Sweet Sunshine parents guide

Sweet Sunshine Parent Guide

Full of lazy writing and unoriginal plot points, this movie is so bad it can actually be fun to watch.

Overall B

Music, celebrity, and a lucky meeting with a young woman who can turn his life around...

Release date March 13, 2020

Violence B
Sexual Content B
Profanity B+
Substance Use B

Why is Sweet Sunshine rated Not Rated? The MPAA rated Sweet Sunshine Not Rated

Run Time: 93 minutes

Parent Movie Review

TJ Millhouse (John Way) is an aspiring musician with a talent for songwriting. His father, Hank (Rob Edwards), doesn’t approve and warns him against ruining his life. But when TJ is discovered, he becomes famous almost overnight, leading to a rift between father and son. After personal tragedy strikes, TJ meets Sunshine (Savannah McMahon), a down-on-her-luck woman with a love of music. The two of them learn together what it means to believe in yourself and do what you love.

Sweet Sunshine gave me an opportunity to play my favorite viewing game: Predict that Cliché! That’s where I see a trope or cliché or lazy plot point coming a mile away and I shout it at the screen until it happens and then I cheer. Usually it just consists of me yelling, “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” at the TV all alone in my living room. Weird, I know, but I enjoy it. This film is full of lazy writing and every single event is predictable and unoriginal. You know exactly what is going to happen next at any given moment, including what should have been the bigger twists. That said, does that make Sweet Sunshine terrible? Not necessarily. Yes, it is unimaginative, but there is something comforting about sitting down to a movie that you know is not going to surprise you or make you think too hard.

I’m usually a sucker for a movie with lots of music, and Sweet Sunshine really delivers in that area. The songs are surprisingly good, even for a country-music hater like myself. This is not a musical by any means, but it has a plot that centers around music, so there are lots of great songs scattered throughout. John Way’s singing voice is much better than expected for a low budget production such as this, and the original lyrics are sweet and uplifting for the most part.

There is no getting around the terrible acting in this film. I can’t say that any of the performances are even passably good, and most are laughably bad. It gets distracting sometimes, but it also adds to the downhome charm that permeates the production.

Overall this is a middling movie for me. It’s not a great film by any stretch but it’s also not terrible. If I could describe it in one word it would be “meh”. If you’re looking for something relatively family friendly that won’t make you want to claw your eyes out, Sweet Sunshine is worth considering.

Directed by Craig McMahon. Starring Bill Wetherill, John Way, and Mackenzie Coffman. Running time: 93 minutes. Theatrical release March 13, 2020. Updated

Watch the trailer for Sweet Sunshine

Sweet Sunshine
Rating & Content Info

Why is Sweet Sunshine rated Not Rated? Sweet Sunshine is rated Not Rated by the MPAA

Violence: A woman punches another woman. A woman punches a man in the stomach. A man coughs blood into a tissue. A burning car is shown, and we are told a woman died in the crash.
Sexual Content: An unmarried couple share a bed. A drunk man touches a sleeping woman’s leg in an inappropriate way. A couple are shown kissing and starting to remove clothing but are interrupted.
Profanity: One mild profanity, a few instances of terms of deity used.
Alcohol / Drug Use: A woman is seen drinking wine. A man casually drinks a beer. A man is shown to be, and admits to being, drunk.

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Sweet Sunshine Parents' Guide

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Home Video

The most recent home video release of Sweet Sunshine movie is March 20, 2020. Here are some details…

Related home video titles:

Music fans who are ok with grittier content can check out Wild Rose. Although it is R-rated, this movie tells the absorbing fictional story of a Scottish country music singer who is trying to balance her desire for a singing career with her obligation to care for her two young children.

If your interests run towards Christian music, you will want to watch I Can Only Imagine, a film which tells the story behind Bart Millard’s hit single. Another real life Christian singer’s story is told in I Still Believe, which recounts Jeremy Camp’s marriage to Melissa and her subsequent cancer diagnosis.

Bruce Springsteen’s music divides a Pakistani father and his English-raised son in the lighthearted Blinded by the Light.

Music unites an already close family when young Miguel goes into the Land of the Dead and learns more about his ancestors in Pixar’s Coco.