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Sean Penn plays jazz guitar so badly it's transcendent — and falls for a woman who can't tell.
TMDB
68
IMDb
72
Rotten Tomatoes
77
Audience Score
81
Google
84
Watch(US)

Sweet and Lowdown (1999)

mockumentary swaggertragicomic ego tripperiod-piece pastiche

Overview

ComedyDramaMusic

In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.

Flag of USUS
Content warning
new york cityjazz singer or musicianguitarjazzpretty womannight lifeegocentrism
artistic insecurity disguised as arrogancecommunication beyond languageself-destruction as performancethe gap between talent and legend

Standout Aspects

Acting

Samantha Morton's entire performance without a single line of dialogue.

Direction

Allen aping Fellini and Cassavetes simultaneously, somehow working.

Best for:Solo: When you want to feel smug about knowing obscure jazz references.·Date Night: Test if they'll laugh at a man falling down stairs repeatedly.·Rewatch: Second viewing: catch which 'witnesses' are clearly lying.
Woody Allen

Director

Woody Allen

ReleasedDec 3, 1999
Runtime1h 35m
StatusReleased

Vibe

Pacesteady
Intensitymedium
Tonemixed
Feelmedium
Budget$29.8M·Revenue$4.5M
Sweetland Films
Jean Doumanian Productions

Top Cast

Sean Penn

Sean Penn

Emmet Ray

Samantha Morton

Samantha Morton

Hattie

Anthony LaPaglia

Anthony LaPaglia

Al Torrio

Uma Thurman

Uma Thurman

Blanche Williams

James Urbaniak

James Urbaniak

Harry

John Waters

John Waters

Mr. Haynes

Gretchen Mol

Gretchen Mol

Ellie

Denis O'Hare

Denis O'Hare

Jake

Molly Price

Molly Price

Ann

Brian Markinson

Brian Markinson

Bill Shields

Tony Darrow

Tony Darrow

Ben

Daniel Okrent

Daniel Okrent

A.J. Pickman

Brad Garrett

Brad Garrett

Joe Bedloe

Kaili Vernoff

Kaili Vernoff

Gracie

Woody Allen

Woody Allen

Himself

Ask about Sweet and Lowdown

Opens AI chat

Deep Dive

Trivia, insights & behind the scenes

Trivia

Penn learned guitar for months but was deliberately mixed to sound worse than the actual jazz guitarists overdubbed — the performance is bad on purpose, which is harder than it looks.

Insight

Allen originally wanted to make a straight documentary about a fictional musician, then got cold feet and added the love story — the tension between fake documentary and real melodrama is the whole point.

YouTube

Official Trailer

Official Trailer

Gallery

Reviews

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