Mark Reviews Movies: STRAIGHT UP

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 27, 2020

Todd (James Sweeney) and Rory (Katie Findlay) are confused, uncertain, and perhaps too smart to be in such distress. They can't stop thinking about how confused, uncertain, and in distress they are. They're basically perfect for each other—well, except for the fact that Todd is confused about his sexuality and Rory is uncertain (among other things) if sex really matters to her in a relationship.

In addition to starring, Sweeney wrote and directed Straight Up, a warm, intelligent, and quite funny comedy about two lost people. As they talk for minutes, which turn to hours and then days, they two become certain of one thing—that they are destined to be together somehow and in some way.

It's not quite a romance, because Todd, in addition to having many tough questions about his sexual orientation, is also physically disgusted by the mere thought of any kind of bodily function. Rory is relatively okay with this at first, but while the heart wants what it wants, the body has needs, too. If Todd is confused now, what might happen if and, likely, when he finally figures out what his own heart and body want?

That's the basic progression of this relationship, but the success of the film is in how firmly it establishes these characters as individuals and as a pair. We know things probably won't work out on the romantic front, but beneath the confusion and uncertainty that has come to define their lives, we also know that each of these characters deserve more than they're allowing themselves to have.

Sweeney's screenplay establishes its characters through therapy sessions for Todd and Rory's struggle to make it as an actor in Los Angeles. Todd refuses labels for his sexuality, which is compounded by his aversion to bodily fluids. His psychoanalyst (played by Tracie Thoms) is sympathetic but, as we also are, clearly amused by how her client can talk himself into new troubles and fears (When asked what he's afraid of, Todd responds, "Everything under the sun," and, after a perfectly timed beat, adds, "the sun").

His friends Meg (Dana Drori), a self-absorbed model, and Ryder (James Scully), who is gay and doesn't appreciate Todd's ways of discussing sexuality, don't help much. They're convinced he's gay and simply in some kind of internalized-homophobic denial. They've never seen him with a woman, but Todd is quick to point out that his sexual experience with a man amounted to so little that, in his mind, it shouldn't count. A later scene featuring Todd's parents (played by Betsy Brandt and Randall Park) suggests that his confusion might be about more than what he says directly.

Rory has her own problems. After a long day of failed auditions and frustrating acting classes, she stays at home, bemoaning how her life has reached a standstill to a mother who's traveling overseas and doesn't even answer the phone. She's annoyed with the business, which hasn't taken off, and her peers, who don't get her warped sense of humor. She doesn't know why she's here—"not in an existential sense," she adds, but specifically in Los Angeles. It might be time to move on to something new.

When the two meet, the film really comes to life, in part because of the easy chemistry between the two leads and primarily because of Sweeney's command of language. As a screenwriter, he fills his characters' dialogue with pop-culture references (They're diverse, too, from a long debate about the meaning of the word "ironic," spurred by a certain song from the 1990s, to a running gag at a party about the differences between the original play and film adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and clever wordplay (Todd and Rory argue about the difference between "the elephant in the room" and a "white elephant," only to discover either one could apply in their current predicament).

Such writing is always tricky, because it can lead to a feeling of a writer showing off. Here, though, the dialogue is always in service of giving insight into the characters. The mere facts of the wide range of topics and the quickness with which they come are signs of the characters' intelligence, and there are clear distinctions in tone, opinion, and attitude to further establish each of the characters.

In terms of directing, Sweeney relies on simple staging, although some clever camera setups (including a pair of split-screen shots—one showing the two separately preparing for their first time and the other dividing them as they're in the same space) emphasize the moments of division. On a more basic level of direction, Sweeney matches the flash and almost stream-of-consciousness style of his dialogue in terms of the performances. The conversations here possess the rat-a-tat rhythm of a screwball comedy, which he and Findlay perform with gusto.

There are no external complications or conflicts (There's some material, such as gossip and some misunderstood situations, involving Todd's friends that comes close, but Sweeney restrains from taking it too far in terms of the plot). Sweeney is wise enough to know that the central relationship, with all of its own complications and conflicts, is more than enough for a story. In Straight Up, we get to know Todd and Rory on a level that endears us to them, occasionally frustrates us (in a good way, because we can see them sabotaging themselves), and makes us hope they'll figure out something for themselves and each other—as a pair and as individuals.

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