Sherrybaby

Sherrybaby **

"Sherrybaby" is just a repeat. A repeat of so many other movies, that I would need more than two hands to count them. And it is indeed a film that has such an obvious script and story, that it's up to the actors to make something out of it worthwhile. And while Maggie Gyllenhaal is alright here, it's nothing groundbreaking. A nomination for her come award season would be a waste. It's simply a story that has been done so many times that I'm tired of it. I don't need to see yet another story about a former junkie who gets out of prision, and tries to reclaim the love of the daughter she left behind. Oh, and right, she has to fall off the wagon at least once before the credits roll.

Gyllenhaal plays Sherry Swanson, who, as I said above, recently was released from jail for stealing drugs and put onto parole. Her first request is to be able to go to New Jersey, so that she can visit her daughter, who has been living with her brother and his wife while she was away. We learn that she didn't even live in a very bad neighborhood. The neighborhood that she lives in is rich and pleasant to be in, and its also where she grew up. Her spiral into drugs was a result of something deeper than the area that she lives in. Her daughter, Alexis, is at first happy to see her mother, and runs around and jumps up and down while saying "mommy, mommy." By the next visit ,things have changed, and it turns out that Sherry's sister in law, Marcia, has been telling her not to call her "mommy," but to refer to her as "Sherry." This upsets Sherry, who wants to be able to raise her daughter on her own. So, she decides to turn her life back around. She wants to stay clean, which proves as a challenge. She wants to get a decent job, as a schoolteacher, but has to give the man in charge a favor in order to get it. She joins a support program, but gets kicked out of the house only a few days after starting because of a fight that she has with a roommate. Sherry finds that the path to change isn't going to come instant to her, and she will have to work for it.

Hell, I'm starting to roll my eyes just writing what the story was about. There's alot of scenes where Gyllenhaal talks about how much she is going to change for her daughter. When her parole officer searches her, you can hear her mutter under her breath, "I'm strong. I'm strong." She even dyes her hair black, from the original dirty blonde. Is that really supposed to be some kind of character development? Is this sounding familar at all? There was a film earlier this year called "Clean," which dealt with almost exactly the same premise. The junkie wife of a rock star goes to jail for buying the drugs that killed her husband, and when she gets out she wants to start a relationship with her son that is living with her in laws. The difference between the two isn't the story, but the fact that some more effort went into the last one. The performances were spot on, and somehow "Clean" didn't seem like a carbon copy of every movie ever made like this. "Sherrybaby" is too obvious for its own good. How about the scene where one of the reasons why Sherry went into the world a drugs was revealed? It's between her and her father, where the final climax of the scene is so awkward and completely laughable. It seems misplaced, and doesn't even belong in the movie at all. I don't want to say what is revealed, but I leave the subject with the question: could they have come up with something a little better than that? First time director Laurie Collyer simply has nothing to say. She is making a film just to make a film. It is simply unneeded. Nobody really needs to see this at all. Fans of Gyllenhaal, maybe might want to give it a looksee, but the rest of you, don't bother.