Honeydripper
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Metascore
68 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 27 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

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  • Summary: It's 1950, and it's a make-or-break weekend for Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover), the proprietor of the Honeydripper Lounge. Deep in debt, Tyrone is desperate to bring back the crowds that used to come to his place. He decides to lay off his longtime blues singer Bertha Mae and announces that he has hired a famous guitar player, Guitar Sam, for a one-night-only gig in order to save the club. Into town drifts Sonny Blake, a young man with nothing to his name but big dreams and the guitar case in his hand. Rejected by Tyrone when he applies to play at the Honeydripper, he is intercepted by the corrupt local sheriff, arrested for vagrancy, and rented out as an unpaid cotton picker to the highest bidder. But when Tyrone's ace-in-the-hole fails to materialize at the train station, his desperation leads him back to Sonny and the strange, wire-dangling object in his guitar case. The Honeydripper Lounge is all set to play its part in rock and roll history. (Emerging Pictures)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 27
  3. Negative: 1 out of 27
  1. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ernest Hardy
    90
    Honeydripper is classic Sayles cinema: an insightful sketch of assorted common folk whose criss-crossing dreams and agendas unfold against larger, more powerful (and sometimes crushing) sociopolitical and cultural forces.
  2. Salon.com
    Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    80
    Honeydripper offers a leisurely, atmospheric production with lots of time to appreciate his largely African-American cast, along with rocking musical interludes and just the faintest wash of spirituality.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Anna Hart
    60
    A gentle, enjoyable musical fable.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    30
    Trudging nobly under a mantle of impeccably earnest intentions and a fussy, too-quaint-by-half production design, Honeydripper lags and drags to its utterly predictable end. There's not a spark of spontaneity or soul about it.

See all 27 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. LuckyJ
    10
    Any John Sayles film is worth a look. Consider "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" before you start handing out zeros in such a cavalier fashion. (cancelling your stat-skewing, tw, ftw)… Expand
  2. TerryB.
    10
    Talk about "vibe"!!! Great !!!
  3. LisaN.
    7
    In John Sayles' latest film, Danny Glover plays a struggling nightclub owner in 1950's Alabama. Surrounded by obstacles, he puts everything behind one last attempt to save his club and books a Saturday night performance by a famed guitar player. The story, partially inspired by Sayles' short story, "Keeping Time," is full of a community of complex fully-realized characters. And although the plot moves along slowly, you can not help but feel drawn into their plights. While this film is not nearly as wonderful as some of Sayles' finest work (such as "Lone Star" or "Passionfish"), this film is a definitely a worthwhile watch.… Expand
  4. TomaszW.
    0
    Honeydripper is an embarrassing failure on many fronts mercilessly exposing Sayles's deficiencies as a director and a total lack of talent as a writer. It's sluggish and painfully predictable in plot development, handicapped by wooden acting (best represented by a zombie performance of Danny Glover) and stagey sets, and poisoned with grating racial and cultural stereotypes. The story has unbreachable holes, characters lack reasonable motivations, and the whole film looks like a an expensive high school show.… Expand

See all 6 User Reviews

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