What Goes Up

Surprised and Grateful
At first, I wasn't sure where it was going... Up, down or just sideways. But soon, I realized the filmmakers were creating a world that resembled reality far more than almost any movie I've seen in that there are collisions between events, intentions, characters, loves, hates ...and the whole stew can be hysterically funny, odd, disturbing, heartbreaking and then funny all over again. In this way, I have to give the film enormous credit and gratitude that it does not try to be like every other movie. It does not talk down to its audience.

It takes place in 1986 in the days before the Challenger Shuttle blew up, but the themes of heroism and unexpected tragedy play out in subtle and clever ways. I think the critics who didn't like this movie are used to following very well paved roads with well defined markers. This movie follows its characters first to last and that can make it bumpy and twisty and ultimately, so much better. And because the characters are so three...

Brilliantly different
I was fortunate to see this film at the Los Angeles premiere, and I thought it was outstanding. The characters here are real, and that means unglamorous. But isn't that what real life is? Steve Coogan does a spot-on job as Campbell Babbitt, a departure from the roles we've come to expect from him. But a more dramatic turn suits him well. Hilary Duff, Olivia Thirlby and Josh Peck were excellent, bringing their flawed characters to life in a very real and believable way.

For me, some of the supporting cast members particularly stood out, especially Max Hoffman (Dustin's son) as Fenster and "twins" Ingrid Nilson and Andrea Brooks. These are real people. Nilson especially was just dynamite, and I found myself wishing that there would have been time to explore these characters a bit deeper.

I think the writers did a fine job with this story and the concept of what makes a hero or maybe whether all of our heroes really aren't heroic after all. There were a few places...

'We don't need another hero'
'WHAT GOES UP must come down' and that seems to be one way of looking at this funky little film written by Robert Lawson and writer/director Jonathan Glatzer. Given Steve Coogan's comedic talents it is able to rise above an implausible script and come close to be entertaining.

The time frame is January 1986 and Campbell Babbitt (the last name is well chosen as a reference to Sinclair Lewis' novel 'Babbitt' - a satire of American culture, society, and behavior, it critiques the vacuity of middle-class American life and its pressure on individuals toward conformity) played by Steve Coogan is a reporter for New York World, writing a series about a woman who became a 'hero' by turning the anguish of seeing her son murdered in to acts of civil service (the woman whom Babbitt has grown to love commits suicide, and out of cherishing her memory he continues to write stories as though she were still alive - an act that Babbitt's editor Donna (Molly Price) finds ridiculous and sends...

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