Knoxville swaps paintball for softball in this surprisingly emotional movie
At the beginning of Sweet Dreams, the latest movie from director Lije Sarki (Concrete Kids), we see Johnny Knoxville lying on a park bench with a bloody face.
Such a sight isn’t a rarity when it comes to the Jackass star as he has often been seen with one injury or another after pulling off a ridiculous stunt that has rendered him worse for wear.
However, Sweet Dreams isn’t a Jackass movie. And as far as we know, Knoxville’s character, a music video director named Morris, hasn’t just fired himself out of a cannon or performed any other such crazy manoeuvre. It turns out that Morris is an alcoholic and his bloodied face is the result of another drunken night on the town.
Morris’s drunken behaviour has cost him his relationship with his young daughter, so he recognizes that he needs help. To this end, he becomes a resident of ‘Sweet Dreams’ sober house and begins his road to recovery with the help of Pete (Mohammad Amer), the house owner, and the other residents, which include Garvey (Theo Von), Cruise (Bobby Lee), and Mike (Brian Van Holt).
The guys have their own reasons for being at the sober house but we don’t hear a great deal about their stories. The focus is mainly on Morris and his broken family relationship, though that doesn’t mean we don’t spend time with the other men. Around the midway point, Morris and the other residents form a softball team, and there is great fun to be had as we watch this bunch of amateurs enter a tournament that they (initially) have no chance of winning.
Playing softball is a good distraction for the guys but their reason for playing isn’t only to keep their mind off the substances they were were once beholden to. They enter the tournament to win money for the house which is in danger of being auctioned off because of Pete’s failure to keep up with his mortgage repayments.
Surprisingly, Sweet Dreams isn’t a feel-good sports movie and it’s not much of a comedy either. This isn’t to say it’s never funny or particularly inspiring. But the movie is more sombre than I expected, with more time spent in the sobriety house than on the softball field. As such, those expecting another Bad News Bears-type movie with the anarchic humour that Knoxville is known for may be taken aback by the movie’s plotting and tone, which is occasionally quite dark.
In terms of performances, all of the cast are very good, but it’s Knoxville who knocks it out of the park with his turn as the broken alcoholic who is in danger of losing his daughter. The actor isn’t known for his dramatic roles but on the evidence presented in this movie, he’s capable of doing so much more than stapling his testicles to a table while being splattered with paintballs! I would even go as far as to suggest his performance in Sweet Dreams is awards-worthy, so good is he at digging into the depths of his character.
The movie is at its best in the group therapy sessions when the guys talk about their addiction problems. These scenes are moving and powerful and no doubt relatable to those who have experienced their own battles with drink and drugs. The writing is very good in these scenes but there are occasional moments in the film when the script is a little cliched.
There’s a scene near the end of the film, for example, when Morris has a choice to make – turn up for the finals of the softball tournament or return to his old way of living. Such scenes are common in a lot of underdog sports movies where the main protagonist suddenly decides to abandon his team for a job offer or some other monetary goal. Thankfully, Sweet Dreams doesn’t dwell on Morris’s battles with what he should or shouldn’t do, but the inclusion of such a scene is still a little eye-rolling, regardless.
Sweet Dreams is a warm-hearted, relatable movie, that touches the heart without being overly sappy. It’s formulaic at times and some of the characters are too thinly drawn to be particularly memorable. But as a one-time watch, it’s a pleasurable way to pass the time and far less likely to make you want to reach for the sick bucket than one of Knoxville’s Jackass movies.
Read More: Sweet Dreams – Ending Explained
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10