What Goes Up

Name: What Goes Up
Director: Jonathan Glatzer
Released: 2009

Synopsis

Set in the mid-80s, when a reporter is sent to cover the Challenger Space Shuttle launch only to become mixed up in the lives of some local students.

60
Salon
Director and co-writer Jonathan Glatzer handles his talented cast well, and the movie is dark, droll and sentimental in roughly the correct proportions. Worth a look.
58
The A.V. Club
What Goes Up has a one-of-a-kind character in Coogan, a cynic with a savior complex, who lies partly out of convenience, and partly because he knows--as Glatzer and Lawson know--that even a messy story can still inspire.
30
The New York Times
Even when Mr. Coogan can't make his scenes work, his prickly presence keeps you watching, as does the eerie scenes of winter that Mr. Glatzer captures with the camera.
30
Chicago Reader
The thesis-driven story precludes much dramatic discovery, and the looming shuttle disaster only exacerbates the sense of heavy-handedness.
20
Variety
A pointless and pretentious drama.
20
New York Daily News
Glatzer's self-consciously quirky indie is misguided on every level.
10
The Hollywood Reporter
A turgid mess of a film that has a lot of ideas on its mind, none of which prove very interesting or in fact coherent.
10
Los Angeles Times
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.