Casper Andreas’ critique of the Hollywood culture has a higher drama-to-comedy ratio than last year’s Violet Tendencies; it’s far more ambitious, with a more complex plot and message and stabs at character arcs. As a comedy, Going Down is excellent, with the same snappy lines and silly situations I’ve come to expect from Andreas. As a drama, though… not so much.
First, the movie was crammed full of the same old Hollywood clichés: everybody is bitchy and/or fake, drugs are everywhere, it’s a scary and corrupt town that’ll chew up and spit out an innocent boy like Adam unless he toughens up and plays the game. Maybe all those clichés really are true, but that didn’t make the film any more original.
Speaking of original, Adam’s story is also very predictable and by-the-numbers. I honestly don’t think I was surprised by any of plot points, except maybe by how fast Nick and his career crashed after Adam left him. The “How we got here” intro seems to imply that Adam’s affair with John ended in tears, but did anyone doubt they’d ride off into the sunset together?
Actually, I do have one question: who really sold Adam and John out? Was it Matthew (or Michael? or Mark? I forget his name) Adam’s old boss who saw them in the restaurant and put 2 and 2 together? Was it John’s evil washed-up beard? Or was it Candy? Matthew was my vote originally, simply because he’s a spiteful bitch and the beard (whose name I forget) had more to lose. But Candy had been getting increasingly desperate about money… then again, John was feeling depressed and paranoid, so it’s understandable he’d suspect her.
Still, I enjoyed the movie. It was sweet, it had hot bodies, it made me laugh, and sometimes that’s all you want, y’know?