The Sleepy Time Gal (2001)

79% of critics liked it
(19 reviews)
43% of users liked it
(466 ratings)

Two women connected by family are drawn closer by fate in this low-key drama. Frances (Jacqueline Bisset) is a woman in her early fifties who had already begun to sense time was running out for her when she learned that she has cancer. While Frances is fighting the disease through medical treatment,… More Two women connected by family are drawn closer by fate in this low-key drama. Frances (Jacqueline Bisset) is a woman in her early fifties who had already begun to sense time was running out for her when she learned that she has cancer. While Frances is fighting the disease through medical treatment, she decides it's a good idea to do some travelling before it's too late, and she pays a visit to Bob (Seymour Cassel), a former boyfriend who now owns a farm in rural Pennsylvania. To Bob's surprise, Frances strikes up a fast friendship with his wife Betty (Peggy Gormley), and Frances shares a confession with her -- while Frances maintains a close relationship with her son Morgan (Nick Stahl), she also had a daughter by Bob that she put up for adoption, and she's not certain if she should track down the child while there's still time. Coincidentally, Frances' daughter is Rebecca (Martha Plimpton), a successful lawyer who has begun to express a curiosity about her birth parents. Rebecca has been hired by a large communications firm to deal with the paperwork regarding the purchase of a radio station in Florida, and while in the Sunshine State, Rebecca gets to know the station's manager, Jimmy (Frankie R. Faison). As Jimmy and Rebecca ease into a short-term romance, he shares stories about the "Sleepy Time Gal," a mysterious female disc jockey who worked at the station back in the '50s; what neither Jimmy nor Rebecca know is that the Sleepy Time Gal was actually Frances. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Christopher Münch
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Jan 1, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Jan 28, 2003
Studio: C-100 Film Corporation

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Munch's screenplay is tenderly observant of his characters. He watches them as they float within the seas of their personalities. His scenes are short and often unexpected.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Playing a role of almost Bergmanesque intensity ... Bisset is both convincing and radiant.
Erin Meister, Boston Globe
A thoughtful, moving piece that faces difficult issues with honesty and beauty.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Its rhythms and currents sink into a viewer's consciousness and linger in the mind.
Gene Seymour, Newsday
It's delicate, haunting and sultry.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
Bisset delivers a game performance, but she is unable to save the movie.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
A captivating and intimate study about dying and loving...
Paul Doro, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It has a subtle way of getting under your skin and sticking with you long after it's over.
Jon Popick, Planet Sick-Boy
Doesn't reach for the obvious buttons that a weepy mainstream cancer film, like 'Stepmom' or 'Life As a House,' would push.
David Noh, Film Journal International
Although sensitive to a fault, it's often overwritten, with a surfeit of weighty revelations, flowery dialogue, and nostalgia for the past and roads not taken.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, San Francisco Examiner
When the film ended, I felt tired and drained and wanted to lie on my own deathbed for a while.
Michael Phillips, Citysearch
Bisset still commands the screen as the graceful and outspoken Frances.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Excellent performances from Jacqueline Bisset and Martha Plimpton grace this deeply touching melodrama.
Jon Lap, Apollo Guide
To the film's credit, the acting is fresh and unselfconscious, and Munch is a marvel of reality versus sappy sentiment.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Daniel P

<i>Sleepy Time Gal</i> is one of those brilliant films that could only be part of American indie cinema. Frances, a mother, former writer and DJ, and lover of architecture and history, discovers she has terminal cancer, and so aims to tie up the loose ends of her life and… More
<i>Sleepy Time Gal</i> is one of those brilliant films that could only be part of American indie cinema. Frances, a mother, former writer and DJ, and lover of architecture and history, discovers she has terminal cancer, and so aims to tie up the loose ends of her life and spend time with her son. Meanwhile, in a different city, Rebecca, unhappy with her job as a lawyer and split from her boyfriend, decides to seek out some questions to her own life, including finding her birth mother, and start afresh. The two characters stories link together in various ways as, separately, each remembers and learns more about their lives. Firstly, I should get some criticism out the way. This is a very lyrical film, striving for and often achieving a kind of cinematic poetry. Unfortunately, this yearning extends to the dialogue, and some of the characters have the most ridiculously over-articulate conversations, even if they're just talking about everyday things. At one point Rebecca says to someone she's recently met "I admire your pragmatism". Ok, maybe some people do speak like this, but in the context of the film it feels a little daft. The other problem is the first 20 minutes or so. Very little information is offered as to what the hell is going on, and I found myself a little 'sleepy' myself. However, this does actually (eventually) play to the films strengths, as we discover more things about the characters and previous scenes make more sense. Don't get me wrong though, this isn't a film full of major surprises or twists; it's more a film about honesty and emotion. So now the plusses. First of all, the acting is great - Jacqueline Bisset deservedly got lots of praise and is equalled (thankfully, otherwise the film could have fallen apart) in ability and scope by Martha Plimpton's performance. Nick Stahl is also nicely understated. The way memories are shown is very inventive, by use of black-and-white film sped up and blurred images, still photographs and paintings and camcorder footage. Finally, the photography is, at times, stunning, with beautiful location shooting in New York, Pennsylvania and Florida. It's a bit of a depressing film in parts, but it's also refreshingly unsentimental, instead quietly poignant, and has an ending that mixes sadness and optimism in a way I wasn't expecting.