StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

tomgillespie2002 Viewing writer and director Woody Allen's early films in chronological order provides an interesting and traceable path from motor-mouthed clown to accomplished auteur, not only in of tone and subject matter, but also from a purely filmmaking point of view. He had tackled satire back in 1971 with Bananas, but really knew how make it work just two years later with Sleeper, one of his most popular films, and one of his last slapstick comedies before he moved on to maturer work like Annie Hall and Interiors, his love letter to Ingmar Bergman. Revelations concerning his private life continue to concern, baffle and appal, but if you can put these uncomfortable allegations aside (which is understandably a big ask for some people), there is still plenty to ire about Allen's contribution to comedy and cinema as a whole.Sleeper concerns Miles Monroe (Allen), a jazz musician and owner of a health-food store who goes in for a routine surgical procedure only to be cryogenically frozen without his knowledge and revived some 200 years in the future. The world he wakes up to is one governed by a mysterious dictator known as 'The Leader', who runs the country like a police state, with every citizen numbered and monitored like something straight out a George Orwell novel. The doctors who bring him out of his frozen state do so illegally, in the hope that Miles' exclusion from the government's will allow him to fly under the radar and assist with the revolution. But the authorities are soon onto the rogue doctors, and Miles must flee into the countryside and into a society he knows little about. Improvising, he disguises himself as a robot butler and falls into the home of narcissistic bohemian Luna (Diane Keaton).Naturally, much hilarity ensues, with Allen embracing the physical comedy of silent greats Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and The Marx Brothers, and dialling down his neurotic monologuing shtick. Luna prefers to remain ignorant at first, but after learning more from Miles, turns into full-on revolutionary. As with most comedies, some jokes fall flat, especially when Allen leans on the sexual humour such as the 'Orgasmatron', but this is probably Allen's funniest film, with the chemistry forged with Diane Keaton on the set of Play It Again, Sam effortlessly carrying over to into this. In fact, Keaton may even outshine her co-star. Her dialogue with Allen provides many opportunities for their ideals and social attitudes to clash, and as both characters grow, Sleeper serves up some surprisingly philosophical insights. Big Brother is indeed watching, and although this is a world full of buffoons easily distracted by Miles' shenanigans and the technology proves just as unreliable as it is today, its a pretty horrific place to be.

johannes-grenzfurthner Debates triggered by postmodern culture have directed our attention towards questions of representation and relevance of "history" and stories -- i.e. The challenging proclamation of a post-histoire, the realization of the impossibility of a meta-narrative record of history; the clash between reality and sign systems, the difference between fact and fiction, the impossibility of neutral contemplation or witnessing as well as the positioning of subjective awareness within such representations etc.The future is a kind of carrot, the sort tied just in front of the cartoon donkey's nose so it goes to work, goes off to war, learns Javascript and knows which bits to laugh at in Woody Allen's Sleeper. You can imagine.

Kev11sky I recently watched this film again, in this futuristic year 2015. (My mind is comprised of its own original thinking parts).This film has all kinds of current themes about time travel, artificial humanoids, synthetic intelligence, worldwide corporate/government control, identity, media influence, cultural change, and so on and on.Much of it resembles recent sci-fi tropes in movies and TV... mixed with Woody Allen's satiric and slapstick comedy, and Diane Keaton's wonderful acting.I wonder if Philip K. Dick ever saw this film.I wonder what is meant by "sexual nightmares"... And what is "Aries Day"?? Could it be the actuation of fast CLONING of the Great Leader himself? Along with his nose?

Blake Peterson It's easy to forget that there was a time in which Woody Allen was strictly silly. For years, he made effortlessly funny screwball comedies that combined his standup skills and witty writing. His comedy never necessarily died, he just slowly got more mature as he aged, beginning with 1977's Annie Hall. Sleeper was made in 1973 and is one of his earliest and finest films. Allen's only foray into the sci-fi genre, Sleeper is ingeniously funny while also creating a razor-sharp satire of other science fiction films of the era.The film opens in 2173. The colors of the architecture are strictly metallic grays and whites. The cars are pod-like and look straight out of a pulp fiction novel. The people are ignorant and dependent on technology. Imagine the shock Miles Monroe (Allen) feels when he wakes up. An owner of an unsuccessful health food store, Miles was cryogenically frozen in 1973. His awakening is illegal in the eyes of the Big Brother-like leader of the world, and in response, the scientists who thawed him are killed. In just a short time, Miles becomes the most wanted man in the nation, dubbed "The Alien" by the citizens. He goes on the run, kidnapping a buffoon named Luna (Diane Keaton) on the way, and so begins a series of antics that rival the physical comedy mania of Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton.Sleeper works so well because it is so self-aware and confident in its delivery. Many of the jokes are broad — in one sequence, Miles makes fun of the future's ignorance by telling curious scientists that Bela Lugosi was the mayor of New York and that Charles de Gaulle was a famous chef — but all are done so with a straight face and sure-fire timing.Allen's writing is impeccable. Excellent comedy scenes come right after the other, never losing their focus and never losing their punch. There isn't a moment where we even get the opportunity to stop laughing, albeit stop smiling. Allen's films have endured so long because they tie- together modern self-deprecation with vintage appreciation. Miles Monroe feels like an autobiographical character as his neuroses are so distinctly Allen's; the loud jazz music, which plays with a frenzied buzz throughout every screwball sequence, is obviously a throwback to the days of Carole Lombard and Bob Hope.The pairing of Allen and Keaton is, of course, a delight: no other woman has ever matched Allen's nutty personality so perfectly. Keaton as Luna is simply gold: she is forced to say some ridiculous lines, but she possesses the kind of timing that Lucille Ball and Katharine Hepburn portrayed with such manic clarity.I've seen Sleeper about five times now, and each time it's even more enjoyable. As the computer age thickens and we become more reliable on Google, it's more relevant than ever, even funnier because it seems to mirror Generation Y's cultural ignorance. And while critics may have not been smitten with Allen's Magic in the Moonlight this year, Sleeper is a reminder he's at his most fun when he's at his least self-serious.Read more reviews at petersonreviews.com