The movie Straight Up has a number of great components. It sheds light on OCD in a humorous, but never derogatory way. It wonders if one's sexual orientation that is determined and imposed by others rather than by the person themselves, can be trusted. And, perhaps most importantly, can a committed relationship, that never have and never will include sex, survive? There's great dialogue, clever editing, and good acting. But the components fail to form a good movie. The main character has OCD, which includes fear of bodily fluids, making sex all but impossible for him with either gender. So, his sexual orientation is kind of a moot point. Yet there's so much handwringing about it. His "only friends" bully him on the regular basis, so no wonder he is so lonely and lost. But the movie glosses over that. It tries to be realistic, but not too dark and sad, fails at both, and loses its way.

While many of the reviews were somewhat mixed as in ‘how believable could this be?' I found it totally enjoyable! There were some great insights for all of us including many parallels in serious intellectual thinking about relationships! I'm here to say that there are real life relationships like this! For example, a beautiful relationship between me and my own person — my partner/roommate/caretaker? We don't know how to label our relationship but — after this much time together — we know that sex is not part of who we are. I am a 70-year-old bisexual-but-mostly-lesbian old woman with Alzheimer's and serious health issues that sometimes require my caretaker/best friend/life partner to even have to clean up my poop, yes. Sometimes I'm not even conscious! He loves me and I love him and the only reason we're not married is because it doesn't necessarily work to anyone's advantage. He's younger than me, twice divorced once widowed, a proud veteran, and he has the biggest heart you'd ever imagine. That sounds like Todd to me. And if you can't tell, yes, I totally identify with Rory. So yes, this relationship conundrum is real! Thanks for hearing me! And thank you James Sweeney for doing this film!

This is more a vehicle to showcase clever and quippy writing than a movie with human characters - which is a tinge problematic when its two main characters who do not desire sex appear to be more like robots than humans. And fine - it's a movie. Movies can create the characters they want but for how human this story is, the characters tend to zap the life out of every scene. Not even just the 2 leads but every character feels definitively manufactured. The fluidity of sexual orientation and uncertainty over desires is a fantastic premise that seems mostly compromised by Straight Up's lack of grace.

Independent movies truly hold as being a constant foray for fresh ideas and interpretations into old genres and Straight Up is a pure example. This romantic comedy is fresh and very nuanced in the elements that it is made up of. The acting is fresh and awkward, and brought to life by the well thought out dialogues. The script meanders effortlessly, and it's sure to leave audiences guessing as to where it all ends. Romance and sexuality is very complex, and Straight Up brings a lovely spin to how relationships can exist, how the straitjacket that labels sometimes hold can be done away with. It's a movie about a lot of connection, heart and love.

Sharp, rapid-fire dialog and a clever premise. I was impressed by the writing, the acting, and the directing, and although I struggled to keep up sometimes, I really enjoyed this film. And I am not generally one for rom-coms.

Very intelligent dialogue and charming and quirky main characters make for a better than usual rom com and far better than usual gay rom com. Supporting characters were a little thinly drawn, but in the end don't detract from a genuinely innovative and sweet story. Not quite sure I got the ambiguous ending, i.e., the duo was now a trio of friends, a throuple. But the viewer does route for the leads to find happiness -- on their own terms.

Witty dialogue, coupled with hilarious and endearing performances from the cast, makes this quirky film about the intricate ways intimacy can be expressed a must see. James Sweeney's directing, acting and writing are quite impressive.

This is a wonderfully witty movie for open-minded people only. Though I'm not a fan of the tone change halfway through the movie, the first half is an easy 10/10. The two leads are funny and unique and the rapid fire dialogue between them is some of the best out there.

I don't think this is something I would usually watch, the pacing and the general feel and aesthetic of the film (made me feel like a mix of some independent artsy film and Wes Anderson) however, I enjoyed it. The concept was interesting, the acting was nice and I liked the quirky characters. The ending though, ugh its one of those open to interpretation endings. I never know what to do about those, if you are telling the story, tell me the end, don't leave me to figure it out.

Romcom meets reality

Living our lives as we were meant to is sometimes challenging in unusual ways. So it is for a loquacious, neurotic gay man who's uncomfortable with what comes with the lifestyle, prompting him to believe that he may be latent heterosexual, a notion that launches him into a dating experiment with a woman who mirrors many of his quirky traits. The question thus becomes, will this relationship work? Such is the premise of writer-actor-director James Sweeney's modern-day throwback to the rapid-fire screwball comedies of the past. While it's a little hard to fathom that any real life individual could flawlessly deliver unrehearsed, content-rich, machine gun-paced lines with the ease that these protagonists do, their dialogue is nevertheless smartly peppered with witty, often-hilarious observations (as well as a few one-liners that don't stick their landings), making for generally good fun under highly unexpected situations. The pacing moves so quickly that viewers may be left a little exhausted by film's end, but, in light of the funny yet thoughtful message this release serves up about being oneself, that's easily overlooked. A generally inoffensive offering that will definitely tickle one's funny bone in big ways more than a few times.

