Woody Allen's pseudo-biopic about 1930's jazz guitarist Emmet Ray (Sean Penn) is a personal tribute by the director to a period of musical history that has inspired and influenced him greatly. Penn immerses himself into the role of the boozing, womanizing Ray with his usual intensity (this time, with a comic slant). Cameos by Allen and author Nat Hentoff give the film a TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN feel, but it is Fei Zhao's rich photography, as well as the solid musical sequences, that provide the film with its depth. Overall, though, this is a lighthearted effort that aims solely for the funny bone. Samantha Morton steals the show as Ray's silently suffering wife in a breakout role that should elevate her to the forefront of Hollywood actresses.

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Single Side - Single Layer
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono 2.0 - English
Additional Release Material:
Trailers: Bonus Trailers
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Text/Photo Galleries:
Biographies:
1. Woody Allen
2. Sean Penn
3. Uma Thurman
4. Samantha Morton

Sean Penn: Actor, Director
Samantha Morton: Actress
Uma Thurman: American actress, PULP FICTION
Brian Markinson: Actor
Anthony LaPaglia: Actor
Gretchen Mol: Actress/"The Funeral"
John Waters: Legendary Baltimore-based underground auteur
Vincent Guastaferro: 
James Urbaniak: Actor "Henry Fool"

Woody Allen: Actor/screenwriter/director

Jean Doumanian: 

Woody Allen: Actor/screenwriter/director

Dick Hyman: Composer/"Moonstruck"

Alisa Lepselter: Editor

"Woody Allen is in a mellow mood with SWEET AND LOWDOWN....A wonderful showcase for presenting some of the great jazz standards he loves so much..."
"...Fizzy, fast-paced, eccentric....Penn and Morton both deservedly received Oscar nods..." -- 4 out of 5 stars
"...There's a sweetness to SWEET AND LOWDOWN whenever Penn and Morton interact on screen....Hers is a wondrous performance....Penn, who couldn't give a bad performance if he tried, is also fun..."
"...Emmet Ray is a fictional character, but so convincing in Woody Allen's SWEET AND LOWDOWN that he seems like a real character of jazz history we somehow overlooked..."
"...[Penn] brings an essential energy and a nice deadpan comic sensibility to his portrait of the great and greatly flawed guitarist....It's a loving and comic tribute to a musical era Allen knows well..."
"...Penn glows....Thurman charms....[Morton is] revelatory..." -- 4 out of 5 stars
"The movie represents Woody in a minor mode, but it's marvelous all the same."