SUNSHINE STATE
Some Floridians, most of them on the eccentric side, fall victim to
unscrupulous land developers. Others, also on the eccentric side,
hold their ground against the Yankee invaders.
(Now in stores)
CAST: Edie Falco, Angela Bassett, Timothy Hutton, Mary Alice, Jane
Alexander, Mary Steenburgen, James McDaniel, Ralph Waite, Tom Wright,
Marc Blucas, Bill Cobbs, Miguel Ferrer, Clifton James
DIRECTOR: John Sayles
"'Sunshine State' has a tendency to be too didactic at times, to be
of more pressing sociological than dramatic interest, as some characters
get lost or feel underdeveloped in the welter of intriguing factual
information the film wants us to know...Falco, best known as Carmela
Soprano, gives the performance of the film as the brusque, forceful,
nervy Marly, who takes an interest in tony landscape architect Jack
Meadows (an excellent Timothy Hutton) though she knows she probably
shouldn't...Mary Steenburgen as Delrona Beach's biggest Chamber of
Commerce booster and Gordon Clapp as her banker husband appear so
infrequently you forget they're part of the film." --Kenneth Turan,
The Los Angeles Times
"It creates a cinematic mosaic of American lives unprecedented in
its range, balance, subtlety and even-handedness. More than a dozen
indelible characters are woven into Mr. Sayles's multigenerational,
multicultural tapestry. By the end of the film you feel you've not
only touched the soul of each one but also tasted some salty essence
of our national life... Ms. Falco's Marly is so fully realized that
not a drop of her signature role on 'The Sopranos' is allowed to leak
into her performance...a great film on its own sober, unflashy terms."
--Stephen Holden, The New York Times
"Edie Falco sparks the film as Marly, a divorcee who runs a motel
owned by her retired dad ... You can feel the heat that ignites this
gripping tale, and the humor and humanity that root it in feeling.
Sayles knows how to use his social conscience: He lets it rip." --Peter
Travers, Rolling Stone
"His leisurely, messy 'Sunshine State' generally isn't up to the standard
of 'Lone Star' or 'Matewan'... it's still far more interesting and
intelligent than anything coming out of the studios...every overlong
or didactic scene tends to be balanced by a genuinely poignant one...if
you have the patience to stick it out, 'Sunshine State' is still worth
a visit." --Jonathan Foreman, The New York Post
"There's nary an off note among this ensemble, and Bassett is especially
hypnotic as she draws our gaze inward along with Desiree. The film,
however, belongs to Falco, who fairly shimmers with the clear-eyed
emotions of a woman who's long outgrown her cutoffs and tank tops,
dead-end affairs and dogged drudgery, and finds that salvation lies
in merely admitting it." --Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, LA Weekly
"Like most novelists, Sayles doesn't always have that much to say.
Though his latest, 'Sunshine State,' shows his usual literary care,
it's a very slight work compared with such cinematic tomes as 'Lone
Star,' 'Matewan' and 'Eight Men Out.'" --Jack Mathews, The New York
Daily News
"...prickly, strong-willed Desiree-a would-be actress who ended up
an infomercial regular-and wry, tequila-besotted Marly are two superbly
drawn (and performed) characters standing at a midlife intersection
of resilience and disillusionment...the whole of 'Sunshine State'
is less than the sum of its parts, but the parts are often lovely,
and always true." --Jessica Winter, The Village Voice
"Both the jokes and the civics lessons are tired and in desperate
need of a trim. There are too many meandering, preciously Southern
stories to follow...If you doubted that Tony Soprano's long-suffering
missus has what it takes to become a star on the big screen, you were
wrong. She's fresh, funny, touching, and totally hot." --Guy Flatley,
Moviecrazed
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