Standing Up For Sunny (2019) Now here's a pleasant surprise for a change.......stumbling upon a monumentally unknown movie by sheer accident of chance.......and hugging the hell out of it.
Yes, as corny, formulaic and obvious as it is, I liked it. Or as Sally Field would say, I really, really liked it.
Leave it to Australian filmmakers put to put an extra quirky spin on what's basically a traditional rom-com.
Our boy-girl combo destined for love are two very damaged souls.....Travis (R.J.Mitte), a pissed off college campus janitor with cerebral palsy and a major anger management problem.......and Sunny (Philippa Northeast), a struggling waitress and emotionally wounded survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
Travis has been warned by the college dean (the always familiar and welcome Radha Mitchell) to clean up his act. And his low boil temper isn't helped by the arrival of his new unwanted roommate Gordo (Italia Hunt), a blind, overly cheerful, streetcorner musician.
Then Travis stops in the bar where Sunny both waitresses and attempts stand-up comedy, with the help of her douchebag boyfriend Mike, a popular morning radio DJ. Deploying his corrosive wit, Travis verbally out duels one of Sunny's hecklers, which prompts Mike to suggest he help mentor Sunny to sharpen her stage skills.
I'm well aware that anyone with even a passing familiarity with romcoms can easily chart the rest of this movie......Travis and Jenny sharing their painful burdens as they warm up to each other, Gordo wisecracking his way into your heart, that expected awful misunderstanding that splits our already vulnerable lovers apart.....and of course the machinations of the arrogant ass Mike.
But I couldn't help enjoying the way this cast throw themselves into their roles, as if they're making the world first romantic dramedy, instead of the zillionth. They make it all fresh and fun and you can't help rooting for them to deliver a happy, smile-inducing ending.
Not Quite Spoiler Alert:.....not to worry. They do.
If you're secretly a sucker for a movie like this.....(and BQ visitors know I've admitted to exactly that on many occasions), there's good news and better news if you'd like to watch it.....
The good news - you can view it with no cost on IMDB's streaming platform, Freevee, whose name is self-explanatory. The better news, if you hold a library card and your library's hooked up with Hoopla Digital, you can watch it free and minus Freevee's many ad interruptions.
Either way, "Standing Up For Sunny" should do the job of making your day a little sunnier.
3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2)
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