Sherrybaby (Directed by Laurie Collyer)
A standard issue dress-down act from Maggie Gyllenhaal, which I suppose she had to get around to sooner or later. (Please resist, La Zooey.) ‘Raw’ and ‘non-judgmental’ and ’empathetic, even when our protag — an ex-junkie trying to regain custody of her son — does the exact stupidest thing she could do at any juncture, which is a bit too often for my tastes. Should be needless to say that it doesn’t contrast well with Clean, with which it shares a near-exact premise (and a lead named Maggie!). Olivier Assayas did everything he could to dress up his film’s inherent silliness, and wound up cutting right to its heart. Collyer plays it completely straight and Sundance ’93, and elicits little more than vaguely condescending head nods. Not to mention, in addition to getting trounced by Maggie C., Maggie G. loses out to a shockingly awesome Giancarlo Esposito. C+
KIDNEY BINGOS: AKA Matt Prigge