Billy Crystal headlines this 2020 comedy-drama about a stalled career, a strange friendship, and the long walk back to a hometown someone swore they'd left for good.
What is Standing Up, Falling Down about?
Scott has spent years chasing a stand-up career in Los Angeles, and it hasn't gone the way he pictured. Broke and out of options, he moves back in with his parents on the East Coast, tail between his legs, expecting to lick his wounds quietly. Instead he crosses paths with Marty, a dermatologist with real charm, real warmth, and a drinking problem that has quietly wrecked more of his life than he lets on. What starts as an odd-couple acquaintance turns into something neither man expected: two people at very different low points, each nudging the other toward facing what they've been avoiding. The film moves between comedy and something more raw, following Scott's family, his old friendships, and a romantic entanglement he never fully resolved, alongside Marty's own reckoning with the damage his drinking has done to the people closest to him.
About the cast
Billy Crystal anchors the film as the dermatologist, working in a register quieter and more melancholy than his broad comic roles, while Ben Schwartz plays the returning comedian trying to figure out what a second act even looks like. Eloise Mumford, Grace Gummer, Nate Corddry, Jill Hennessy, Caitlin McGee, and Kevin Dunn round out the ensemble that makes up Scott's messy homecoming.
Context & significance
Director Matt Ratner builds the film around small-town rhythms rather than showbiz spectacle, which suits its theme: success on paper (a stand-up career, a stable medical practice) doesn't mean much if the person underneath is quietly falling apart. The comedy and drama sit close together throughout, often within the same scene, rather than being kept in separate lanes.
Watching Standing Up, Falling Down on Ktime
Standing Up, Falling Down streams on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, so it plays comfortably for viewers who prefer to watch in Farsi as well as those who want the original English track. Log in with a free K-Time account to start watching; the page itself is open to read without signing in.