide, infidelity, death, and lots of regret -- and it's hilarious. There's not much here to appeal to kids and teens, and that's probably a good thing: Director Matt Ratner sends mixed messages about drug and alcohol use. Marty is an alcoholic, and even though that makes him miss an important event and it's harming his relationship with his kids, he's also having a great time. When he gets high, he blows an important opportunity, but he makes a friend. The ultimate impression is that escaping life through substances is a blast -- too bad, because that's the only part of the movie that isn't funny.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what regret means and what the filmmakers want Standing Up, Falling Down 's viewers to take away from watching.

Do you think drinking and drug use are glamorized in the film? Are there realistic consequences? Why does that matter?

How does this movie compare to other buddy comedies? Why do you think it's rare to see comedies that put an older and a younger person together as friends?

Marty is a communicator: How and why do you think his attempts at communication work so well with Scott but not with his son? Why is communication an important life skill?

Movie Details

• In theaters : February 21, 2020
• On DVD or streaming : March 31, 2020
• Cast : Ben Schwartz , Billy Crystal , Grace Gummer
• Director : Matt Ratner
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Shout Factory
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Brothers and Sisters
• Character Strengths : Communication
• Run time : 91 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : October 8, 2022

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‘Standing Up, Falling Down’ Film Review: Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz Bridge Generations with Gags and Guidance

Crystal’s drunk doctor and Schwartz’s flailing stand-up give each other the kick in the pants both men need

Coming of age is always a lot less fun when you’re already grown up, a truth astutely understood in “Standing Up, Falling Down.”

Chronicling a stand-up comedian’s disgraceful return home after failing to make waves in Hollywood, director Matt Ratner targets the humiliation, disappointment and awkwardness of failing at a youthful dream while suggesting that those feelings only keep going — and only incrementally get easier — no matter how old you get. Ben Schwartz and Billy Crystal make a solid pair of intergenerational pals in this pleasantly diverting comedy-drama.

Schwartz (“Sonic the Hedgehog”) plays Scott, a comedian we first see halfheartedly warming up a crowd next to the bathroom in a coffee shop. Like too many other dreamers, he headed West hoping to stake a claim as the next great stand-up, but now he’s moving back to live with his parents in Long Island, tail tucked between his legs and absolutely determined not to accept a job working for his father Gary (Kevin Dunn). Mom Jeanie (Debra Monk) remains his biggest fan even as she suggests he pursue work at the post office, while his younger sister Megan (Grace Gummer) similarly lives at home, though she looks down on him from a management training program she recently began at a shopping-mall pretzel stand.

On his first night on the town, the would-be comedian encounters Marty (Crystal), a charming drunk who turns out to be the local dermatologist, a specialist whose help Scott actually needs. After a more formal visit to Marty’s office, the two bond over the doc’s irreverent sense of humor and begin spending time together; Marty becomes the fun, supportive father figure and sometimes instigator that Scott needs, and Scott becomes a drinking buddy and surrogate protégé for the carousing sexagenarian. But as Scott conspires to reconnect with Becky (Eloise Mumford, the “Fifty Shades” series), a girlfriend he abandoned to pursue his dreams of stardom, Marty cautions him against trying to make a relationship work that was never meant to.

Drawing on two of his own marriages, Marty offers his young friend life lessons that he sometimes still struggles with himself: The old drunk has two estranged children, Adam (Nate Corddry) and Taylor (Caitlin McGee, “Modern Love”), he can’t seem to make amends with no matter how hard he tries. But as Scott ventures tentatively back to the stage for a second shot at comedy, the young man starts to look more honestly at his strengths and shortcomings, shedding some of his bruised pride in order to venture towards a new goal that’s perhaps a bit more manageable for his skill set.

Watching an upstart comedian and a veteran play opposite one another on-screen is by itself a hoot; Crystal’s character is meant to dance on a delicate edge between charming and obnoxious, but the elder statesman draws easily from a deep well of experience cultivating chemistry on screen, which Schwartz parries with ease and dexterity.

Arriving just weeks after “Sonic the Hedgehog,” where Schwartz mildly toned down his Jean-Ralphio shtick from “Parks and Rec” to try and make the motormouthed mammal seem charming, this film finds the quick-witted performer on the back foot a bit more, and in a mode more convincingly likable. At the same time, the least effective moments are the ones that feel like “bits” — a riff on social media and “being white” while hanging out in a bar, for example — but as much because the would-be comedian still hasn’t found his performer’s voice on stage, or a way to merge it with his real one.

It feels like there was more to do with Crystal’s Marty and the forces that led him down a path of drunken loneliness after two marriages and two kids, but Ratner and screenwriter Peter Hoare (“Kevin Can Wait”) seem more interested in the journey of Scott’s that is just beginning rather than the one closer to its end. But they also design Marty as the kind of bolt of lightning who enters one’s life for only a short time, imparts some funny, profound wisdom, and disappears, and Crystal maximizes that role both for its comedic potential and for the sad-sack truth his daily performance is using to distract the world from what’s underneath.

Conversely, the movie touches on some surprisingly poignant and important truths about how we assess our choices, past and present, as we try to forge a path into the future. “Regret is the only thing that’s real,” Marty says, but what Scott discovers is that what he’s already done, pass or fail, isn’t part of that. Funny and honest in equal measures, like a good stand-up routine, “Standing Up, Falling Down” uses a light touch to teach us there’s always more to learn.

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‘Standing Up, Falling Down’ Review: Billy Crystal & Ben Schwartz Score In Human Dramedy Of Second Chances

By Pete Hammond

Pete Hammond

Awards Columnist/Chief Film Critic

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It has been about eight years since Billy Crystal toplined a feature film, 2012’s Parental Guidance,  but now he’s back and going all  indie  on us in the modest but touching Standing Up, Falling Down . Even though this story doesn’t center on Crystal’s character, an alcoholic dermatologist named Marty, this fine human dramedy offers the comedian one of the best turns he has ever had on the big screen and perhaps a new and welcome direction in his movie career.

