Interesting.

Rating: 8/10 (7 July 2000)

When I went to rent this picture, I did not know what to expect because I had no idea who Emmet Ray was. I knew he was a guitarist, but nothing else. And this is actually the first Woody Allen film I've seen, so it was a different film experience.
SWEET AND LOWDOWN has a documentary look, and that either can make you look at it and say it's crap - or help you understand why people are doing the thing's they're doing. And for all you Westchester/Putnam/NYC people who know RYE PLAYLAND - parts of it were filmed there, so it's nice to see the places you know. Sean Penn plays a wonderful part as Emmet Ray, a womanizer, pimp, guitarist extraordinaire. He's the second greatest guitarist next to Django Reinhardt. He falls for Hattie, a lustful, mental mute played by Samantha Morton. Interesting. Emmet has problem getting to work, showing up on time, showing up drunk, and problems expressing his emotion. He holds it for his music, so throughout the picture, we see that.
From what I've heard, this is not one of Woody Allen's best films, but I thought it was well done. I liked how it gave you different point of views on the jazz guitarist. Samantha Morton and Sean Penn give awesome performances that are worth seeing.