Product Description

Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage made his directorial debut with the 2002 theatrical release, Sonny. Meet Sonny and his mother Jewel. Sonny has returned from the Army to his mother's loving arms, to the sultry, sordid streets of New Orleans, to his mother's whorehouse. He's one of Jewel's most sought-after "employees," but he's thinking about a career change. Sonny is back to start his life anew. Maybe with Carol, one of Jewel's girls, and one of the few who dream of a life outside "the life." Or maybe in Texas, where the promise of a real job seems almost too good to be true. Until now, he's survived in a business where women pay to sleep with him. But how much will it cost to set him free?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37089 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2003-08-19
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.com
Nicolas Cage once acted in a notably sexy and atmospheric New Orleans movie called Zandalee, so nostalgia may have recommended Sonny as a directorial debut project. The handsome young title character (James Franco) returns to his bordello-district home after Army service, wanting only to lead a normal life, work in a bookstore, meet a nice girl, and settle down. Sonny spent his pre-Army years expertly pleasuring well-to-do ladies, having been taught "everything he knows"--as we are oft reminded--by his own mother (Brenda Blethyn in sub-Tennessee Williams rampage). After discovering that "normal" people can be as fallible as lowlifes, our boy reluctantly resumes his former trade, with dispiriting results. Not half as dispiriting, though, as Cage's maiden directing effort. Marginal compensation is supplied by Harry Dean Stanton, sweetly weary as an old family friend, and the copiously zaftig Brenda Vaccaro (cf. Midnight Cowboy) as a once and future client. Cage himself turns up as a poodle-toting pimp named Acid Yellow. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

Cage' Disappointing Debut as Director;Still Stanton is Great
"Sonny," Nicholas Cage's debut work as director, is about the titular man (James Franco, "Spider-man") who has returned from army to his hometown, New Orleans. The time is 1981, and in front of the house he stops, to meet his mother again (played by over-the-top Brenda Blethyn). And Sonny, fed with his previous life as gigolo in there, confesses that he is going to have a day job in another city.

Now you get the drift of the story. You see, Sonny will find the tough reality, and the easier way of life is more congenial to him. And there is a love interest, love possibly a true one, in a girl played by Mena Suvari. Against the backdrop of the streets of New Orleans, Sonny tries to find the meaning of life in his easy lifestyle.

The purpose of the film is honorable, but the result is nothing remarkable. The problem is, sorry to say, the directions of Nick Cage, who let the actors indulge in each scene too much. The emotional tensions between characters do not go up; the story is too slow, and the result is too predictale. And most of all. the bad acting from many. I don't name names, but when the character looks laughing when he is supposed to be crying, there is something seriously wrong with that.

But there is one great thing about "Sonny," and that is Harry Dean Stanton, who plays "Henry" a perpetual loser, who gets so accustomed to being loser that one small win at a card game (against Seymore Cassel) literally sends him to the Heaven. Into Henry's weather-beaten face and down-trodden life, Harry Dean Stanton infuses the life, and even something sublime and noble. Simply great.

According to the press material, the script was offered to Nick Cage about 15 years ago (as actor), and that explains the similar atmosphere to the 80s films like "American Gigolo." Like that film, "Sonny" shows the languid feeling of the anti-hero, but finally goes nowhere.

Something Different
James Franco plays a very attractive former military man who returns home to his less than stellar family. I loved this movie. It was original and something different. James Franco deserves some indy awards buzz for his portrayal of Sonny. Nicholas Cage did a great job with his directorial debut. There is not much I didn't like about this film. It was something different and I appreciated that. Nick Cage also shines in his brief cameo in the film.

Sonny was trained to do this by his mother? Come again?
When Sonny (James Franco) returns from his stint in the Army, he has high hopes of a new life. Hoping to move away from his old life in New Orleans, and pinning his chance at change on a bookstore job offered by his Army buddy, he makes a cursory stop to see family and friends before getting on the road. Getting away from the town and influence is a simple decision; moving on from his former life as a gigolo is not so easy. Trained by his mother Jewel (Brenda Blethyn) to be nearly the perfect male prostitute (huh!?), Sonny lets his loins lead his path when the job offer falls through.

At its core, this movie is the classic underdog tale. Granted, not many underdogs get to have continuous sex and get paid for it, but it's nonetheless a story about someone attempting to rise above the trappings of his meager beginnings towards the white-picket fence dreams of normalcy, and possibly love.

Franco is fairly believable as a slick sex-peddler Sonny, but Henry (Harry Dean Stanton) is the character with the most resonance. Streetwise enough to survive, but feeble enough to be a failure, Henry is a beaten soul who exudes depression and would beg to be put out of his misery if he didn't feel such responsibility for his relationship with Jewel and his friendship with Sonny. He completely nails his role and brings about the only true emotion of the film. Carol (Mena Suvari), a young up-and-comer (?) in Jewel's ranks, futilely and unconvincingly portrays a lady of the night who becomes Sonny's love interest. I guess she went from the gateway drug in American Beauty, to meth in Spun, and hooking was her last-ditch alternative. Her performance, however, is praiseworthy compared to one other. Brenda Blethyn had the effrontery to apply on a southern accent like a hooker slathers on cheap makeup: appallingly thick, staggered and disjointed like a clown's face-paint, and an insult to the senses. There hasn't been a worse accent since James Van Der Beek butchered a Texas accent in Varsity Blues.

The plot is underdeveloped, and the emotion is lacking. In his directorial debut, Nicholas Cage succeeded in creating a state of emotional, psychological prison, but failed to truly bind relief or freedom into the resolution. Production-wise, the picture represented Louisiana well, but the visual was not enough to overpower the message-delivery failure.