James "Speedy" Reedy is anything but. He's a twenty-something slacker sleepwalking through life in a Midwestern town. His older sister, Joleen calls him in the middle of the night after the police have arrested her boyfriend and tossed her and her 12-year-old daughter Tara on the street. James takes them in, then Joleen, who claims to have a plan, leaves with a trucker and a stash of drug money. James tries to cope, but soon he's lost his job, and child protective services places Tara in foster care. She's miserable. Can James wake up and find a way to be more than just a nice guy? A road trip to his childhood may hold a key, or it may be another bad dream.
Genre(s): Drama
Runtime: 101 minutes
Rating: 6.2/10 (2,274 votes)
Release Date: 22 January 2008
Country: Canada, USA
Languages: English
Company: Denver and Delilah Productions
Sound: Dolby Digital, SDDS
MPAA: Rated R for language and a scene of violence.
Director(s): Bill Maher
Related Videos for Sleepwalking (2008)
Thinking of watching this movie? Then click on the like button!
Producer(s):
A.J. Dix - producer
J.J. Harris - producer
Beth Kono - producer
Charlie Mason - executive producer
Rob Merilees - producer
Justin Moore-Lewy - executive producer
Stephen Onda - line producer
Anthony Rhulen - executive producer
William Shively - executive producer
Michael Stirling - executive producer
Charlize Theron - producer
Writer(s):
Zac Stanford - (screenplay)
Cast:
Nick Stahl - James
AnnaSophia Robb - Tara
Charlize Theron - Joleen
Deborra-Lee Furness - Danni
Mathew St. Patrick - Detective #1
Callum Keith Rennie - Will
Woody Harrelson - Randall
Dennis Hopper - Mr. Reedy
Ken Mitchell - Mr. Bergen
Jean Freeman - Mrs. Bergen
Music: Christopher Young
A.J. Dix - producer
J.J. Harris - producer
Beth Kono - producer
Charlie Mason - executive producer
Rob Merilees - producer
Justin Moore-Lewy - executive producer
Stephen Onda - line producer
Anthony Rhulen - executive producer
William Shively - executive producer
Michael Stirling - executive producer
Charlize Theron - producer
Writer(s):
Zac Stanford - (screenplay)
Cast:
Nick Stahl - James
AnnaSophia Robb - Tara
Charlize Theron - Joleen
Deborra-Lee Furness - Danni
Mathew St. Patrick - Detective #1
Callum Keith Rennie - Will
Woody Harrelson - Randall
Dennis Hopper - Mr. Reedy
Ken Mitchell - Mr. Bergen
Jean Freeman - Mrs. Bergen
Music: Christopher Young
Posted on: March 11, 2008
Posted in: Drama
March 15th, 2008
One night, Joleen Reedy's boyfriend is arrested in a drug raid, so sheand her 12-year-old daughter Tara move in with her somewhat slow-wittedbrother, James.
Soon, Joleen follows her heart down the highway with a long-distancetrucker, and when James loses his job and Tara starts missing school,it's not long before Child Protective Services shows up and Tara goesoff to a group foster home.
This is a movie about coming of age. And, as the story develops in ActII, we have every right to believe this is Tara's story. She talks heruncle James into learning to drive, pushes him into searching forJoleen, and finally convinces him to help her take a hiatus from thegroup home. And so they hit the road. Along the way, they stop at amotel where she wakes up one night bathed symbolically in red light,and the next morning at poolside, she's squirming seductively for thebenefit of a pair of adolescent boys who watch in fascination.
Eventually, their journey takes them to James' boyhood home, the ranchto which Joleen said she would not return in a million years. Why didshe say that? The answer comes when James and Tara experience profoundabuse from his father, a tough old rancher played by Dennis Hopper.
This is when the viewers will realize that this is James' story,because he does what he must to vindicate what must have been thehorrific upbringing he and his sister endured.
"Sleepwalking" is put over with excellent performances, notably NickStahl's James, who grows into a man able to rise to the occasion whenit's time to carve out a destiny from the wreckage of his past.Charlize Theron convincingly inhabits another fascinating characterfrom the seamy side, showing glowing embers of yearning that burst intopassion. And Hopper chews scenery entertainingly as the abusiverancher. The supporting cast is uniformly strong.
But the star of this show is AnnaSophia Robb, who makes Tara a childwho realizes she needs to shed any air of fragility to press on withthe quest to reunite with her mother. Driving past a message boardflashing an Amber Alert with her name on it only steels Tara'sdetermination to succeed.
This is an excellent example of a script that turns into an independentfilm that draws an excellent cast and, when it hits the screen, does agood job of telling a good story and telling it well.
It should also be noted that AnnaSophia Robb is growing to be anactress not only of exceptional skill, but of extraordinary beauty.