That said, and despite Crystal’s top billing, this film centers on Scott, played by Ben Schwartz ( House of Lies ), who happens to be voicing the title role in last week’s box office blockbuster Sonic the Hedgehog. 

The comparison ends there as, in this screenplay by Peter Hoare with an assured feature directorial debut by Matt Ratner, Schwartz’s Scott is a failed stand-up comic whose dreams of making it in the big leagues after four years in L.A. have crashed and burned. And, at 34, he finds himself traveling back to Long Island to once again live with his parents (nicely played by veterans Debra Monk and Kevin Dunn). Once there he pines for his ex-girlfriend Becky (Eloise Mumford), the one who got away and now is married to a nice enough guy (John Behlmann) who realizes, in just one scene, that maybe he was her second choice.

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Back on the East Coast, Scott has time to deal with all his regrets and is trying to get his life back on track when he has a chance meeting with Marty in a local bar. Marty’s own list of life’s mistakes makes Scott’s pale by comparison. The two strike up a mutual friendship and later meet when Scott’s hives just happen to take him to a dermatologist, who of course turns out to be Marty. The two unlikely new buddies try to help each other through life’s ups, and mostly downs, as other characters weave in and out. They include Scott’s feisty sister Megan (Grace Gummer), her security guard boyfriend (David Castaneda) and Marty’s estranged son (Nate Corddry).

The nifty title explains it all and works on several levels as this bunch searches for second chances and rebirths that, in the sad facts of life, might never come to matching dreams and expectations. There is much here with which to identify, and the writing and acting are exceptional. This is some of the best work of Crystal’s career, an understated but knowing performance that never goes for the kind of easy sentimentality he has sometimes done in the past. Schwartz also hits a career highpoint here with great support from the entire perfectly chosen cast. This is the kind of small but worthwhile film that struggles for attention these days, almost extinct from any significant theatrical exposure and subject to finding wherever you can, likely on-demand in this case but also in select theaters. Seek it out. I say go.

Producers are Chris Mangano, Rick Rosenthal, John Hermann, Gabrielle Nadig, and Ratner. Shout! Studios puts it in release Friday. Check out my video review with scenes from the film at the link at the top of this post.

Do you plan to see  Standing Up, Falling Down?  Let us know what you think.

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'Standing Up, Falling Down' Review: Billy Crystal And Ben Schwartz Are Standouts In Generic Homecoming Comedy [Tribeca]

The homecoming comedy is the bread and butter of the indie circuit, and as poignant and humanist as the genre can be, it can also get old fast. It falls then, on the shoulders of the stars to keep the film from stumbling; thankfully in Standing Up, Falling Down , Ben Schwartz and Billy Crystal are more than up to the task.

Schwartz stars as a failed stand-up comedian Scott, who returns to his hometown with his tail between his legs after striking out in the Los Angeles comedy scene. Moving back in with his parents, he finds that everyone he knows has moved on ahead of him — his best friends have no time for him because of kids and adulthood, and his ex-girlfriend Becky ( Eloise Mumford ) is happily married. But a chance encounter with the town kook Marty (Crystal) kicks off a life-altering friendship that will pull Scott from the rut that he's in.

"Regret is the only thing that's real," Marty teaches Scott — though Marty is not some wise old geezer whose entire existence is spouting profound aphorisms and singing badly at karaoke. Crystal gets to dig into his dramatic well for the role of the charming, flawed dermatologist whose only friends seem to be at the local bar. Though both Crystal and Schwartz's comedic chops get put to good use in  Standing Up, Falling Down , Crystal is fantastic at communicating a despondent loneliness that his character attempts to mask with a gregarious personality and alcoholism. His many mistakes in life have piled up on his shoulders, which Crystal frequently slouches throughout the film, as if he can no longer fight the gravity of his regrets.

Schwartz is charming as the aimless Scott, who constantly dodges his badgering mom and disappointed dad, as well as his ex Becky, the hometown girlfriend he left heartbroken when he tried to break into the LA comedy scene. Though he plays a comedian, he is ostensibly the straight man to Crystal's larger-than-life Marty, which Schwartz plays generously, after long being relegated to outrageous supporting roles. While the character of Scott, the down-on-his-luck millennial comedian, is nothing groundbreaking, Schwartz lends him a real warmth. He's got a real romantic leading man confidence to him, and I wouldn't be surprised if this were a test run for him to take on larger lead roles.

The film is at its best when Schwartz and Crystal are bouncing off each other, either comedically or dramatically. Crystal may not be playing the comedian, but his humor can't help but shine through, and it's the film's boon when it does — it would be easy to watch Crystal riff all day. But both Schwartz and Crystal impress when they smoothly transition from their odd-couple routine to moments of somber self-reflection. Scott and Marty are two similar souls, grappling with their failures and trying to make amends. There's a sad beauty in that.

While the supporting cast, which includes  Nate Corddry and Grace Gummer , hold their own as rather flat stock characters,  Standing Up, Falling Down belongs to Schwartz and Crystal. It's a bit of a shame that the rest of the characters aren't as fleshed out or compelling as these two, but first-time feature director  Matt Ratner knows comedy and dramatic gold when he sees it.

Standing Up, Falling Down is a character drama first, and a homecoming comedy second. Because of that, the arcs that Scott and Marty go through are a little clumsily paced, with long stretches in which nothing of import really happens. But despite some storytelling stumbles, Standing Up, Falling Down manages to stay upright thanks to knockout performances from Schwartz and Crystal. /Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Review: Ben Schwartz and Billy Crystal shine in old-school comedy ‘Standing Up, Falling Down’

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A throwback buddy movie that would have been no stranger to 1980s cinemas, Matt Ratner’s “Standing Up, Falling Down” shows how a well-worn premise need not impact enjoyment when there’s a terrific cast and crisp writing at your disposal.

