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- 2015
- PG-13
- Focus World
- 1 h 28 m
- 2015
- PG-13
- Focus World
- 1 h 28 m
Summary Forty years ago, artist Alex Carver (Morgan Freeman) bought a run-down apartment in a sketchy part of Brooklyn with his wife, schoolteacher Ruth (Diane Keaton). Today, their neighborhood is now very hip and their apartment worth a small fortune. The now-retired Ruth and Alex haven’t changed – they are still as much in love as ever. But t...
Directed By: Richard Loncraine
Written By: Charlie Peters, Jill Ciment
- 2015
- PG-13
- Focus World
- 1 h 28 m
- 2015
- PG-13
- Focus World
- 1 h 28 m
5 Flights Up
55
6.6
Where to Watch
Summary Forty years ago, artist Alex Carver (Morgan Freeman) bought a run-down apartment in a sketchy part of Brooklyn with his wife, schoolteacher Ruth (Diane Keaton). Today, their neighborhood is now very hip and their apartment worth a small fortune. The now-retired Ruth and Alex haven’t changed – they are still as much in love as ever. But t...
Directed By: Richard Loncraine
Written By: Charlie Peters, Jill Ciment
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
55
44% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
56% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
55
44% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
56% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
What a pleasure to see a simple, finely tuned dramedy about real adults with real emotions in a real-life situation.
Freeman is funny as a lovable crank, but Keaton’s neurotic performance wears thin.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
6.6
47% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
53% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 User Ratings
6.6
47% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
53% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
I had never even heard of "5 Flights Up" (which is unusual for me because I read a lot of movie reviews), so when I saw that a movie starring Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman was playing at a local second-run theatre, I was surprised. Well, just got home from seeing it, and we both loved it. It held my interest every minute. Keaton and Freeman are both so great to watch, and I don't understand why "5 Flights Up" hasn't gotten more attention. I enjoyed every minute of it. If you like well-written, well-acted movies about long-term relationships, New York City, and dogs, you will like this movie.
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After 40 years of marriage, and living in the same Brooklyn walk up apartment, it is obvious that Alex (Morgan Freeman) and Ruth (Diane Keaton) are still in love and very comfortable with each other. They were married at a time interracial couples were still not accepted in 30 States and ‘got looks from people in the other 20’. As it is her parents didn’t accept them. Alex is a painter and Ruth was a teacher whose students became her children when she found out she couldn’t have children.
In “5 Flights Up” we meet them at a time Alex is getting too old to walk up the 5 flight of steps to their apartment and their 10 year old dog is having spinal problems so they have put their apartment on the market and her niece Lily (Cynthia Nixon), who is a realtor, is handling the sale telling them that they should be able to get a million dollars and they can downsize to a smaller, less expensive place with an elevator.
Though there is a secondary, needless, plot regarding a ‘terrorist’ this is a sweet movie with no special effects or wild car chases or explosives going off. Due to Freeman and Keaton charms and acting abilities you accept them as the long standing in love couple who know each others faults, quirks and endearments. He knows all the right answers to give her such as asking “What old Lady?” when she points to a recent portrait he had done of her and she remarks that she doesn’t know why he still is painting that old lady. She knows how to manipulate him even when he is aware what she is doing.
Aside from their love story anyone who has ever sold an apartment or house will recognize the many different types who will show up such as those who just come to see how other people live or the woman who has to lay down on the bed to get the ‘feel’ of the place. Lily gives them nicknames such as ‘the dog ladies’ or ‘blue leggings’. It is an ongoing gag through the movie.
Instead of the terrorist story the screenwriter, Charlie Peters, and the director, Richard Loncraine, could have spent more time on the background stories of Freeman and Keaton. In the few flashbacks Claire van der Bloom and Korey Jackson look enough like the present day Alex and Ruth to add believability to the unfolding of the love story if more had been on the screen.
“5 Flights Up” is a sweet, believable, love story and shows changes that can, do, take place as people age. The photography by Jonathan Freeman shows Manhattan and Brooklyn as clean, sparkling boroughs and the music by David Newman adds, instead of distracts, to the film’s romance.
While the film won’t win any awards it certainly should be seen to remember when Hollywood knew how to make love stories with happy ever after endings!
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5 Flights Up is far from perfect, but it’s also undeniably touching.
Director Richard Loncraine (Wimbledon) and screenwriter Charlie Peters are able to carry this material to some unexpected places. It helps to have two of the most effortlessly charming actors in Hollywood as leads.
The duo provide a bit of wit and warmth amid the contrived subplots and the self-satisfied moralism.
Ira Sachs, for all the tenderness of feeling he brought to Love Is Strange, wouldn't have countenanced the stacked-deck sentimentality that lies at this film's heart.
You hate to see a good cast wasted, but when it comes to 5 Flights Up, the verdict is: no sale.
A couple growing old and living on the 5th floor, wow, I couldn't do that everyday. During the course of the day we see their early years in flashback, and Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman are top flight actors, but the story line **** big time. Seems like a stereotype seniors -don't-know-what-they're-doing movie. I'm sure they could have found a better story line to move this character study along. Maybe this was a stage play so it all had to take place in a confined space?
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Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton play a couple who are ready to sell their 5th floor walkup. When they moved into the Brooklyn neighborhood 40 years ago, it was sketchy, but now it's hot. We visit their open house (and the snotty NYC stereotypes that show up), enjoy flashbacks to earlier years, worry about their sick dog and go on their search for a new place. The duo has lots of dialogue, mostly revolving around their relationship. The film is sweet and they give agreeable performances, but they never felt really connected to each other. Still, it presents some interesting observations about aging and New York real estate.
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5 Flights Up makes its moves as a movie concerned with real people with real problems and love. Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman compliment each other nicely as an older couple in the fast paced real estate market of today. Still, the film's concept is cheapened by unnecessary and too frequent commentary on terrorism in New York City.
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