Sleepwalking (2008)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Dean M

  
  Wonderfully life drama about the relationship between a 12-year-old girl and her uncle. Superb, naturalistic performances by the three lead actors, Nick Stahl, Charlize Theron and AnnaSophia Robb, make us truly care about the people they are portraying and the things that are… More
  Wonderfully life drama about the relationship between a 12-year-old girl and her uncle. Superb, naturalistic performances by the three lead actors, Nick Stahl, Charlize Theron and AnnaSophia Robb, make us truly care about the people they are portraying and the things that are happening to them. In <i>Sleepwalking</i> the scenery and climate could not have been more dull, barren and depressing. There are boring, depressing highways that go for miles without any beautiful scenery. Every location in this film is flat, dreary and depressing. This added to the disturbing impact of the movie. The people who live in the area of the movie are colourless, dull and depressing.

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, Charlize Theron, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Deborra-Lee Furness, Callum Keith Rennie, Amy Matysio, Shannon Jardine, Simon Chin, Ken Mitchell, Jean Freeman, Troy Skog, George Grassick, Mike Ennis, Alexandra Fox Director: Bill Maher Summary:… More
  Cast: Nick Stahl, AnnaSophia Robb, Charlize Theron, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Deborra-Lee Furness, Callum Keith Rennie, Amy Matysio, Shannon Jardine, Simon Chin, Ken Mitchell, Jean Freeman, Troy Skog, George Grassick, Mike Ennis, Alexandra Fox Director: Bill Maher Summary: When James's (Nick Stahl) sister, Joleen (Charlize Theron), shows up with her 11-year-old daughter, Tara (AnnaSophia Robb), he doesn't think twice about welcoming them into his home. But when Joleen skips town without her daughter, James is thrust into a role he's grossly unprepared for. At risk of losing Tara to foster care, James hits the road with his niece. Along the way, the pair develop a genuine bond and discover a true sense of family. My Thoughts: "Although I liked the film, it had many potholes. It really didn't fill in some of the blanks for me. But for what it was, it still a good film. Nick Stahl and AnnaSophia were really good in this. Dennis Hopper, was good in this as well. His character is a controlling, hateful man. Its so easy to hate him in this film. As many probably have, or will say, this movie is quite depressing. It really never lightens up. It's a bit slow in some spots and could have ran a little shorter in time. But all in all a good enough flick with a sad and disturbing story."

• Red L

  
  Tara's mother is trash, and when she's forced from her home, she bunks in with her younger brother, then deserts her brother (James) and daughter (Tara). James does his best trying to care for Tara, but it isn't easy - he lands up losing his job, and Tara is put into… More
  Tara's mother is trash, and when she's forced from her home, she bunks in with her younger brother, then deserts her brother (James) and daughter (Tara). James does his best trying to care for Tara, but it isn't easy - he lands up losing his job, and Tara is put into foster care. James and Tara land up at James' father's farm, which is where the movie becomes unrealistic. All in all, it is worth watching the movie. Not cute, more scary actually.

• Leigh R

  
  Cute movie, well done job by cast.

• Nani V

  
  I've been wanting to see this when I first saw the previews for it earlier this year. Just finally got done with it. I really enjoyed this film. Nick Stahl was great in here and so was Annasophia Robb. A sad and touching film. It's one of the unique ones.

• Daniel J D

  
  Not incredible, but it packs a dramatic punch. Everyone involved delivered, but the premise wasn't particularly interesting or original.

• Manu G

  
  Excellent film! A great story everyone will enjoy. 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 Jamesva simple and overly trusting man who doesn't hesitate… More
  Excellent film! A great story everyone will enjoy. 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 Jamesva 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 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.

