Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Sleepwalking (2008)
Director: William Maher
Movie review
From Time Out New York
Few things are as reliably condescending as the histrionics that pass for realism whenever Hollywood gets its mitts on working-class, rural American characters. Well intentioned as it is, this hypersentimental salt-of-the-earth soaper jumps headfirst into that trap.
The tip-off is Charlize Theron’s presence both in front of and behind the camera as coproducer; her attraction to this stuff is officially think-piece- (if not intervention-) worthy. She plays a loudmouth white-trash diva and sister to a self-esteemless minimum-wage mook (Stahl), on whom she dumps her surly teenage daughter (surly Robb) before disappearing. Bro summarily gets fired, moves into the basement of a buddy (Harrelson, providing welcome levity) and loses his niece to foster care. After reuniting, the pair ends up crashing at the Utah farm of his bullying dad (Hopper as a hayseed Frank Booth). Big mistake.
Screenwriter Zac Stanford sidesteps the inherent trickiness of his subject (the adult legacy of child abuse) by rendering stick-figure characters as lifelessly ennobled as director William Maher’s imagery and pacing are flat. The result is TV-style pat tragedy, complete with a daft, patronizingly clichéd message—“Today is the first day of the rest of your life”—that’s repeated three times for our edification.
Author: Mark Holcomb
Time Out New York Issue 650: March 13–19, 2008
Cast & crew
Director: William Maher
Cast: Nick Stahl, Annasophia Robb, Charlize Theron, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson full cast
Duration: 100 mins
US Release: Mar 14 2008
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
James Marsh on ‘Man on Wire’
James Marsh tells David Jenkins the amazing story of ‘Man on Wire’ and how he saw the Twin Towers go up – and come down
Gurinder Chada on ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’
Gurinder Chada, the director of Brit hit, 'Bend it Like Beckham' discusses her new film, ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’ with Wally Hammond
A holiday guide to movie dystopias
‘Going anywhere nice this summer, sir?’ To celebrate the release of Pixar’s sublime post-apocalyptic robo-romance ‘Wall-E’, Time Out offers a tour guide of the best future worlds in film
Eddie Murphy's Crimes Against Cinema
We all remember the comic highs of 'Beverly Hills Cop' and 'Bowfinger', but Eddie Murphy has been in a fair few stinkers as well. Time Out to presents a handy rundown of his ten darkest cinematic hours...






What do you think?
Post your review now