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.
Comment
12/26/02
Sonny (2002)
23
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:6
Rotten:20
Average Rating:4.2/10
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Nicholas Cage's directorial debut SONNY is the story of a young man (James Franco) who returns to the life he left behind in New Orleans after a brief stint in the Army. That life, provided by his... [More]
Starring: James Franco, Mena Suvari, Brenda Blethyn, Harry Dean Stanton
Director: Nicolas Cage
Reviews for Sonny
Author John Carlen has abstrusely captured that struggle of one man simply trying to be human in nonhuman, vile, circumstances.
12/27/02
A well-intentioned effort that's still too burdened by the actor's offbeat sensibilities for the earnest emotional core to emerge with any degree of accessibility.
12/16/02
This overlooked drama by Nic Cage packs an emotional wallop.
02/20/06
An engrossing and grim portrait of hookers: what they think of themselves and their clients.
11/22/02
Keep your day job, Nicolas Cage. This shockingly inept directorial debut reveals the brooding actor to be a hackneyed helmer.
12/27/02
No review available.
08/29/05
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.
12/27/02
No review available.
10/21/05
John Carlen’s script is full of unhappy, two-dimensional characters who are anything but compelling.
12/24/02
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.
03/07/04
Sunk by way too much indulgence of scene-chewing, teeth-gnashing actorliness.
01/06/03
The story is bogus and its characters tissue-thin.
12/23/02
Top CriticPreposterous and tedious, Sonny is spiked with unintentional laughter that, unfortunately, occurs too infrequently to make the film even a guilty pleasure.
12/25/02
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.
12/27/02
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.
12/26/02
Top CriticAs the sulking, moody male hustler in the title role, [Franco] has all of Dean's mannerisms and self-indulgence, but none of his sweetness and vulnerability.
12/19/02
An instant candidate for worst movie of the year.
12/27/02
Earnest and tentative even when it aims to shock.
12/26/02
Top CriticActors generally make good actor's directors, but Sonny is a mixed bag in that department.
12/27/02
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