Sleepwalking (2008)
Average Rating: 4.2/10
Reviews Counted: 60
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 50
Despite some sharp performances, Sleepwalking suffers from a grimness of tone and sluggish pacing.
Average Rating: 4.4/10
Critic Reviews: 24
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 19
Despite some sharp performances, Sleepwalking suffers from a grimness of tone and sluggish pacing.
liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 42,425
My Rating
Movie Info
Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Hopper, Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, and Deborra-Lee Furness star in a family drama detailing the efforts made by an 12-year-old girl to come to terms with her mother's abandonment. Tara's (Robb) mother, Joleen (Theron), just can't seem to get her life together. Her boyfriend has recently been arrested for growing marijuana, and rather than attempting to create a stable living environment for her daughter, Joleen instead places Tara in foster care before
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Cast
-
Nick Stahl
James -
Annasophia Robb
Tara -
Charlize Theron
Joleen -
Deborra-Lee Furness
Danni -
Mathew St. Patrick
Detective #1 -
Callum Keith Rennie
Will -
Woody Harrelson
Randall -
Dennis Hopper
Mr. Reedy -
Kenneth Mitchell
Mr. Bergen -
Jean Freeman
Mrs. Bergen -
Troy Skog
Warren -
George Grassick
Cop #1 -
Michael Ennis
Cop #2 -
Alexandra Fox
Darlene -
Lori Kennedy
Foster Care Worker -
R. James Anderson
Road Crew Boss -
Emily Wees
Tara's Friend -
Amy Matysio
Sharon -
Simon Chin
Randall's Friend
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Sleepwalking Trailer & Photos
All Critics (60) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (10) | Rotten (51) | DVD (1)
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.
Top CriticIt's a film of mood -- and the mood is perfectly captured.
Sleepwalking provides character arcs for its two protagonists but neither is as interesting or memorable as the performances warrant.
Portentous and dull, the film features one of the worst over-the-top performances by Dennis Hopper, who plays an abusive father. His role upends what could have been a mildly interesting family drama.
Saddled with a title all too true to its somnambulist pace, Sleepwalking is a textbook case of a bad movie partially redeemed by good acting.
Sleepwalking is a slow-moving family drama guaranteed to induce a nap if not somnambulism.
William Maher's melodrama is much too grim and bleak for even the most cynical viewer to enjoy...
Each bend in the road positively screeches with the urgency of impending catharsis, but the film never earns its resolution.
Taking its cue from the tabloids, this is yet another addition to that tacky category of scandal sheet cinema. Why do celebrities with charmed Hollywood lives imagine everyday people as a bunch of sleazy or dimwitted degenerates, misfits and assassins.
Taking its cue from the tabloids, this is yet another addition to that tacky category of scandal sheet cinema. Why do celebrities with charmed Hollywood lives imagine everyday people as a bunch of sleazy or dimwitted degenerates, misfits and assassins.
If you enjoyed MONSTER'S BALL (it's not as good as that one however), you might find yourself pulled in by this moving drama.
The let's-take-a-road-trip method of character healing has been done to death, but unlike Little Miss Sunshine, James & Tara are made up of more than just cute quirks.
Theron sneaks out the door roughly 1/2 an hour into the picture. What is the movie to do without her energy?
Sleepwalking seems especially cruel to dwell on the bleak and cold at this time of year, when icy drizzle saturates the bones.
...a lifeless movie about uninteresting people.
Stylistically strange, sluggish and ultimately unsatisfying domestic drama.
It's all too aptly named.
A girl abandoned by her mother, a father unable to offer anything but hatred to his own children -- these are narrative elements of potentially great force, but they play out here without much shape, definition or power.
The movie is so overly familiar, and its take on the dysfunctional family dynamics is so unoriginal, that the whole thing might as well have been titled Generic Bleak Sundance Film Festival Drama No. 500.
The inherently uneventful nature of Stanford's script becomes more and more problematic as the film progresses...
It's apparent some meaningful visuals are being approached here, but it seems like the film keeps missing its mark.
Audience Reviews for Sleepwalking
Super Reviewer
Director: Bill Maher
Summary: When James's (Nick Stahl) sister, Joleen (Charlize Theron), shows up with her 11-year-old daughter, Tara (AnnaSophia Robb), he doesn't think twice about welcoming them into his home. But when Joleen skips town without her daughter, James is thrust into a role he's grossly unprepared for. At risk of losing Tara to foster care, James hits the road with his niece. Along the way, the pair develop a genuine bond and discover a true sense of family.
My Thoughts: "Although I liked the film, it had many potholes. It really didn't fill in some of the blanks for me. But for what it was, it still a good film. Nick Stahl and AnnaSophia were really good in this. Dennis Hopper, was good in this as well. His character is a controlling, hateful man. Its so easy to hate him in this film. As many probably have, or will say, this movie is quite depressing. It really never lightens up. It's a bit slow in some spots and could have ran a little shorter in time. But all in all a good enough flick with a sad and disturbing story."
Super Reviewer
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- Tara: [after she sees him staring at her] Uncle James, you're creeping me out.
- Joleen: Hey, you be nice to Uncle James. James, where do you keep the hangers?
- James: What?
- Joleen: Hangers! God, this place is such a mess. I should have brought some of my own furniture.And we're going to need another pillow for Tara, by the way.
- Tara: I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you, Mom!
- Joleen: You know, you could really start unpacking your own shit instead of sitting there and pretending to do your homework.
- Tara: I'm not pretending to do my homework, I'm pretending not to hate my life!
- Joleen: Well, you're not doing a very good job of pretending!
- Tara: Well, maybe I'm not applying myself!
- Joleen: I don't need this kind of shit from you right now, Tara!
- Tara: What kind of shit do you need from me right now, Mom?
- Joleen: [kicking a chest of drawers] What do you want from me? God, Tara!
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Superb, naturalistic performances by the three lead actors, Nick Stahl, Charlize Theron and AnnaSophia Robb, make us truly care about the people they are portraying and the things that are happening to them.
In Sleepwalking the scenery and climate could not have been more dull, barren and depressing. There are boring, depressing highways that go for miles without any beautiful scenery. Every location in this film is flat, dreary and depressing. This added to the disturbing impact of the movie. The people who live in the area of the movie are colourless, dull and depressing.