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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

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Man on Wire
85
Slumdog Millionaire
84
Momma's Man
84
Christmas Tale, A
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
83
Trouble the Water
83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
Rachel Getting Married
82
Frozen River
82
Let the Right One In
81
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
79
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
78
I've Loved You So Long
77
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
76
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
75
Pool, The
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
73
Frost/Nixon
72
I Served the King of England
70
I.O.U.S. A
69
Ashes of Time Redux
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
68
August Evening
68
Hunger
67
Black Balloon, The
67
Synecdoche, New York
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Appaloosa
63
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63
Eden
63
Changeling
62
Duchess, The
59
We Are Wizards
57
Special
57
Sixty Six
56
Religulous
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
55
What Just Happened?
54
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54
Good Dick
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RocknRolla
51
Morning Light
50
Breakfast with Scot
47
How About You
47
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46
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43
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40
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34
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34
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32
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31
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30
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28
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27
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26
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26
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
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xx
Extreme Movie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Sleepers
Warner Bros.
FILM:
MPAA RATING: R for language, graphic violence and two scenes of strong sexual content
Starring
Kevin Bacon,
Billy Crudup,
Robert De Niro,
Ron Eldard,
Minnie Driver,
Jason Patric,
Dustin Hoffman,
and
Brad Pitt
When a Hell's kitchen prank goes awry, a group of boys are sent to a reform institution, where they experience brutal sexual assaults by the sadistic "caretakers." Many years later, a pair of the now-grown victims encounter their chief tormenter and plot to exact revenge.
| GENRE(S): |
Crime
|
Drama
|
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Lorenzo Carcaterra (book)
Barry Levinson
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Barry Levinson
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: August 22, 1997
Video: April 1, 1997
Theatrical: October 18, 1996
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
147 minutes, Color & B / W |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
The film was nominated for the Original Dramatic Score Oscar at the 1997 Academy Awards.

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...
90
Variety
David Stratton
Colorful characters, richly evoked settings, epic story of friendship, crime and punishment, and a strong dose of good old-fashioned star power.

88
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Two and one- half hours of gripping entertainment.

88
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Sleepers, for all the doubts it raises, is the work of a man who speaks for absent friends and "for the children we were." It's his secret heart.

80
Time
Richard Schickel
At some low, what's-next level, Sleepers works like, well, gangbusters.
[28 October 1996, p. 113]
75
USA Today
Mike Clark
Engrosses if it doesn't fully convince. [18 October 1996, p.1D]
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
As entertainment, the movie functions successfully. But I don't believe the story is true--not true to the facts, and not true to the morality it pretends to be about.

75
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Stack
A visual masterpiece that powerfully explores male cruelty, too.

75
San Francisco Examiner
Barbara Shulgasser
Sometimes the movie lacks a quietness, an omission most egregiously felt at the end.

70
Washington Post
Kevin McManus
It features a pleasing mix of good-guy gumshoeing, smart-alecky dialogue and courtroom surprises.

50
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
By the end, the main thing that's been abused is the audience's intelligence.

50
The Onion (A.V. Club)
John Krewson
Muddy, confused, and worst of all boring, Sleepers grinds to the preordained halt shared by any over-budgeted epic that lacks the simple necessity of good story.

40
Austin Chronicle
Steve Davis
Somewhat byzantine in execution and confusing in its logic, the film's second half never achieves the catharsis you'd expect.

30
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
The film's tone works overtime at mythologizing tawdry incidents into some ultimate epic about the lost innocence of youth. Gilded trash is more like it.

30
The New York Times
Elvis Mitchell
As directed by Barry Levinson and acted by an incredible collection of male stars, Sleepers settles the authenticity question by allowing not a whiff of real life into its universe.

30
TV Guide
Staff (Not credited)
The dullest movie ever made about child abuse, conspiracy and murder.

30
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
Recalls those corny Warner Bros. movies about Dead End Kids.

25
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Barry Levinson's filmmaking style is often imaginative. The story contains horrific scenes of sexual torture as well as sadistic killings and other disturbing material, though.

10
Newsweek
David Ansen
Rent the devastating "The Boys of St. Vincent" to see how slick and hollow Sleepers is, how little it reveals about the real nature and effect of child abuse. [28 October 1996, p. 74]

The average user rating for this movie is 9.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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