Review of Sympathy for Delicious (2010) by Thomas W — 26 Sep 2011

The title makes no sense unless you know the main character's DJ name is "Delicious D". Sympathy for Delicious is well-respected actor, Mark Ruffalo's (The Kids Are All Right, Zodiac, Shutter Island) directorial debut and it was penned by one of his long-time friends who happens to play D (Christopher Thornton, a paraplegic who wrote the screenplay because of the lack of roles available to him in Hollywood).

D was an up-and-coming music DJ in the rock world of SoCal until he is injured and finds himself confined to a wheelchair ... the story begins after this has happened and we find D living out of his car on Skid Row where he comes to the attention of a local priest played by Ruffalo.

After a chance encounter with a fellow homeless man, D finds out he has been given a Divine gift and can miraculously heal others (alas ... he is unable to heal himself). The priest puts him to work doing God's will .

.. until D gets it in his head that he should be making TONS of money for healing people and he makes a name for himself with the help of an odd rock group that decides to cash-in on his abilities (Orlando Bloom [Lord of the Rings, Elizabethtown] and Juliette Lewis [Cape Fear, Strange Days] play fellow bandmates).

By making such a spectacle of himself ... D opens himself up for all kinds of scrutiny and he isn't up to the task of taking it all in. It doesn't help that his lone friend in the band, Lewis, sees him as a sell-out which causes her to spiral out of control.

Bad things happen ... and I didn't believe much of it (but with this premise ... come on) which makes THIS story that much harder to accept. If there are some major stretches taken early-on, why is there no leeway later?! It is simply the errors of screenwriting 101 I am sure .

.. but this is a difficult story to make humorous. I viewed it as much more of a tragedy as it is a film about some VERY lost individuals; but some might find it funny/hilarious (I didn't ... laughing at an actress pretending to have cerebral palsy isn't laugh-out-loud funny).

Sympathy for Delicious has some good moments and it is a promising debut from a new director; but the subject matter is simply too tricky. Had it presented/sold itself differently from the outset, I might have viewed it differently .

.. but there is a bit too much ultimate trite-ness here for me to appreciate (not to mention D isn't very LIKE-able).