Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Maggie O’Neill, Tony Pitts, Harry Trevaldwyn, Jeff Rawle
Intro:
With a strong lead performance from Maggie O’Neil and bittersweet humour throughout, Sweet Sue is a portrait of love in the modern age that doesn’t just appeal to the under 30s.
For those who only know Leo Leigh from his schlocky Troma-bought film, Loony in the Woods, Sweet Sue will be quite the shift in tone. For those more likely to be aware of his writer-director father, Mike Leigh, then Sweet Sue proves the adage that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Sweet Sue opens with our titular hero, Sue (Maggie O’Neill) having been stood up by her date over the phone while she’s already at the restaurant. After the would-be-suitor offers to put whatever she wants on his tab as an apology, Sue goes for the alcoholic liquid option and upsets many a customer by stealing food from their plate. It is fair to say that Sue has had enough. Understandable, given that her mother suffers from dementia and her brother has recently passed.
It’s at her sibling’s funeral that she meets biker and bouncer, Ron (Tony Pitts), absconding with him before the wake is even over. Seemingly having left her family behind – we see nothing more of them once she’s on Ron’s bike and away – Sue seems to settle down into some equivalent of romantic bliss. When with Ron, O’Neill plays Sue as giddy as a school student out with their first crush. This makeshift domesticity takes a bit of a hit when Ron’s influencer son, Anthony (Harry Trevaldwyn), turns up for the weekend.
Filmed with a realism that dad would be proud of, Sweet Sue is the rebellious cousin to Happy-Go-Lucky. Where that film saw how Sally Hawkins’ Poppy almost impenetrable happiness affected others, Sue’s caustic, but amiable personality brings its own issues. She seemingly can’t read the room as well as she should for a party planner. When a customer suggests that Sue hangs around at the children’s party she’s decorated, the planner mistakes the offer of plate of nibbles to include a bottle of red. Later, when exposed to Anthony’s iffy talents as a dancer, Sue bursts into uproarious laughter, which she almost physically tries to shove back in her mouth.
While Sue tries to be just herself, for better or worse, Leigh shows that those who gravitate around her try to mould her into what they want or expect. Despite his posturing and leather jacket, Ron appears to be much more down to earth than we’re led to imagine. As their relationship strengthens, there are signs that Ron wants someone to carry his burdens, whether that be his impotency, his mental health, or his relationship with his son. Speaking of which, having decided that Sue is the bee’s knees, Anthony declares to his hundreds (tens?) of followers that she is his new stepmum. Their happiness is seemingly dependant on Sue losing a part of what makes her, to simply placate their needs.
Initially light in tone – there’s certainly plenty to laugh at – Leigh lets the shadows in enough to suggest a fragility beneath these bolshy characters. Perhaps the strongest example is Anthony’s relationship with his sugar daddy, played by Jeff Rawle, which grows darker with each upload we see.
With a strong lead performance from O’Neil and bittersweet humour throughout, Sweet Sue is a portrait of love in the modern age that doesn’t just appeal to the under 30s.
