Popular reviews

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  Review by josh lewis ★★★ 1

  some of the actual satire and gags can be hit-or-miss but overall a pretty solid slapstick pastiche of just about every sci-fi dystopia novella/film of this era. the sets and costuming (by joel schumacher?) are especially good and help sell a lot of it.

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  Review by mary ★★★★ 8

  "what's it feel like to be dead for 200 years??"
  "Its like spending a weekend in beverlly hills''

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  Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★

  Before Woody Allen proceeded to pursue the development of his critical trademark of self-analysis, he directed and co-wrote (with Marshall Brickman) this amusingly idiosyncratic and bizarre film, Sleeper. It involves a studious health food store owner who's awakened out of being cryogenically frozen into a future and comes to join a battle against a dictatorial government, with the entire cast observably having considerable and lighthearted pleasure satirising a dystopian future.

  It's parodying on the conventions of the sci-fi genre continuously fuses some extraordinarily discerning and humorous sequences, with many sly and thoughtful connections to some classic movies. In many ways, this early film from Allen virtually craves to be silent with its slapstick disposition, and boisterous ragtime inspired musical score. While some of the play on words and general witticisms have now unavoidably become dated, this film manages to construct some hilarious and memorable sequences.

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  Review by Jonathan White ★★★½ 12

  Sleeper was my first exposure to Woody Allen. I knew nothing of him, other than seeing an odd looking bespectacled man on the cover of Time magazine that was sitting on the coffee table a few years previous. It wasn’t the promise of Allen’s comedy, but rather the movie poster featuring a robot in a helicopter chair clutching a shrieking damsel that drew me into the shopping mall theatre that Saturday so many years ago.

  My predominant memory was of my 14 year old self laughing so riotously hard that tears were streaming down my face, and I thought it a very real possibility that I would throw up.

  I have seen it since, but it’s been ages. When this…

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★½

  Woody Allen wakes up from cryosleep two hundred years in the future, in the hope that he will lead a revolution against a 1984 style ruling totalitarian police state. This bizarre early Allen feature feels like an overlong skit at times, but generally works well thanks to the constant gags in a number of different styles. There's plenty of physical comedy - much of it is sped up and cut to manic music. There's also plenty of Allen's trademark neurotic humour and witty jokes. The film takes the opportunity to have a few digs at modern society - which is essentially depicted as a mirror of real life. There's plenty of time to take the piss out of modern history…

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★★ 14

  “Sleeper” was Woody Allen’s first foray from thematically linked sketches into fully formed narrative. A high concept sci-fi with reams of practical effects; Allen still made sure to give adequate screen-time in “Sleeper” to kvetching over the Orgasmateon machine. 

  Allen originally conceived of “Sleeper” as a largely silent film. He planned to set it in a near-speechless world, where conversation was a privilege. Producers didn’t buy off on the idea, so Allen went ahead and made his tribute to the silent-era legends with words. Lots of words. 

  “Sleeper,” about a New York health food store owner who is frozen and wakes up in a dystopian future, so frenetically piles on its adorations and allusions to all corners of cinema; its…

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  Review by megan ★★

  i fell asleep, so i guess it lived up to its title

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★ 3

  A clarinet player from the 70s wakes up after 200 years in sleep hibernation and he so happens to be the savior of the world.

  Before "Annie Hall" there was "Sleeper," a film that sees Woody Allen embracing his neurotic nature but instead of going for heavy dialogues, he goes full slapstick.

  Don't get me wrong, the lines here are some of his best, but they are as heavy in philosophy and serious themes. Allen playing the dufos was rather refreshing and very funny. Many of the visual gags worked for me, from the drainer thing in the mouth of the robots, the sex machine, the gigant chicken - it was childishly entertaining.

  All in all, while it might fall a bit flat towards the very end, this movie starring a less controversial and much carefree Woody Allen is one that certainly deserves a watch for fans of good comedy.

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  Review by Christian Doig ★★★★★

  This early masterpiece by the author of Manhattan shows he is a physical comedian, though his verbal wit is already here. It co-stars Diane Keaton, fresh from The Godfather. Actually, her Brando impersonation is priceless.

  Maybe less philosophic than in his more talkative films, Woody Allen is at his clownish best in the story of a New Yorker who is awoken two hundred years in the future. Zelig, for instance, is not that cleverly comic.

  Look forward to Allen's and Keaton's characters passing and being mistaken for doctors before a HAL 9000 look-alike. Just hilarious.

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  Review by Travis Lytle ★★★ 4

  In "Sleeper," Woody Allen sends up the future while skewering the past and present in a film that starts off well before descending into silliness. Allen's standard comic sensibilities are on display as he weaves jokes about intellectuals, art, sex, and romance into smart-but-goofy blend of science fiction and comedy.

  Beginning nearly two centuries in the future, the film finds a man from the 1970s thawed from a cryogenically induced slumber and forced to deal with an array a technological, cultural, and political changes. The sci-fi canvas allows star/director/co-writer, Allen, to amusingly attack his typical foils. Allen's character becomes a medical oddity, robot worker, and put-upon revolutionary in the span of 90 minutes.

  The comedy ranges from smart and satirical,…

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  Review by Dawson Joyce ★★★★★

  A delightful foray into science fiction from writer and director Woody Allen, Sleeper is not only what I consider to be his masterpiece but also one of my favorite films of all time, offering endless laughs, intelligence, and creativity from start to finish.

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  Review by Enfant du Siècle ★★★½ 2

  After a long period of hibernation of 200 years, Miles Monroe, clarinetist and owner of a health-food store, is found in a buried capsule and illegally thawed. Upon awakening, he finds himself in a society of automatons living under an authoritarian regime and is recruited by a revolutionary group to help carry out a coup d'état. In his journey full of vicissitudes he meets Luna, a beautiful and charming poet who must collaborate with him.

  In Sleeper, Woody Allen mixes comedy and science fiction to create this futuristic satire with the undisputed influence of Groucho Marx, as well as slapstick comedy, recurring gags and some political commentary, elements that characterize some of his early works. On the other hand, it…