Good on ya James Sweeney, writer and director Of Straight Up available now on Netflix. This was the perfect movie to quench my cinematic thirst since I was getting a LIT-TLE angry that Hollywood/China is holding us movie fans hostage waiting for the miracle Covid19 cure….
Thank God for James Sweeney’s Straight Up (only his second feature film where he’s the head honcho) which employed romantic comedy mixed with sexual orientation confusion. Gen Xer’s will be able to relate and again, the movie made me forget momentarily about the news grabbers of that generation. According to this film, many aren’t focused on deconstruction and cancellation….some according to this movie are looking for good old fashioned joy and contentment, while loving each other despite differences and disagreements. Ah heavenly!
Katie Findlay plays the female half of the film who has the jaded ‘does it all have to be about sex?’ philosophy, a true Saposexual. While she was a tad cloying at times, equally cloying was the male half, lo and behold triple threat James Sweeney…that sneaky guy’s photo is not on IMDB hence did not know until just now! Anywho, James Sweeney (as Todd) was so cute as the guy who earnestly wants a successful relationship that he’ll do almost anything. The fact that they were both corny emotionally isn’t an insult, if anything their sentimentality gave their relationship its poignancy.
The minor characters were very well acted making the entire movie a joy: Tracie Thoms as James/Todd’s therapist, Betsy Brandt and Randall Park as James/Todd’s parents…all solid performances. Also good were Dana Drori as Todd’s shallow gal pal and James Scully as the male on the prowl.
My favorite nuanced scene was between James and his ‘dad’ Randall Park which communicates many emotions in once impactful scene.
Just gorgeous, innocent and funny with a clever fast paced script that anyone can appreciate.