Retreating to Long Island after his L.A. stand-up comedy career fails to thrive, 34-year-old Scott (affable Ben Schwartz, voice of “Sonic the Hedgehog” ), is well aware that being back home with his parents (Debra Monk and Kevin Dunn) and his badgering sister ( Grace Gummer ) won’t help boost his trampled self-confidence.

But he forms an unlikely, healing bond with Marty ( Billy Crystal ), a twice-widowed dermatologist with two estranged kids whose penchant for getting drunk and/or high proves to be an ineffective salve for masking the pain barely concealed beneath the brim of his trusty porkpie hat.

Back in the day, this might have been Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason in “Nothing in Common” or Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey in “Beaches” (both Garry Marshall vehicles), but while the template may be familiar, the nicely balanced blend of comedy and pathos still hits the mark.

Accentuating the easy chemistry between Crystal and Schwartz is a snappy script by Peter Hoare that neatly sums up Facebook as “Somebody I haven’t heard from since the 10th grade is telling me to dance like nobody’s watching.”

As Scott learns and Ratner’s first feature capably demonstrates, with the right support system, you can go home again.

‘Standing Up, Falling Down’

Not rated Running Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes Playing: Starts Feb. 21, Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica

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Movie Review: Standing Up, Falling Down (2019)

• Natasha Alvar
• Movie Reviews
• --> March 5, 2020

Standing Up, Falling Down fleshes out a narrative that’s been done before, and frankly, it feels like a story that’s a little outdated and a little played out. Scott (Ben Schwartz, “ Blue Iguana ”) returns home after striking out as a comedian, having to hit the restart button and figure out his life. He meets Marty (Billy Crystal, “ Parental Guidance ”), and the two become fast friends quickly, their conversations coming across as interactions between father and son. This relationship thrives because each is looking for what the other offers, both broken in their own ways.

Scott’s father (Kevin Dunn, “ Keeping Up with the Joneses ”) cannot understand his passion, wanting him to take over the business, while Marty’s son won’t talk to him. Marty invites Scott to open up and share, and these moments are sometimes nice to watch, mainly because it is quite apparent that Schwartz and Crystal enjoy each other’s company. Crystal’s screen presence especially helps to elevate the film’s material and is a reminder what an absolute professional he is, but even he can’t mask what an absolute slog the dialogue is. None of the film’s moments connect meaningfully, and it also plods along in a completely predictable way.

Both men are comedic talents, yet Standing Up, Falling Down isn’t particularly funny. Drunk peeing in a sink, getting caught smoking marijuana and swallowing it, lamenting the same old issues of social media — are these bits supposed to send me into fits of laughter? Schwartz’ open mic segments aren’t especially riveting either, it certainly doesn’t warrant claims of greatness or such loud guffaws from audience members — oh right they’re actors. Please know that it pains me to say this because I love Ben Schwartz.

Scott and his sister Megan (Grace Summer, “The Long Dumb Road”) have a love-hate sibling-rivalry thing going on, so every time they meet they have a bicker contest. And when I say every time, I mean every single time. It gets a bit irksome when this is always the kind of interaction they muster with each other. Sure they say they love each other after the back and forth yelping is over, but first-time feature director Matt Ratner doesn’t give them the space to be truly loving and tender to one another.

Standing Up, Falling Down does seem to be reaching for a slice of life narrative, à la “ Paterson ,” but it reads more like melodrama. At the end I am unsure as to what I am supposed to take away from what I’ve just watched. Is it about regret over the treatment of certain relationships? Are we being told to chase contentment and not greatness? Or should I just take the title at face value, and understand that sometimes we stand up only to fall down again?

Maybe it’s like Fitzgerald wrote in his novel “The Great Gatsby.” “We beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” We move forward only to propel backwards. Scott and Marty appear to make strides, but this all culminates in futility. The drawback here is that unlike Gatsby, there isn’t anything meaningful to be found in their journeys, which is such a shame.

Tagged: alcoholic , comedian , doctor , friendship , self-discovery , starting over

Natasha is an English Literature teacher. She believes that stories are the essence of being human, and loves sharing this world with her students. One day, she hopes to break into the literary world with an offering of her own, but for now, she finds enjoyment in writing plays for her students as well as penning content for The Critical Movie Critics. She also writes for moviebabblereviews.com in her spare time. You can follow her @litmysoul on Instagram, if you want.

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Standing Up, Falling Down

By Alan Ng | November 24, 2020

Can you ever really come back from a significant screw-up in life? This is the question explored in Matt Ratner and Peter Hoare’s comedy,  Standing Up, Falling Down .  Ben Schwartz  and  Billy Crystal  are Scott and Marty, and no, the two characters are not related. Both are two men hitting the bottom of screw-ups of their own making.

Scott just returned home after an unsuccessful quest to become a stand-up comedian in Los Angeles. Returning with the same level of maturity as when he left, Scott’s failure is mirrored back to him in the faces of his father Gary ( Kevin Dunn ), mother Jeanie (Debra Monk), and younger sister Megan (Grace Gummer). Sub-plot—he also left behind/ghosted his longtime girlfriend, Becky (Eloise Mumford).

“With both hoping to create a chance meeting  with the ex and the estranged son, the two sad sacks soon become close friends.”

Marty, on the other hand, did not handle the slow death of his first wife very well. Alcohol and carousing was his way of coping with death and dying. His young children were there to witness the two instances of decline in both parents at the same time.

After an awkward chance meeting late at night at a bar, Marty becomes Scott’s new dermatologist to take care of Scott’s stress hives. Even more strange and coincidental, the two meet up at the funeral of a friend of Becky, who was also a friend of Marty’s estranged son Adam (Nate Corddry). With both hoping to create a chance meeting with the ex and the estranged son, the two sad sacks soon become close friends.

