SherryBaby (2006)

Maggie Gyllenhaal does great work as a just-out-of-prison junkie who's obsessed with getting her daughter back. She's hard when she needs to be, drops her panties or to her knees when it will serve her purposes, and is pretty heartbreaking.

Unfortunately, she's also pretty hard to take. Her naked neediness in scenes with her daughter Alexis, her wrongheaded but well-meaning efforts to be a favorite teacher in her new daycare job, her anger at the brother and sister-in-law who've given Alexis a stable and love-filled home -- it's all so sad and I pitied Sherry. I identified with everyone else in her life, though. I'm sure every single one of them kinda wished she hadn't been released because, let's face it, she's a pain in the ass who upsets their nice, normal lives.

So, it's a movie that feels real and is incredibly well done, but the reality didn't really seem to have a point and I've heard this one before. You know?

B-