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Sleepwalking
Overture Films
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MPAA RATING: R for language and a scene of violence
Starring
Charlize Theron,
Dennis Hopper,
Woody Harrelson,
Nick Stahl,
and
AnnaSophia Robb
Forced out of her home after her boyfriend is arrested, Joleen Reedy needs a place to stay with her 11-year-old daughter, Tara. She turns for help to her younger brother, James--a simple and overly trusting man who doesn't hesitate to welcome them into his modest rental apartment. Almost as soon as she moves in, however, Joleen hits the road with another man. Utterly ill-equipped to be the sole guardian of an adolescent girl, James does his best to make his distraught niece happy. But before long, things spin out of control: He loses his job, and Tara is put into foster care. That's when James makes a fateful decision that will bring his life full circle and force him to face his demons. He takes off with Tara, and the two assume new identities as father and daughter. What starts out as a ploy to evade authorities takes on a deeper significance as James strives to become the dad Tara never had and for the first time finds a true purpose in life. But when their road trip takes them to the Utah farm where James grew up, old wounds reopen between James and his father, whose emotionally abusive and sometimes violent ways have changed little since James was a boy. (Overture Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Drama
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Zac Stanford
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Bill Maher
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| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: July 8, 2008
Theatrical: March 14, 2008
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| RUNNING TIME: |
100 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
Canada / USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
75
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
Despite its deficiencies, and the inadequate screen time allotted to Theron (who's quite good), Sleepwalking has a core of feeling. It's about a do-gooder who, lacking all skills for it, does good anyway. His emotional odyssey has real poignancy.
63
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Stanford's script is painfully obvious, right down to the line of dialogue spelling out the title's significance.
50
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Portentous and dull, the film features one of the worst over-the-top performances by Dennis Hopper, who plays an abusive father.
50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Well-intentioned to a fault, Sleepwalking blurs the line between dramatizing free-floating misery and spreading it.
50
Film Threat
Zack Haddad
It’s a shame that this film’s star-studded cast wasn’t able to save the mediocre storyline.
50
Variety
Ronnie Scheib
The overly simplistic script by Zac Stanford (“The Chumscrubber”) hits nothing but high notes, making the whole dramatically less than the sum of its parts.
50
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
The movie seems unusually honest in portraying the no-option existence of the working poor, but the story slips into melodrama in the last reel.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
The whole picture plays like a pop-up book in a welfare agency.
50
Time
Richard Schickel
It's because of AnnaSophia Robb's performance...I don't think you'll see a more fascinating and nuanced performance at the movies this year.
50
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
But the regularly overlooked Stahl burrows honestly into this unpleasant place, adding another worthy portrait to his indie gallery of interesting losers. He's still an actor worth keeping your eyes on. Assuming you can keep them open.
50
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Crust
Terrific performances and a bleak, riveting look at life on the economic fringes eventually gives way to an overly familiar tale of abuse, denial and catharsis that feels like warmed over Sam Shepard minus the poetry.
50
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
The movie seems terrified of true psychological complexity or perversity. It's less a family tragedy than a lousy country dirge.
50
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
A feeling of hopelessness pervades Sleepwalking.
50
Austin Chronicle
Josh Rosenblatt
Unfortunately, Sleepwalking isn’t content being a character study of damaged adult siblings (if it were, it would have made a nice companion piece to Kenneth Lonergan’s "You Can Count on Me," which is a far less sobering, but far more effective, movie).
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A bummer.
40
The Hollywood Reporter
Stephen Farber
Even if the movie takes you to some dark places you would rather not visit, at least you will remember the actors who navigate the tortured journey.
40
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
As Mr. Maher, in his feature directing debut, brings in surreal touches and puts on literary airs, the film’s grip loosens, and its vernacular turns increasingly wooden.
40
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
There's loads of suffering in Sleepwalking, piled on until the picture almost becomes an unintentional comedy.
38
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Despite honorable work from Theron, Robb and Stahl, Sleepwalking makes good on its title in a not-so-good way.
38
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Relentlessly depressing.
30
Washington Post
Ann Hornaday
An inert, sloppily written melodrama as grim and featureless as its frozen Midwestern setting.
30
Village Voice
Michelle Orange
Theron and Woody Harrelson provide vitality against the film's heavy load, but they aren't around long enough to keep it from collapsing under its own portentous weight.
25
San Francisco Chronicle
Ruthe Stein
A slow-moving family drama guaranteed to induce a nap if not somnambulism.
0
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
A soporific dud, which should have been tossed out of Sundance.
 The average user rating for this movie is 6.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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