One of Woody's Best. . . . .seriously.

Rating: 9/10 (11 April 2002)

I am a huge Woody Allen fan. To date, I've seen about twenty of his films. The one I saw most recently was "Sweet and Lowdown", a compelling character study starring Sean Penn as Emmett Ray, the greatest jazz guitarist in the world (except for this gypsy in France). This film mixes documentary with biopic in a way that only the genius of Woody could have pulled off. The performances are excellent, especially those by Penn and Samantha Morton, who was nominated for (and should have won) the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
This is certainly not Woody Allen's best film. But "Annie Hall" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" are hard to beat. This may very well be the film to join them in the top three. I've never seen a bad Woody Allen film, but I've only seen two that were better than "Sweet and Lowdown."