A Third Act That Reframes Sweetheart’s Whole Arc

Read Time:5 Minute, 29 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Sloppy Sunday
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Genre: Crime, Drama
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 22m
Director(s): Christoff LeBlanc
Writer(s): Christoff LeBlanc
Cast: Ali Dusinberre, Kris Salvi, Nick Iammatteo, Cameron Mysliwicz
Where to Watch: shown at the 2025 Art is Alive Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: Most crime stories often live or die by how quickly the filmmaker can establish danger, desire, and motivation. SLOPPY SUNDAY is less concerned with building a sprawling criminal ecosystem than it is with capturing the exact moment a young woman decides she no longer wants to belong to someone else’s version of survival. The film follows Sweetheart, a young sex worker who quits working under her abusive pimp and tries to find a way out of town before she’s dragged back into the same world. The idea is simple, the execution is tight, and the short’s energy comes from watching a character who looks like she could be overpowered at any moment make decisions that flip that assumption on its head.

Christoff LeBlanc writes/directs the short with passion, heart, and directness. There’s a distinct focus on character instead of creating chaos. This choice helps the film avoid the trap of treating Sweetheart’s struggle like a moment of revenge. The short’s tension grows from specific interactions, most notably the opening argument with Skinny, the pimp who believes intimidation will keep control. His manipulation is casual and practiced, which makes the dynamic uncomfortable in all the ways LeBlanc intends. Scenes like this show Sweetheart operating within a world that expects her to fold, but Ali Dusinberre's performance pushes back, starting with a softness and gradually shifting into something else altogether.

Dusinberre anchors the entire film with a performance that plays two truths at once: innocence and ruthlessness. Her early moments carry a believable vulnerability that isn’t exaggerated. She feels like someone who can be taken advantage of, and that perception is precisely what the film uses as fuel. When she meets a naive college student looking to lose his virginity, her reaction is empathetic. It’s a rare scene in a crime drama that prioritizes logic over exploitation. Instead of treating him like a payday, she protects him from the reality they’re in. That decision becomes a pivot point for the story, revealing both her heart and the conflict that will shape the short’s final minutes.

Kris Salvi’s turn as Skinny is designed to make the audience uncomfortable. He plays the role without attempting to soften the character or turn him into a charismatic villain. There’s a bluntness to the performance that mirrors the way people like this operate in the real world: they control because they can, not because they earned it. That lack of glamour makes the abuse land harder. It’s the kind of role that risks becoming exaggerated, but Salvi keeps it grounded in casual cruelty, which aligns with the film’s tone. It’s easier to believe Sweetheart’s eventual choices when Skinny feels like a real threat and not a movie archetype.

Nick Iammatteo appears as Ritchie, a presence that helps build the larger world around Sweetheart without forcing exposition. Even in a brief runtime, the film communicates its environment: a small northeastern town where opportunities are scarce, and loyalty is transactional. The location works throughout the short, emphasizing this. Shot across northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, the streets look like places people live, not sets built to mimic them.

Sweetheart’s final decision lands, and the shift from survival to retaliation arrives quickly. The character arc is strong, but the film’s brevity condenses this change into moments rather than a full tale. An additional scene showing Sweetheart planning her exit strategy or testing her resolve could allow the turn to feel even more justified. Still, that’s a challenge most short films face: balancing time, escalation, and payoff. SLOPPY SUNDAY hits the landing by leaning into the moment's emotion rather than overstaying its welcome—the short ends with purpose.

The film’s biggest strength is its confidence in focus. LeBlanc doesn’t try to redefine the crime drama. Instead, he cut it down to its essentials: a vulnerable person, a system built to exploit her, and a choice that breaks the pattern. It’s a reminder that redemption arcs don’t need pages of dialogue or monologues about agency. Sometimes they just need to feel real in a moment. Sweetheart isn’t presented as a symbol of empowerment, but someone who sees a way out and takes it. That approach makes the short linger longer than expected. Even without extended world-building, the characters feel like they continue to exist off-screen.

For a project made on a modest budget, the execution is well done. The film uses its limitations to focus attention on relationships. Its strongest elements are its performances and its refusal to glamorize the system that holds Sweetheart in place. There’s enough weight in the final minutes to suggest LeBlanc could scale this story into a feature, especially if he expands on Sweetheart’s history and the town’s criminal ecosystem. The short works as a self-contained narrative and as a proof of concept for a larger film told from Sweetheart’s point of view.

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