Sleepless Night (2012)

94% of critics liked it
(17 reviews)
67% of users liked it
(362 ratings)

Vincent is a well-respected cop, as well as a devoted husband and father. But below the surface of his idyllic life, Vincent is involved with a very dangerous group of gangsters and drug dealers. When Vincent and his partner are caught stealing a massive quantity of cocaine from a powerful drug… More Vincent is a well-respected cop, as well as a devoted husband and father. But below the surface of his idyllic life, Vincent is involved with a very dangerous group of gangsters and drug dealers. When Vincent and his partner are caught stealing a massive quantity of cocaine from a powerful drug lord, the darker side of Vincent's life threatens to destroy his family and career. In a race against the clock, Vincent must return the drugs in order to save his son's life. This proves to be easier said than done, as the world around him seems to conspire to keep Vincent from doing what is necessary to protect his son. -- (C) Tribeca Film

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.
Directed By: Frederic Jardin
Genres: Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

In Theaters: May 11, 2012 Limited
Studio: Tribeca Films

Critic Reviews

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger
The sort of stripped-down, Francophone picture that's been spoiling American action fans over the last few years. There are no Cuisinarted fight scenes, no pauses for awkward romantic subplots.
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
Charging from one beating to another, wrenching diminishing returns from drunken camera angles and cat-and-mouse games, Mr. Jardin makes Vincent's predicament as hollow as a sustained scream.
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
This tense French thriller never goes anywhere new, but nonetheless keeps up an admirable adrenaline kick till the end.
Mark Holcomb, Village Voice
Jardin ... brings a restless intelligence and disciplined glee to Sleepless Night that far surpasses its cinematic influences.
Odie Henderson, Chicago Sun-Times
A frenetic French action film that will either get your heart or your head pounding. This is a relentless genre exercise, both exhilarating and exhausting.
Rob Nelson, Variety
There's no mistaking Jardin's playful mastery of the Hollywood-style action aesthetic; his movie starts in high gear and accelerates steadily from there.
Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle
Sleepless Night is lean to the edge of emaciated with logic wobbles best not lingered on, but Jardin's control of tempo and tone is crackerjack.
Alison Willmore, AV Club
Greyhound-lean and adrenaline-dazed, Sleepless Night keeps up a relentless pace once it arrives at its main location.
David Fear, Time Out New York
An American remake is already being prepped. We suggest Hollywood simply cries uncle now and calls it a day.
Eric Kohn, indieWIRE
Despite the ongoing momentum, Sleepless Night never loses touch with its story.
Drew McWeeny, HitFix
It's a strong movie overall, and I think audiences here should get a chance to see the original before the inevitable sequel is released.
Tony Macklin, tonymacklin.net
Sleepless Night (Nuit blanche) is one frenetic French dream. It's slam-bang mayhem -- with an active intelligence.
Jaime N. Christley, Slant Magazine
After a few turns in the modest narrative, an unlikely sense of structural resilience begins to emerge.
Matt Singer, IFC.com
A midnight screening of Sleepless Night woke me up more effectively than any cup of coffee I've ever had in my life.
Todd Gilchrist, The Playlist
less uniquely designed than just extremely well-crafted, combining a variety of familiar ideas into one cohesive, streamlined and supremely effective effort.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...an impressively visceral piece of work that boasts a number of thrilling action sequences and interludes.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Aaron N

Marciano: Is that all? Vincent: The rest is in a safe place. Remember what happened to action movies after Die Hard came out? A lot of action films were made that basically amounted to things like "It's Die Hard on a boat" or "It's Die Hard on a… More
Marciano: Is that all? Vincent: The rest is in a safe place. Remember what happened to action movies after Die Hard came out? A lot of action films were made that basically amounted to things like "It's Die Hard on a boat" or "It's Die Hard on a train" to varied levels of success, but one thing was for sure, Die Hard changed how a lot of people and studios wanted to make action films. That has somewhat subsided in favor of other types of action cinema, ranging from the slow-mo escapades of John Woo-like films to the bombastic extravaganzas of Michael Bay features, or the shakiness inspired by Paul Greengrass's work on the Bourne series. Sleepless Night is a French thriller that feels like a call back to the Die Hard days, placing an ordinary man in incredibly tense, violent, and stressful situations within a nightclub. It is well made from an impressively complex level rather than a stylish one and features action bits that feel very natural. Some minor plot flaws aside, the film is solid. read the whole review at thecodeiszeek.com read the whole review at www.thecodeiszeek.com
Eric H

I usually avoid this sort of film, they generally star Jason Statham or, if the budget is restrained, Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal. Purely because this is French I figured it might be interesting and to a certain degree it is. A bad American thriller is sadly just a bad… More
I usually avoid this sort of film, they generally star Jason Statham or, if the budget is restrained, Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal. Purely because this is French I figured it might be interesting and to a certain degree it is. A bad American thriller is sadly just a bad thriller but with it's French equivalent you at least get a sense that the director has some degree of passion for films. Take this movie's best scene, a brilliantly realistic fight between two middle-aged cops in a nightclub kitchen. These aren't martial artists so it's a delightfully messy brawl, every kitchen implement, even press doors, utilised as makeshift weapons. Jardin is obviously a fellow John Carpenter fan, you can't tell me this isn't a homage to the great alley brawl between Roddy Piper and Keith David in "They Live". The nightclub setting is a neat idea but it could have been used to greater effect. There's an opportunity here to indulge in some interesting sound editing which isn't taken. The only time we hear music is when the action moves to the club's dancefloor. Bizarrely every other location in the club is completely silent. Being a part-time DJ myself, something I've always been curious to see is a movie whose soundtrack isn't scored but rather mixed by a DJ. If ever there was an opportunity to explore this idea it's this movie. I really feel the film-makers have missed a trick here, not just creatively but it wouldn't hurt the movie's marketing if it had a soundtrack album by a top DJ. Jardin is great as the uber-stressed cop who keeps digging himself deeper into trouble. You'd never get a lead actor with his non conventional looks in an American thriller, even in France it's quite daring to cast an Arab as your leading man. The casting overall is pretty good, lot's of the sort of great wrinkled faces you only seem to get in French movies. The one letdown is Brochere who just looks ridiculously young and pretty to be an undercover detective. It was really no more than a time passer for this reviewer but if you're the sort of person who watches every Seagal straight to DVD flick, you'd be better served watching something like this.