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Sid & Nancy

Play trailer Poster for Sid & Nancy R Released Nov 7, 1986 1h 51m Biography History Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
89% Tomatometer 70 Reviews 76% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
Following their breakout success in England, flagship punk rock band the Sex Pistols venture out on their first U.S. tour. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) takes his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb), along for the ride. Along the way, the couple's turbulent relationship strains the patience of bandmate Johnny Rotten (Andrew Schofield) and manager Malcolm McLaren (David Hayman), while plunging Sid and Nancy into the depths of drug addiction and co-dependency.
Sid & Nancy

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Visceral, energetic, and often very sad, Sid and Nancy is also a surprisingly touching love story, and Gary Oldman is outstanding as the late punk rock icon Sid Vicious.

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Critics Reviews

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Ryan Gilbey New Statesman Sid and Nancy has some claim on being the finest British film of the 1980s. Sep 15, 2016 Full Review Desmond Ryan Philadelphia Inquirer They are more than zombies doing needlepoint on each other's veins. Both are brought to life in complex, deeply felt performances from two actors who have abandoned themselves to enormously demanding and difficult roles. Rated: 4/4 Aug 9, 2016 Full Review Nigel Andrews Financial Times Every character is booked through to hell or purgatory. But we gasp at the inventiveness, ferocity and cuckoo anarchy with which these rockers prepared their route to destruction or damnation. Rated: 4/5 Aug 9, 2016 Full Review Peter Bell Vague Visages Nancy serves as Cox’s metaphor for Sid’s addiction to heroin and his destructive, corrupt and greedy rock ‘n roll lifestyle... Jun 5, 2023 Full Review Peter Sobczynski The Spool Rather than trade in the overt romanticization of its subject, Sid & Nancy instead offers a perceptive observation of Vicious and Spungen as people. Nov 28, 2021 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Alex Cox's eye for capturing the grungy London and New York scenes in the late 1970s provides the picture with an added kick. Rated: 3/4 Oct 11, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Anastasia A viewer discretion is advised since the film as a whole is very triggering especially some very graphic scenes. over all i liked the film although i thought Nancy's character in the film is a caricature of her worst traits and contained little respect for her as a person. what confused me most about the film is how abruptly it ended, to me it felt like a joke to sit through the film and one of the biggest parts of the story ( Sid's death ) wasn't in it. the viewer was thrown an end card that simply told us what happened in big red letters, honestly it felt like a messy ending because they simply couldn't be bothered to finish filming the movie. i thought the film was fine but the ending made me so mad i had to come and wright a review - worth watching just for the draw dropping ending (jaw dropping because i cant believe they got away with ending the film so badly) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 09/19/24 Full Review Celeste R This movie absolutely disgustingly ridiculous. There was absolutely no depth to it. Can't even understand half of what is being said. How the h*ll does anyone know what these dumbsh*ts went through and did if they are both dead? And along with that this band absolutely was a disgrace. What the eff are they even rocking about? All their songs sound as though they just had mental issues that went severely untreated. 0 out of 100 maybe even negative 100 out of ten Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 05/29/24 Full Review Dani G It's not a bad film, but I found it kind of irritating and exasperating most of the time, because of the characters' traits Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/24/23 Full Review SICKS6SIX S a film about a none event with fake people in a semi pseudo punk band made for television, like the Monkees were in the 1960s, What could go wrong, the sound for one, it is all over the place, too low or too high, poor sound on any film destroys the experience and as this is a musical it totally ruins it, keep the controller in your hand as you will need it, as for plot, well that was scripted a long time back by Mclaren when it was "acted" out for the newspapers and TV news, no internet in 1977, but the film does catch the atmosphere of the day well, very well actually, the anarachaic useless why bother the world is coming to end soon any way feeling many teenagers from the council estates had then, no jobs, no money, no future, no fun, lying on a strangers bathroom floor puking your guts out after a heroin rush wasn't alien to many people then, drugs were strong, music was strong, people were strong, they had to be to survive, if you are to young to have been 17 in 77 this film explains the era well, it was a no holds barred attitude, no posing, no faking it, no designer labels, no sports wear, clothes from oxfam, squatting was common and many lived in B&Bs, the film is a good pictorial vision of the time, forget the acting its crap, forget the story, its fairy story anyway but look at what london and all the major cities were like during 1977, detyopian wastelands full of zombie drug addicts dressed in rags listing to the new punk music loud, I score it 75% would have been more if the sound and acting had been up to scratch, the fact I was there kind of makes any film about it a waste of time,a film is acting 1977 wasn't acting it was real life, Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/12/23 Full Review Sean R A biopic that seems to be made by people who dont actually like the people its depicting. This movie is just scene after scene of people buying and taking heroin, which considering the film clocks in around 2 hours becomes very boring and anoying. There a good performance by Garry Oldman and some fantastic cinematography by Rodger Deakins but thats not enough to hold up drery depiction of the 1970s music scene that has contempt for its own charactors. No talk of the imact the sex pistols had, it tries and fails to show how they're even a product of the world around them and if it didnt show you the outcome of the "story" at the begining this film would feel like it was going absolutly knowere. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 09/08/23 Full Review Shioka O This is a mess, but not just a rock biopic, because fine performance by the two leads, they are almost unrecognisable. Now it's a good documentation of the age that was filmed in mid 80s. Still watchable. Yes they were not musicians nor artists. Ironic to hear disco music with kinds in the end. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/23/22 Full Review Read all reviews
Sid & Nancy

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Following their breakout success in England, flagship punk rock band the Sex Pistols venture out on their first U.S. tour. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman) takes his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb), along for the ride. Along the way, the couple's turbulent relationship strains the patience of bandmate Johnny Rotten (Andrew Schofield) and manager Malcolm McLaren (David Hayman), while plunging Sid and Nancy into the depths of drug addiction and co-dependency.
Director
Alex Cox
Producer
Eric Fellner
Screenwriter
Alex Cox, Abbe Wool
Distributor
Samuel Goldwyn Company
Production Co
Initial Pictures
Rating
R
Genre
Biography, History, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 7, 1986, Wide
Release Date (DVD)
Aug 1, 2006
Box Office (Gross USA)
$2.7M
Runtime
1h 51m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)