March 17th, 2008
The trailer suckered me in. I enjoy deep, character driven films, withthemes of family bonds, forgiveness, redemption, overcoming one's past,etc. THIS WAS NOT THAT! This movie, as my poor, unsuspecting"nightmare"/sleepwalking viewing partner summed it up, is "Pointless."Horrible. Bleak. Slow. Depressing. Boring. Dark. Negative. Ugly. Stupid& Pointless. It was a Dreadful waste of time. It goes from dark & ugly,to darker & uglier, to horrific & ugliest. There are moments withglimpses of humor and warmth–but those are very fleeting and almostnonexistent. The cast is very strong, and it is mind boggling that anyof them said yes to this god-awful script. How did this movie even getmade? How much money did they waste on this bad, bad film?
On the way out of the theater, we overheard "This made me feel realbad." This movie will make anyone feel bad. It is horrible. So, Irecommend it for anyone who enjoys feeling really really bad.
Seriously, a mind boggling disaster of epic proportions.
March 21st, 2008
SLEEPWALKING (2008) **1/2 Nick Stahl, Anna Sophia Robb, CharlizeTheron, Dennis Hopper, Woody Harrelson, Mathew St. Patrick, Deborra-LeeFurness, Callum Keith Rennie, Amy Matysio.
Echoes of '70s Era Road-trip Soul Searching The golden age of the'70sfilm-making is alive and well in this indie that echoes Ashby andMallick.
Joleen (Theron, who also produced) is a down-on-her luck type who isgoing nowhere fast. Her beauty has faded in broken promises, lovelesslife, and addictions too many to mention and neglecting that will haunther forever.
Namely her single-parenting duty to her pre-teen daughter, Tara (Robb),who is understandably loathing her for the fact that there lives are inconstant limbo with Joleen shacking up with one dead-beat loser afteranother until if finally catches up with her and them, costing Joleenno alternative (apparently) then to enlist her ne'er-do-well kidbrother James (Stahl), who has problems of his own, namely keeping asteady paycheck.
One day Joleen's current beau is busted for growing pot in their homeand while she haphazardly abandons him with Tara in tow they plunk downwith James in his sparse, blighted home. Tara's resentment is onlykindling for things get progressively worse as Joleen steals away inthe middle of the night leaving her beat-up cruiser for them to use.
With no word on where his sister has skedaddled to James has no choicebut to keep his niece under his care but he can scarcely handle thechores of daily challenges for himself.
When James is fired from his construction gig, loses his home and hasnowhere to go, Tara is forced into foster care by the authority of thelocal law enforcer (St. Patrick), who is looking for Joleen as well.
James shacks up briefly with his only friend (Harrelson) until hevisits Tara at her current housing that proves to be problematic inthat she is cruelly treated. Prompting a decision to leave, James takesTara in Joleen's beater and drives south to his estranged, abusivefather's (Hopper) hoping for some help and maybe closure to histortured life.
Novice filmmaker Bill Maher's pacing is a bit lugubrious – but maybethat's intentional for it's title to reflect – however the performancesare first-rate overall. Theron's smallish role proves her Oscar win wasno fluke and her deglam take of a woman on the fringe is poignant aswell as Stahl's almost mute turn as a whipped man far too early in lifeto give up hope. Robb continues to be a rising young actress andHopper's menacing paterfamilias makes another effort to his rogue'sgallery of villains.
The cinematography by Juan Ruiz Anchia is bleak yet beautiful and thescreenplay by Zac Stanford, while meager, still manages to make thecharacters' plight heartfelt if too familiar.
Overall not a bad effort but wanting a little more reflects the film'smessage: it isn't bad to do so.
June 26th, 2008
The pacing of this movie is a little slow. There were times when ialmost gave up on it, and wanted to stop watching it, but didn't. I amglad i finished this movie because there is something so honest, andpure about the subject matter.
What's great about this movie is it's not flashy like people thinkmovies need to be. It is not over the top, not glamorous. This movie isstriped to the bare essence of what it takes to make a good film orbetter, great acting, and a genuine story line.
The movie has a slow start, but a rapid ending that leaves you wantingmore. The characters are really well developed. I feel a closeconnection to all of them. I feel like they are real people, and that'sunusual to feel when watching a movie.
It's a movie about choices, about how one moment can change your life.The decisions we make are not always right, most of them are made onimpulse, but we still have to deal with the aftermath, and learn alesson along the way.
June 29th, 2008
I watched this movie because I like AnnaSophia Robb a lot. I think sheis an actress with a great potential and she is so cute too. She was"almost OK" but the movie wasn't. It started very bad and finished tentimes worst.
The movie is pointless, too slow and boring. It makes you sleep… andvery deeply.
