Tragic and troubled recovering drug addict and former convict Sherry Swanson (a remarkably brave, touching, and fearless performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal) attempts to get her life back on track and reconnect with her estranged daughter Alexis (a fine and moving portrayal by Ryan Simpkins) after being released from prison. Writer/director Laurie Collyer maintains a tough, gritty, and resolutely unsentimental tone throughout, firmly grounds the seamy story in a plausibly sordid everyday reality, brings a surprising sexual frankness to the edgy material, and wrings plenty of wrenching poignancy in an unforced and organic manner. Moreover, Collyer warrants additional praise for not only handling an upsetting incest subplot with admirable taste and subtlety, but also for not offering any pat answers or simple solutions to the harsh issues addressed in the narrative (indeed, this movie astutely captures the bitter messiness of untidy real life). Gyllenhaal holds the whole picture together with her astonishingly potent and heartbreaking characterization of a deeply flawed, yet still sympathetic protagonist. It's also a definite treat to see Danny Trejo display a rare gentle and sensitive side as basically decent and tender ex-junkie Dean Walker. This movie further benefits from sterling contributions from Brad William Henke as Sherry's caring and supportive brother Bobby, Sam Bottoms as Sherry's loathsome sexually abusive father Bob Sr., Giancarlo Esposito as hard-nosed parole officer Hernandez, and Bridget Barkan as Bobby's disapproving wife Lynette. Russell Lee Fine's no-frills cinematography provides an appropriately naturalistic look. Jack Livesey's spare and obtrusive score likewise does the trick. An absolute powerhouse.

With 'SherryBaby', director Laurie Collyer depicts the 'lower class' culture through the story of Sherry Swanson, an ex-convict and former drug addict who attempts to rebuild her life and her relationship with her daughter. She finds that nothing is the way she left it and her brother and sister-in-law, who're now raising her daughter, have become strong parental figures and Sherry resents that and feels threatened. At the same time, she struggles to readjust in society, coping with her addiction, getting along with people and finding employment.While the film touches on some heavy themes as it depicts Sherry's fight, it thankfully doesn't go into full depressive tearjerking mode. At the same time, 'SherryBaby' is almost devoid of humour. Through Sherry's perspective, the viewer witnesses how difficult it can be for the 'lower class' Americans to get by with decency and how they're easily judged and blamed.'SherryBaby' works best as a character-driven piece. Through subtlety, director Laurie Collyer and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal portray the abnormal relationship she has with her sleazy father. While, on the outside, Sherry is a not-to-be messed with tough chick especially around other women, and an 'easy lay' to men, her vulnerability and helplessness are confronted in her private moments and sometimes in the scenes with Dean.'SherryBaby' showcases Maggie Gyllenhaal's acting as she delivers yet another tour-du-force performance with her down-to-earth portrayal of the title character. It's a very balanced performance that appears natural on screen and the actress depicts the character's frailty, frustration, confusion with excellent conviction. The supporting cast is very good too, especially Danny Trejo (who is cast against type) and Brad William Henke as the brother who's trying to do what's best for his niece while giving his sister a second chance.'SherryBaby' is a sincere effort on the director's part. She captures the realness of Sherry's circumstances very effectively but it is her leading actress that very much leads the film carrying it off with a transcendent performance.

The title says it all - Sherry is a young woman who still in many ways acts like a child. She has had an unfortunate start to her life which culminated with her becoming a single mother saddled with a drug habit she could not support financially that inevitably led to her appearing in Court for petty theft. She received quite a long jail sentence and the film opens when she had served enough of this to be released on probation. We quickly appreciate that her problems largely resulted from immaturity which was mainly a consequence of her home upbringing rather than due to any basic character fault of her own. She was released with a very good prison record after making a real attempt to rehabilitate herself; with the one unwavering objective of getting re-united with her daughter Alexis, now living with her brother and his wife, as quickly as possible. But we also appreciate that she is far from mature (even though not quite a baby) and will have difficulty finding a successful way forward on her own in our complex modern society. It looks long odds that before long she will revert to using drugs again and will be back where she was when she first became entangled with the law. This film is a real tearjerker - Sherry is played as an immature character with whom one can sympathise; so when the film bluntly shows the problems such an individual faces, and we watch the many blows that life outside prison is inflicting on her, we have imminent expectations of seeing a final blow which will overwhelm her and lead to her return to prison with the prospect of no more than an unfulfilled lifetime of petty crime in front of her.This expected ending might be a route for achieving an art-house film award, but the scriptwriter and director clearly recognised it would not be likely to to lead to box office success, particularly as the story is filmed in a totally non-judgmental style so that it screens almost like a documentary crying out for a final resolution. However Sherry's battle for acceptance and respect will clearly be a long one and any quick definitive ending which implied the end of Sherry's problems would be artistically unrealistic. Instead the film wisely ends at one significant staging point in her long struggle. (SPOILER AHEAD} Her brother, although anxious to give her his full help and support, is unable to do so effectively whilst she continues to believe all her problems result directly from the unjustified suspicions of her contemporaries. Eventually this dichotomy drives her back to heroin again, but she bravely pulls up short, recognising both that there were legitimate fears on the part of her so-called friends, and that she needs more help if she is to finally develop a lifestyle acceptable to those among whom she is living. The film ends with her going into a detox centre, but before doing so she returns to her brother to accept the offer of help she had been rejecting before . We know she will still have many battles ahead of her, but at this point she has won the first and greatest of them; and she now has a real chance to eventually become fully reintegrated into her community. We wish her well as the film ends at what would otherwise have been a very uncertain point. Although simple, in my experience such an ending is unusually realistic for films dealing with this type of subject matter.Without the truly outstanding performance by Molly Gyllenhaal as Sherry this film would provide very flat viewing, like a rather sterile documentary intended to make us more sympathetic to those who have stumbled along the wayside, but not really involving our emotions. Molly has lifted it well above this level and most of the other performances (including that of the young actress who played her daughter) are also excellent. Some IMDb users have said that they do not care for her acting, but her award winning portrayal of Sherry has been acclaimed by so many critics and viewers that all I need add is the recommendation - If you have not already seen this film, find a copy of the DVD as soon as you can.7 Stars

Sherry Swanson returns home to New Jersey after serving a three year prison sentence for theft to feed her drug habits. Wishing to go straight and be a proper mother to her young daughter, Sherry soon finds that it's going to be harder than she had initially hoped.I honestly in no way want to be detrimental to the story on offer here, these are realistic problems that are handled adroitly and given care and attention by all involved. Whilst the lead performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal is right from the top draw, providing evidence that a fine actress is there if she wants to keep challenging herself. I just felt so flat after watching it, what has it achieved come the finale? What makes this stand out from the ream of similar pictures that have dealt with these kind of topics over the years? The answer, sadly, is nothing, perhaps we are at such a desensitised stage in cinema that sex for favours, drugs are hell and destitute ex cons fail to engage us? Even the curve ball thrown in here is very much expected, we feel angry and sickened, yes, but it ultimately comes off as being a shock tactic, no matter how real it is.I fully understand that there are people who will appreciate the subtle slow burn of the piece, not every one likes the sledge hammer approach that we get in something like Requiem For A Dream for example. Yet in spite of its competent and poignant approach work, Sherrybaby falls way way short of making the impact that I'm sure director/writer Laurie Collyer would have aimed for, and that's as much a shame as Sherry Swanson's life is in the film. 6/10