Sherrybaby on DVD (2006)

Sherrybaby

SAI81 from Tonbridge [Highly rated reviewer] , 09/09/2007

When I saw Richard Kelly’s excellent Donnie Darko I was, like most people, taken with the storytelling and the performance of Jake Gyllenhaal but a little mentioned aspect of the film also made a strong impression; Maggie Gyllenhaal’s small supporting role as Donnie’s sister. I’ve followed her career since and always been impressed by her, even in such shockingly dreadful films as Trust The Man.

Sherrybaby gives Gyllenhaal her best role in years. She plays a recovering heroin addict in her mid twenties emerging from prison desperate to be allowed to be a mother to her six year old daughter (Simpkins) again and trying to reconcile with her Brother (Henke) who has been looking after her daughter while she’s been in jail.

Gyllenhaal is typically astonishing as Sherry. She reminds me of the young Jennifer Jason Leigh in the way that she vanishes into her roles and inhabits them with utter fearlessness. She’s not afraid of the fact that Sherry is not always sympathetic; at one point you watch as she licks out a baggie of cocaine, making sure she’s got it all, a moment you wouldn’t see many other actresses play. It’s her sheer desperation that is really touching though as the hunger that Sherry displays in all her relationships; sexual and familial is played with absolute reality. It’s an extreme role, taking in nakedness both emotional and literal and in a just world it would have seen Gyllenhaal up for some awards last year.

The film, sadly, doesn’t live up to this central tour de force. The screenplay, by Director Collyer, is rather rote and predictable; we’ve all seen this film before. There are also many under-developed threads; the relationship between Sherry and her sister-in-law (Barkan) is promisingly fractious, but never fully explored and the relationship between Sherry and her Father (Bottoms) goes to a very disturbing place for one brief moment, which is then never mentioned again. It feels like the film would benefit from having some of its deleted scenes added back in.

The other performances are all fine, but none bar Brad William Henke’s excellent low-key turn as Sherry’s brother make much of an impression because Gyllenhaal all but acts them off the screen.

At the end of the day this film is an average, rather familiar, drama lifted by an extraordinary performance by one of the best actresses of her generation.

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Plausible tale of rehab, worth a watch.

PaulaWestwood from Ashton-Under-Lyne [Highly rated reviewer] , 17/10/2007

A reasonably samey sort of movie, you will not be blown away with the originality, but it is an entirely plausibly real look at an ex con drug dependant young mother, who upon release is trying to rebuild a clean life, and if possible make ammends for her past. But as you may find, clouds are rarely lined with silver and there is always somone willing, or expecting you to fail, and the pressures that add dont help. Towards the end it reveals the almost certain reality why Sherry became embroiled in her drug fuelled criminal lifestyle, and it isnt pretty, but again is plausible. All in all a pretty good movie lifted by a huge performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal, she is fantastic, and is definately worth a watch for that alone.

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sherrybaby

chez from bfpo 31 [Highly rated reviewer] , 29/01/2008

I HATED THIS FILM its was rubbish full of bad acting and a rubbish plot'!!!!!!!!

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depressing,degrading amd dehumanising

harrison from Dumfries [Highly rated reviewer] , 07/01/2008

This is a hard film both to watch and to tolerate.Drugs, sex, drinking ,more sex and the suggestion of parental abuse make this hard going and hard watching given the young children involved .There is little to gain from this film ,no happy ending and very little to hope for. Its stripped of any of convential film plot and drama and the bare bones are left for you to absorb the unconventional feel to this film - almost docudrama feel.

But you must watch it at least for the acting is superb and the premise is a simple one will she be rehabilitated and regain her daughters love and the forgiveness of her family? Should more films follow this style of filmmaking - no but you have to watch it all the same

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Not Bad!

Icklestar from Derbyshire [Highly rated reviewer] , 16/02/2008

Good story, but spoilt by no real ending to satisfy your mind.

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Customer Review

A customer from UK , 23/06/2008

Sherrybaby is a film that relies heavily on a single performance. Ok, so maybe the word heavily is a little unfair (the film has some other plus points) but the acting of Maggie Gyllenhaal (previously excellent in films such as Secretary and Donnie Darko) is outstanding and could have easily gained her, if it was not for all the other amazing performances this year, awards' nominations.

As some reviewers have already explained, the film is about a former drug addict who has just been released from prison (for stealing things, as Sherry explains) and is desperate to become reacquainted with her daughter. However, she does not receive too much help from her family: her brother and his wife have become too attached to the daughter (they have been looking after her during Sherry's time in prison); her father appears, at first, to be supportive but he turns out to be into sexual molestation, touching his daughter inappropriately during, what is supposed to be, a moment of comfort. Sherry does not help herself either by insisting that she can look after her daughter on her own, despite the fact that she goes to former addict's meetings, claiming that she finds it difficult not to take heroine. Eventually she has to admit to herself that she needs assistance, explaining this to her brother in the emotionally pleasing final scene of the movie, something I was not expecting. (I was expecting the mother and daughter to be reunited, after some necessary emotional torment, in a flood of tears.)

This is a film that is not, in my opinion, worth buying. It is, however, worth renting, if for no other reason than to see Gyllenhaal's performance which is one of the best of the year.

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