As  Standing Up, Falling Down  plays out, much to the dismay of his family, Scott decides to return to stand-up rather than find a real job. Marty makes a few unsuccessful attempts to reconnect with his adult kids. As the two become better friends, the two hopefully start making better decisions about growing up and maturing into adults.

Standing Up, Falling Down (2020)

Directed: Matt Ratner

Written: Peter Hoare

Starring: Ben Schwartz, Billy Crystal, Grace Gummer, Eloise Mumford, Kevin Dunn, Debra Monk, Nate Corddry, etc.

Movie score: 8/10

"…their stories are about being broken as humans with a dab of redemption."

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Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz share the spotlight in Standing Up, Falling Down , a wonderful comedy/drama from writer Peter Hoare and director Matt Ratner. Schwartz ( Sonic the Hedgehog , Parks and Recreation ) stars as Scott, a New York-born comedian who finds himself returning home after failing to find fame out West. While struggling to determine his next step, he meets Marty, played by Crystal ( City Slickers, When Harry Met Sally ), an alcoholic dermatologist with his own issues . Together, they form an unlikely friendship and inspire each other to be better people. It's a heartfelt story full of jolly comedy and genuine emotion.

Standing Up, Falling Down marks the feature directorial debut of Matt Ratner, who has already made his mark on the theatre scene and produced multiple films under his Tilted Windmills Productions banner. After making waves at Tribeca and various other film festivals across the country over the course of 2019, the time has finally come for Standing Up, Falling Down to make its debut in theaters and VOD services.

Related: Screen Rant's Standing Up, Falling Down Review

While promoting the release of Standing Up, Falling Down , director Ratner spoke to Screen Rant about his work on the film, from the decision to shoot the film in the undervalued outskirts of New York City's Long Beach neighborhood and how the casting of Schwartz and Crystal came about. Coincidentally, Billy Crystal is also from Long Beach, and many of the film's shooting locations held personal value to the Monsters University star, which only added to the intimate and personable nature of the movie.

Standing Up, Falling Down releases February 21 in theaters and VOD.

Let's talk about shooting in New York City. I live in Far Rockaway, and I guess I could technically swim to Long Beach from here, but that would be extremely unsafe, and there are much better ways for me to get there. Can you talk about shooting in New York, but particularly in a neighborhood like Long Beach? It's not the classic NYC image of Manhattan skyscrapers, but are no less part of the city.

Yeah, you know, it's funny. The film was written there, the writer grew up there. I'm from Cleveland. And as we were figuring out how to get the film made, we weren't necessarily wedded to shooting there. We wanted it to feel specific, but we didn't necessarily know where it was going to be. But then I went out there, spent some time with the writer, and it's just... It has a character that is so unique, so it's own, and we felt like it was really where we needed to be.

Is that where Billy Crystal entered the picture?

We didn't write it for Billy, but he's actually from Long Beach. So it wound up being a very serendipitous thing. And if you walk around Long Beach, you realize Billy must have 50 uncles, because everyone you talk to is, like, "Oh yeah, Billy's uncle lives right next door!" And there was a lot of weird serendipity with the film, that way. The coffee shop, that plays for L.A. in the movie, where Scott's bombing in the beginning, that's actually the coffee shop, unbeknownst to us, where the writer wrote the first draft of the screenplay. Then there's the scene in the synagogue, where, again, we did not communicate this to Billy before we scouted it, but it turned out to be the exact synagogue where Billy had his bar mitzvah. So, you know, little moments, like with the character running in the wetsuit. We were out there in November, but we saw people surfing! So being able to have that kind of lived-in feel to it... Anytime you're able to shoot where you've set it, it adds so much authenticity and specificity. And shooting in New York, my background is in theater, so the level of cast you can get to come out and shoot for two or three days in New York... Everyone's there. Not just people like Debra Monk, who plays the mother, she's won two Tonys, and she elevates the film so much. But even down to people like Michael Kostroff, who plays the rabbi, he's only got one scene, but it's a pivotal scene, and he's someone you recognize from everything. And being able to have access to that talent pool as a director, it's such a boon.

Yeah, I recognized Mike Carlsen from Kimmy Schmidt. I imagine he's a New Yorker.

Yeah, Mike's from New York.

I mean, just look at him!

(Laughs) Again, it's something where you want to believe the relationship between them. They've got a funny relationship between them, the bartender and Billy's character. And a lot of the film is about the relationship between Billy and Ben, but part of what spoke to me about the movie is that every part was so fully realized on the page that I felt like we could get really dynamic performers to do it and bring out even more nuance and specificity. Part of what drew me to the script was that roles 3-9 are also dynamic, fleshed-out, interesting roles. There's a really cool movie to be made about Ruis trying to become a cop, a cool movie to be made about Becky stuck in a loveless marriage. That, I think, coupled with shooting in New York, allowed us to create this real ensemble that gave Billy and Ben people to play off of.

Absolutely. I particularly enjoyed Ruis, because he's set up to be a total punchline, but then once Ben and Billy meet him and they all become friends, you really get to learn about this guy. "There's however-many stories in the Naked City," right?

Yes. In terms of Ruis, that line, "Ruis is awesome," has to not be a punchline. It has to be true. And when we talked to David Castañeda, who since has done The Umbrella Academy and is a terrific actor, he's just that cool! He's got it. It's effortless. But he's also not "douchey cool," he's "endearing cool." One of the last spoken lines in the movie is about Ruis, so he's gotta earn it.

You've produced a bunch of movies over the years, but this is really your first time directing a feature. Was there something special about this one that made you stop and go, "I need to be behind the camera pulling the strings on this one?"

