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Steve Coogan, Hilary Duff, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, Molly Shannon ... see more see more... , Molly Price , Max Hoffman , Brenna O'Brien , Gabrielle Rose , Alexia Fast , Patrick Gilmore , Sarah Lind , Andrew Wheeler , Aaron Brooks , Vanesa Tomasino , Kendra Sue Waldman , Geoff Gustafson , Barry Greene , Ashley Whillans

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 Hamp... read more read more...shire 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

Flixster Users

33% liked it

11,834 ratings

Critics

16% liked it

32 critics

R, 1 hr. 55 min.

Directed by: Jonathan Glatzer

Release Date: May 29, 2009

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DVD Release Date: June 16, 2009

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Stats: 214 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (214)

  • puffchunk
    July 12, 2009
    puffchunk
    Tries pretty hard to be weird, but a lot of the characters seemed pretty pointless and their actions unmerrited.
  • Daver89
    October 21, 2011
    Daver89
    I like movies that make you think. And although it was an indie film, the movie did manage to portray an effective message and an impacting plot.
  • kylegarvey6
    January 16, 2011
    kylegarvey6
    A sneering, mostly humorless downer. It expresses a valiant and legitimate attempt to cross blubbery melodrama with dry ethics, but it's a completely awful combination here.
  • Hamee
    March 4, 2010
    Hamee
    Sad and slow, the worst possible combination for a movie. I should have stopped this one before I got half way through, but it was such a train wreck that I couldn't turn it off without finding out the meaning to the whole thing. Turns out there was no meaning or hidden plot, it ... read morereally was all about pointless death and lies.
  • wolverineland
    July 10, 2009
    wolverineland
    Two years ago I didnt even know who Steve Coogan was but since seeing him in Tropic Thunder and Hamlet 2, I have become a fan of everything I have seen him in since. The guy has a balance of comedy and drama that brings back memories of the late great Peter Sellers. Here he plays... read more a reporter in 1986 sent to cover a story on doomed teacher/astronaut Christa MacAullife prior to her ride on the shuttle Challenger. There he seeks out a college buddy whom he later learns committed suicide leaving behind a special ed class of emotionally challegened students who loved the guy and immediately take to Coogan as their late mentor's replacement. Good story and great supporting job by Duff, Peck, and Shannon.
  • jamilyn0276
    July 9, 2009
    jamilyn0276
    Campbell Babbittt is a reporter who is sent to New Hampshire, to cover the story of home town teacher Christa McAuliffe, who is going up in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger. Campbell's college pal ,also a teacher, dies that same week, in that same town. Along the way Campbe... read morell gets mixed up in his life and the class of outcasts that he taught at the local High School.
    I saw a preview for this movie and thought to myself " Hmmm a class of misfits, set in the 80s, that could be good." I was sadly mistaken.
    HAD this movie taken the comedy route that it's previews led it to be, it may have saved itself, and even been a decent film. Instead, you have a bunch of people thrown together in an almost antithetical way. You are never really explained much about any of them and they are all just there, aimlessly.
    There is some decent talent in this film, so I was very shocked that it was such a dud. Olivia Thirlby was tolerable as Tess but even she didn't totally shine like she could have in that role.
    Overall I was bored and unimpressed with this film. Sometimes What Goes Up comes crashing down on it's face.
  • angel0974
    July 6, 2009
    angel0974
    This is a drama movie that was not that good. Hilary Duff has done movies that are a lot better than this one. I would not recommend.
  • jam233
    June 14, 2009
    jam233
    Director Glatzer has too many things going on, the film lacks focus, but he does have an interesting style, and time will tell if he develops it effectively. The cast tries, Steve Coogan is quite bland though. Too many slow and uninteresting stretches.

View All What Goes Up Reviews

Critic Reviews

Michael Phillips
June 5, 2009
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

About as cruddy as a cruddy little indie can get, especially given a cast that should've known better. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
June 5, 2009
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. Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir
June 5, 2009
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. Full Review

Ben Mankiewicz
June 1, 2009
Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies

I never know quite what they were saying about heroism and then there are all these unanswered questions. Full Review

Ben Lyons
June 1, 2009
Ben Lyons, At the Movies

The film really struggles to find its voice and to find purpose and meaning. Full Review

Glenn Whipp
May 29, 2009
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 do... Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman
May 29, 2009
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

An unusually subdued Coogan does his best, but this is the kind of pretentious nonsense he usually satirizes. Full Review

Manohla Dargis
May 29, 2009
Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Mr. Coogan doesn't seem altogether comfortable with his part, which, like the story, undergoes a number of unconvincing changes.

Vadim Rizov
May 27, 2009
Vadim Rizov, Village Voice

I've seen a lot of terrible movies in the line of duty, but What Goes Up might be the only genuinely unreleasable one. Full Review

Rex Reed
May 27, 2009
Rex Reed, New York Observer

Without a trace of tempo or one shred of narrative pacing, What Goes Up is not really a movie; it's the cheapest kind of amateurishness that looks like it was shot with a cell phone. Full Review

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