The character of Nick Stahl was terrible and so stupid. It had someawful scenes like the fight with his father or when the boss got firedhim. I think Charlize Theron is a great actress but in this movie wasvery bad too.
Watch this movie only if you suffer insomnia. It can help you.Otherwise watch something else…
July 2nd, 2008
I watched this movie today and I must say that it was absolutelyamazing. It is drama by genre but most of the time this kind of moviesare much better than we thought. With four amazing main actors thismovie couldn't fail although only two actors, AnnaSophia Robb and NickStahl are keeping this movie so good. After Tara's (Robb) mother Joleen(Charlize Theron) leave's her with her uncle James (Nick Stahl) theirlives are start to fall down. James gets fired from his job and socialservice takes Tara to foster home. One day James comes to visit Taraand by her request they leave the city by car in unknown direction. Onthey trip they would get more closer, and some events will open theireyes from a long dream. Nick Stahl is great as James. His character'schildhood was abuse by his father as his sister Joleen. Charlize Theronis solid, but real star of this movie is AnnaSophia Robb. She has only14 years old and already playing complex roles like this one. She isgoing in the right way by now.
July 2nd, 2008
Despite the mostly negative reviews I've read about 'Sleepwalking', Iwanted to see if Annasophia Robb really did live up to what the criticshave been raving the past couple months. And she does, in a huge way.With a natural presence and believable acting, Annasophia displays oneof the best performances I've seen from a child actor/actress. Whileshe did a great job in BTT and Have Dreams, she doesn't show any signsof the occasional stiff acting that she had in her previous films.Playing the part of the abandoned and emotionally troubled Tara is avery complex process that not many young actors can endure, yetAnnasophia portrays her every emotion smoothly. Her chemistry withStahl's character was convincing and heartfelt. At first I was a littlebit on the skeptical side on whether or not her performance wasOscar-worthy; but after watching this movie, I immediately brushed saidthoughts aside.
That said, this movie is James's (Nick Stahl) story, and he delivers.His performance really brought out the raw emotion that most of thefilm lacked. At certain scenes one could just sense the extreme painand sorrow that James is going through as he grows more fond of hisniece, only to see her get taken away, that and other aspects of hischaracter makes a nice buildup to his climactic transformation near theend. Charlize Theron, though only present in a handful of scenes in thefilm, takes full advantage of them and helps create a truly believabletroubled American family. Dennis Hopper is, well…Dennis Hopper. Hecan pull off playing any crazed and sadistic bastard in a snap andsucceeds. Despite his character being as one dimensional as one canget, Hopper does a pretty good job making the film more morbid than italready is.
Positives aside, here is where the film gets it's real flaws: thestory. Besides extremely powerful performances by the leads,Sleepwalking's story suffers from it's overtly dark tone andpredictability. Yes, it's supposed to be a morbid take on abandonmentand abuse, but unfortunately that's all there is. The charactersstumble from one unlucky bump in the road to another without any realrelief for them. Besides the budding almost brother-sister typerelationship that James and Tara develops, it doesn't really stop thefilm from becoming increasingly bleak. And quite honestly, as much as Itried to defend it, I didn't understand James's notion to return to hisabusive and bitter father's farm. Once he mentions going there in thefilm, especially with all the comments that he heard from Tara,predicting hell in Satan's frozen ranch wasn't very far-fetched. Ienjoy films that are open to interpretation and don't give out easyanswers. However, Sleepwalking's ending hardly even tries to put somesort of resolution. It's an all-throughout morbid storyline thatDESERVED a true resolution, sadly it barely had one.
I enjoyed Sleepwalking. I loved the characters and the performances(Especially Robb and Stahl), but like the ratings that you've readthroughout the web, it was just barely enough to carry the weight of abland and predictable story.
July 9th, 2008
May induce sleeping, I don't know about sleepwalking. I doubt in causewhen I woke from drifting off I was still in the same chair andunfortunately still watching this movie. It goes from dry, depressing,dark and pointless to even more of the same. The acting is not verygood, which is an insult to Denise Hoper, Woody Harrelson andespecially Charlize Theron, I expect way more from an Academy Awardwinning actress. It cannot all be blamed on her performance but I askmyself, why aren't Academy Award winners more picky about the moviesthey choose post winning. This film is another example of a trailerbeing better then the movie, just by watching the trailer and havingthis cast, most directors could make a better movie. I'm honestlytrying to think of a positive but I'm just coming up empty. I mentionedin my review for The Love Guru about bias towards comedies and thatthey automatically get a lower ratting because they are comedies. Ifeel this is sometimes the same way with dramas, sometimes they reallydo suck, but because they deal with emotions and imitate real lifesituations they automatically get a higher ratting then they deserve.