I loved this way more than I expected to. The writing is sharp and the conversations feel realistic between the characters while also being witty. It shines an interesting light on sexuality and romance without going down the expected tropes.

I was extremely disappointed and unimpressed with the casual bigotry during the dinner scene. Although I was initially glad to see Asian American representation in this movie that avoided the usual stereotypes, racist jokes aren't funny just because they are told by another person of color or dressed up in what I think was supposed to be intellectual humor. And the way the bigotry was treated by other characters as a love able quirk didn't sit well with me at all. In general, the way this scene and others were written contain way too much elitism and condescension for me to be on board.

A very Millenial movie with charming performances

Katie Findlay is wonderful in 'Straight Up', written, directed, and starring James Sweeney. The acting here is much better than the second and third act story which end up fizzling out. I had a smile on my face for about half of the flick and then the tone changes and the end result didn't work for me. Hope it does for you! Final Score: 5.2/10

Crisis in sexual identity. So this is about a pair of intellectual soul mates, Todd and Rory (James Sweeney, Katie Findlay). He may or may not be gay, but he's young and figuring it all out. Is their companionship enough to keep a relationship going? Now I knew next to nothing about this; I just caught a glimpse of it while scrolling, which is more often than not the impetus for me taking chances on movies nowadays. The trailer seemed both snappy and witty enough for something to be there. I do like the points that this movie had to make, but I feel like this movie could have used some more time in the oven before releasing the end product. To start this off on a positive, I think that the biggest strength of Straight Up is the performance of the two leads. Sweeney acts, writes, and directs, so it makes sense that he gives the character of Todd the most engaging commentary to make. I do think that Findlay keeps up with him, and she is the reason why these two have good friendship chemistry. These are characters that can be difficult people, but you always understand their motivations. The dialogue that they share is entertaining, but I do have to say that it frequently feels unnatural. Even only ten minutes in, this was reminding me of the breakneck speed of something like His Girl Friday, or if you were looking for a reference this century, The Gilmore Girls. I know that show has its following, but I never cared for it because the banter ping pongs so quickly that characters are seldom allowed to react naturally. Rory gets introduced as all of this was going through my mind, and you can probably guess that this is where the Gilmores get a shoutout by name, so it is 100% confirmed that it was an influence. When this movie is just Todd and Rory, I mostly like it. They're in denial and lying to themselves, but that makes for an interesting dynamic. However, I found almost every side character in this to be insufferable. The friends in this are truly awful people, and I could maybe get past it if they were toned down, but they do nothing but antagonize and cause conflict to the point that there should be way more fighting in this. Todd and Rory are not a passive couple; they are people who will call you out on your BS, so when the story reaches this egregious and socially aggressive game night, their reactions feel inauthentic. I like the core voice here, I believe that Sweeney just needs to hone his craft, and given his age, he has the time to do that.

Hey look, I'm 100% gay gay gay and I liked it. One of the audience reviewers lambasted it saying, 'boo it was a sad ending'. Hello? (slight spoiler alert). He ended up with a guy so NO, he had the happy ending he was looking for. ie: boyfriend and girl who's just a friend.

Definitely different, but a quite enjoyable movie with almost nonstop dialogue between the main characters.

This film really upset me. It treats the anti-Latinx racism of a main character's father for laughs, and that racism is egged on by another main character. Why is racism funny, especially in this moment? Racist jokes are still racism. I also found the male lead's mocking treatment of his psychologist, played by a Black woman, to be tinged by racism, as he entitled-ly diminishes her professionalism and expertise. The film is also misogynistic in that it treats women's bodies as disgusting (there's a scene that treats a woman's period as gross) and it marginalizes the female lead. Even though she's a main character, the film does not fill out her story of what appears to be extreme trauma from sexual assault, and instead treats her as merely a sidekick to the male lead's self-discoveries. I'm really disappointed by the non-intersectional nature of this film, how it rightfully asks the audience to empathize with people experiencing homophobia but then invites racism and misogyny into the picture and asks the audience to laugh.

This film was quirky yet touching. Highly recommend.