For a film about a guy who longs to be a standup comedian there are very few laughs. That’s obviously the intention of “Standing Up, Falling Down,” which is really about grappling with failure and learning to deal with life’s disappointments. Excellent acting defines key characters and gives weight and perspective to this modest film, directed by Matt Ratner from a screenplay by Peter Hoare, that generates respect as it moves along.
Ben Schwartz portrays likable but troubled 34-year-old Scott Rollins, who has failed at being a standup comic in Los Angeles and has returned home to live with his parents on Long Island. He still tries his luck at comedy clubs, but we can see that he’ll never thrive as a comic. He’s a bit funny, but not that funny.
Scott becomes friends with a quirky dermatologist whom he meets at a bar, and the film immediately gets a lift. Marty, the doc, is played by Billy Crystal in a performance thoroughly against type. Marty suffers even more from life’s hard knocks, including a failed marriage to a woman with emotional problems and a loving marriage to a woman who died.
Crystal, looking portly and aged, adds depth and sadness to the story, as well as a few laughs, as Marty and Scott become carousing buddies. Marty has an adult son from his first marriage and while Marty tries to make amends, his angry son will not forgive him for walking out on the ill wife and mother to marry the woman with whom he has fallen in love.
While still hoping to make it as a comic and not take an ordinary job, such as a postman, Scott is nursing a crush on a former girlfriend Becky (Eloise Mumford), who has since married a good friend of Scott’s. One can spot trouble.
Scott has a sympathetic sister, Megan, nicely portrayed by Grace Gummer. Their mother (Debra Monk) is very solicitous and worries about Scott while their father keeps pressing Scott to forget comedy and get a job. There’s a humorous incident when Scott passes a postman on the street and asks whether he likes his work. The postman happily assures him that he does.
As the plot develops with successive complications, for Scott there finally may be some light at the end of the tunnel, not in the standup profession but toward the possibility of a new relationship. He may not always be falling down. A Shout Studios release. Reviewed January 25, 2020.