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Movies / On DVD / Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking

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Sleepwalking (2008)

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19 %
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Reviews Counted: 53

Fresh: 10

Rotten:43

Average Rating: 4.3/10

Consensus: Despite some sharp performances, Sleepwalking suffers from a grimness of tone and sluggish pacing.

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Nick Stahl (Sin City, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines), AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron (Monster, North Country) star in Sleepwalking, a... Nick Stahl (Sin City, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines), AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron (Monster, North Country) star in Sleepwalking, a moving drama about the deep familial bond that develops between a 30-year-old man and his young niece after the girl's mother suddenly leaves town. Directed by William Maher from a screenplay by Zac Stanford (The Chumscrubber), Sleepwalking also stars Academy Award® nominees Dennis Hopper (Hoosiers, Blue Velvet) and Woody Harrelson (The People Vs. Larry Flynt, Natural Born Killers).

Forced out of her home after her boyfriend is arrested, Joleen Reedy (Charlize Theron) needs a place to stay with her 11-year-old daughter, Tara (AnnaSophia Robb). She turns for help to her younger brother, James (Nick Stahl)— 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 road crew job and Tara is put into foster care. Additionally, old wounds from his emotionally abusive and sometimes violent father (Dennis Hopper) begin to reopen as James is forced to re-examine his life.

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 pair assumes 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. --© Overture Films
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Starring: Charlize Theron, Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Hopper

Starring: Charlize Theron, Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Deborra-Lee Furness

Director: William Maher

Director: William Maher
Screenwriter: Zac Stanford
Producer: Charlize Theron, J.J. Harris, Beth Kono, A.J. Dix, Rob Merilees, Anthony Rhulen
Studio: Overture Films

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Reviews for Sleepwalking

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

Taking its cue from the tabloids, this is yet another addition to that tacky category of scandal sheet cinema. Why do celebrities with charmed Hollywood lives imagine everyday people as a bunch of sleazy or dimwitted degenerates, misfits and assassins.

Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment Comment
07/04/08
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze
Ratings Image

If you enjoyed MONSTER'S BALL (it's not as good as that one however), you might find yourself pulled in by this moving drama.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
06/18/08
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine
Ratings Image

The let's-take-a-road-trip method of character healing has been done to death, but unlike Little Miss Sunshine, James & Tara are made up of more than just cute quirks.

Full Review Source: The Cinema Source | comment Comment
06/04/08
Michael Dance
The Cinema Source
Ratings Image

Theron sneaks out the door roughly 1/2 an hour into the picture. What is the movie to do without her energy?

Full Review Source: Film Experience | comment Comment
05/15/08
Nathaniel Rogers
Film Experience
Ratings Image

Sleepwalking seems especially cruel to dwell on the bleak and cold at this time of year, when icy drizzle saturates the bones.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
04/11/08
Graham Killeen
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Ratings Image

...a lifeless movie about uninteresting people.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
03/25/08
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review
Ratings Image

Stylistically strange, sluggish and ultimately unsatisfying domestic drama.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
03/25/08
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
Ratings Image

It’s a film of mood -- and the mood is perfectly captured.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
03/24/08
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Ratings Image

It's all too aptly named.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/21/08
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Ratings Image

Sleepwalking provides character arcs for its two protagonists but neither is as interesting or memorable as the performances warrant.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
03/21/08
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Ratings Image

A girl abandoned by her mother, a father unable to offer anything but hatred to his own children -- these are narrative elements of potentially great force, but they play out here without much shape, definition or power.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
03/21/08
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News
Ratings Image

The movie is so overly familiar, and its take on the dysfunctional family dynamics is so unoriginal, that the whole thing might as well have been titled Generic Bleak Sundance Film Festival Drama No. 500.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
03/20/08
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Ratings Image

The inherently uneventful nature of Stanford's script becomes more and more problematic as the film progresses...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
03/19/08
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
Ratings Image

It’s apparent some meaningful visuals are being approached here, but it seems like the film keeps missing its mark.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
03/17/08
Sara Schieron
Boxoffice Magazine
Ratings Image

Not quite enough new here to make this film a hit, but enough of Theron, Hopper and Harrelson to make the film worth watching.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
03/15/08
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics
Ratings Image

Portentous and dull, the film features one of the worst over-the-top performances by Dennis Hopper, who plays an abusive father. His role upends what could have been a mildly interesting family drama.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
03/14/08
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Ratings Image

The cast is uniformly excellent, starting with 14-year-old Robb -- she makes a strong transition from child roles with her portrayal of the mercurial Tara.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
03/14/08
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Ratings Image

Saddled with a title all too true to its somnambulist pace, Sleepwalking is a textbook case of a bad movie partially redeemed by good acting.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
03/14/08
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Ratings Image

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

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
03/14/08
Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
Ratings Image

The people never come alive, and the unremitting nastiness of the material is like being beaten with soggy towels for 90 minutes. Maybe another director and other leads might have helped.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
03/14/08
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
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Latest News for Sleepwalking

July 04, 2008: Taking its cue from the tabloids, this is yet another addition to that tacky category of scandal sheet cinema. Why do celebrities with charmed Hollywood lives imagine everyday people as a bunch of sleazy or dimwitted degenerates, misfits and assassins. Opens in new window
More...

March 17, 2008: Charlize Theron Has Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
She'll spend the summer blending humor and superhero action with Will Smith and Jason Bateman in Hancock, but Charlize Theron already has Vengeance on her mind. More...

March 14, 2008: Taking its cue from the tabloids, this is yet another addition to that tacky category of scandal sheet cinema. Why do celebrities with charmed Hollywood lives imagine everyday people as a bunch of sleazy or dimwitted degenerates, misfits and assassins. Opens in new window
More...

March 13, 2008: Critics Consensus: Who's Better, Who's Best; Never Goes Down; Guess Doomsday's Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we've Seussian silliness (Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!, starring Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell), mixed martial arts madness (Never Back Down, starring... More...

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