What Goes Up (2009)

16% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
33% of users liked it
(11,835 ratings)

A period comedy set in the 1980s, Jonathan Glatzer's What Goes Up tells the poignant story of a morally challenged New York reporter who connects with a group of high school outcasts while in New Hampshire covering the story of Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian astronaut. Arriving in McAullife's… More A period comedy set in the 1980s, Jonathan Glatzer's What Goes Up tells the poignant story of a morally challenged New York reporter who connects with a group of high school outcasts while in New Hampshire covering the story of Christa McAuliffe, the first civilian astronaut. Arriving in McAullife's hometown, reporter Campbell Babbitt (Steve Coogan) is distraught to learn that an old college friend has recently committed suicide. Meanwhile, as Babbitt attempts to craft an unsung hero story about his old friend by gravitating toward the teacher's misfit students, local teacher (Molly Shannon) scrambles to cover up a looming scandal. When Babbitt discovers that the motley crew of teens is comprised of a self-absorbed seductress (Hilary Duff), a timid voyeur (Josh Peck), and a manipulative pregnant teen (Olivia Thirlby), he becomes obsessed with our need to create heroes where none exist. Over time, the roles are reversed and Babbitt learns that the traits he is currently projecting onto his fallen friend's students may in fact be traits possessed by he and other adults. Increasingly at ease around the students as he relates to them on their own terms, Babbitt gradually begins to form a fixation on the very student rumored to have had an affair with his deceased friend. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 55 min.
Directed By: Jonathan Glatzer
Written By: Jonathan Glatzer, Robert Lawson
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: May 29, 2009 Wide
On DVD: Jun 16, 2009
Studio: Three Kings

Critic Reviews

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
About as cruddy as a cruddy little indie can get, especially given a cast that should've known better.
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
The whole thing feels like a premeditated attempt at a Sundance sensation, a mix of cast members (and ideas) from Juno and Hamlet 2 spiced up with the now obligatory '80s references.
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
Director and co-writer Jonathan Glatzer handles his talented cast well, and the movie is dark, droll and sentimental in roughly the correct proportions.
Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies
I never know quite what they were saying about heroism and then there are all these unanswered questions.
Ben Lyons, At the Movies
The film really struggles to find its voice and to find purpose and meaning.
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times
[Director] Glatzer aims to wring laughter out of this desperation but succeeds only in producing a series of contrived characters and situations that make The Breakfast Club look like an unfiltered documentary.
S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media
High school drama tale is too edgy for young teens.
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
O humor melancólico estabelecido pelo estreante Glatzer funciona na maior parte do tempo, sendo beneficiado ainda pela impecável performance de Coogan.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
Duff and the other young actors should not be faulted for the adults around them, both in the movie and behind the cameras. They excel at projecting the confusion and anguish of students in crisis, and all deserve an A. The filmmakers are another matter.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
An epic dramedy of teenage angst that is too much drama and not enough comedy for Steve Coogan's good.
Brian Orndorf, DVDTalk.com
The film opens chaotically, perhaps randomly, and it never finds its proper footing. Most movies take their sweet time to reveal incompetence. What Goes Up boldly advertises it within the first 60 seconds.
Tony Macklin, tonymacklin.net
What Goes Up is an earnest morality tale. It's very uneven, but it also seems sincere.
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
Has a charismatic performance by Steve Coogan, but that's not nearly enough to save it from drowning from its bland, awkward and lazy screenplay that fails to generate any real laughs or palpable dramatic tension.
Wade Major, Boxoffice Magazine
A rambling, self-serious and chronically unfocused look at '80s-era small town America and the socio-psychological anguish of disaffected youth.
Brian Tallerico, Movie Retriever
Such a confused, convoluted, odd piece of cinema that I almost recommend seeing it just because it is so very unusual.