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Sleepers

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 18 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime | Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Lorenzo Carcaterra (book)
Barry Levinson
Directed by: Barry Levinson
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 18, 1996
DVD: August 22, 1997
Running Time: 147 minutes, Color & B / W
Origin: USA
Summary
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.
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
At some low, what's-next level, Sleepers works like, well, gangbusters. [28 October 1996, p. 113]
USA Today Mike Clark
Engrosses if it doesn't fully convince. [18 October 1996, p.1D]
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.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
A visual masterpiece that powerfully explores male cruelty, too.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser
Sometimes the movie lacks a quietness, an omission most egregiously felt at the end.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Kevin McManus
It features a pleasing mix of good-guy gumshoeing, smart-alecky dialogue and courtroom surprises.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
By the end, the main thing that's been abused is the audience's intelligence.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff (Not credited)
The dullest movie ever made about child abuse, conspiracy and murder.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Rita Kempley
Recalls those corny Warner Bros. movies about Dead End Kids.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
