Director: Mike Birbiglia
Genre: Comedy
Rating: A
"And that's what love is. It's this giant mound of pizza-flavoured ice cream and delusion."
I came across this movie by accident. Actually, I came across this movie through Joss Whedon: he told me not to see it. Except, the way he did it was the same tongue-in-cheek way that he told me to vote for Mitt Romney because he would create the perfect setting for a zombie apocalypse, so I took it as a sign that I should watch Sleepwalk with Me. All I can say having watched it is that I'm really glad Joss Whedon told me not to.
Sleepwalk with Me follows aspiring comedian Matt Pandamiglio (Birbiglia) as he comes to terms with a series of denials: his girlfriend, his career, and his sleep disorder. He's been with girlfriend Abby (Ambrose) for eight years now and things seem to be moving in the direction of marriage - but Matt isn't too sure about it, considering marriage to be something that should only be done when he's certain that nothing else good will happen in his life. His career is going nowhere; while he calls himself a comedian he actually works as a bartender and has yet to accept the fact that his jokes really aren't funny. And underneath it all is his sleep disorder; for reasons that he doesn't understand he's taken to acting out his dreams while still asleep.
The whole thing is based on Birbiglia's actual life, his rise to fame, his relationship problems, his sleep disorder. While the names, places, etc, have been changed, the actual story is his story. Instantly that makes it all so much more real, and when Matt tells you in the opening that he's going to tell you a story and it's real, he's being serious. As such, the drama of the film is so much more real. The fights feel real, the problems, etc. The struggles of Matt and Abby and the fact that they're together when it's questionable whether or not they should be - and all the time hoping that Matt gets his shit together while also realizing that in reality, people don't always do that. Life doesn't fit into the perfectly timed operations of a script, and that's what makes Sleepwalk with Me work.
This is a movie that's rather subtly funny. I didn't really laugh out loud a lot, at least not until Matt's comedy started getting better, but I still enjoyed the humour to it. It was more one of those smile as you watch it and think about what's going on type of comedy than an actual laugh out loud type. Even though it's actually billed as a comedy I found it to be a lot more of a drama, which worked for me - I tend to prefer dramas to comedies in general. I also want to make note of the acting. I love Lauren Ambrose and have since she was in Six Feet Under. I think she's a great actress and I love how she totally sold me on why Abby was with Matt. I also really liked Mike Birbiglia's performance. I haven't seen him in anything before, not even his comedy, although I now want to see more of him. I also totally want to give him props for the direction that he took this film in. He wrote it, he directed it, and he starred in it, and it all really worked. So, yeah. Unlike Joss Whedon, I'm not going to sarcastically tell you to boycott this film. Instead I'm going to unsarcastically tell you to see this movie. It's great and definitely worth your time.
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