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Movies / On DVD / Sleepers
Sleepers

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Sleepers (1996)

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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,... 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, they find themselves serving time at the Wilkinson School for Boys, where they are repeatedly and sadistically violated and tortured by four guards--the most menacing being Noles, portrayed by Kevin Bacon. Fifteen years later, the foursome is still dealing with the emotional repercussions of their abuse. Tommy (Billy Crudup) and John (Ron Eldard) have become common criminals, and when they spot Noles in a local watering hole they can't pass up the chance for revenge. It's up to Shakes (Jason Patric), a low-profile newspaper employee, and Michael (Brad Pitt), a lawyer with the district attorney's office, to save their friends while keeping the details of their tortured childhoods secret. Dustin Hoffman appears as Danny Snyder, and Robert De Niro stars as Father Bobby, the local neighborhood priest who is as comfortable on the streets or in a bar as he is behind the pulpit. Based on the allegedly true story by Lorenzo Carcaterra, the film is directed by Barry Levinson (DINER, RAIN MAN). [More]

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Patric

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Bruno Kirby, Brad Renfro, Minnie Driver, Joe Perrino, Geoff Wigdor, Jonathan Tucker, Billy Crudup, Ron Eldard, Jeffrey Donovan

Director: Barry Levinson

Director: Barry Levinson
Screenwriter: Barry Levinson
Story: Lorenzo Carcaterra
Composer: John Williams
Producer: Steve Golin, Barry Levinson

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Sleepers

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Levinson has done nothing to sift the half-truths from the melodrama...

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Disturbing, but compelling and provocative.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
08/14/09
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/05/02
Kim Williamson
Kim Williamson
Boxoffice Magazine

No review available.

comment Comment
07/01/04
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

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.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Hicks
Chris Hicks
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

It 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.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
09/25/03
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews

No review available.

comment Comment
01/13/05
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

Sleepers' ultimate sin is that it takes child sexual abuse, a subject that shouldn't be toyed with, and uses it as the impetus for a trifling revenge play.

Full Review Source: Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) | comment Comment
08/15/02
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Drama needs conflict, and Sleepers, at the critical juncture, doesn't deliver any.

Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer | comment Comment
10/15/02
Margaret A. McGurk
Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer

É um daqueles filmes que preparam o espectador durante uma hora e meia para um clímax que nunca chega.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
05/31/02
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

Almost everything in it, true or not, plays as a cliche.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

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.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Steve Davis
Steve Davis
Austin Chronicle

No review available.

comment Comment
04/21/05
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

No review available.

comment Comment
07/20/03
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Engrosses if it doesn't fully convince.

comment Comment
01/01/00
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The implausibility of this story is high, but it still retains the vibrance and interest of all good prison and courtroom dramas.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
Barbara Shulgasser
Barbara Shulgasser
San Francisco Examiner

No review available.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central

Finally redeems [Levinson] for the idiocy of Disclosure and Toys.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
01/25/06
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

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.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia City Paper | comment Comment
01/01/00
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Philadelphia City Paper
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 >> >|
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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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