Sympathy for Delicious

This piece of cinema exhibited abeyance to the great maxim "you can't always get what you want." A great cast, a compelling story, and a first time directorial debut from a well-regarded actor seems to create the formula for cinematic magic. Unfortunately after two hours that seemed more like three days in a third world airport this was not the case. I wish there had been one area to praise but this again was not the case. The cast a group of distinguished actors were uniformly without character,off key in delivery, and spouting embarrassing dialog. The storyline is hokey and filled with clichés. To top it off the predictable ending is an over the top contrivance. A gritty opening shot in a area of homeless people winds its way to a thoroughly improbable story by a very unappealing and unlikable character. Everyone else is sleepwalking through this disaster. I have no idea what some of the other reviewers thought they were watching but I know for me it was a poorly crafted film.

The title makes no sense unless you know the main character's DJ name is "Delicious D". With this, there should be little confusion as one watches Sympathy. Sympathy for Delicious is well-respected actor, Mark Ruffalo's (The Kids Are All Right, Zodiac, Shutter Island) directorial debut and it was penned by one of his long-time friends who happens to play D (Christopher Thornton, a paraplegic who wrote the screenplay because of the lack of roles available to him in Hollywood).

D was an up-and-coming music DJ in the rock world of SoCal until he is injured and finds himself confined to a wheelchair ... the story begins after this has happened and we find D living out of his car on Skid Row where he comes to the attention of a local priest played by Ruffalo. After a chance encounter with a fellow homeless man suffering from both gout and Alzheimer's, D finds out he has been given a Divine gift and can miraculously heal others (but alas ... he is unable to heal himself).

Upon this discovery, the priest briefly puts Delicious to work doing God's will ... until D gets it into his head that he should be making TONS of money for healing others and so he makes a name for himself with the help of an odd rock band that decides to cash-in on his abilities. Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings, Elizabethtown, Haven) and Juliette Lewis (Conviction, Cape Fear, Strange Days) play fellow band mates while Laura Linney (The Truman Show, Kinsey, You Can Count on Me) co-stars as their icy and conniving manager who readily admits to exploiting their Divine find. By making such a public, high-profile spectacle of himself and telling everyone he's only doing everything for $$$ ... D opens himself up to all kinds of scrutiny (and he isn't up to the task of taking it all in). It doesn't help that his lone friend in the band, Lewis, sees him as a sell-out which causes things to spiral out of control. And, well, BAD things happen ...

I didn't believe much of what unfolds on screen (I allowed myself to buy into this premise ... but come on) which makes THIS story that much harder to accept. My primary problem: if there are some major stretches taken early-on, why is there no leeway later in the film when the "stretching" should still be allowed?! Sympathy wanted to "have it both ways" for dramatic effect which is simply the error(s) of screen writing 101 I am sure.

This is a VERY difficult story to make humorous (the film is classified a "comedy" on IMDb). I viewed it as much more of a tragedy as it is a film about some VERY lost individuals; but I am sure some might find it funny/hilarious (I didn't ... laughing at an actress pretending to have cerebral palsy isn't laugh-out-loud funny). Sympathy for Delicious has some good moments and it is a promising debut from a new director; but the subject matter is simply too tricky. Had it presented/sold itself differently from the outset, I might have viewed it differently ... but there is a bit too much ultimate trite-ness here for me to appreciate (not to mention D isn't very LIKE-able -- which, in turn, makes the film difficult to like as well).

"Listen please, you don't know what you did, you got the healing touch." After being shown the power of faith healing, Delicious decides to use what he has learned to become a world famous DJ. When fate steps in and allows him to heal everyone's problems but his own he must decide if he will use his gift for someone else. This is not a bad movie at all. Without being in your face with it, this is a fairly religious movie. This also presents a great question. If you had the power to help everyone but yourself could you do it or would you be to jealous? Great acting by everyone makes this an enjoyable movie to watch. Orlando Bloom is great in a wide departure from what he usually does. The fact that the lead actor is actually paralyzed gives his performance a dimension that would be lacking if the actor was only pretending. This is a pretty slow moving movie, but very much worth watching. Overall, a very good movie filled with great acting. This is another movie you must be in the mood for though. I liked it. I give it a B-.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I would

I was able to attend the premier at Sundance this year, and let me begin by saying, this movie riveted my senses. With strong performances by the cast, especially writer and star Christopher Thornton, the movie worked it's magic. I sat in awe near the front row, as Mark Ruffalo, the director, got on stage before the film began and gave a brilliant opening speech. Then the room grew dark and the movie started.

I'm writing this from the New Frontier located on main street, Park City. Two hours after the film ended, and yet i still find it hard to clear my mind of "Sympathy for Delicious." After the film finished and the audience gave a standing ovation, Mark, Christopher, and a large portion of the crew, climbed on stage to answer our questions.

Among the many questions answered, was the story of how it all began. Mark began by saying how he had been best friends with Christopher for the past twenty years, how they had studied together as actors in New York, and about Christopher's tragic accident seventeen years ago that rendered him a cripple. Then Christopher took the mike and told us of Mark's pressuring him into writing a movie based on his own character and experiences. This began a ten year trek to getting the film made. The numerous rewrites and financial difficulties it went through were astounding, yet they persevered and finally succeeded in making a masterpiece.

If you haven't yet viewed this movie you're missing out on something great. Not only does it supply emotionally gripping characters but also a wholly original script. And let's not forget Mark's directing, which in itself is a powerful debut.

Given the promising cast and the fact that this is a film directed by Mark Ruffalo, I was curious about 'Sympathy for Delicious'. Of course, there are many actor-turned-director films that turned out to be not great, like Johnny Depp's 'The Brave' and 'Sympathy for Delicious' disappoints. To start, the story failed to engage me. It tries to combine elements of spirituality and fantasy into a current day world of drugs, rock and roll and poverty but it simply does not work. The title character is not even remotely likable. Now movies with a hateful lead character could only work if there's something about them or their world that manages to draw the viewer in and this is obviously lacking here. Another thing that's missing here is humour. The supporting cast attempts to provide some but that's not enough. Christopher Thornton is passable at best and he's easily overshadowed by his co-stars especially Linney, Bloom, Lewis and Ruffalo. I doubt Thornton himself is too blame since the character itself is so one-dimensional. Laura Linney is there only in several small sequences but she provides awesome comic relief. Juliette Lewis is very good but she seems to get typecast. Ruffalo is terrific as the priest but if he does continue to direct hope he picks a more interesting subject.