Up On The Roof

Stefan (Piotr Adamczyk) is a man well liked and respected by his friends and colleagues just ambling along life's highway until his boss tells him that the café where he has worked for most of his life is being sold for redevelopment. This prompts him to make an out of character decision to fund his own buyout, with help from his friends.

This while a chance encounter at an airport with his former lover Emily (Natalia Tena) sets off deep-seated emotions that appear to be reciprocated. Even though since the split Emily has moved on to other things and people, there’s still a spark there for Stefan. Cautiously they set about reacquainting and courting anew, though there’s a rocky road ahead.

The main weakness with Up on the Roof is that this has all been done and seen before, many times, creating a sense of comfortable familiarity with the characters and situations. That in itself isn’t a problem, it is very difficult to come up with something original within a genre as well established as the romcom.

The problem is that while its well-played by the actors as a warm and gentle romcom, it’s far too warm and gentle. Working within such a familiar structure, the characters need to be alive, strong and engaging. Here they do little more than what is required to drive the plot forward and there’s not much here to grab the viewer as the characters get themselves into situations that seasoned viewers will recognise and most likely predict what will follow.

The film is efficiently directed by writer/director Ben Heckling, gliding along on well-lubricated casters with nary jolt, so interest in the characters and story gradually begins to drain away.

As such the end credit sequence that provides an update on the characters only really works if there was viewer engagement with them during the film, which may well be unlikely.

Up On The Roof will be in UK cinemas from 21 April 2023.