(2012 - September 10)
Comedy
1 hr. 30 min.
Rated: PG-13 some sexual content and brief language
Grade: C+
Directors: Mike Birbiglia, Seth Barrish
Writers: Mike Birbiglia, Joe Birbiglia, Ira Glass, and Seth Barrish (screenplay)
Stars: Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose , Carol Kane and James Rebhorn | See full cast and crew
"I'm going to tell you a story, and it's true....I always have to tell people that." So asserts comedian-turned-playwright-turned-filmmaker Mike Birbiglia directly to the viewer at the outset of his autobiographically inspired, fictional feature debut. Birbiglia wears his incisive wit on his sleeve while portraying a cinematic surrogate. We are thrust into the tale of a burgeoning stand-up comedian struggling with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship threatening to race out of his control, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore. Based on the successful one-man show, Sleepwalk With Me engages in the kind of passionate and personal storytelling that transfigures intimate anguish into comic art. -- (C) IFC
Winner of a 2012 Audience Award at Sundance, comedian Mike Birbiglia wrote, directed and stars in this sincere and occasionally humorous film, based on his off-Broadway show and bestselling book.
Sleepwalk With Me is the brain-child of Mike Birbiglia, a stand-up comedian who amazingly uses almost no profanity in his act. The film is co-written
with Ira Glass (the host and producer of National Public Radio's "This
American Life") and with Birbiglia's brother Joe, Sleepwalk With Me is
based on Birbiglia's life, specifically dealing with his sleepwalking
problem and his relationship troubles. In the film Birbiglia, narrates
the events from his own humorous viewpoint. He presents himself as a likeable, vulnerable, cuddly Teddy Bear like character, and in comparison to most comics today, I guess I could accept him as such.
Much credit for the success of the films goes to Ambrose, who brings heart, warmth and humanity to
her role. Most of these self promoting projects have a major flaw, that being the male lead who invariably is a egotistical man-child who somehow (through his own casting influence) is in a relationship with a beautiful, smart woman who is way out of his league. However, Ms. Ambrose makes their relationship credible, where you could actually visualize this couple staying
together despite Matt being such a sad sack dolt. It's takes half of the movie before anything really gets going and the drama of the relationship begins to take over the story;
the first half is stuck in the aimlessness that is Matt's life and career. It takes way too long to
establish the characters.
The critics have been generous in their praise of this film. They talk about how likeable Matt is and what a good guy he is. I see it a little differently, this is their situation: Matt Pandamiglio (Mike Birbiglia) is dating Abby (Lauren Ambrose),
who he loves and has been with for eight years. They’re intent on buying
a house, moving together, doing all these “couple” things, and
relatives are constantly encouraging them to get married, particularly
after Matt’s sister's wedding. Matt’s unsure of a lot of things, though, one
of which is most certainly marriage, which he doesn’t see as anything
he’d really want. Sure, as long as he is getting all the benefits of marriage without actually making a commitment to the relationship, yeah, what a great guy. Abby is his doormat, she wants to get married but doesn’t want to force Matt into it, pathetically, she bides her time not wanting to hurt his feelings. Carol Kane and James Rebhorn very ably play Matt's parents Linda and
Frank and, although Frank's repeated use of God's name as an expletive
was quite annoying.
After eight years of indecisiveness and knowing that Abby wants to marry and start a family but unwilling to step up to the plate, Matt starts
to feel trapped and the stress materializes as something a bit strange: he starts sleepwalking, he’s actually
acting out his dreams, this is known as REM behavior
disorder. This is a very dangerous condition for a person to go through he is told, some sufferers have actually killed their own loved ones while in their sleep.
Matt’s isn’t that serious he says, yet he jumps out of a two-story
window at a motel and does himself some serious mischief.
This condition is obviously linked to his personal problems, even if it’s never
explicitly mentioned or psychoanalyzed. The structure of Sleepwalk With Me is that of a
documentary but has the ebb and flow of a narrative film. The actors are essentially reenacting everything that
happened to Mike Birbiglia during this difficult time of his life. It’s clever
filmmaking, whether or not it is true that a lot of the
things that are in the film actually did happen to him. The
stand-up bits are intermixed in with the narrative occasionally cutting to
Mike driving in his car (his parent's car) talking about his life which is sort of interesting since the personas he gives off throughout the story vary. He’s confident and composed in present day beginning of the film, he's nervous, unfocused and jittery in his early comedy gigs and in his early bits with Abby. During his evolution some of his stuff really isn’t funny, it’s
just lame observations, and some of that is mildly amusing. Those lame bits are of course used to counteract his other bits from his more evolved persona. There are some prominent
comedians in supporting roles, faces whom you may not be able to name but whom you will likely recognize, and there are some new faces to provide some laughs.
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| Mike Birbiglia at work on the Set |
Mike Birbiglia won't be the comedian for everyone but Sleepwalk With Me is a great vehicle for him. Filmmakers often mirror their own lives, channeling real emotions to
make the content on screen feel extremely personal. As far as I know, everything in the movie
is factual: emotionally, his sojourn through life and love with his girlfriend and
the inability to hurt one another; and physically, he actually did need 32
stitches in his legs after falling out a window, not to mention all the bumps and bruises inflicted to his head and body; and mentally, his sleep disorder that he may still be experiencing, at the
end of the film there is a bit where he zips himself up in a sleeping bag and
puts on mittens on his hands.
Unfortunately the film is not quite as interesting and certainly not as clever and funny the trailer suggests. Nor is it as great as the critics say it is, in the end it is an OK, even pleasant, film that will soon be forgotten.
Cast
Linda Frank
