Falling Up | Romantic Comedy | rated PG-13 (A,S) | starring Joseph Cross, Sarah Roemer, Rachael Leigh Cook, Mimi Rogers, Annette O’Toole, Joe Pantoliano, Snoop Dogg |
A financially struggling young man (Joseph Cross) studying to be a nurse takes a night job as a high rise apartment doorman and finds himself falling for the daughter of the a wealthy tenant (Sarah Roemer).
Falling Up is a mildly cute little bit of direct to DVD nothing cashing in on any fans Sarah Roemer gained from her bikini clad appearance in Disturbia. The cute, fish-eyed actress plays another incarnation of the guy’s movie fantasy girl. She’s cool, she’s rich and she doesn’t care if you’re just the doorman. Because she loves you for your personality, with only her mom’s prejudice views of the social classes not mixing and the doorman’s own insecurity create break-up-to-make-up obstacles in the way of love. She only exists in movie propaganda.
Elsewhere the cast is just bizarre. Joe Pantoliano irritates as the doorman’s boss and Snoop Dogg makes a surreal what-the-hell-is-he-doing-here appearance as a fellow employee who shows the new guy the ropes. Rachael Leigh Cook’s career continues to baffle me. After She’s All That and Josie and the Pussycats I’d think she’d be in line for the romantic lead in this movie instead of stuck in the snarking “wise-cracking sister” role. What are these people doing in this movie? Doorman and wacky tenant hijinks supposedly ensue. Class warfare comedy supposedly ensues. It’s all dead wood.
Actually, the movie would be ideal for a Disney channel original were it not for a few scenes where it embarrasses itself trying to appeal to the teenage gross-out comedy demographic. An extended scene were the doorman’s mom (poor Annette O’Toole) is revealed to work at an adult video store is appallingly out of place.
While not painfully bad, Falling Up‘s light, bouncy, fluffy, fantasy just never develops a reason for it to exist at all. The set-up is without conflict and there is nothing to the resolution but a kid’s movie tailored message to “be yourself”. Even as a star vehicle for Roemer, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. Actually, it’s nothing at all. I imagine even the hardcore romantics out there will find it to be a waste of time.