Sweeney stars in the film with Katie Findlay, Dana Drori, James Scully, Tracie Thoms, Betsy Brandt, and Randall Park.

[5] Todd, a twenty-something man from Los Angeles with OCD, has difficulty in his romantic relationships as he has a strong aversion to bodily fluids.

While Todd and Rory chat over a tile game, another man sits between them to join the conversation, with an intimacy apparently evolving among the trio.

[6][7] Sweeney based the film on his proof of concept short Normal Doors which was created for Fox Digital Studios.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and sharply written, Straight Up serves as an effervescent calling card for writer/director/star James Sweeney.

[19] Straight Up was the Breakthrough Centerpiece at the 2019 Outfest and won the Grand Jury Award at the 2019 San Diego Asian Film Festival.

[23] Keith Uhlich of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Both Sweeney and Findlay are more than up to the task of playing arrested millennials dancing around their problems, forever walking a fine line between charm and aggravation.

And Sweeney as filmmaker effectively goes the Wes Anderson route of letting emotion bust through all the aesthetic archness at key moments.

[4] Carlos Aguilar, for TheWrap, wrote: "Lack of intimacy, both physical and emotional, is at the heart of Todd’s current crisis.

Unfulfilled with same-sex romance, he wonders whether a foray into straight dating could unblock the door to self-discovery and prevent him from spending the rest of his days alone (as he exaggeratedly puts it).

[...] True to the unlabeled happiness Todd is after, 'Straight Up' doesn't conclude by assigning a new concrete definition of what these sexless sweethearts understand as being in love, regardless of the mechanics of their commitment.

Sweeney's movie lets it flow with all its moving parts and uncertain specificities, focusing only on their spiritually solid bond".

A little of this can go a long way (the film is sometimes a bit airless), but James Sweeney is a filmmaker with the rare ability to toss antically inspired dialogue right off the edge of his brain.

[25] Black Girl Nerds gave the film a 4.5/5 rating and Donnie Lopez wrote: "In Straight Up, the two characters fall for one another’s intellect.