| Sweet and Lowdown | | Cast : | Sean Penn, Samantha Morton | | Director : | Woody Allen | | Studio : | Columbia/Tristar Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Full Screen | | Released Date : | January 01, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | June 20, 2000 | | Language : | Unknown (Dubbed), English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | March 07, 2005 | | Summary | The day after seeing it, it really struck a chord | Content
 | While watching this movie I was simply charmed by the music and carried along by the events. It wasn't until the next day when I was talking with my wife about why I feel our relationship is so great that it suddenly struck me what the whole point of the movie had been. It was that last scene where Emmet smashes his guitar that the point was brought to the fore. I fell in love with Hattie (Samantha Morton gave an endearing and artistic performance). I didn't realize that Emmet was missing the boat. Hattie may have been mute and dumb but she was the best thing that ever happened to Emmet. There was that je-ne-sais-quoi between them which makes all the difference in the world; life isn't worth a hill of beans without it. That is what this movie said to me. And I thought Woody Allen did a fantastic job by writing this story in order to illustrate this point. From that vantage point all the incidents in the story fell into place as building up to this point. Yes, life can truly pass us by if we don't watch out. We grope around following our urges not knowing quite what it is we are looking for and if we happen to come across it, we'd better grab hold of it and never let it go. Once I realized this about this movie, my admiration for Woody Allen soared to new heights, not to mention that Sean Penn did a superb job as did Samanta Morton. It's not your S/O's this or that characteristic, it's the je-ne-sais-quoi between the two of you. I can't think of another movie which made this all-important point. |
| Rating | | | Date | November 19, 2004 | | Summary | Where's the heart? | Content
| Sweet and Lowdown has the potential to be a heart-wrenching movie about love, money, understanding, jazz, and the free spirit. In fact, all of the cards are on the table with this one. But the movie just doesn't have heart like it should. What could have been a great movie quickly dissolves into a fair movie.
Emmett Ray, played by Sean Penn, is a jazz guitarist who idolizes Django Reihnhardt but let's his envy always get the better of him. No matter how often he plays out, no matter how fancy his clothes are, no matter how well he plays a gig, no matter which girls he impresses, Ray never evolves into the musician that he wants to be. His two wives, Hattie and Blanch, make small impacts in his character, attempting to remove his macho facade. But it isn't until it's too late that Ray realized that he needed to let go of his emotions to make the music he wanted to make.
This movie could have been on par with The Purple Rose of Cairo or Radio Days in the historical fiction vein. But the human touch was not there. It was not there in the opening scenes, and it wasn't there for the bulk of the movie.
I don't know what the missing element is, because everything is in its right place for Sweet and Lowdown. It just didn't come together like it should have
But get the soundtrack. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 24, 2004 | | Summary | Funny,An Exceptional Film | Content
| Academy Award Winner Sean Penn(Best Actor,Mystic River),Academy Award Nominee Samantha Morton(Best Actress,In America),and
Academy Award Nominee Uma Thurman(Best Supporting Actress
"Pulp Fiction")star in this wonderful film.Sean Penn recieved his
second oscar nomination for this film,while Morton recieved her first nomination.Years later Penn would be up for best actor for
Mystic River while meanwhile Morton was up for best actress for In America.It's amazing to me though that Samantha Morton doesn't have a single line in the movie and she still got an Oscar nomination.Penn stars as Emmet Ray "the second best guitar player in the world" seconded by only Django Reinhardt. Emmet
is a man who lives solely to play jazz music and have sex with women.Emmet isn't neccessarily a ladies man because his idea of a date is taking a woman to the dump to shoot rats or go watch trains. Now he finally meets his match with the mute laundress
Hattie(Morton) who loves Emmet now matter how weird he is.However when Emmet becomes scared of the long term relationship he is slowly walking into he impulsively marries the aspiring writer Blanche(Thurman).Penn is great,Morton is brilliant,Thurman is hot,Allen is...well...Allen. But all-in-all if you didn't have the frequent Woody Allen cameo it would be easy to forget you're watching an Allen movie.B-. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 02, 2004 | | Summary | Another Innovative, Thoughtful Comedy by Woody Allen | Content
| Woody Allen is know for any number of things: inventive, brilliant comedies; less than popular serious films; his love of Manhattan; his love of Jazz. In Sweet and Lowdown, he combines a documentary and period filmmaking to great effect. Sean Penn expertly plays Emmett Ray, the world-second greatest guitar player during the great depression. The character is full of ego, booze, talent and humor and it's pulled off without a hitch by Penn and is supported by a solid cast. As is the case with many of Allen's films, a cerebral investment is required from the viewer - this isn't an example of Allen's earlier screwball comedy. All in all, another wonderful film from Woody Allen. |
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