Review of Sonny (2002) by Sfg 7 — 20 Jun 2009

Nicolas Cage's directorial debut, Sonny, doesn't pack the emotional wallop that the film seems to be trying to deliver, and the dilemma of the protagonist never really feels all that pressing.

The movie is about the titular Sonny (Franco), a kid just out the army and going back to his home in New Orleans - a home where he worked for his mother as a prostitute for most of his teenage years. Now that Sonny is back, though, he wants to go straight. He wants to live a normal life, work a normal job, and live happily ever after with a normal girl. Unfortunately, Sonny will soon find out that it's not so easy to leave a life like his behind.

Although Franco gave an absolutely amazing performance in The Pineapple Express last year, his early work is pretty consistently lackluster. Here, Franco does what he does best: hold his eyes half-open a la French Stewart, and smile occasionally. There are a few times when the plot requires him to hulk out, but even in those moments all he does is throw his body about wildly.

It is Franco as the lead which brings the movie down a notch, as well as the lacking story. There's no urgency here, no fear. The film is about people who are stuck in their lives as prostitutes, but the movie never shows the darker, seamier side of the life. There are hints about AIDS throughout the film, but the movie doesn't address any of that head-on. It shows a couple of scenes of Sonny, or his girlfriend(?) Carol, spending time with tricks. But these scenes show the acts in a positive, or at the very least, neutral light. Sonny is trying so hard to get out of prostitution, but as far as I can tell it's easy money with no emotional risk. So what is he rebelling against?

Harry Dean Stanton, as Sonny's mother's lover, does a great job with some pretty vague lines. A conversation he has with Sonny at the dinner table, complete with pauses and averted glances, was one of the most gripping in the movie. Franco, meanwhile, just sat there.

There are a few peculiar moments in the movie. An automobile accident later in the film seems out-of-place, and Cage's cameo as a flamboyant pimp named Acid Yellow was exciting but ultimately pointless.

Altogether, Sonny wasn't a bad movie, but it never managed to draw I the Viewer in enough to force me to invest myself into the story. The ending is played out like some kind of major epiphany to the characters, but wasn't engaging to me at all. It's hard to really enjoy a movie when you don't care much about the characters one way or the other.