My background is in theater. I studied directing, and directing's always been the passion. I started producing and fell into it, but was always... Every film I've produced, I've always been looking for the right thing for me to direct. And it's such a different type of commitment. I've been living, breathing, sleeping, dreaming this project for over two years, now. So it had to be something I'd care about. And I've always been drawn to stories that blend humor and pathos in a way this script did. I loved the fact that, from the first time I read it, there were moments where I was laughing out loud, which never happens with a script, and there were moments that I found incredibly emotionally affecting.

Yeah, it goes into some really heavy places.

The idea of grappling with the nature of regret. Are there certain mistakes you make and wounds you cause that are too deep to come back from? Can you un-f*** something? The fact that was all there in the characters without being heavy-handed, all that just made me feel like this was a story I needed to tell.

You mentioned earlier, and obviously the crux of the movie is the chemistry between Ben and Billy. How did you decide on these two actors? When did you know they were going to be so perfect together?

After we wrapped. (Laughs) No, no. It's funny, one of the vagaries of independent filmmaking is that we don't have the luxury of doing things like chemistry reads, so you can have two brilliant actors, but for whatever reason, through that magical alchemy of film, it just doesn't work. Ben and Billy didn't know each other before the shoot, and they've become incredibly dear friends. Very quickly, we saw that their relationship on and off screen really mirrored itself. Billy came onboard first. I was already back in New York, scouting. He'd been on an early dream list, which you make and then discard because you know there's no way you're going to be able to get someone like Billy Crystal. I normally never give credit to agents, but I'll give credit to his team; they were really supportive of me and the project.

How did they help?

The last thing you want to do is to spend a month waiting for Billy Crystal to not read your script. We'd gotten the feedback that he really would look at it, and he read it. Maybe two days later. I was on a plane back to L.A., I was rapidly re-watching When Harry Met Sally to prep for the meeting. The script really just got its hooks into Billy and sparked something. We saw the film the same way from moment one. Then there was a shortlist of people we were looking at for Scott, maybe five names. We sent those to Billy, along with materials on them, and Billy really sparked to Ben's stuff. I talked to Ben, who was in Atlanta shooting another film. I didn't meet Ben in person until two days before we shot. But through our conversations, I could tell he was a guy who could do... Scott does some things in the movie that are, to be charitable, somewhat jerky.

He does exhibit some jerk-like behavior, yes.

But we needed the audience to root for him. We needed him to be someone who can make some mistakes, who does some jerky things, but isn't a jerk. And Ben had that. From there, you put them together, and to both of their credit, it was always about the story. Ben's background is UCB, and Billy's background is obviously beyond reproach. But there was never one-upmanship, there was never... The tail never wagged the dog.  Any humor we found, anything, it was always driven by what serves the story.

I imagine, if it had gone down another way, with the two of them really trying to out-funny each other with their incredible talent, you just wouldn't get any work done!

They are two of the most gifted people I've ever been around in terms of, not just their wit, but how quick they are. We certainly had a lot of fun on set, but in the scenes, it was always story-motivated and story-driven. As a director, you can't ask for anything more than that.

You mentioned your background in theater, coming from Cleveland. Can you talk a bit about your trajectory in the industry? What inspired you to become a filmmaker in the first place?

Sure! I come from a culture and a family of storytellers. That's always been in my blood. I went to Northwestern, I went to school in Chicago, studied theater. I felt burned out on it, ended up spending some time in Colorado as a ski bum, which is what I should have stuck with, and then wound up taking this kind of weird turn, worked in politics in government. I wound up working for the Justice Department in D.C. And it was really interesting, dynamic work, but it was turning into a career, and I didn't want to wear a suit to work every day. I felt, if you have a modicum of discipline and work ethic, if you're gonna spend enough time doing whatever it is you do for a living, you'd might as well enjoy it. So I really moved, cold turkey, to Los Angeles. I had a lot of cups of coffee with a lot of people, I worked not-very-glamorous roles in not-very-glamorous films, and then fell into producing. I got very lucky. The first film I produced was a movie called Match, with Patrick Stewart, Matt Lillard, and Carla Gugino. It was at the Tribeca Film Festival, I think in 2014. And two of the people I met on that film, David Permut and Rick Rosenthal, I've gone on to produce subsequent films with. And Rick is a producer on this, and his son was my cinematographer. He's become an incredibly dear friend and mentor. And David Permut, there's a guy by the name of Chris Mangano, who worked for David, left, started his own company, and was the one who sent me this script. Everything in terms of my career came from that first film.

Well, the public is finally going to get the chance to see Standing Up, Falling Down, after it got such a warm reception at Tribeca last year. Can you talk a bit about that road, earning affirmation at the festival and now getting the chance to see how it plays in the wild?

It's been really special. First, to premiere in New York, where we shot, where so much of the cast and crew was able to be there because of that... And you sort of think, maybe you know what you have, but you don't really know. And ultimately, we don't make films for people in small rough-cut screening rooms; we make films for people. For the last few months, to have been able to travel the country, doing various festivals, getting to see people, not only responding to the comedy in it, not only responding to how brilliant Billy and Ben are, but to really also... People come up to me afterwards and have been somewhat affected or moved by the things we've talked about today, like the nature of regret and the choices we make. And to see the film have an impact on people where they take something away from it that hopefully motivates them to live their lives a little differently, as an artist, you can't ask for more than that.

More: Screen Rant's Sonic The Hedgehog Review

Standing Up, Falling Down  releases February 21 in theaters and VOD.

Standing Up, Falling Down (2019)

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Blunt, stunts and Gosling: how did The Fall Guy flop – and what does that mean for cinema?

Summer’s would-be blockbuster has hit a brick wall – did it simply typify everything the public hate about Hollywood or does it belie broader box office blight?

