Sleepers (1996)

Here's another long sit-- an elaborate revenge fantasy based, for 
all we know, on events that best-selling author Lorenzo Carcaterra 
pulled out of his butt.  (The story is supposedly true.)  Written 
for the screen and directed by Barry Levinson (DISCLOSURE, TOYS), 
SLEEPERS is a textbook example of bad-choice filmmaking.  Jason 
Patric's impoverished narration sets the tone of something's-not-
right and the rest of the movie is just as wrong.  My favorite flub 
is the entire third act, which is too cramped to be comprehensible.  
I mean, there's a good twenty minutes in there where *nothing* 
makes sense.  Who are these adult characters?  And why should we 
care about them?  The plot keeps surging forward, with momentum in 
its sails and believability in its wake.  (Most disappointing are 
all those could've-been-better bits, such as Brad Pitt feeding 
Dustin Hoffman his lines in court.  We need to savor such scenes.)
Yeah, this movie is easy on the eyes.  Yeah, enough happens on-
screen to pass the time.  Just don't expect to enjoy what you're 
watching.  (Rated "R"/149 min.)

Grade: C+

Copyright 1996 by Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: October 27, 1996