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| Zoe (Jonathan Hollis) in The Stand Up. |
Miranda is dead. Boo who?
By Don Simpson
Zoe (Jonathan Sollis) is a stand up comedian who is desperately in love with his beautiful girlfriend, Miranda (Julia Dennis). Miranda dies suddenly, putting Zoe into a bitter and jaded state of depression. Then, after one year of being “Mr. Doom and Gloom”, Zoe finds himself forced to…ummm…teach kindergarten? That is right! But, luckily there is a super cute fellow kindergarten teacher, Veronica (Margarita Levieva). And, well, I think we all know exactly where the story goes from here.
But it is how it gets there that is pretty darn fantastic. Jonathan Sollis gives an excellent performance. Not only does he have a great rapport with the students, but he plays the formulaic role with utmost sincerity and naturalism. It also helps that Sollis is not your typical Hollywood hunk — he is more of an everyman. If The Stand Up were a big budget Hollywood film, Seth Rogen would have been cast as Zoe; and though I like Rogen, I guarantee that he would have amped the character up to 11. Sollis’ subdued approach to Zoe reveals great patience. He is also able to communicate a heck of lot of information to the audience merely with his eyes.
I typically fault writers and directors for making overtly formulaic films, but writer-director David Wexler’s The Stand Up is a rare exception to that rule. Heck, even “allergies” made my eyes mysteriously misty during the inevitable happy ending. Ugh! I really hate having my heartstrings tugged like that!
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