• William D

  
  [font=Garamond][size=3]"Sleepwalking," a gritty, somber new film with [b]Charlize Theron[/b] and [b]Dennis Hopper[/b] in small but essential roles, should have been great. It had an interesting, heartbreaking story and a willingness to be uncompromising and stark in its… More
  [font=Garamond][size=3]"Sleepwalking," a gritty, somber new film with [b]Charlize Theron[/b] and [b]Dennis Hopper[/b] in small but essential roles, should have been great. It had an interesting, heartbreaking story and a willingness to be uncompromising and stark in its approach. What it lacked was a talented director with the right instincts to bring it all together. [/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3][img]http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/overture_films/sleepwalking/_group_photos/dennis_hopper2.jpg[/img][/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]Time after time the story would call for a moment of stunning visual poetry, and the director would clearly sense the need. He would try real hard and almost pull it off. But something would ring false or unoriginal, or an actor would be coached in the wrong way, shifting the nuance and weakening the impact. First-time director [b]William Maher [/b](not the comedian) has artsitic inclinations along the lines of Karen Moncrieff ("The Dead Girl") and Laurie Collyer ("Sherrybaby"). But he doesn't appear to have their kind of talent. This film probably would have been a major work if Moncrieff or Collyer had been in the director's chair.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3][img]http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-03/36687970.jpg[/img][/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]Another serious weakness was in the performances of the lead actors, [b]Nick Stahl[/b] and [b]Anna Sophia Robb[/b]. Theron and Hopper blew them off the screen. I don't know if it's a question of the lead actors' lack of talent or the mediocre direction they received. Whatever the cause, it weakened the film at its center. Robb in particular is so off sometimes that she seems like she's playing a snotty rich kid from Los Angeles instead of a girl who's never left her small town and teetered on the edge of homelessness her whole life.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]The film takes place in a barren, impoverished, under-populated area of America. It's never specified exactly where, but it's a wintry, snowy landscape, so my guess would be the Dakotas. A troubled mother (Theron) gets emergency assistance from her brother (Stahl) when a crisis occurs at home. She brings her daughter (Robb) along. The mother ends up skipping town, leaving dirt-poor Uncle James to figure out what to do with his niece. Social Services soon steps in, and the girl's plight becomes more dire. The central drama surrounds how Uncle James rises to this challenge and essentially starts his life over (he stops sleepwalking). This ends up involving a confrontation with his abusive father (Hopper), the details of which I won't give away.[/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3][img]http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/overture_films/sleepwalking/_group_photos/charlize_theron1.jpg[/img][/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]Utah-based critic Jeff Vice writes: "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 [i]Generic Bleak Sundance Film Festival Drama No. 500.[/i]" [/size][/font][font=Garamond][size=3]Vice has a point, which he makes very well. But I think the familiarity and flatness weren't inherent in the story. Maher had a reasonably good story but just didn't quite know how to bring it to life. [/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3][/size][/font] [font=Garamond][size=3]"Sleepwalking" is by no means a terrible film. But it's one that doesn't deliver enough. I'm very disappointed, because this is just the kind of serious, earthy filmmaking that we need more of in this country. It hurts when a project of this quality ends up being delivered in a way that misses the mark. [/size][/font][font=Garamond][size=3]Recommendation: Skip "Sleepwalking" and rent "The Dead Girl" or "Sherrybaby."[/size][/font]

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"Sleepwalking" starts with Joleen(Charlize Theron) having to move yet again with her 11-year old daughter Tara(AnnaSolphia Robb), this time because her current squeeze got busted for growing pot. A sympathetic detective(Matthew St. Patrick) wants to help… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"Sleepwalking" starts with Joleen(Charlize Theron) having to move yet again with her 11-year old daughter Tara(AnnaSolphia Robb), this time because her current squeeze got busted for growing pot. A sympathetic detective(Matthew St. Patrick) wants to help but Joleen decides instead to move in with her brother James(Nick Stahl), a construction worker. While on the surface this may seem like a move towards normalcy, it is anything but when Joleen continues her wayward course of action, eventually leaving entirely with a promise to return by Tara's birthday. [/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Sleepwalking" is a slight character study that is enhanced by the quality of the performances(especially by Dennis Hopper who may be in the middle of a late career resurgence) and the expert cinematography. On the other hand, there is some facile psychology at work to try and explain the characters' actions and how that relates to family, especially in how one generation affects the next. Joleen is desperately trying to relive her lost young adulthood at an age when she feels Tara can take care of herself, forcing her to grow up too quickly and perilously close to being a piece of work, even at her young age. This is expressed perfectly in the movie's two best scenes set on a tabletop(it is not the actions but what's said) and a pool. Now, if only "Sleepwalking" had a halfway decent ending...[/font]

