Context

This famous line is spoken by C.D. Bales, played by Steve Martin, in Roxanne (directed by Fred Schepisi, 1987).

Roxanne is Steve Martin's comedy based on Cyrano de Bergerac, in which the big-nosed, big-hearted fire chief C.D. Bales (perhaps the C.D. stands for "Cyrano De"?) tries to win the heart of a gorgeous astronomer, played by Daryl Hannah.

Big-nosed Bales has a way with words—even if he doesn't have the face to back it up—so when he tells Roxanne "When you're reaching for a star, there's a long way to fall," he's both paying her a romantic compliment and speaking up for his own bravery in saying these words (even if he is hiding in the shadows at this point). 

Some people never get up the nerve to reach for those stars.

The fact that she's an astronomer makes the star analogy all the more romantic. We're glad she's not a gorgeous trash collector or a gorgeous proctologist—a line about either of those professions wouldn't be nearly as charming.

Where you've heard it

This might be a good line to use on a first date or at wedding proposal, even if you don't have a schnoz that stretches from here to the next time zone.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

This line is too nakedly romantic to be pretentious.