Sweet Nothing

Before she won an Oscar, Mira Sorvino starred in this small but powerful movie about a guy whose seemingly perfect world comes crashing down when he enters the drug trade. Michael Imperioli, who played Spider in "Goodfellas," has a leading role here and does an outstanding job of portraying down-and-out drug dealer and user Angel, but never allows us to dislike him. Throughout his struggle we are right by Angel's side.

Even the ending is not obvious: there is no happy finale, but somehow we know he is on the long road back.

As several reviews of this film noted, the story of a middle-class person seduced by drugs has been done quite a lot lately. That in itself is not a fault. This movie manages to bring its own perspective to the subject and will hold a viewer's interest.

The main character, Angel (Michael Imperioli), works for some kind of a financial business, but at a pretty low level. He keeps a journal that is extensively quoted from by way of narration. This is a useful device, and not one used solely to make the job of advancing the narrative easier. Through it one gains insight into how easy it is for a person to rationalize selling and using illegal drugs. He tells himself at first that he deserves the money that selling crack brings in. He needs it to provide a good life for his wife and two children. Other people take shortcuts; it's the way of the world. Why shouldn't he? Later he rationalizes the desire to get high, as more and more of his profits go up in smoke. Then he rationalizes crawling headfirst into the crack pipe.

Angel manages to keep a semblance of normal life for some time, but as the desire to get high takes precedent over everything else and as he uses up the almost inexhaustible supply of love given by his wife (Mira Sorvino), the inevitable bottom is finally hit. This movie is commendable in that its main purpose isn't just to see how graphically the squalor of junkie culture can be depicted, though there is plenty of that by the time the film ends. Most frightening is what happens to a friend of Angel's named Raymond (Paul Calderon). While Angel is only concerned with using and getting money to supply his habit, Raymond stays in the business end, becoming a monster capable of any cruelty to protect his own interests. It's a far cry from the buddies we see at the beginning of the film, jubilant over the birth of Angel's second child.

The story was based on journals found in an empty New York apartment. 'Sweet Nothing' mat not be a groundbreaker, but it is a very worthwhile film that makes a niche for itself in a familiar genre.

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

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!

One of the scariest movies I've ever seen, right up there with "Requiem for a Dream." Paul Calderon, a good actor, plays a small but key (and nasty) character that cannot have helped his career but makes the terror of the film work splendidly.

This is a film about crack addiction, and how it can suck in even a hard-working young man with a good wife and some ambition. We are given just enough backstory about the lead character to make his fall seem credible and terrifying.

Another reviewer referred to the Imperioli character as 'Angelo' and he could well be an Angelo. However the character's name is actually Angel, which makes me wonder. Was this really supposed to be about Puerto Ricans, but adapted to make them maybe Sicilian-Americans instead? It reminds me of those Frank Sinatra comedies (e.g., 'Hole in the Head') where the lead was originally Jewish, but made sort-of-Italian to fit the actor. This misfit casting makes the social context implausible--an Italian family that lives mostly among Puerto Ricans and blacks. Nevertheless the script still manages to ring true in certain details, particularly during the last third when Angel attempts to make a little money by getting back into low-level dealing and finds himself in ever-more-sordid situations.