Levinson has done nothing to sift the half-truths from the melodrama...
Comment
02/09/06
Sleepers (1996)
74
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:46
Fresh:34
Rotten:12
Average Rating:6.7/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 28 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Tommy, John, Michael, and Shakes are four young teenage punks growing up in the streets of Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen in the mid-1960s. When these four friends pull a prank that that goes awry,... [More]
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Patric
Director: Barry Levinson
Reviews for Sleepers
Top CriticDisturbing, but compelling and provocative.
08/14/09
Top CriticIt has really impressive and diverse cast and the story itself -- fictional or not -- can attract the viewer's attention. But Levinson wastes all that opportunity with some unfortunate directing choices.
09/25/03
A skillfully packaged product that is bound to satisfy.
05/14/03
A harrowing tale that includes a preposterous court case, an-eye-for-an-eye moral, and fine acting from a star-packed cast.
01/01/00
Despite protests from the Catholic Church (which whines about any movie that portrays priests as anything less-than-pure), Sleepers, which represents two and one-half hours of gripping entertainment, is well worth the price of admission.
01/01/00
It explores whole lives, capturing terror, shame, vulnerability and the burning, fleeting satisfaction of retribution. And it leaves its audience speechless.
01/01/00
Brad Pitt and Jason Patric are, sorry to say, far overshadowed by their more mature colleagues. Neither has any real presence, in my mind, especially Pitt, whose star power is far greater than his acting ability.
04/09/05
What a more interesting film this would have been had Levinson found a way to integrate the past and the present so that one informed the other. As constructed, however, he's made a lopsided movie.
01/01/00
A perfectly competent Hollywood revenge fantasy.
01/01/00
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.
01/01/00
Top CriticOne doesn't need to agree with the premise to appreciate Levinson's movie, which is rich in atmosphere and colorful in character.
06/23/04
The plot is complicated and the climax is subtle. But for much of the movie, Levinson ... is still in that Natural mode, wherehe doesn't trust his audience to get it.
01/01/00
Almost everything in it, true or not, plays as a cliche.
01/01/00
That revenge is sweet is no new moral code for Hollywood, of course, but in this case it's asking quite a bit to suggest that we cheer murderers and drug dealers.
01/01/00
Although Sleepers is billed as a thriller, this is not what the film is about. In the end, the film is about human relationships, and what draws us together as friends.
02/27/01
Boasting a glorious multi-generational cast (De Niro, Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric), Levinson's tale of sexual abuse and revenge is just decent, lacking dramatic energy and relying too much on voice-over narration and conventional courtroom procedures
08/23/09
Drama needs conflict, and Sleepers, at the critical juncture, doesn't deliver any.
10/15/02
Finally redeems [Levinson] for the idiocy of Disclosure and Toys.
01/01/00
Spanning two decades and with a star studded cast all at the top of their form, Levinson's Sleepers is a phenomenal film experience.
01/01/00
Latest News for Sleepers
August 16, 2006:
Character Actor Bruno Kirby, Dead at 57
You'd immediately recognize the face (and the voice) from movies like "City Slickers," "Good Morning Vietnam," and "When Harry Met Sally," but you... More...
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