Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Sleepwalking

EMAILPRINTOverture Films

Sleepwalking reviews
40
6.3 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama

Written by: Zac Stanford

Directed by: Bill Maher

Release Date:
Theatrical: March 14, 2008
DVD: July 8, 2008

Running Time: 100 minutes, Color

Origin: Canada / USA

Summary

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)

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...

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.

Read Full Review >
63

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Stanford's script is painfully obvious, right down to the line of dialogue spelling out the title's significance.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
50

Film Threat Zack Haddad

It’s a shame that this film’s star-studded cast wasn’t able to save the mediocre storyline.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The whole picture plays like a pop-up book in a welfare agency.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A feeling of hopelessness pervades Sleepwalking.

Read Full Review >
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).

Read Full Review >
50

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A bummer.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
40

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

There's loads of suffering in Sleepwalking, piled on until the picture almost becomes an unintentional comedy.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
38

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Relentlessly depressing.

Read Full Review >
30

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

An inert, sloppily written melodrama as grim and featureless as its frozen Midwestern setting.

Read Full Review >
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.

Read Full Review >
25

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

A slow-moving family drama guaranteed to induce a nap if not somnambulism.

Read Full Review >
0

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A soporific dud, which should have been tossed out of Sundance.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

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.

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | Olympics | Lost | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use