On paper, it couldn’t fail. The Fall Guy was a lock as this summer’s first – and possibly biggest – box office smash. It had it all. Action, comedy, romance. Record-breaking stunts. Two of the hottest stars around. Great reviews. And a dog.

Yet fail – or at least stumble – the The Fall Guy did. David Leitch’s bells and whistles blockbuster was tracked to make $40m at the US box office on its opening weekend. Instead, it landed just shy of $28m: a soft opening echoed overseas, where it picked up $30m across 68 other territories. Its current global total stands at $70m.

Revised estimates now put its likely final gross at $80m domestically and $150m overseas: a borderline break-even, once you factor in the $130m budget plus a lavish marketing spend.

It’s a bleak picture compared with last summer, when Gosling and Blunt were helping steer the Barbenheimer juggernaut to cinema-saving glory. Barbie is now on $1.5bn, Oppenheimer $954m.

This heat has been much leveraged promoting The Fall Guy. At the Oscars, the pair did a double act as presenters, nodding to Barbenheimer and plugging their new film’s big (if slightly niche) message: stunt performers should be celebrated just as much as stars.

They followed this up with a duet on Saturday Night Live three weeks ago, further bantering about the legacy of Barbenheimer and how hard Gosling’s Ken persona was to shake off.

This riff may have proven more accurate than intended. Perhaps Gosling’s current star wattage owes more to the character he played in Greta Gerwig’s movie than his actual appeal? Might he not be a name who can open movies after all?

“We’re still thinking about movie stardom and publicity in a way that is probably 20 years out of date,” says Steven Gaydos, executive editor of Variety.

Barbie and Oppenheimer’s remarkable success owed much to timing: both films were released in the white heat of their marketing push, an urgency compounded by the need to get all press completed before the looming actors’ strike.

The Fall Guy, by contrast, premiered at South by Southwest in early March, almost two months before its release. “Things move faster these days,” says Gaydos. “You can’t hold things back. Attention times are so short, the marketing has to be lightning perfect.”

He contrasts the fate of The Fall Guy with that of Dune: Part Two, which opened in late February, barely a fortnight after its first ever screening, and is now on $708m worldwide.

Both films also centre on a love affair, but while Gosling is 43 and Blunt 40, Dune’s stars – Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya – are still in their 20s. “For 14-24-year-olds, a romance between people in their 40s is another country,” says Gaydos.

“A lot of what makes The Fall Guy a terrific film may not make it a terrific hit. Is the audience for a $130m action movie the same audience who will enjoy a Howard Hawks-style sweet, satirical, thoughtful romance?”

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This skew towards an older audience – less inclined anyway to frequent the multiplex – is also apparent in The Fall Guy’s source material: an early 80s TV series starring Lee Majors and rarely glimpsed on screens these days.

“The movie has mined the intellectual property of something which doesn’t have any value for anyone under 50,” says Gaydos. “Whereas the Dune franchise still clearly has a lot of life left in it.”

And while Hollywood has long been fond of making love letters to Hollywood, these are increasingly being returned to sender by bored audiences. The fate of Damien Chazelle’s early cinema extravaganza Babylon (2022), which was tipped to repeat the success of La La Land (2017), should perhaps have served as a caution. That film ended up making just $63m back from its $80m budget – and with no consolation Oscars to boot.

“Movies about illusions generally don’t work,” says Gaydos. “And The Fall Guy isn’t Romancing the Stone or Indiana Jones, it’s about how the sausages are made.”

The failure of The Fall Guy consolidates rumours currently circulating in Hollywood, he continued, that “2024’s box office may really be in bad shape. A lot of chickens are coming home to roost.”

This marks the first year since 2009 without a Marvel movie to kickstart the summer, and there is only one superhero offering in the whole holiday period: Deadpool and Wolverine, whose R-rating will impose a ceiling on its possible haul.

That doesn’t arrive in cinemas until late July, leaving children’s films to pick up the slack. Kung Fu Panda 4 is the second highest-grossing film of the year, after Dune: Part Two, with Despicable Me and Inside Out sequels following in June and July.

Typically 40% of the entire annual US takings are made between the start of May and Labor Day at the beginning of September. Pre-Covid, the figure for that period regularly topped $4bn; in 2023 it was $4.1bn. This year’s estimate is $3bn – a low last recorded in 2000.

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Ryan Gosling’s ‘The Fall Guy’ Struggles With $10.4 Million Opening—Box Office Predictions Drop

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Ryan Gosling’s return to the big screen after last summer’s blockbuster “Barbie” has so far been a box office disappointment despite rave reviews, pulling in $10.4 million domestically on its opening day on its way to a projected $28 million opening weekend, a long way to go before breaking even.

Universal Pictures’ action romance “The Fall Guy” is projected to gross $28 million in its opening ... [+] weekend, with a long way to go before catching up to its reported $130 million budget.

“The Fall Guy,” produced by Universal Pictures and directed by David Leitch, grossed $3 million in Thursday previews across over 4,000 theaters, included in its $10.4 million opening day figure, multiple outlets reported.

Analysts had projected the stuntman thriller starring Gosling alongside Emily Blunt and Hannah Waddingham—with a return by original “The Fall Guy” star Lee Majors—to pull in $40 million over the weekend, with Universal executives reportedly hoping to cash in on the so-called Gosling factor.

If the $28 million opening weekend figure holds up, “The Fall Guy” would still need to gross over $100 million more to catch its reported $130 million production budget, just below Barbie’s reported $145 million budget.

The slow start at the domestic box office puts “The Fall Guy” behind a spate of Universal flops, including “Argyle,” which made $17.4 million in its opening weekend in the U.S. in February, as well as January’s “Night Swim,” which posted a $11.8 million opening weekend.

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Universal’s latest releases have not all been blunders. Last month, the fourth installment of the “Kung Fu Panda” franchise with DreamWorks grossed nearly $58 million in its opening weekend, according to data from Box Office Mojo. Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-winning “Oppenheimer” starring Cillian Murphy pulled in $82.4 million in its opening weekend last July.

