Sweet Nothing

Celebrating the birth of his first child, Angel's drinking pal Raymond takes him to a crack den where they both take hits – Angel's first. The first hit is easy and Angel soon finds himself making it a regular habit, but still holding it together enough to keep his job and family happy. Years pass without incident but Angel and Monika are unhappy, they have two kids now and money is always very tight. So when Angel gets the offer to get involved in dealing he takes it and happily watches the money starting to roll in, but with time Angel finds himself sucked into the darker side of the drugs world including violence, drug abuse and murder. As his using gets more frequent, money becomes tighter and Angel gets trapped in a vicious circle.

When a film contains a character who starts dabbling with crack on the basis that he can control it, it seldom surprises an audience to find things spinning out of control and said character falling into a pit of despair with slippery sides. And so it is with this film, it keeps to the plot route that we have been taught to expect from such a film and doesn't do a great deal to vary from it. It will come as no shock to learn that Angel gets out of his depth with the drugs, gets in debt to gangsters, risks his marriage etc etc. The plot never risks keeping us awake by doing anything new and the script pretty much serves up the dialogue you'd expect from the characters. It is interesting enough but it is very formulaic and will bring nothing new to viewers who have seen this story told better in other films.

What just about saves it from being dismissable is some solid delivery from a cast of up and comers. Imperioili has played a man captured by drugs in Sopranos where he was given much better material to work with but he still does well here. He is given average material but still turns in a believable performance – it would be better if it wasn't all so predictable but he does well with what he has. Sorvino is less convincing and never struck me as a believable character; it may have been weaknesses in the writing but her performance doesn't really help. Support from Calderon and a few others in gangster/junkie roles don't do anything special but aren't bad per se and just fill out the space.

Overall this is a fairly formulaic 'drugs are bad' movie that goes just where you expect it to. The writing lacks any real invention and the direction doesn't have the style and flair that others who have tackled this subject usually try to have, but the cast work hard with what they are given and kept me watching even though I could have predicted every scene from 15 minutes onwards.

I noticed, in the credits, that the script is adapted from a journal "found in a cupboard in Queens". I found this movie to be an accurate and, at times, wrenching portrayal of the downward slide of a crack cocaine addict. I can say this absolutely, because I've been there myself. Many of the characterizations and dramatic situations are right on the money, particularly the portrayal of the addict's wife (God, I love Mira Sorvino!), because addicts not only destroy their own lives, but the lives of their loved ones, as well. I empathized with the main character's (Angel's) denial of his problem (ie. "It's YOUR fault I'm in this mess, not mine - you don't understand me! You're trying to bring me down!"). I wish to emphasize that I like this movie, not only because it's accurate, but because it's also a very good movie. I's REAL. Highly recommended!

Without Mira Sorvino, Paul Calderon and (most especially) Michael Imperioli, this would have been just the latest "Afterschool Special" edition of "Panic In Needle Park" crossed with "The Man With The Golden Arm" and a few of the seven naughty words the FCC so dislikes.

I can see why it took a couple of years (and probably Mira's Oscar) to get this movie released. The writing is uninspired. The directing is just okay. And the feel of the film is cheap, even for a low-budget indie from New York.

But the acting! Mira Sorvino shines as Monika. Paul Calderon makes Raymond's shift from good buddy to monster not only plausible but inevitable. And Michael Imperioli as Angel...he's got the chops, baby. I realize most everybody knows him as Christopher from "The Sopranos" (and he's good in that), but here he blinds us with Angel's hunger -- from needing to provide for his family right through to needing the rocky stuff.

Intended message -- "Stay away from drugs, children, or they'll ruin not only your life but the lives of those who love you."

Actual message -- "With fine actors, even leftover meatloaf can seem like prime rib."

I saw this movie once while I was in my addiction and once after 16yrs clean,both times hit me in the gut.

I literally looked everywhere for this movie: online, in stores, and in bargain boxes - and yet I couldn't find one copy. I finally ordered a used VHS tape from America, and was able to watch it.

I seriously don't understand why this film never went to DVD. It's a really good, decent, but terrifying movie about a normal, every day family man consumed by crack addiction. His perfect world and mind is torn apart by his drug abuse and dealing, and his family falls apart from him.

This is an early, rare gem of a movie in Michael Imperioli's career, pre-Sopranos. Mira Sorvino had just won her Oscar and is brilliant as the struggling, long suffering wife. Siskle and Ebert gave two thumbs up for the movie, and it was highly praised by everyone who had seen it at the time that it premiered. So it baffles me why it was never released.

I'm so glad I finally got to see it, however. It's a fine add to the collection of anti-drug movies, along with Trainspotting, Requiem for a dream and A Scanner Darkly.