Shad Powers, The Desert Sun
Published 9:54 a.m. PT Jan. 7, 2020 | Updated 4:01 p.m. PT Feb. 20, 2020
It was a perfect recipe for one of the best post-movie Q-and-A sessions in a long time at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
The film “Standing Up, Falling Down” about a failed stand-up comic returning home to live with his parents had just ended, and the crowd was treated to an extra-long, extra-funny chat with the movie’s two stars — Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz.
Now, Crystal you most likely know — “When Harry Met Sally,” “City Slickers,” et cetera — and he was as charming and quick-witted and gifted as you’d want him to be. Schwartz is an actor best known as the scene-stealing Jean Ralphio on the sitcom “Parks in Recreation,” but he is an improv comic of the highest order. The pair didn’t disappoint as they shared the Palm Springs High School stage with co-star Eloise Mumford and director Matt Ratner after the movie Monday night.
Here’s an example, as Crystal saw someone leaving during the middle of the Q-and-A.
“Hey, where are you going?” Crystal shouted to the back of the vast auditorium. “This stuff is free. I don’t come here often. There’s nothing else to do here this time of night. The tram is closed. You can’t golf.”
Then Schwartz jumped in: “What do you want, food? I’ll get you some food. We’ll follow you out and do the Q-and-A outside or in the lobby if that’s what you want. I will answer questions in the lobby. Let’s go.”
The two continued to yell, talking over each other, to raucous laughter in the auditorium.
Another huge laugh came after Schwartz had gone on a beautiful soliloquy talking about how talented and amazing and kind and talented Crystal is. And how it was a dream to work with him, and how it was everything he hoped it would be. The kind words drew a warm applause.
Crystal responded: “Thanks. … And it’s Ben, right?” Pretending to not know his co-star’s name. “You’re good, too.”
The two of them continued to play off each other like that for a long time. The moderator said, “OK, just one more question,” at about the 15-minute mark, but the quartet didn’t want to stop and continued engaging the audience for a full half-hour before being whisked away.
And this all followed a hilarious and moving movie that seemed to be universally loved by the audience.
In this “brisk 92-minute film” as Ratner said before the showing, Schwartz returns to his New York home after a failed attempt at stand-up comedy in Los Angeles. He befriends his dermatologist (played by Crystal), as you do, and they become important parts of each other’s lives.
The movie is a comedy, certainly, but is packed with emotion as well as Scott Rollins (Schwartz) tries to reconnect with the one that got away (Mumford), his distant father (Kevin Dunn), his smothering-with-love mother (Debra Monk) and his snarky sister, a hilarious turn by Grace Gummer, daughter of Meryl Streep. Meanwhile, Crystal’s character has to deal with mistakes he made in the past, which are hidden beneath a fun-loving exterior.
The success of the movie, though, hinges on the natural and clear-to-see chemistry between Schwartz and Crystal. And Crystal said he had a hand in making sure Schwartz was in the film.
“I said I can do this movie if this and this happens, but who’s going to play Scott?” Crystal said during the Q-and-A. “Matt sent me like four or five really good actors, and I watched everything and Ben’s work I knew some of and when I watched the breadth of it … and then we hit it off on the phone and then we met in California and we just fell into each other. It was probably two or three hours and we had similar ideas about what we wanted for the movie. And I called Matt and said ‘This is the guy. If you get him then I’m in.'”
Schwartz followed: “Wow! We should say Matt said there were four or five other people and the four other people were The Rock, Ryan Reynolds, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and …”
Then Crystal jumped in: “Frank Stallone.”
Schwartz: “Yep, Frank almost got it because, man he can sing. But the guy had to be Jewish, so I got it.”
You could see it as clear as day onstage during the post-movie chat, but Crystal summed up the chemistry between he and Schwartz nicely.
“We have a natural looseness together. We sing the same song, but it’s just different keys,” he said. “We both like the same kind of funny.”
Go see it
What: “Standing Up, Falling Down” starring Billy Crystal and Ben Schwartz
When: 9:45 a.m., Wednesday
Where: Palm Springs Cultural Center (formerly Camelot Theatres), 2100 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs
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