Sympathy for Delicious (2010)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Just what I expected

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Dean "Delicious D" O'Dwyer (Christopher Thornton) is a bitter paralyzed DJ who lives on L.A. skid row. Ariel Lee (Juliette Lewis) tries to get him to play in her band led by singer The Stain (Orlando Bloom). Nina Hogue (Laura Linney) is their sleazy manager. Father Joe Roselli (Mark Ruffalo) helps the homeless and tries to help Dean. When Dean discovers his power to cure, Father Joe pays him to cure the people at his mission. It quickly gets out of hand. A man offers to pay the mission $250k to cure his daughter. Dean is infuriated and wants to be paid himself as part of the band's show.Ruffalo's directing is a bit chaotic. On the other hand, his acting is great and I love his work during the chaos of the healing mission. Orlando Bloom as the lead singer don't feel right. Juliette Lewis has the right feel. Christopher Thornton is not a normal lead actor but he fits this bitter character. It's an interesting idea and I like this movie until the trial. It changes the movie in a wrong direction just as it starts to pick up speed with a vibrant pumping energy.

==Urgent update Jan 6, 2014. I just saw copies of this movie, brand new, for sale at the Dollar Store. Yes $1! Don't even finish reading this review, just go buy this movie. OK, back to the original review==I thank my lucky stars I didn't see the trailer beforehand because it would've ruined the beauty of watching this creative story unfold. If you've already seen the trailer, do your best to rinse it out of your skull (it's not exactly accurate anyway).Rather than tell you about the plot, I'm going to tell you some behind-the-scenes info which should enhance your enjoyment. "Sympathy for Delicious" took 10 years to make. It was written by its lead actor Christopher Thornton who, like the character he plays, is paralyzed from the waist down in real life due to an accident. So the passion he delivers on screen is 100% genuine, and that's why this film works. Nothing is contrived. Even the story, surreal as it is, comes directly from the heart of a man who has been through the ordeal.His counterpart is played by director Mark Ruffalo, Thornton's longtime friend in real life. The dynamic is stellar. On screen as well as in real life, they share a sort of sibling love-hate relationship. This makes their dramatic scenes 100% authentic. When the characters get into arguments, you can feel that they've left the script behind and are emoting straight from the heart. Not since F. Murray Abraham's performance in "Amadeus" have I seen such raw, honest passion.The film touches heavily on themes of religion, but it is neither preachy nor bashy. Devout Christians as well as Atheists should enjoy this movie just the same. Thornton plays a faithless character with a lot of understandable resentment toward God (again bringing to mind the excellent film "Amadeus"). Ruffalo plays a Catholic priest who himself has profound issues. Though polar opposites, the 2 characters are oddly parallel.What makes this film jaw-dropping is the way the story weaves a clever parable of "the rock star & the priest". After you see the film maybe you'll agree that it's a very fitting analogy.Juliette Lewis is perfect in her role, and her scenes with Thornton are at times funny, at times sentimental, at times powerful, and each time memorable. Orlando Bloom, though prominently featured in the promos for this film, plays a somewhat minor role. But he's still larger than life every time he graces the screen. As far as acting goes, we get Oscar-worthy performances all around.This is not your average rock'n'roll film; it's much more. It packs a lot of philosophy and requires your full attention, so be sure to watch it with a clear head. It's so original I can't think of many films to compare it to. But it reminds me of the excellent film "Into Temptation" (about a priest who's trying to stop a prostitute's suicide) and the Mexican masterpiece "Piedras Verdes" (about a girl on a soul-searching journey thru the desert). It touches on some of the same profound themes found in "Amadeus" and "The Green Mile".I give this film 9 stars which is about the highest I ever give a film. Honourable mention for the first & only time I've heard the line "I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL" used effectively (apologies to Arnold Schwarzenegger)!

Given the promising cast and the fact that this is a film directed by Mark Ruffalo, I was curious about 'Sympathy for Delicious'. Of course, there are many actor-turned-director films that turned out to be not great, like Johnny Depp's 'The Brave' and 'Sympathy for Delicious' disappoints. To start, the story failed to engage me. It tries to combine elements of spirituality and fantasy into a current day world of drugs, rock and roll and poverty but it simply does not work. The title character is not even remotely likable. Now movies with a hateful lead character could only work if there's something about them or their world that manages to draw the viewer in and this is obviously lacking here. Another thing that's missing here is humour. The supporting cast attempts to provide some but that's not enough. Christopher Thornton is passable at best and he's easily overshadowed by his co-stars especially Linney, Bloom, Lewis and Ruffalo. I doubt Thornton himself is too blame since the character itself is so one-dimensional. Laura Linney is there only in several small sequences but she provides awesome comic relief. Juliette Lewis is very good but she seems to get typecast. Ruffalo is terrific as the priest but if he does continue to direct hope he picks a more interesting subject.

SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS is well worth watching in theaters, on demand for television, or DVD. Though the film is out and available at present, this ad for a movie poster is the only opportunity to attract attention to an excellent movie and encourage people to watch for it. The story addresses several tough issues - the plight of the homeless on skid row, the lack of support for disabled persons, the arena of faith healing, and the at times crumbling dreams and realities of rock bands. The film was written by Christopher Thornton who suffered spinal cord injury in 1992 resulting in his being a paraplegic confined to a wheelchair: he has over come his disability by becoming a much lauded stage actor (the first to play Hamlet in a wheelchair, etc): Thornton also stars in this film and his performance introduces an actor of exceptional virtuosity. Mark Ruffalo directs his first film and also stars as one of the lead characters. 'Delicious' Dean O'Dwyer (Christopher Thornton) is a DJ on the rise in Los Angeles whose career is devastated by a motorcycle accident leaving him confined to a wheelchair, living in a car on skid row. He is part of the people cared for by Father Joe Roselli (Mark Ruffalo) who recognizes a life worth saving and turns his attention to Dean, attempting to restore his ability to walk by taking him to a faith healing revival lead by Healer (John Carroll Lynch). Though Dean is not healed himself he does happen to touch one of his fellow skid row dwellers who is subsequently miraculously healed. One of Dean's friends, Rene (Noah Emmerich) discovers Dean's powers and pleads with him to heal fellow paraplegic Rene. Dean does not believe in his power of faith healing (he is frustrated that he cannot heal himself!) and continues to search for a place where he can return to being a performing DJ. Dean meets bass player Ariel Lee (Juliette Lewis, in a stunning star turn) who is convinced Dean should join a forming band composed of The Stain (Orlando Bloom), Ariel, and Oogie (Dov Tiefenbach). While the rasty band recognizes Dean's talent as a possible addition to the band, the band's PR person Nina Hogue (Laura Linney) will have none of it. it is only when Dean's healing powers surface that the band - and Nina - want him to give them an image that will make them famous. Dean is discouraged by Father Joe, pleading with him to remain at skid row performing his healing so that Father Joe will increase donations to his charity care house. Conflicts arise, incidents occur with the band and at skid row and Dean's place in all of this new fame is altered: money seems to be the driver that destroys many people and gets in the way of the true value of Dean's healing gift. The film is strong on many levels - especially the acting (except for Orlando Bloom who overwhelms the story in the wrong way) - and as a first film to be directed by the very gifted Mark Ruffalo it holds promise of works to come. Christopher Thornton is not only a fine writer and actor, but his screen presence i so powerful that it is likely he will become as major a star on film as he is on stage. Grady Harp