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Sugar
EMAILPRINTSony Pictures Classics
Universal acclaim
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 16 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck
Directed by:
Anna Boden
Ryan Fleck
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 3, 2009
DVD: September 1, 2009
Running Time: 120 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Language(s): English | Spanish
Summary
RATING: R for language, some sexuality and brief drug use
Starring Algenis Pérez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, Michael Gaston, Jaime Tirelli, José Rijo, Ann Whitney, and Richard Bull
Sugar follows the story of Miguel Santos, a.k.a. Sugar, a Dominican pitcher from San Pedro De Macorís, struggling to make it to the big leagues and pull himself and his family out of poverty. Playing professionally at a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic, Miguel finally gets his break at age 19 when he advances to the United States’ minor league system; but when his play on the mound falters, he begins to question the single-mindedness of his life’s ambition. (Sony Pictures Classics)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Half Nelson Young Rebels
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
The New York Times A.O. Scott
It is both sad and hopeful, but the film's sorrow and its optimism arise from its rarest and most thrilling quality, which is its deep and humane honesty.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
In its unhurried fashion, Sugar can take its place with the best baseball movies. Where most focus on the grand slam, this one's about the life that surrounds the game and everything that comes after.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
This one slice of the American experience amounts to one of the best films of the year.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Sugar is that sweetest of films: A sensitive and memorable story that surprises at every turn.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
As the film plays out its melancholy story, we realize that what we are watching is far rarer than the usual sports flick.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
A baseball movie, a stranger-in-a-strange-land movie, a movie about real people facing real challenges in the real world, Sugar is all that and more.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
A moving, surprising and provocative baseball flick that rises immediately to No. 1 with a bullet on my personal list.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Algenis Perez Soto plays the character so openly, so naturally, that an interesting thing happens: Baseball is only the backdrop, not the subject. This is a wonderful film.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Sugar is a near-great movie with qualities more unusual than some all-time classics. It resists cliche at every turn and puts something solid in its place: raw yet controlled observation that gives the film the form of a flexing muscle.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Instead of hitting all the usual beats, Sugar just moseys in a mostly delightful way.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The film's style is so ''objective'' it's a bit subdued, yet this is a sports drama of total originality, as well as the most authentic inside view of the immigrant experience the movies have given us in quite a while.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Melissa Anderson
Without a trace of didacticism, Boden and Fleck portray the insidious details of exploitation and hollow American maxims.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Sympathetic, genial and exceedingly wholesome, it's a film that, once seen, will permanently and favorably influence the way viewers regard the characters' real-life counterparts.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
The most remarkable thing Sugar does is give American viewers a sense of how our country must seem to a newly arrived immigrant, without caricaturing or condescending to either guest or host.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
As good as it is because of the care and skill writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck bring to it, gifts that were visible in their first film, "Half Nelson," which earned a lead actor Oscar nomination for Ryan Gosling.
Read Full Review >NPR Bob Mondello
The filmmakers have mostly cast from Dominican playing fields rather than from acting studios -- Algenis Perez Soto, the accomplished first-time performer who plays Miguel Sugar Santos, was himself a teen ballplayer -- so game and practice sequences have an easy authenticity from the start.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
This is a drama of shifting values and compromised ideals, arriving at a view of life that's wise, complicated, and tinged with melancholy.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Mainly, though, the film's strength is reportorial, sensitively exploring a theme that has grown ever more prominent with the globalization of sport.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel
A gripping look at the immigrant experience, with small moments as important - and visually arresting - as any on the baseball diamond.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The price of the production's integrity is a leisurely pace -- but it's a worthwhile one. Though Sugar demands patience, it deserves attention.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
A thoughtful drama about guys who have a moment in the big time before returning home to an odd reflected glory.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Algenis Perez Soto was a baseball player in real life, which helps to explain his sensitive, understated performance as Sugar. But he's let down by a manipulative script recycled from dozens of sports and immigrant movies. At least it dispenses with a Hollywood ending.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
Sugar is a curiosity – too somber for a picaresque, too arm's-length for much emotional effect – and while it's interesting, it's never truly absorbing.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 16 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ryan D gave it a9:
Was shocked they had this movie in my local Redbox. It did not disappoint. The acting is phenomenal, and the emotion is raw. The script had me constantly guessing what would happen next. A real, honest examination of life, its many paths, and the choices we make.
paige g gave it a9:
Brilliant film, engaging and beautifully filmed. Also worth seeing though so the doc Road to the Big Leagues as it is the real story!
dragon penchant gave it a9:
Utterly fantastic. breaks formula without trying too hard. transcends stereotypes and totally gets baseball right.
Mark P gave it a10:
A superb, engaging, cliche busting film that is about far more than baseball. Excellent performances from non-pros, marvelous cinematography. One of the best little films of the year.
judy by gave it a7:
I applaud the fact that this film forces us to decide what is won and what is lost in this story. The character of Sugar is rich, complex and hits just the right notes. The Christian granddaughter plot doesn't carry its own weight, I'd edit. A little backstory on what happened to Sugar's father was needed. And, my final question: Was Mrs. Higgins supposed to be Susan Sarandon from Bull Durham in her later years?? Then a few scenes were DEFINITELY missing.
Pat G gave it an8:
I have no interest in baseball, and I thought this was an engaging movie. The human interest story is rich and thought-provoking. All of you who have no interest in baseball, fear not! This movie is well worth your time. And those who love baseball will get a double reward from the sports and the life. It does give an intriguing look at the immigrant experience, among other riches. I highly recommend it.
