Billed as a modern buddy comedy, Get Up And Go is actually something darker and more complex. Love/Hate co-stars Killian Scott and Peter Coonan play friends Coilin and Alexander: an odd couple with contrasting interpersonal problems. Aspiring comedian Coilin is awkward and repressed, and obsessed with the uninterested Lola (Gemma-Leah Devereux). Alexander, meanwhile, is an overly confident and deeply selfish womaniser, whose response to his girlfriend’s unplanned pregnancy is to plot an escape to London.
Brendan Grant’s film suffers sluggish pacing and a consistent undermining of the female characters: they are all psychotic and/ or desperate. But there are also insights, and nuanced performances. Scott (Calvary, '71) reminds us of his Gosling-like ability to underplay his good looks and get to the heart of deeply vulnerable characters; Devereux’s character perfectly encapsulates how we can project disdain onto those who remind us of our own weaknesses. Coonan’s swaggering Alexander is a guy we all know: a monstrous man-child, unwilling and unable to face up to adult responsibility.
Cinematographer Vladimir Trivic winds through Dublin streets and landmarks and the soundtrack brims with Villagers, Republic of Loose and David Kitt. Indeed, a case could be made that the film is perhaps overly focused on romanticising the city. Though, maybe it’s fitting: isn’t that what we all do, when we know it’s time to say goodbye?