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Sherrybaby
IFC Films


8.2

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 15 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brad William Henke, Sam Bottoms, Kate Burton, Ryan Simpkins, Giancarlo Esposito, Danny Trejo, Rio Hackford, and Bridget Barkan

Three years after entering prison for robbery as a 19-year-old heroin addict, Sherry Swanson (Gyllenhaal) begins her first day of freedom, clean and sober. A model prisoner who has undergone personal transformation, she immediately sets out to regain custody of her young daughter Alexis. (IFC Films)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Laurie Collyer
DIRECTED BY:	Laurie Collyer
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: January 23, 2007 Theatrical: September 8, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	86 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic), 2006 Sundance Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Maggie Gyllenhaal is such a miracle of an actress that she makes you respond to the innocence of Sherry's desperate, selfish destruction.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

In Gyllenhaal's all-out performance, it reminded me most of Judy Davis in "High Tide," another movie directed by a woman (Gillian Armstrong) about a misfit mother and her daughter. It has the same fierce honesty.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Maggie Gyllenhaal cements her reputation as a gifted, if somewhat aloof, actress in Laurie Collyer's sad character piece.

The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge

Buoyed by Gyllenhaal's hauntingly complex portrait of the vivacious but addictive Sherry, the film is no mere by-the-numbers chronology of addiction. Gyllenhaal's sympathetic and charismatic performance binds us to the horror of Sherry's personal demons.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

What distinguishes the film from its many peers is the quality of Ms. Collyer’s writing -- which rarely reaches for obvious, melodramatic beats -- and the precision of Ms. Gyllenhaal’s performance. She treats the character neither as a case study nor as an opportunity to show off her range, but rather as a completely ordinary and therefore arrestingly complicated person.

USA Today Claudia Puig

There is nothing flashy about these performances, but Gyllenhaal, Dillon and Gosling fully inhabit their characters, giving haunting portrayals. Watch for these names to emerge on the short list for Academy Award consideration.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Theirs is a well-worn story that may not need to be told, but they do tell it well.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Danny Trejo plays Sherry's sometime lover and friend, and he's a big asset to a small, sharp film that won't be for everyone. That's a compliment.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Keeps you riveted through parts that might otherwise be difficult to watch.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Gyllenhaal turns the young ex-con into an enormously sympathetic figure, but by the end there's no denying that her need for the girl is as selfish as her addiction.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Gyllenhaal, in her most substantial role since "Secretary," does a fine, unshowy job of limning Sherry's faults without alienating the viewer or pleading for sympathy.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

The wonder of Sherrybaby is that we can admire Sherry's exuberance and evident love of life -- and the extraordinary actress who portrays her -- without really being sure where she's going.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The movie is full of freshman mistakes, but Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance in the title role is the gutsiest thing she's done since her breakout in "Secretary," and she succeeds despite serious contradictions in the writing of her character.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Sherrybaby is by no means a terrible film...But we know exactly where the transparent action is going from word one.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Sherrybaby is the kind of pretend-arty Sundance thing that gives indie cinema a bad name.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

The problem with Sherry is that, unlike Ryan Gosling's Dan in "Half Nelson," whose humanity transcends his addiction and who is still capable, no matter how uneasily, to maintain relationships with others, she is a terminally uninteresting narcissist with a bad case of arrested development.

Film Threat Mark Bell

The film as a whole is vaguely entertaining but due to the unsympathetic nature of the lead character, it's hard to emotionally invest in the film beyond that feeling of watching yet another Jerry Springer-friendly family adventure. It’s simply unexceptional.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A movie bursting with nothingness.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Lee A. gave it a10:
Trejo was pitch perfect. Esposito about as authentic as his turn in, "The Wire." Gyllenhaal...what better to say than her performance was not like watching a consummate actor; it was like observing the real thing. As for Collyer's script: she's either a 12 stepper, or one terrifically objective and, ( in this sense, could this be an oxymron??, ) "sympathetic" medium.

Meghan gave it a3:
Overrated. Vulgar for the sake of jusy being vulgar because it's an "independent film" and they feel that they can could get away with it. Magge G did nothing but whine her way through it. Questions were left unanswered. Thoroughly disappointing. I wish they had just stayed with the mother daughter aspect of the film instead of constantly going to the sex aspect of the film.

Michael L. gave it a9:
This is a wonderful film; difficult to watch, yet exceptional in its humanity. Yes, we might know where it's going, but it's a miraculous ride. Maggie Gylllenhaal is astoundingly "real" as Sherry. There isn't a strained, inauthentic moment in her performance. She is 100% raw. Anyone with an ounce of insight into human nature, or an understanding of the trauma "bad parenting" inflicts will find a way to connect with Sherry. Don't miss it.

Marc K. gave it a5:
Very dark and sad. Not bad, but not all that I heard it was cracked up to be. I liked MG better in "Stranger Than Fiction."

Chad S. gave it a7:
Even the seemingly no-nonsense parole officer (Giancarlo Esposito) isn't impervious to the feminine wiles of a misunderstood strumpet. Officer Hernandez, whose bark is worse than his bite, grants Sherry(Maggie Gyllenhall) the special privilege of seeing her daughter. The affectionate appendage "baby" is sublimated in this kind act, this favor to a lost soul, which no doubt originated from somewhere south of his heart. When we meet a certain family member, we know in an instant who first called her "baby", and subjected her to objectification. This inappropriate relationship helps explain why Bobby (Brad William Henke) doesn't quite know how to hug his sister(see how her hesitates during their first meeting). "Sherrybaby" avoids the cliched response to the cliche that explains why a woman is promiscuous. The film avoids that big weepy moment when the woman guilt-trips the passive bystander to her historical victimization, which normally should be a sign of mature filmmaking; but here, it seems like a contradiction to Sherry's fiery nature. Gyllenhaal doesn't have to unleash hell against her brother at the diner, but a little heck would've been more satisfactory than what actually transpires in what should've been the film's pivotal moment. Obviously, Sherry should let her daughter be, but she's a mother; not a mother******. You shouldn't hate her for caring too much. It's the latter type, the woman who never returns to reclaim her namesake, you should deride and villify.

Blake J. gave it a9:
One of the most powerful, painful, serious, beautiful, and well acted movies I have ever seen. Maggie is a miracle as Sherry. One of the truest depictions of the hold drugs can have on a human being. Like no movie I have ever seen before. If you are looking for a movie to change your life, this is as close as you will ever need to search. How is a woman that actually desires to become a model citizen supposed to do so when her father sexually abuses her, and she cannot get a job because her resume says she was in jail for 2 and half years for stealing money for drugs? She has to try, and try Sherry does.

Hans B. gave it an8:
Maggie was fanstastic (10). The story was so so (6) --> 8.

Sherrybaby IFC Films

Sherrybaby
IFC Films