• Mark A

  
  Quite an interesting take on the power of family to influence the people we become. James (Stahl) is a bit of a wimp when his sister, Joleen (Theron), dumps her 12-year old daughter Tara (Robb), on him. Totally unprepared to parent this about-to-become teenager, James winds up losing… More
  Quite an interesting take on the power of family to influence the people we become. James (Stahl) is a bit of a wimp when his sister, Joleen (Theron), dumps her 12-year old daughter Tara (Robb), on him. Totally unprepared to parent this about-to-become teenager, James winds up losing his job, his apartment, and his ability to function in the safe world he has built around himself. His sister, Joleen, on the other hand is a hellion bent on satisfying her need to be wanted even at the expense of her responsibilities. Tara is just a kid who has never known her father and is set adrift by a mother who seems to have abandoned her. We only find out the root of all these family dynamics when James winds up at his father's farm because he basically has nowhere else to go. The father, played masterfully by Dennis Hopper, is so full of rage that he cannot sustain any level of decency or display even one iota of affection for the fruit of his loins. Dark, troubling, violent, but ultimately hopeful, I found this to be a movie that, while not fun to watch, was entertaining and very thought provoking. I think that Miss Robb is a gem. She reminds me of Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen, Across the Universe). Her portrayal of a kid trying to keep from totally losing it when all of the adults around her seem incapable of providing her a shred of safety was remarkable. If for no other reason, watch it because this kid is truly amazing. In the special features we learn that she is the age of the character she portrays and that only increases my respect for her talent.

• Sol C

  
  Very good film. Annasophia Robb, Nick Stahl, and Charlize Theron are terrific in the film. I definitely recommend this film.

• Leo L

  
  Interesting movie! James and Tara, a calm uncle and a bright niece, are left together after Tara's mother Jolene decides to leave and "take some time off from everything". Trying to do the best with Tara alone, James loses his job and then his apartment when Tara is… More
  Interesting movie! James and Tara, a calm uncle and a bright niece, are left together after Tara's mother Jolene decides to leave and "take some time off from everything". Trying to do the best with Tara alone, James loses his job and then his apartment when Tara is taken from him by Social Services. Seen as unfit, James tries to get a grip on the chaos that has become his life when he truly sees Tara's sadness. They decide to leave town together, and travel to the childhood home that he had left several years before. They meet up with a reserved patriarch, whom ardently welcomes them into his home. It is there that James confronts his demons. Great cast- Nick Stahl, Annasophia Robb, Charlize Theron, Dennis Hopper, and Woody Harrelson. Worth seeing!

• m h

  
  I think this was a well picked cast, a very emotional and moving story. However the movie is slow paced, a little boring at times. I wanted to see this family actually do something right for a change, just kept making one bad decision after another. But like like I first mentioned I… More
  I think this was a well picked cast, a very emotional and moving story. However the movie is slow paced, a little boring at times. I wanted to see this family actually do something right for a change, just kept making one bad decision after another. But like like I first mentioned I loved the cast, really want to see more work from Annasophia Robb and Nick Stahl. Overall the film was good, but you're not really missing much if you don't see it.

• nefnie l

  
  Apparently not a critic favorite, I actually thought the movie was well done. It is a dark and disturbing film about a highly dysfunctional family, and I thought the ending showed a glimmer of hope where most saw nothing but bad in the whole movie (I'm also the type of person to… More
  Apparently not a critic favorite, I actually thought the movie was well done. It is a dark and disturbing film about a highly dysfunctional family, and I thought the ending showed a glimmer of hope where most saw nothing but bad in the whole movie (I'm also the type of person to look for a single flower in a field of weeds). The cast did an outstanding job, especially Robb and Stahl, with complex characters. It moves at a very slow pace, but it kept my interest. It's definitely not a happy escape from reality, but perhaps a horrifying look into anothers' reality.

• Lee K

  
  drama personified!, great performances all around i picked this up strictly cause it starred charlize theron who i swear could make a movie about a fly in a window interesting she is such a great actress! Dennis hopper always plays a wicked villan type charector when he gets the… More
  drama personified!, great performances all around i picked this up strictly cause it starred charlize theron who i swear could make a movie about a fly in a window interesting she is such a great actress! Dennis hopper always plays a wicked villan type charector when he gets the chance.

Read all 15 featured audience ratings