Sugar Isn't Very Sweet, By: Henry Seyue

Sugar. Dir. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. feat Algenis Perez Soto.
Sony Pictures Classics, 2009




The movie sugar isn't very impressive and plays with concepts that have the potential to be great but is poorly executed. I like the idea of sports being the way out of a bad situation that the movie begins with but that idea isn't consistent throughout the movie. There is also an overlying theme of the American Dream but in comparison to other films that have the same concept (i.e Rocky/Scarface etc.), "Sugar" is mediocre at best.

Something that I do like about this film is the transition in a couple scenes from diegetic to non diegetic sounds. For example there is a club scene where they are dancing to the music of the club and a passionate moment occurs where the tone changes to a romantic, non diegetic sound. This was a nice touch but I don't want to over credit the directors for doing this seeing that this is a common thing done in film. What Initially hooked me to the film was the fact that the film began in DR. I already knew that this would be one of those "American Dream" type of films. It instantly reminded me of the classic Al Pacino hit "Scarface" because of the main character's Hispanic origins, however this film is certainly no scarface. "Scarface" is a roller coaster and shows a character that becomes more Americanized as the film progresses where as "Sugar" is very bland for the 1hour 42min duration, and Sugar doesn't become more American in anyway.

I cant even call Sugar an underdog story seeing that the main character isn't even an underdog. He is actually good enough to earn a nickname and have relative success in the minor leagues. The film's sports theme ends in America and it then begins to be about mere survival. Again, even the survival theme had potential to save the film but everything about the script and scenery was just cold and corny at this point. At some point in the film you don't even want to follow along but the films potential alone keeps you attached hoping that something gets better. Sadly it doesn't and the film ends rather abruptly and inconclusively. Sugar ends up joining a local rec team which just kills whatever hope you have for the film. Personally I was thinking this was the beginning of him recreating himself as a baseball player when actually it's the end. He is then an illegal alien working on an expired visa doing menial work and playing baseball for fun. By then you'll be left thinking about the beginning of the film wonder "what was the point of any of this?"

If I had to grade this film I would give it a generous D+ for effort. It had potential to jumpstart an actors career much like "Rocky" did for Stallone or "Scarface" did for Pacino but it just about fails across the board. I more so blame bad screen writing and directing for this films turnout but the actors certainly carry their share of the blame.