Sugar Pitches a Perfect Game

Sugar, the tale of a Dominican pitcher’s run at stardom, is absolutely mowing down critics. Here’s a sample what they’re saying:

• Writing/directing team Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) “are exceptional talents who refuse to sweeten Sugar for mass consumption,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. The result is a “ground-breaking film” that “doesn’t follow the trite Hollywood game plan.”

• It’s “sports drama of total originality,” says Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly, and a refreshingly authentic take on the immigrant experience. Newcomer Algenis Perez Soto plays the lead with “a haunted and captivating thousand-yard stare.”
• You shouldn’t even think of Sugar as a sports movie, says Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. “It's a beautifully made film about a young man's journey of self-discovery,” crafted with a visible dose of love.

(More movie review stories.)