What Goes Up (2009)

Awesome Movie

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I really thought this film was made with an honesty few teen centered films usually possess. Intriguing performances and slightly surreal situations make the film well worth the watch. Coogan is delightfully flawed and the surrounding cast truly resonates. Although I was prepared to be distracted by Hilary Duff, I thought she shined brightly and held her own quite well. The truth is that most filmmakers when tackling tougher issues as ones presented in What Goes Up tend to talk down and diminish their audience while the makers of this film seem undaunted by the regular Hollywood mission of going for cheap humor and glamorized sexuality. There is a gravity here that hangs like a thick cloud over this cast and I suspect this movie will be looked upon later as having more layers than it would initially seem.

Great introduction to movies by Jonathan Glatzer, this movie told us a story that is unique and bizarre about a small town teacher who has recently died and those around him that was affected. As one of the students quotes every Action has a Reaction and that is what drives this movie forward.Olivia Thirbly and Josh Peck give us what we have come to expect from these young rising stars, Steve Coogan and Molly Shannon did not disappoint on most accounts, however I feel as though Hilary Duff needs to attune herself more proper to these roles. She is making the right steps into a direction out of Disney and I feel this will be an experience that will help her develop her acting talents for future roles.The premise of this movie is very interesting, it revolves around the death of Sam Calallucci a teacher of misfit students who all felt very "in love" with him because he allowed them to be themselves. This makes me wonder why they decided to change the title of the movie from "Safety Glass" to "What Goes Up" I think the latter had more commercial appeal but the first title seemed to bring out more emotion. This was a very character driven movie however some should have been touched upon a bit more such as Josh's character but a movie can only be so long before boring its audience.All in all I enjoyed this movie, it did have some weak links in acting and minor problems in its story which could have been written tighter if that wasn't what was the aim then some things should be left for interpretation in a more fashionable way.8/10~XTC

There were a lot of very negative reviews of this film. Here are some of the positive ones you may have missed:"A 2009 Sleeper. A complete original and definitely not your typical teen comedy. It's a darkly funny, wonderfully twisted story that marches to its own surprising beat. The entire cast is superb!"Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com"A wonderful little film!"Jeffery Lyons, NBC"A nifty little tragicomedy. Director and co-writer Jonathan Glatzer handles his talented cast well, and the movie is dark, droll and sentimental in roughly the correct proportions."Andrew O'Hehir, Salon"Glatzer and (co-writer) Lawson show a deep understanding of how common ideals can hold even a community of outsiders together. And it has a one-of-a-kind character in Coogan, a cynic with a savior complex, who lies partly out of convenience, and partly because he knows – as Glatzer and Lawson know – that even a messy story can still inspire."Noel Murray, The AV Club / The Onion"The wit is sharp and the performances are amazing. Hilary Duff will definitely get more and more 'real' acting roles thanks to this. And Molly Shannon has rarely been more manic and hilarious… If you like your comedies pitch black… you will enjoy this dark little jewel."Alex Dorn, UGO.comIt's wonderful because it's so true to life. It's exactly what WHAT GOES UP strives to be – a funny movie about death, a sad movie about life… It works. Olivia Thirlby exceeds all expectations lending her performance a gutsy rawness…"Kate Erbland, Gordon and the Whale"The performances were incredible. I was blown away by them."Ted Ott, Real Talk LA"The film is touching, truthful, and, more importantly, an absolute blast to watch, thanks in part to smart performances from Coogan, Molly Shannon, and Hilary Duff in a role that might rub some of her loyal fans the wrong way. What Goes Up is about the lies we tell and the truths we keep hidden deep inside, a theme I'm sure most of us can relate to on one level or another. Thoroughly impressive stuff." – The Film Fiend

