If you’ve followed the career of comedian Billy Crystal, you may remember his standup bit in the ’80s about practicing to be old. Or you might recall his turn as an ancient medicine man in The Princess Bride – or, a few years later, as ageing standup legend Buddy Young Jr. in Mr. Saturday Night .
Well, practice makes perfect. In Standing Up, Falling Down , the 71-year-old does a perfect turn as a funny old guy – crinkly, twinkly, jokey and wise – all without the use of prosthetics or digital makeup.
Crystal’s character, Marty, may be the heart and soul of this feature debut from director Matt Ratner, but the plot turns on Scott (Ben Schwartz), whose west coast standup career is going so well that the 34-year-old has recently had to move back in with his parents in New York.
Marty’s a dermatologist, which the film sets up as the comic fallback for a surgeon who’s afraid of the sight of blood
The two characters literally collide in the bathroom of a bar – a bromantic meet-awkward if ever there was one. They bond over a series of shared regrets; Scott is still pining for an old flame (Eloise Mumford), now happily married, while Marty has outlived two wives, and is estranged from his two adult children. Oh, and he’s a dermatologist, which the film sets up as the comic fallback for a surgeon who’s afraid of the sight of blood.
Don’t go into Standing Up, Falling Down looking for the dark side of standup – and rest assured there’s a dark side, which you can see in real life (Louis C.K., among others) or fiction; see Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 2018’s All About Nina . This one remains firmly in the romantic-comedy mode – even the possibility of an extra-marital affair is played for laughs.
Schwartz, known for playing Jean-Ralphio on TV’s Parks and Recreation , and more recently as the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog, hits a nice note of self-deprecation with his character. And Crystal is basically playing a version of himself, baseball obsessed and full of observational zingers; in the middle of a funeral he starts wondering out loud why wakes are called wakes, given the unwakefulness of the central figure.
It’s fun watching them knock about together; not life-changing, but good for a few giggles. And isn’t that what standup is about?
Standing Up, Falling Down opens Feb. 21 at the Carlton in Toronto.
3.5 stars out of 5
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
