Brenda Blethyn, Brenda Vaccaro, Harry Dean Stanton

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 t...( read more  read more... )itle 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

Flixster Users

45% liked it

4,920 ratings

Critics

23% liked it

26 critics

R, 110 min.

Directed by: Nicolas Cage

Release Date: October 26, 2002

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DVD Release Date: August 19, 2003

Stats: 159 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (159)


  • February 17, 2009
    I hated this movie. I wasn't interested in anything that happened.
  • September 9, 2009
    "His life was the morning after, until he decided to change the night before"
  • August 23, 2009
    i love james franco!!!
  • July 16, 2009
    New Orleans, 1981. Sonny Phillips, just discharged from the Army, returns home. The only life he's known is as a gigolo, working for his mother, but he wants to leave that behind. However, the job his Army buddy promised doesn't materialize, and he can't escape his past.
  • February 15, 2009
    New Orleans, 1981. Sonny Phillips, just discharged from the Army, returns home. The only life he's known is as a gigolo, working for his mother, but he wants to leave that behind. However, the job his Army buddy promised doesn't materialize, and he can't escape his past.
  • February 8, 2009
    Very full on , Franco naked mm
  • February 7, 2009
    Just because I have never seen a film directed by Nick Cage....maybe it'll be good
  • December 22, 2008
    No thankyou - Not interested.
  • September 26, 2008
    really liked it! so realistic...
  • June 21, 2008
    I´d like to find out Nick´s directing!

Critic Reviews


December 26, 2002
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Earnest and tentative even when it aims to shock. full review

View more Sonny reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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