Despite its slow start, “The Fall Guy” has been met with generally positive reviews, with an 83% critics’ rating and an 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes , and a 73/100 critics’ rating on MetaCritic . In its review of the 1980s TV action remake, The New York Times lauded Gosling’s performance, saying he “charms as a swaggering” stuntman, with a charm that “just keeps going as he runs and leaps, tumbles and punches and vaults through the air like a rocket,” while lamenting an “underused” Blunt. People praised the action romance, saying it “succeeds,” with a “funny, heroic and unexpectedly touching” performance from Gosling.

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Fall for 'The Fall Guy' and its truly amazing stunts

Linda Holmes

Stephen Thompson

Aisha Harris

Glen Weldon

Mike Katzif

Liz Metzger

Jessica Reedy

Ryan Gosling stars in The Fall Guy . Eric Laciste/Universal Pictures hide caption

Ryan Gosling stars in The Fall Guy .

In the entertaining new film The Fall Guy , Ryan Gosling plays a down-on-his-luck stunt performer who gets a big new opportunity to get his career on track. And maybe get back the woman (Emily Blunt) whose heart he broke. Directed by David Leitch, it's a knowing comedy about action movies, and a character study of a man who likes to think he's invincible. And the movie has amazing stunts.

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‘The Fall Guy’ Review: Ryan Gosling Goes Pow! Splat! Ouch!

The actor charms as a swaggering stunt man, alongside an underused Emily Blunt, in the latest skull-rattling action movie from David Leitch.

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‘The Fall Guy’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The director david leitch narrates a sequence from his film featuring ryan gosling and emily blunt..

“Hi, I’m David Leitch. And I’m the director of ‘The Fall Guy.’ So I’m super excited. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. It’s like our setup. You see Ryan and Emily in a flashback where they are flirting.” “Oh, I was going to go for a spicy margarita after work. And I was wondering if you drink spicy margaritas?” [LAUGHS] “Well, just to keep it professional, I can only have one spicy margarita because if I have two, I start making bad decisions.” “This scene is all shot as a oner. It’s no cuts. So it was really a challenge for what’s going to come next. Ryan is having to play this charming, charismatic guy, knowing that we’re going to actually hook him to a 120-foot descender. A descender is a rig where we drop someone off a building or whatever. And the mechanism below actually decels him for the last 10 feet. That’s the actual stunt team right there. Keir Beck is hooking him in right now with the other Australian rigging team. And they’re getting ready to put Ryan over the edge.” “After this, you and I could both be on a beach somewhere in swimming costumes, drinking spicy margaritas.” “As a stunt person, this is not unusual. You would be having a conversation right up to the time you’re doing the stunt, finding the time to center yourself as they hang you over. It’s pretty amazing that he’s keeping his composure. We actually did this practically. This is all real. And this is in a building in Sydney. It took us about four months to get the permits to build the truss we needed to do, and get all the engineering and safety requirements out of the way. And this might be take two. But Ryan was such a good sport. I know he knew at some point, it’s called ‘The Fall Guy,’ he knew he was going to have to do something like this. So there he goes.” “Action! Action! Action! Action!” [WHIRRING]

By Manohla Dargis

Like a certain energized bunny, Ryan Gosling’s charmer in “The Fall Guy” just keeps going as he runs and leaps, tumbles and punches and vaults through the air like a rocket. The actor has shed his “Barbie” pretty-in-pink look, if not his signature heat-seeking moves to play Colt Seavers, a stuntman with a long résumé, six-packs on his six-packs and a disregard for personal safety. Plunging 12 stories in a building atrium, though, is just another bruising day on the job for Colt until, oops, he nearly goes splat.

Directed by David Leitch, “The Fall Guy” is divertingly slick, playful nonsense about a guy who lives to get brutalized again and again — soon after it starts, Colt suffers his catastrophic accident — which may be a metaphor for contemporary masculinity and its discontents, though perhaps not. More unambiguously, the movie is a feature-length stunt-highlight reel that’s been padded with romance, a minor mystery, winking jokes and the kind of unembarrassed self-regard for moviemaking that film people have indulged in for nearly as long as cinema has been in existence. For once, this swaggering pretense is largely justified.

There’s a story, though it’s largely irrelevant given that the movie is essentially a vehicle for Gosling and a lot of stunt performers to strut their cool stuff. Written by Drew Pearce and based (marginally) on the 1980s TV series of the same title starring Lee Majors, it opens shortly before Colt’s 12-story plunge goes wrong. After some restorative time alone baring his torso, he resumes stunt work, drawn by the promise of a reunion with his ex, Jody (a welcome if underused Emily Blunt). She’s directing a science-fiction blowout that looks like the typical big-screen recycling bin, with bits from generic video games, the 2011 fantasy “ Cowboys & Aliens ,” and both the “Alien” and “Mad Max” franchises. Cue the flirting and the fighting.

Leitch is a former stunt performer who has his own estimable résumé, which includes doubling for Brad Pitt, whom he later directed in “ Bullet Train .” Leitch has a company with Chad Stahelski, yet another former stunt performer turned movie director who’s is best known for the “John Wick” series with Keanu Reeves. Working in tandem with physically expressive performers like Pitt, Reeves and Charlize Theron (Leitch directed “ Atomic Blonde ”), the two filmmakers have, in the post-John Woo era, put a distinctive stamp on American action cinema with a mix of martial-arts styles, witty fight choreography and, especially, a focus on the many ways a human body can move (or hurtle) through space.