Writers Robert Lawson and Jonathan Glatzer, (who also directed), were in attendance to introduce their work and explain their hope to get audiences thinking about what it means to be a hero. Describing it as an example of tumultuousness and devastation breeding comedy, it is interesting to learn that we never see the space shuttle explode. The tragedy at hand is instead the suicide of a beloved teacher, one who may or may not have been having too close of a relationship with his students, and how the group of misfits he brought together and gave hope to for the future deal with it. Throw in Steve Coogan's journalist, in town to report a space related puff piece, who had also been a college friend to the deceased, and you get a story that delves into some dark places, brings some genuine laughs mixed in with plenty of awkward ones, and asks some good questions. The whole definitely doesn't add up to a success, but some of the parts do resonate.In the film, both of Steve Coogan and Hilary Duff are playing somewhat against the norm, and not necessarily to good effect. Duff is not a great actress to begin with, and here she is asked to handle some very hard subject matter as a girl who was in love with her teacher that just killed himself. She sees Coogan's arrival as a way to fill the void, seducing him with her juvenile wiles while playing a troubled young girl, but trying too hard at times. As for Coogan, I'm not sure if he is cut out for serious fare. He is dealing with his own tragedy and professional lie, a falsified series of articles that could ruin his career if discovered during their Pulitzer Prize nomination. When he is utilizing sarcasm and his inherent goofiness, you do believe in his character, however, the filmmakers ask him to be completely serious at times, in close up no less, and unfortunately he doesn't look pull it off.In true indie film fashion, What Goes Up contains a bit more quirkiness than needed. I enjoyed the creepy girls the first couple times on screen, before they just got … creepy; Molly Shannon's odd teacher, composer of "Blast Off" the musical, (wow is the song from this performance so intentionally head-shaking bad that you have to laugh), is very weird, and supposedly girlfriend to the dead teacher—a fact glossed over after a very brief mention; the theft by the children of their teacher's body and coffin is unbelievable; and what's with Coogan setting up toy figures to mimic the people he has met during his visit? A couple aspects to the script really do work, though, but you may miss them due to all the filler thrown your way. Just pay attention to the scenes pertaining to Josh Peck and Olivia Thirlby as they shine throughout and make me want to watch them in The Wackness even more now.Peck plays Jim, one of the students affected by the death, one who had been given direction by his "almost-priest" teacher. He looked up to and listened to the man only to find that he killed himself. When something like that occurs you can't help but question the validity of what you had been told. Peck becomes jealous and angry towards Coogan for coming into town and basically moving into his idol's shoes as he is viewed as a replacement, even becoming the object of affection from Duff's Lucy, the girl who loved him. Peck's hero is proved to be fallible and only when he himself prevails in a situation that could have resulted in the death of a baby, is he able to let go of the memory. As for Thirlby, she is absolutely fantastic. An abused child, assumed to be carrying her uncle's offspring in her stomach, Thirlby's Tess has experienced pain firsthand and sees Coogan as someone just looking to prey on her friends' emotions. Her life has built paranoia and a need to be the hero in her mind, going so far as to lie about something that she knows isn't true, but possibly could eventually become so, like the relationship between a teacher and student. Her monologue at the end, explaining her motivations throughout the film to Coogan, is a powerhouse moment, made all the more impressive by seeing Coogan's odd expressions in reaction shots. Thirlby acts him under the table.But Coogan's Campbell Babbitt has his own moments as well, a hero in his own rite after writing inspirational articles in the paper about his subject and eventual love "Angela" and her selfless work done to honor her slain son. To add one more instance of moral ambiguity to a film ripe with pedophilia, teen sex—including that with a paraplegic girl, shoplifting, and misguided anger on behalf of many, Coogan finds himself caught in a scandal still hidden as "Angela" killed herself after the first story he wrote. His love for her too much, he continued her story with lies, lies that helped people and brought happiness to many. So, as a school teacher is about to go into space as a hero, eventually to keep that title once her shuttle disaster never allows her to get there, in the backdrop, we see adults and children experiencing the many different definitions of that term—hero. Sometimes that label means making a hard choice, lying and deceiving for the greater good. If What Goes Up gets anything right, it is this fact: that heroes are who we make them, subjective and often privy to debate. If the film focused more on this theme, leaving much of the precious quirk so abundantly prevalent on the cutting room floor, it might have been something I could have recommended more. Maybe the play on which it is based gets it done more successfully; as a film, though, it's more uncomfortable than thought provoking.