Watch
Sweet and Lowdown

Sweet and Lowdown

1999
Drama, Music
1h 35m
Woody Allen's latest film is the fanciful biography of a legendary jazz guitarist, Emmet Ray, who clashed with lovers, gangsters, musicians and success itself in the 1930's Jazz scene. Sean Penn stars as the fictional musical genius who during the Swing Era was on his way up but could never settle down. (Sony Pictures Classics)
Your probable score
?

Sweet and Lowdown

1999
Drama, Music
1h 35m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 56.79% from 1086 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1086)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 07 Dec 2007
77
64th
A Allen to be vindicated and the most solid of his late films, apart from Match Point. Superb performances by Morton and Penn.
Rated 22 May 2007
80
61st
This is pretty light fare, but it's very funny and enjoyable, and the acting is excellent. I caught and appreciated the La Strada allusion, and I also enjoyed the occasional Rashomon-style "no, that's not how it happened" touches; I wish they'd put in more of those. I guess the whole idea of a "faux biopic" is kind of silly, but it works better than you might think.
Rated 19 Aug 2007
93
79th
Wonderful movie. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think Sean Penn has never given a better performance than in this film. Samantha Morton as Hattie is equally amazing. The real star however, is the music; it will blow your mind.
Rated 06 Jul 2008
5
80th
Penn & Morton are brilliant and the mockumentary angle is inspired.
Rated 03 Aug 2008
75
53rd
28 Temmuz 08 & orta duzey bir woody allen romantik-komedisi.sean penn'nin oyunculugu iyiydi.
Rated 25 Dec 2008
9
93rd
Tragically funny. Penn gives one of his best performances and Woody shows continual signs of change and growth as a writer/director. Cool movie, great music.
Rated 19 May 2009
90
97th
Classic tale of blatant self destruction. Calling the last scene 'good' is shortchanging it quite a bit.
Rated 26 Sep 2009
50
6th
I love Woody Allen, but this one gets to me because Sean Penn doesn't even try to look like he can play the damn guitar. Couldn't get pass that.
Rated 13 Mar 2010
5
69th
lol @ Sean Penn's fingering technique. This is seriously the worst example of an actor pretending to be an actual musician that I've ever seen.
Rated 25 Mar 2010
92
89th
Sean Penn is very good as the guitarist haunted by the shadow of Django Reinhardt.
Rated 05 Aug 2020
53
32nd
Well made but ultimately pointless jazz age nostalgia that Allen has done better elsewhere. Penn's performance was acclaimed at the time, but he was basically miscast to this viewer--it's hard to really buy into the idea that he was a musician of any kind let alone a good one--and there isn't much in the way of ear catching dialogue or standout scenes.
Rated 07 Mar 2007
74
70th
Sweet and Lowdown isn't the best of Allen's works, but taken as a light dessert film, it goes down easy, with lively performances (both Penn and Morton would receive Oscar nominations) and music that is as pleasant to listen to as the film is to watch.
Rated 21 Jul 2007
80
80th
A rare kind of Woody Allen flick wherein he doesn't play the character of Woody Allen but the movie is still enjoyable. This is Allen's sweet homage to blues music.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
90
92nd
Wonderful performances, great music, innovative style. This is a criminally underrated Woody Allen movie.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
85
50th
A brief but touching Woody Allen flick that ranks in his top 10.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
74
21st
Woody Allen and Sean Penn are like salt and vinegar
Rated 17 Sep 2007
70
63rd
Pretty fun movie
Rated 01 Nov 2007
4
87th
Penn has great chemistry with Morton and the movie, like his character, suffers when she's not around. Still, a good mix of humor and drama overall.
Rated 24 Dec 2007
37
25th
not really a bad film just soooo boring
Rated 19 Feb 2008
80
68th
Another good Woody Allen film -- this time a fake documentary about a fictional legendary jazz guitarist. Bizarrely enough it works not only as a meditation on high-class jazz (of which there's so much that a fictional "giant" can be sneaked in nicely) and as a comedy, but as drama as well. Sean Penn and Samantha Morton are outstanding
Rated 09 Mar 2008
50
39th
The pseudo-documentary form suits the character sketches which manage to create a character who is both interesting & repulsive. Occasional laughs.
Rated 10 Aug 2008
64
58th
Pretty decent Allen film, and definitely recommendable for fans of his work as a director.