There are arsenals of guns and all manner of sharp objects that do gruesome damage in Leitch’s movies, “The Fall Guy” included. Yet what seizes your attention here, and in other Leitch and Stahelski productions, is the intense physicality of the action sequences, with their coordinated twisting, wrenching and straining bodies. A signature of both directors is that they emphasize the intense effort that goes into these physical acts, which is understandable given their backgrounds. (Like Fred Astaire, they show off the body, head to toe.) In their movies, you hear the panting and see the grimacing as fists and feet and whatever else happens to be around (a fridge door, a briefcase, a bottle) connect with soft tissue and hard heads.

Like the impressively flamboyant practical effects in “The Fall Guy,” this focus on the body reads like a rebuke to the digital wizardry that now characterizes action movies. Each time Colt crashes to the ground in “The Fall Guy,” the moment announces his and the movie’s authenticity (however you want to define that). There’s a macho undertow to this — real men, real stunts — which dovetails with how his romance with Jody is, by turns, comically, sentimentally and, at times, irritatingly framed, including via split-screen mirroring à la “ Pillow Talk .” Jody may be Colt’s boss, but he’s the one who has to save the day after some gnarly business with a star and producer (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Hannah Waddingham).

The issue of authenticity is a thread that the story jokingly pulls with a scene in which Colt’s face is digitally scanned and in a subplot involving a deep fake. (It’s funnier if you don’t think too hard about the fact that A.I. was an existentially fraught issue in the 2023 actors’ strike.) Tapping into his inner Tom Cruise, Gosling makes love to the camera and performs some of his own showstopping moves, at one point while atop and almost under a speeding garbage truck. Given that “The Fall Guy” is an ode to stunt work, it’s only right to note that the actor’s stunt doubles were Ben Jenkin and Justin Eaton, his driving double was Logan Holladay while his double on that nosebleed of a plummet was Troy Brown. Kudos, gentlemen.

The Fall Guy Rated PG-13 for falls, fights, crashes and explosions. Running time: 2 hours 6 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

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Movie Review: Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are great fun in ‘The Fall Guy’

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Ryan Gosling in a scene from “The Fall Guy.” (Eric Laciste/Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Emily Blunt, right, and Ryan Gosling in a scene from “The Fall Guy.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Ryan Gosling in a scene from “The Fall Guy.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Winston Duke in a scene from “The Fall Guy.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a scene from “The Fall Guy.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Ryan Gosling, left, in a scene from “The Fall Guy.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Emily Blunt, left, and Ryan Gosling in a scene from “The Fall Guy.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

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One of the worst movie sins is when a comedy fails to at least match the natural charisma of its stars. Not all actors are capable of being effortlessly witty without a tightly crafted script and some excellent direction and editing. But Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt seem, at least from afar, adept at that game. Just look at their charming press tour for “The Fall Guy.” Theirs is the kind of fun banter that can be a little worrisome — what if their riffing is better than the movie?

It comes as a great relief, then, that “The Fall Guy” lives up to its promise. Here is a delightful blend of action, comedy and romance that will make the audience feel like a Hollywood insider for a few hours (although there are perhaps one too many jokes about Comic-Con and Hall H).

Loosely based on the 1980s Lee Majors television series about a stuntman who made some extra cash on the side bounty hunting, Gosling takes up the mantle of said stunt guy, Colt Seavers.

Colt is a workaday stunt performer and longtime go-to for a major movie star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Tom is the kind of deeply egotistical and self-conscious A-lister who tells everyone he does his own stunts and worries out loud about Colt’s jawline being distractingly softer than his. I think the word “potato” is thrown around as a descriptor. Taylor-Johnson has quite a bit of fun playing up all his eccentricities that you hope, and fear, are at least somewhat inspired by real horror stories of stars behaving badly.

The film comes from director David Leitch, the Brad Pitt stuntman and stunt coordinator who helped bring “John Wick” to the world and directed “Atomic Blonde” and “Bullet Train.” He’s a guy who not only has the vision and know-how to bring the best in stunts to films and make them pop, but also has a vested interest in putting them in the spotlight. Forget the Oscar, how about just any acknowledgement? Perhaps “The Fall Guy” is just one tiny step on the path to making audiences more aware of some of the behind-the-scenes people who really make movies better and risk it all to do so.

It’s revealing that the movie starts with Colt suffering a terrible injury on a set. The stunt that goes wrong is one he’s just done and doesn’t seem remotely nervous about. The film cuts to his recovery and semi-reclusive retirement until he gets a call from Tom’s producer Gail (a delightfully over-the-top Hannah Waddingham) begging Colt to come back for a new film. They need him, she pleads, as does his longtime crush Jody (Blunt), who is making her directorial debut. She waits to inform him that Tom is missing and he’s the one who has to find him. On the quest, Colt encounters tough-guy goons, enablers, a sword-wielding actress, and a dead body on ice that all lead up to something big and rotten. And like a selfless stunt guy, he does it all out of sight of Jody — trying his best to save her movie without giving her something extra to worry about. Nothing about it is particularly plausible, but it’s not hard to get on board for the ride, and much of that is because of Gosling.

While he’s not quite underappreciated for his comedic timing, especially after “Barbie,” it’s fun to get to see him really embrace and lean into the goofiness — whether it’s crying and singing along to Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” or quoting movie lines to his stunt coordinator pal (Winston Duke, always a good addition) in the midst of an actual fight.

There is something very juvenile and sweet about Jody and Colt’s will-they-won’t-they romance, with its mix of attraction, banter, misunderstandings and hurt feelings. It was a genius stroke to cast these two opposite each other and it leaves you wanting more scenes with the two.

Working with a script from Drew Pearce (“Hobbs & Shaw”), Leitch packs the film with wall-to-wall action, in both the film’s movie sets and its real world. And with the self-referential humor, the industry jokes and the promise of a little romance, it feels like one of those movies we all complain they don’t make anymore.

“The Fall Guy,” a Universal Picture release in theaters Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “action and violence, drug content and some strong language.” Running time: 126 minutes. Three stars out of four.