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Pretty Good

Memorable, crazy movie

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

...about society, faith, healing industry. great work of a good actor who proofs his director skills, for first time. a film about the other. the appareances, the interests, the fame, the show, the compromises, the gift and its price. at first sigh, one of the most inspired Christian films. in fact, a beautiful pledge for a careful [erspective about life. a curagious film. and, in same measure, an useful one.

Overacted, overwritten, overwrought and unwatchable. Well that may not be quite fair, the cinematography is quite good except for the excessive shaky-cam. But the phony story is unbearable, the pseudo punks unbelievable and the fake priests are undeniable. Who finances trash like this? I shut it off (spoiler alert: as if you could spoil this turd) when "Delicious D." and "Padre Joe" are bargaining whether D. will get paid $3 or $7.50 per day for his magic healing powers. You can't make stuff like this up. Juliette Lewis is wasted (in more ways than one) and Orlando Bloom is an embarrassment to actors everywhere. Save your 96 minutes.I rarely write reviews, because I rarely feel this strongly.

The title makes no sense unless you know the main character's DJ name is "Delicious D". With this, there should be little confusion as one watches Sympathy. 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 suffering from both gout and Alzheimer's, D finds out he has been given a Divine gift and can miraculously heal others (but alas ... he is unable to heal himself).Upon this discovery, the priest briefly puts Delicious to work doing God's will ... until D gets it into his head that he should be making TONS of money for healing others and so he makes a name for himself with the help of an odd rock band that decides to cash-in on his abilities. Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings, Elizabethtown, Haven) and Juliette Lewis (Conviction, Cape Fear, Strange Days) play fellow band mates while Laura Linney (The Truman Show, Kinsey, You Can Count on Me) co-stars as their icy and conniving manager who readily admits to exploiting their Divine find. By making such a public, high-profile spectacle of himself and telling everyone he's only doing everything for $$$ ... D opens himself up to 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 things to spiral out of control. And, well, BAD things happen ...I didn't believe much of what unfolds on screen (I allowed myself to buy into this premise ... but come on) which makes THIS story that much harder to accept. My primary problem: if there are some major stretches taken early-on, why is there no leeway later in the film when the "stretching" should still be allowed?! Sympathy wanted to "have it both ways" for dramatic effect which is simply the error(s) of screen writing 101 I am sure.This is a VERY difficult story to make humorous (the film is classified a "comedy" on IMDb). I viewed it as much more of a tragedy as it is a film about some VERY lost individuals; but I am sure 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 -- which, in turn, makes the film difficult to like as well).

I just returned from a screening of Sympathy for Delicious at the Sundance Film Festival. After have viewed this picture, I am quite sure we will see this film in wide distribution.Mark Ruffalo and Christopher Thornton both give fantastic performances in a film that is destined to be a Sundance favorite. Thornton's screenplay gives us a look at the twisted and somewhat strange life of Delicious a paraplegic and homeless disc jockey (Thornton) and an ethically challenged priest (Ruffalo). Lives and paths cross with equally solid performances turned in by Laura Linney, Orlando Bloom and the always stunning Juliette Lewis.I don't want to spoil this film by revealing the plot line, so I will suffice to say that when this movie makes wider distribution, it will be one you won't want to miss.