Rated 05 Nov 2008
45
31st
I am not sure what's going wrong with this Allen flick. Mockumentary bits falls extremely short, you may forget they are there. It's banal most of the time, there seems to be some comedical undercurrent that never surfaces. Drama is also distrupted by that non efficient irony. Real heroes are Penn & Morton. Lastly I have to be fair with period rendition.
Rated 27 Apr 2009
81
78th
with uma thurman out of the movie, and samantha morton on screen more, and emmet ray's character not as much of a dick, this movie would be "a" grade stuff. since it has so many unlikeable features it's still really good, just hard to love as much as i would want.
Rated 17 May 2009
90
79th
You got to have a fable for the sound and at least be interest in Emmet Ray.Otherwise you'll be very bored. That Movie offers you so many magic moments if you got a fable for the early Jazz scene with all their special performers..Penn personifies Emmet Ray with his endless charisma and make "Sweet and lowdown" highly recommendable to all friends of good mus
Rated 09 Jul 2010
53
15th
achei fraco. fiquei indiferente a história, mas a questão do ego e do artista é bem trabalhada. enfim, bem mais ou menos.
Rated 18 Oct 2010
90
91st
This film connects for me like no other work of Allen's. The characters breathe (and the script lets them, for once), and Penn and Morton are both working at a level that transcends Penn's monologues to allow a complex, ambiguous relationship between two very stunted characters. At its heart this is kind of a love letter to folklore and music, one in which Woody, both as author and talking head, comes across as passionate and bearable. Ultimately funnier than his typical comic attempts.
Rated 13 Jan 2011
74
52nd
73.750
Rated 22 Apr 2011
60
36th
Samantha Morton as Hattie the mute prompted a few funny bits, and was kind of the heart of this movie. I was less on board once she departed from the film. Sean Penn was pretty good as Emmet Ray, but the material that he had to work with was fairly shallow. Is it fair, with a few years of perspective, to start calling Woody Allen's 90s period the "Jazz Movie Era" or... some catchy name I can't think of? Nothing new here, but they're all second rate, and all of a similar ilk.
Rated 16 Jul 2011
99
88th
Penn's best performance
Rated 27 Jul 2011
40
27th
Disappointing by Allen standards. Some parts are terrific while others are terrible. The Mockumentary part is completely ridiculous.
Rated 19 Apr 2012
5
20th
I normally love woody films but this just did nothing for me. It left me bored and wondering where it was going. Sean Penn didn't even really connect with his character.. Laughed maybe once or twice
Rated 21 Oct 2012
95
91st
A superb biopic that follows the career of a fictional jazz guitarist. Sean Penn and Samantha Morton are absolutely spellbinding. One of the most unique Woody Allen films that I have seen.
Rated 12 Nov 2012
70
39th
My favourite Sean Penn role. Uma Thurman completely drags down her portion of the movie.
Rated 22 Oct 2013
75
51st
75.000
Rated 17 Aug 2015
80
85th
In Emmet Ray, Woody finds a wonderful channel for his existentialist checklist. In the process, he comes up with some of his most inventive writing and memorable characters. Penn and Morton, among others, carry it home.
Rated 22 Jul 2020
72
63rd
WTF happened with the Uma part? unnecessary and killed the movie. it became two-part anthology film.
Rated 26 Feb 2022
60
26th
Mutelol+ilikehowheworships/hauntedbydjango+leftmuteinnight+umacheatsonhim+muteismarriednowhadkid
Rated 24 Jun 2022
60
31st
He likes to watch trains, he likes to shoot rats, he plays guitar almost as well as Django Reinhardt and he's incapable of love - or is he? The miming is terrible, the intercutting talking heads are annoying and it's not particularly funny (I think it's meant to be funny?), but the "romantic" (if it can qualify as that) element becomes surprisingly moving; you know, despite our protagonist being a caricature of just how much of an asshole someone can be.
Rated 01 Dec 2022
4
43rd
If I gave the slightest iota of a shit about jazz this would probably be more interesting to me - but I don’t, so all I really have to look at is Sean Penn’s BIG HAM performance. Well also Woody Allen did draft Zhao Fei for cinematography apparently after seeing Raise the Red Lantern, which DOES make it look like a real movie with visual texture interesting lighting etc. Still don’t care about jazz tho.

Collections

(18)
Compact view
Showing 1 - 18 of 18 results

Similar Titles

Loading ...

Statistics

Loading ...

Trailer

No Trailer