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Sonny (2002)

tomatometer

25

Average Rating: 4.2/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 6

No consensus yet.

audience

41

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 5,467

My Rating

Movie Info

Film superstar Nicolas Cage's directing debut, Sonny follows a very unconventional family as they struggle to overcome personal and financial adversity. Young Sonny (James Franco) returns home to New Orleans from Army service to find his mother Jewel (Brenda Blethyn), a prostitute, in dire financial straits due to her marketability decreasing exponentially as her age increases. Jewel takes heart at her son's return, however, as she had raised him to be a male prostitute and his mid-'20s vitality

R, 1 hr. 50 min.

Drama, Television

John Carlen

Aug 19, 2003

Samuel Goldwyn Films

Cast

All Critics (26) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (20) | DVD (7)

Actors generally make good actor's directors, but Sonny is a mixed bag in that department.

December 27, 2002 Full Review Source: Newsday | Comment
Newsday
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An instant candidate for worst movie of the year.

December 27, 2002 Comment
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Earnest and tentative even when it aims to shock.

December 26, 2002 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It is as uncompromising as it is nonjudgmental, and makes clear that a prostitute can be as lonely and needy as any of the clients.

December 26, 2002 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Amid the cliché and foreshadowing, Cage manages a degree of casual realism ... that is routinely dynamited by Blethyn.

December 25, 2002 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The story is bogus and its characters tissue-thin.

December 23, 2002 Comment
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This overlooked drama by Nic Cage packs an emotional wallop.

February 20, 2006 Comment
ColeSmithey.com

Back to the housewives with ya, and now that Cage has the vanity project out of his system, he can go back to making more movies with Spike Jonze.

March 7, 2004 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Too defensive and earnest about its topic to be either fun or illuminating.

September 17, 2003 Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | Comment
Premiere Magazine

Sunk by way too much indulgence of scene-chewing, teeth-gnashing actorliness.

January 6, 2003 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | Comment
Flick Filosopher

It's just plain lurid when it isn't downright silly.

December 27, 2002 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Enchanted with low-life tragedy and liberally seasoned with emotional outbursts ... What is sorely missing, however, is the edge of wild, lunatic invention that we associate with Cage's best acting.

December 27, 2002 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | Comment
Los Angeles Daily News

There's too much forced drama in this wildly uneven movie, about a young man's battle with his inescapable past and uncertain future in a very shapable but largely unfulfilling present.

December 27, 2002 Full Review Source: Entertainment Today | Comment
Entertainment Today

Author John Carlen has abstrusely captured that struggle of one man simply trying to be human in nonhuman, vile, circumstances.

December 27, 2002 Full Review Source: Blunt Review | Comment
Blunt Review

Keep your day job, Nicolas Cage. This shockingly inept directorial debut reveals the brooding actor to be a hackneyed helmer.

December 27, 2002 Full Review Source: E! Online | Comment
E! Online

Nicolas Cage isn't the first actor to lead a group of talented friends astray, and this movie won't create a ruffle in what is already an erratic career.

December 27, 2002 Full Review Source: Slate | Comment

Franco is an excellent choice for the walled-off but combustible hustler, but he does not give the transcendent performance SONNY needs to overcome gaps in character development and story logic.

December 26, 2002 Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | Comment
AboutFilm.com

Preposterous and tedious, Sonny is spiked with unintentional laughter that, unfortunately, occurs too infrequently to make the film even a guilty pleasure.

December 25, 2002 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | Comment
L.A. Weekly

John Carlen's script is full of unhappy, two-dimensional characters who are anything but compelling.

December 24, 2002 Full Review Source: Film Journal International | Comment
Film Journal International
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Sonny

Uneven, seemingly indecisive direction from Nicolas Cage leads this potentially affecting film astray. As it stands, it is mildly interesting. The best aspect of it is James Franco, who gives solid evidence of his considerable abilities as an actor.

January 19, 2011
michaelcorleone

Super Reviewer

I hated this movie. I wasn't interested in anything that happened.

September 11, 2007
SunilJawahir

Super Reviewer

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