GLENN KENNY'S REVIEW

One might expect a movie with lines like "Now I know why your mama says you're a natural-born whore" to contain some twisted jolts or at least a few laughs. But alas, Nicolas Cage's directorial debut, Sonny, about a male prostitute (James Franco) in New Orleans whose career quandry is complicated by the fact that his pimp is also his mom (Brenda Blethyn), is too defensive and earnest about its topic to be either fun or illuminating. I could reel off jokes about its hackneyed plot turns, but it's the holiday season as I write this, and I haven't said half of what I wanted to about the movies here that I like and . . . Oh, Happy New Year, everybody.

— Glenn Kenny