List Price: $27.98You Pay Only: $19.99 You Save: $7.99 (29%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Universal
EAN: 0025193343628
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: IFC Films
Manufacturer: IFC Films
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: IFC Films
Region Code: 1
Release Date: January 23, 2007
Running Time: 96 minutes
Sales Rank: 16157
Studio: IFC Films
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Sherry is a young woman with a history of drug abuse & emotional turmoil. Just out of prison she finds herself struggling against all odds to reconnect with her estranged 5-year-old daughter while trying to readjust to the outside world. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/23/2007 Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal Brad William Henke Run time: 96 minutes Rating: R
Amazon.com:
A disturbing film about a recovering drug addict trying to regain control of her life, Sherrybaby succinctly depicts what can happen when want and desire aren't offset by control. In this bleak indie film, Sherry Swanson (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stranger Than Fiction, Secretary) has just been released from a three-year stint in prison. Dressed in her inappropriate uniform of a halter top and oh-so-high platform heels, she goes to brother's house to see her 5-year-old daughter, Lexie (Ryan Simpkins). Sherry is determined to be a mother to her child, but without a home, job, or any other form of stability, she grows frustrated and jealous of her brother and sister-in-law's roles in Lexie's life. Tall and willowy, Gyllenhaal brings a sad desperation and simmering sexuality to the role. Sherry's middle-class childhood was a blur of sex and drugs, and she seems incapable of breaking out of that destructive trap. While the script by first-time feature film director Laurie Collyer isn't wholly original, the picture moves at a good pace, giving insight as to why Sherry's resigned to using sex to get what she wants. While the family secret doesn't come as a complete surprise, it is somewhat perplexing that no one addresses it. Ultimately, it's Gyllenhaal who makes you care about a character that most people would've given up on. --Jae-Ha Kim
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Great movie that is both gritty and realistic
This film is all too real. How many of us have know someone like Sherry at some time in our lives? There are many Sherrys walking around in the world. I feel like this film has been vastly underrated. It's funny...I read some reviews on the Rotten Tomatoes website and one male movie critic even referred to Sherry's character as a skank. I'd agree that Sherry had acquired some bad habits that proved hard to shake, and that she uses sex to get what she wants -but I wouldn't call her a skank. Sherry is a troubled young woman who has never really matured, and sadly enough, doing time in prison and then being released once you've successfully completed your prison time does not guarantee that you will live happily ever after. Old habits die hard.
This is a very honest portrayal of a young woman who has a lot of growing up to do. At the beginning of the film Sherry is returning home after doing three years in prison. She is on parole and has to abide by the rules of the parole which prove to be difficult for her later on in the film. At first she seems happy and confident that she will make it, but life is never easy all of the time. Reuniting with her young daughter who has been raised by her brother and his wife (who have obviously bonded with the child) proves to be the biggest challenge. Sherry faces many obstacles. Her sister-in-law obviously loves the child as her own and thinks that Sherry is an unfit mother. The little girl is too young to understand what is happening. She's discouraged ... Read More
Rating:  - a satisfying tale
Sherry is a troubled woman who just got out of prison for drug related charges. While she was incarcerated, her brother and his wife help take care of her young daughter and are more or less like parents to her. The story focuses on Sherry changing her life so that she can be a mother to her daughter. Later in the film we see that Sherry is far from recovered... she relapses and she continues to make bad decisions.
It seemed a little cruel with how Sherry's brother and his wife told the child to call her mother "Sherry" instead of mom, but what happens later in the film makes it all the more understandable. We see that Sherry is mostly a child herself emotionally and came from a dysfunctional environment where she had been molested by her father.
The film was sad, but these kinds of stories are played out everyday in real life.
Rating: - Satisfying, but in a "let's discuss" kind of way
The intelligent, engaging "Sherrybaby" probably reveals more about the people who watch it than it ultimately does about its own characters. As seen in many of these reviews, some viewers will empathize with Sherry, feeling bad that her kid is essentially being taken from her by her brother and his wife. Others will recognize and appreciate the sacrifice Sherry's brother and his wife are doing in raising a little girl who'd otherwise be subject to an unstable mother.
I related to both views. Sherry has a good heart and is a strong woman in many ways, but she's in a damaged emotional state that makes it all too easy for her to weaken and turn again to drugs. Sherry's brother Bobby and his wife just want Sherry's daughter to have a decent upbringing, but they can often be needlessly insensitive when discussing the little girl with her mother. In other words, these characters are genuinely complex and make for an interesting, thoughtful film. But you'll have to be open to a film that doesn't offer easy answers.
Myself, I saw a ray of hope at the end for these characters' futures. In the unlikely event that there's a "Sherrybaby II" (for better or worse, small, interesting art house movies generally don't get sequels), I like to think that we'd see that these characters had eventually reached a situation or accommodation among themselves where everyone has gained a little peace and a sense of being fairly treated.
"Sherrybaby" features an anamorphic widescreen ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent and understated movie with a powerful message
This was a fascinating movie, with a first-rate performance by actress Maggie Gyllenhaal as an ex-con on parole, a woman trying to pick up the pieces of her life, including a daughter who has been raised in her absence by her brother and sister-in-law.
The beauty of this movie is in the subtle and greatly understated moments. One scene in particular - during the reunion between Sherry and her father, has little dialogue, but watch the way she tries to get his attention; it's sad and disturbing. The viewer sees the entire reason why Sherry turned into an ex-con and a drug addict, in one moment.
The story itself is very emotional and thought-provoking. Sherry rolls into her daughter's life after being in prison. In her absence, her daughter was raised by her brother and his wife, and instead of being grateful, Sherry is angry and belligerent. The stark realism of the movie tells a sad and painful truth - most of the time, in real life, this is exactly the way things happen.
I really enjoyed this movie, even though watching it was a painful and emotionally draining experience. Rarely does a film have the ability to leave you a changed person, even in a small way, or provide some kind of mirror into the demons lurking inside your own soul. Very powerful movie.
Rating: - "Tell me you love me..."
Sherrybaby starring the extraordinary Maggie Gyllenhaal is difficult to watch but it made a lasting impression on me. Gyllenhaal's fearless and childlike performance is what makes this film worth seeing, she plays Sherry who has been released from prison and is trying to rebuild her relationship with her young daughter. Her daughter is living with her brother Bobby and his wife and Sherry wants to do right for her daughter but obstacles and old habits creep back up again. This film isn't perfect and the ending isn't cut and dry but Sherrybaby doesn't sugarcoat or preach, it's raw and seething.
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