Rating: 
Summary: there are times I base my opinions on my wifes reaction.
Review: Yes I agree in the evaluation of penn's character, and I enjoyed it because my wife in utter disgust wanted to leave the theater.....Sit please Shawn is doing his job......my wife the critic enjoyed the movie as I did, I think it was one of Woody"s best and I have been a Django buff since 1937..{yes that date is correct} buy the video and then treat your ears and buy the c.d.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic Woody
Review: As a Woody Allen fan, I'm always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this film will appeal to Woody fans and non-Woody fans alike. The two central performances from Sean Penn and Samantha Morton are nothing less than stunning. Penn plays a guitar vituoso who falls in love with a mute girl. He harps on about being a genius and therefore not being able to commit to any one woman, but finally realises that this commitment is necessary, and is particularly necessary if he is to attain his full potential as an artist.Beautifully photographed, great music, amazing acting - this film has the lot. Unusually for a Woody Allen film it is not focussed in New York and moves across America giving a great sense of time and place. After Celebrity and Deconstructing Harry, this is Woody at his most accessible and poignant. A love story; a tale of artistic torment and a picture of America in the Great Depression, this is a must see film. This is Woody's best since Bullets Over Broadway, and it ranks up there with Husbands and Wives and Manhattan as an emotional and often funny testament to the resilience (and weakness) of the heart.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Few
Review: In the previous review (the one before this, for all those who dont know) nonsensical statements were made, and although its intentions appear to be well, I will assure you that it does not do a film of this calibur justice. As you all should know Woody Allen is of the greatest of the comical entertainers, preformers, what have you. A movie like this he has been attempting to hatch for a while now. It is movies like these that make his work serious. A Big spending happy-go-lucky, Womanizing Drunken pimp gambler who attempts to swindle his way through everything as he struggles at becoming the greatest guitar player in the world is acted with exceptional talent by Sean Penn. Penn holds a spot in the group my father has dubbed as "One of the few" - meaning that there are very few actors who focus on their careers and do not eat up all the fame and Sean Penn is one of them. He is no Spicolli, that,.. my anti-freind is insult. Sean Penn does not play one role twice. What he masterfully accomplishes is the best character to take on Woody Allen like traits in a very Woody Allen like character without trying to act like or be Woody Allen. Shear excellence on his part....and for that matter all those involved. There is however a reason why I decided not to give this film one more star. You must understand, that by being a very supportive fan of Woody's I will not go into enormous description concerning these self thought flaws to the film. I will simply state what I believe to be true, that being a too jumbled and quick ending as well as in between mock interviews that, No did not hold up to the standards put fourth by Zelig. I also can not leave on a sour note so I will conclude by paying a respect to all those involved in the picture and espicially to the Amazing actor Sean Penn and overly amazing director/writer/actor Woody Allen who proves time and time again to be a great story teller as well as one of its actors.
Rating:
Summary: spicoli revisited...
Review: emmett ray is a gem... spicoli at 35... a bit weary from thefight of life perhaps, but still charming as hell... you loved spicolieven though he was completely self-absorbed because he was so full of hope and to expect epiphany from him was unreasonable 'cause he was 17... in emmett ray we find spicoli in his last days of insulation... like spicoli's weed, emmett ray has his guitar-playing to keep him from the horrors of life and the pain of his feelings... his genius in playing the guitar, like spicoli with weed, turns a frightened man into one of the most engaging characters the screen has ever seen... ultimately, though, emmett ray is not 17 anymore... he's found and lost what makes him happy and realizes it's gone forever... in that moment, penn unleashes the pain that lay just behind spicoli's smile and gives an even added dimension, something previously thought unimaginable, to one of the greatest characters ever created(spicoli)...
Rating:
Summary: Woody back to basics.
Review: It's such a shame that Woody Allen's films just aren't opened to the large audiences anymore. Sweet and Lowdown, Allen's latest comedic invention, is a film that seems to go back to style of comedic farce and character study that Woody took on in his first major films. At times a mock documentary in the vein of "Take the Money and Run" and "Zelig", Sweet and Lowdown is a more mature film that has a lot more notes to it than the early movies. This film also features something that no other Allen film has had - a truly transformative performance from an actor. Sean Penn and Allen paint such a quircky and complex character that I actually left the theatre thinking Emmitt Ray must have been a real person. Surely no filmakers and actor could come up with such a figure. But alas they did and this is the magic of this film which also features great supporting work and good music to boot.
Rating:
Summary: Sean Penn At His Best!
Review: Sweet and Lowdown is a must see! Sean Penn and Samantha Morton are absolute perfection. I've never been a huge Woody Allen fan, but he really knew what he was doing with this film.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet and Lowdown - Great name, great movie
Review: This movie was surly an awesome treat. Filled with great jazz and good actors, it will be a movie I will never forget. This is a must for people who like jazz as a listener or as a musician. The actors were superb and the music was even better.
Rating:
Summary: Let's go to the dump and shoot some rats!
Review: I'm not a big fan of Sean Penn, but this performance is one to remember. If it isn't slapstick he's doing, its shooting off fast paced one liners. An inspired performance in Emmet Ray, and like a running faucet at the mouth, especially when he's with his girlfriend (Samantha Morton). Morton portrays Hattie with a wonderful natural style, giving us a so innocent, yet worldly young woman. A pretty face with excellent expression. Penn's Emmet Ray carries the entire film, constantly talking, entertainingly exhausting everyone he crosses paths with. When he does shut up, get ready for exquisitely smooth guitar sounds. Now, about those rats...
Rating:
Summary: Blues for Django
Review: Woody Allen's newest film seems to have rolled over the backs of america's moviegoers, labeled and dealt away as the 'new Allen picture' with little fanfare. Perhaps a reaction to the disastrous _Celebrity_, it's unfortunate, as _Sweet and Lowdown_ is his finest film since _Manhattan_. It is a character study about a jazz guitarist (Sean Penn) who is boorish and emotionally stunted, but possesses God in his fingertips. He is, as he himself notes, "The greatest guitar player in the world...except for this gypsy in France." He is referring, of course, to Django Reinhardt, for whom he feels both worship and terror. His guitar playing is at the center of his world; he talks of little else, and others dislike most of his other qualities. At every turn, people forgive his tastes (for example, he loves to shoot rats for entertainment) because of his sublime playing. And sublime it is. Allen has enlisted Howard Alden to play the wonderful old songs that inhabit this movie, and frankly the film would be worthwhile for the music alone. In point of fact, the film is one of the most moving pictures that Allen has made. It is primarily a comedy; however, by the end, when Penn cries out for the mistake he has made, it is an emotional moment rare in Allen's work. The supporting cast is excellent (with particular kudos to Samantha Morton, who plays a mute laundress who falls for Penn) and the writing is truly inspired. Even non-Allen fans might try this one, as it may be the least 'Woody' picture he has ever made.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet and High Up
Review: For those who enjoy Woody's passion for jazz and his love of offbeat characters, this movie is another gem. Sean Penn gives a magnificent performance as a quirky, self-absorbed star guitarist. The story is sort of a life's journey travelogue in familiar terrain and rhytmns to Woody Allen followers. Not a big box office smash but definitely a keeper.
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