Straight Up

Name: Straight Up
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: February 28, 2020
Duration: 95 min
Rating: 66
Cast: Betsy Brandt, Brendan Scannell, Dana Drori, Hillary Anne Matthews, James Scully

2020

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Generally favorable reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Strand Releasing | Release Date: February 28, 2020 | Not Rated

Starring: Betsy Brandt, Brendan Scannell, Dana Drori, Hillary Anne Matthews, James Scully, Joshua Diaz, Katie Findlay, Ken Kirby, Laura Ortiz, Logan Huffman, Ozioma Akagha, Randall Park, Tracie Thoms

Summary: Todd is a hyper-articulate, obsessive compulsive gay twentysomething whose fear of dying alone leads him to a baffling conclusion: he might not be gay after all. When he meets Rory, a whip-smart struggling actress with her own set of insecurities, the two forge a relationship that’s all talk and no sex.

Director: James Sweeney

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 95 min

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Critic Reviews

Gary Goldstein

Mar 5, 2020

A sweet, funny and thoroughly winning romantic comedy that’s a kind of a bi-curious take on When Harry Met Sally for the Millennial crowd — or anyone else looking for some brainy, banter-rific fun. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Feb 27, 2020

A little of this can go a long way (the film is sometimes a bit airless), but James Sweeney is a filmmaker with the rare ability to toss antically inspired dialogue right off the edge of his brain. Straight Up is the work of a startling talent. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Jun 30, 2020

Straight Up wrestles with its messaging, which bogs the picture down. It takes a few predictable turns, and some predictably unpredictable ones. But Sweeney maintains the manic patter even when the pacing flags. Read full review

The Film Stage Glenn Heath Jr.

Feb 25, 2020

Often charming in the most confrontational way possible, Straight Up pays due respect to the endlessly creative ways people delude themselves into avoiding difficult realities. It may talk (and talk) a good game, but it’s in the quieter moments of silence when it speaks volumes about the perils of modern alienation. Read full review

Carlos Aguilar

Jun 26, 2019

Lighthearted in tone yet intellectually intriguing, the L.A.-set film ponders valid queries about identity, even if they’re almost entirely sustained by dialogue. Read full review

Ty Burr

May 6, 2020

It’s worth a look, if only to get in on the ground floor of a comic mind who will hopefully continue to grow. And it’s worth a listen, if only for observations like “You know what’s ironic? Arguing about Alanis Morissette with your gay boyfriend.” Read full review

Ben Kenigsberg

Feb 27, 2020

You never quite buy Todd and Rory as flesh-and-blood people who could have conversations that don’t sound rehearsed. Read full review

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User Reviews

johnsonm137

Jun 27, 2020

"Straight Up" is a simply fantastic first feature from triple threat writer, director, and star James Sweeney. He stars as a sexually confused man who befriends an equally confused woman. However, there is nothing confusing about the chemistry between Sweeney and breakout star Katie"Straight Up" is a simply fantastic first feature from triple threat writer, director, and star James Sweeney. He stars as a sexually confused man who befriends an equally confused woman. However, there is nothing confusing about the chemistry between Sweeney and breakout star Katie Findlay. Their rapid-fire delivery is akin to Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in "It Happened One Night," if Clark Gable happened to be gay.

Sweeney's script is just so incredibly witty, but also has a great deal of heart. There is a scene (no spoilers) where he and Findlay both break down together that had me in tears. Sweeney plays a difficult character that in another actor's hands could be insufferable. But he manages to be effortlessly likable. The same goes for Findlay. The rest of the cast is aces as well, with James Scully as his gay best friend who has the hots for him and Tracie Thoms as his long-suffering therapist as standouts.

This was one of the great surprises of 2020. A screwball comedy at a time when it's needed more than ever. It will be exciting to see what Sweeney does next. It's a major compliment that he reminds me of the great Josh Thomas, who has two amazing TV shows under his belt ("Please Like Me" and "Everything's Gonna Be Okay"). But his voice is all his own.

Great, great film available on Netflix now.… Expand

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Brent_Marchant

Apr 22, 2021

Living our lives as we were meant to is sometimes challenging in unusual ways. So it is for a loquacious, neurotic gay man who's uncomfortable with what comes with the lifestyle, prompting him to believe that he may be latent heterosexual, a notion that launches him into a dating experimentLiving our lives as we were meant to is sometimes challenging in unusual ways. So it is for a loquacious, neurotic gay man who's uncomfortable with what comes with the lifestyle, prompting him to believe that he may be latent heterosexual, a notion that launches him into a dating experiment with a woman who mirrors many of his quirky traits. The question thus becomes, will this relationship work? Such is the premise of writer-actor-director James Sweeney's modern-day throwback to the rapid-fire screwball comedies of the past. While it's a little hard to fathom that any real life individual could flawlessly deliver unrehearsed, content-rich, machine gun-paced lines with the ease that these protagonists do, their dialogue is nevertheless smartly peppered with witty, often-hilarious observations (as well as a few one-liners that don't stick their landings), making for generally good fun under highly unexpected situations. The pacing moves so quickly that viewers may be left a little exhausted by film's end, but, in light of the funny yet thoughtful message this release serves up about being oneself, that's easily overlooked. A generally inoffensive offering that will definitely tickle one's funny bone in big ways more than a few times.… Expand

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