The Sweet Life is billed on the back of the DVD case as a romantic comedy for people who don’t like romantic comedies. Who else is it for? People who like tough chicks. Supporters of indie films produced on a shoestring and a dream. Fans of Frankenhooker. Yes, Frankenhooker.
Yep, the lead in this (James Lorinz) is one of those “that guy” actors you will look at and wonder where you have seen him before, and it was in Frankenhooker.
Here he stars in a movie with a very different tone as Mikey, the self-professed nice guy brother of proto pickup artist Frankie (Robert Mobely). The two guys have been fighting over women since they were ten years old, and here we get a front row seat to the sibling carnage when they both fall in love with the same bartending, armwrestling lady (Barbara Sicuranza).
Besides the love and family stuff, a lot of the action happens while the characters are out partying. You’ll recognize the people they encounter if you’ve spent any time in bars: scary bikers, ex-cons, angry bar employess, dumb girls looking to (maybe) be picked up, and a really hilarious yet cringeworthy montage of Mikey’s bad dates. In other words, characters who seem realistic.
Joan Jett fans will love her turn as Lila’s possibly sadistic roommate. The first meeting between Lila and Mikey contains what I hope is a little nod to Profondo Rosso. Best of all, though I don’t want to reveal too much about the plot, the movie manages to avoid the usual love story cliches.
The Sweet Life isn’t for everyone, though. Far be it from me to crap on a competently made indie film, but I should caution you that this is a budget effort. It’s shot in DV, and the DV film look is something that can add to a film for some and take away for others. Still, the acting and the story are good and the actors, like the characters they play, seem like real people and not Hollywood plastic.
Originally released in 2003, The Sweet Life won Best Feature Film – Romantic Comedy that year from the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. It was director Rocco Simonelli’s first feature, so it’s impressive that he would get that recognition right away. Of course, he was no stranger to film, having been a writer on The Substitute series.
The DVD also features outtakes and deleted scenes, A Making of featurette, and audio commentary with Director Rocco Simonelli, and Stars James Lorinz and Barbara Sicuranza. I’m an audio commentary fan, so I’m always happy to have a new one to listen to.
So if you’re a fan of sibling stories, badass but cute chicks, drinking in seedy watering holes, or just a supporter of indie film, give this one a try.