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52 [Rec] 2
xx 12th & Delaware
xx 180° South
90 45365
55 8: The Mormon Proposition
xx Accidents Happen
62 After the Cup: The Sons of Sakhnin United
36 After.Life
73 Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector, The
55 Agora
82 Ajami
77 Alamar
78 Anton Chekhov's The Duel
63 Around a Small Mountain
57 Audrey the Trainwreck
xx Badmaash Company
xx Barking Water
75 Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo
62 Behind the Burly Q
63 Best Worst Movie
31 Black Waters of Echo's Pond, The
35 Boogie Woogie
64 Breath Made Visible: Anna Halprin
xx Brotherhood
24 Burzynski
51 Butcher's Son, The
xx Ca$h
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68 Casino Jack and the United States of Money
37 Charlie St. Cloud
xx Cheech & Chong's Hey Watch This
48 Chloe
66 City Island
52 City of Your Final Destination, The
56 Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
58 Concert, The
xx Contenders, The
xx Convention
71 Countdown to Zero
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73 Cropsey
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73 Dogtooth
50 Don McKay
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67 Eclipse, The
85 Exit Through the Gift Shop
56 Extra Man, The
75 Farewell
76 Father of My Children, The
30 Finding Bliss
38 Flipped
52 Formosa Betrayed
60 Fresh
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53 Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema
43 George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead
76 Get Low
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69 Good, The Bad, The Weird, The
49 Great Directors
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76 Greenberg
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55 Harry Brown
80 Have You Heard From Johannesburg?: Apartheid and the Club of the West
57 Here and There
xx Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger
51 Holy Rollers
54 Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel
32 Human Centipede (First Sequence), The
79 I Am Love
91 I Was Born, But...
33 In My Sleep
60 Infidel, The
67 It Came From Kuchar
74 Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
79 Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
57 John Rabe
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55 Juche Idea, The
65 Kenny Chesney: Summer in 3D
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53 Killer Inside Me, The
53 Killing Kasztner
44 Kimjongilia
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68 Kisses
62 Kites: The Remix
47 La Mission
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63 Lbs.
xx Le amiche
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76 Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
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66 Looking for Eric
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37 Love Ranch
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47 Metropia
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64 Mother and Child
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35 Multiple Sarcasms
65 Mundo Alas
xx My Girlfriend's Boyfriend
50 My Name is Khan
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71 Neshoba: The Price of Freedom
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xx Ocean of Pearls
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37 Paper Man
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47 Perrier's Bounty
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78 Please Give
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90 Prophet, A
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43 Salt of This Sea
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81 Secret of Kells, The
73 See What I'm Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary
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xx Thru the Moebius Strip
60 TiMER
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15 To Age or Not to Age
52 Touching Home
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59 Trotsky, The
xx Trust Us, This Is All Made Up
24 Twelve
56 Two in the Wave
62 Valhalla Rising
85 Vincere
xx Visionaries
54 Wah Do Dem
70 Warlords, The
56 What's the Matter with Kansas?
55 When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors
68 Whiz Kids
52 Who Do You Love
35 Who Killed Nancy
64 Wild Grass
xx Wild Hunt, The
56 Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, The
69 Winnebago Man
90 Winter's Bone
68 Women Without Men
xx World on a Wire

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

What Goes Up

EMAILPRINTSony Pictures

What Goes Up reviews
22
6.7 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 10 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 8 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Jonathan Glatzer
Robert Lawson

Directed by: Jonathan Glatzer

Release Date:
Theatrical: May 29, 2009
DVD: June 16, 2009

Running Time: 104 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: R for sexuality, language and some drug use, all involving teens

Starring Steve Coogan, Hillary Duff, Josh Peck, Olivia Thirlby, and Molly Shannon

It is 1986. An emotionally damaged New York reporter is sent to cover the hometown hoopla for a local hero. But rather than pursue his assignment, which leaves him cold, he follows a group of disaffected students, whose own hero - their beloved, unconventional teacher has just died under a cloud of scandal. Their passionate and, at times, ludicrous expressions of grief attract the reporter. He moves into their alternate universe, a willing "substitute teacher", but descends into a web of lies and misplaced sexual desire with this group of confused and combustible youths who attempt to cast him as their new hero and teacher. (Sony Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

60

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

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.

Read Full Review >
58

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

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.

Read Full Review >
30

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

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.

Read Full Review >
30

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The thesis-driven story precludes much dramatic discovery, and the looming shuttle disaster only exacerbates the sense of heavy-handedness.

Read Full Review >
20

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Glatzer's self-consciously quirky indie is misguided on every level.

Read Full Review >
20

Variety Brian Lowry

A pointless and pretentious drama.

Read Full Review >
10

The Hollywood Reporter Ethan Alter

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.

Read Full Review >
10

Los Angeles Times Glenn Whipp

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.

Read Full Review >
0

Village Voice Vadim Rizov

This is rock bottom: I've seen a lot of terrible movies in the line of duty, but What Goes Up might be the only genuinely unreleasable one.

Read Full Review >
0

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Nothing in this movie is properly focused; everyone keeps talking about a character whom we never meet and does not matter; the tone keeps slipping around from indolent satire to thudding sincerity, and the Challenger shuttle disaster backdrop is queasy-making at best, offensive at worst.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

bently h gave it a10:
Creative and a very good movie. i enjoyed it.

ashley j gave it a10:
I liked this movie. it was messy and had too many things going on to the point where i was confused but, hey, it rocked!

brandy h gave it a10:
Ok, it was weird and not the best movie, but I enjoyed it. I think Hilary Duff did very well, at least out of them all. But still, it was a movie i"d watch again.

Jay H gave it a4:
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.

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