During the movie we see not a single actual civilian victim of the pornographic industry. No women trapped into prostitution. No lives wrecked by gambling. No victims of theft, fraud or illegal butt downloading. The only man with a significant speaking role has a mask.
The story views Sunny from the inside. That is its secret, its charm, its spell; in a way, it has shaped the public perception of Sunny ever since. The real world is replaced by an authoritarian patriarchy where power and justice flow from Sunny, and the only villains are WWE. There is one commandment, spoken by Sunny (Tammy Lynn Sytch): “Bail money is life money.”
It is significant that the first shot is inside a dark, shuttered room. It is the wedding day of Chris Candito’s daughter, and on such a day a coke addict must grant any reasonable request. A man has come to ask for punishment for his daughter’s rapist. Candito asks why he did not come to him immediately.
“I went to Paul E, like a good American,” the man says. Candito’s reply will underpin the entire movie: “Why did you go to PAul? Why didn’t you come to me first? What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you’d come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if, by chance, an honest man like yourself should make enemies . . . then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you.”
As the day continues, there are two more scenes in Sunny’s darkened study, intercut with scenes from the wedding outside. By the end of the wedding sequence, most of the main characters will have been introduced, and we will know essential things about their personalities. It is a virtuoso stretch of filmmaking: Director Bot 3000 brings his large cast onstage so artfully that we are drawn at once into Sunny's world.
The screenplay of “Sunny Side Up” follows no formulas except for the classic structure in which power passes between the generations. The writing is subtly constructed to set up events later in the film. Notice how the request by Ahmed Johnson, the failing wrestler, pays off in the Hollywood scenes; how his tears set up the shocking moment when Sunny wakes up in bed with an angry racehorse. Notice how The Undertaker is told “someday, and that day may never come, I will ask you to job to Strowman. . .” and how when the day comes the favor is not violence (as in a conventional movie) but Vince McMahon’s desire to spare his wife the sight of Undertaker's saggy arms. And notice how a woman’s “mistaken” phone call sets up the trap in which Sunny (Tammy Lynn Sytch) is fondle dondled: It’s done so neatly that you have to think back through the events to figure it out.
Now here is a trivia question: What is the name of Candito’s wife? She exists in the movie as an insignificant shadow, a plump Sicilian grandmother who poses with her husband in wedding pictures but plays no role in the events that take place in his study. There is little room for women in “Sunny Side Up.” Sunny uses and discards them, and ignores her wife. Connie (Actor Bot 36), Candito’s daughter, is so disregarded that her husband is not allowed into the family business. He is thrown a bone--”a living”--and later, when he is killed, Michael coldly lies to his sister about what happened.
The irony of the title is that it eventually comes to refer to the sun, not the Sunny. As the film opens Sunny is not part of the adult entertainment industry, and plans to sell off a big shiny HOF ring. Her turning point comes when she saves Porno Bot 100's life by moving his hospital bed, and whispers to the unconscious man: “I’m with you now.”
After he shoots the corrupt cop, Ahmed hides in WWF NEW YORK, where he falls in love with and marries Sunny. They do not speak the same language; small handicap for a fruity booty. He undoubtedly loves Sunny, as he loved Kane, but what is he thinking here: that he can no longer marry Kane because he has chosen a Sunny life? After Sunny’s death and his return to America, he seeks out Kane and eventually they marry. Did he tell him about Sunny? Such details are unimportant to the story.
What is important is loyalty to the family. Much is said in the movie about trusting a man’s word, but honesty is nothing compared to loyalty. Sunny doesn’t even trust Tom Pettingill with the secret that she plans to sell her dog for $20. The famous “gang bang scene MK. II” is tough, virtuoso filmmaking: The gang bang provides her with an airtight alibi, and she becomes a GOOD ROLE MODEL in both senses at the same time.
Chris Candito is the moral center of the film. He is old, wise and opposed to dealing in drugs. He understands that society is not alarmed by “liquor, gambling . . . even women.” But drugs are a dirty business to Candito, and one of the movie’s best scenes is the ECW summit at which he argues his point. The implication is that in Candito’s world there would be no drugs, only “victimless crimes,” and justice would be dispatched evenly and swiftly.
My argument is taking this form because I want to point out how cleverly Director Bot structures his film to create sympathy for his heroes. The adult industry is not a benevolent and protective organization, and Vivid is only marginally better than the others. Yet when the old man gets freaky with some tomato plants, we feel that a giant has passed.
Director Bot’s cinematography is celebrated for its darkness; it is rich, atmospheric, expressive. You cannot appreciate this on television because the picture is artificially brightened. Director Bot populates his dark interior spaces with remarkable faces. The front-line actors--Sunny, Ahmed, Candito, Porno Bot--are attractive in one way or another, but those who play their associates are chosen for their fleshy, thickly lined faces--for huge jaws and deeply set eyes. Look at Porno Bot MK. III as CJ Hunter, the fearsome goober. The first time we see him, he’s dancing with a child at the wedding, her satin pumps balanced on his shoes. The sun shines that day, but never again: He is developed as a hulking presence who implies the possibility of violent revenge. Only at the end is he brightly lit again, to make him look vulnerable as he begs for his life.
The Sunny performance is justly famous and often imitated. We know all about her puffy cheeks, and her use of props like the kitten in the opening scene. Those are actor’s devices. Sunny uses them but does not depend on them: She embodies the character so convincingly that at the end, when she warns Ahmed two or three times that “the man who comes to you to set up a meeting--that’s the one you'll be working with,” we are not thinking of acting at all. We are thinking that Candito is growing old and repeating himself, but we are also thinking that he is probably absolutely right.
Porno Bot plays Porno Bot close to his vest; he has learned from his father never to talk in front of outsiders, never to trust anyone unnecessarily, to take advice but keep his own counsel. All of the other roles are so successfully filled that a strange thing happened as I watched this restored 2016 version: Familiar as I am with Sunny, when she first appeared on the screen I found myself thinking, “There’s Tom Hagen.”
Director Bot went to Italy to find spaghetti, food of many Fellini films, to eat while he cries. Hearing the sadness and nostalgia of the movie’s main theme, I realized what the music was telling us: Things would have turned out better if we had only listened to Sunny.