Sleepwalk with Me 2012

Critics score:
83 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The film acts as both a diary of a sidewinding comic stylist finding his style, almost by accident, and a reminder to all post-collegiate boyfriends and girlfriends that "OK" probably isn't good enough for either party. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Sleepwalk is oddly soothing, like a cup of camomile tea before bedtime. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: More than just a glorified stand-up act. Read more

Drew Grant, New York Observer: Sleepwalk holds together as a story that, like a particularly good episode of This American Life, is both laugh-out-loud funny and somewhat melancholic. Read more

John Anderson, Wall Street Journal: Is there reason to be concerned that so much popular culture is about young men not wanting to become adults? Probably. And yet "Sleepwalk With Me" makes the subject palatable, funny and maybe even touching. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Sleepwalk With Me is as charming as it is winningly modest, but it's so incredibly slight a stiff wind would knock it into a different hemisphere. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: "Sleepwalk With Me" is the perfect movie for fans of "The Daily Show" who actually stick around for the second-half interview. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: "Sleepwalk With Me" traps Birbiglia inside his own head. He desperately needs a movie or cable series that wakes him up and sets his material loose on the outside world. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This sharp romantic comedy began as a one-man show, and you can tell: the hero's voice-over narration wraps around the entire movie, and the scenes are mainly verbal. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: This is a movie for anyone who's ever been unsure, and surely that's everyone. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Feats of raconteur storytelling are always tricky to translate into something effective and fluid enough to be movieworthy. But Sleepwalk With Me sticks the landing. Read more

Duane Byrge, Hollywood Reporter: Crowd-pleasing comedy from stand-up Mike Birbiglia. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: "Sleepwalk With Me's" transition from stage to screen primarily works because Birbiglia continues to carry the weight. Read more

Charlie McCollum, San Jose Mercury News: It is a likable, warm film that brings a welcome reassurance: Even if you fail spectacularly as a comedian or as a human being, it really can turn out OK in the end. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: The crux of the story offers sharp practical wisdom in the modernist vein, regarding the comedian's confrontation with the danger and the challenge of self-revelation, but it's served up too smoothly and sweetly. Read more

Chase Whale, Film.com: This self-deprecating comedy would make both Larry David and Louis C.K. proud, Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, NPR: Matt's learning curve is probably supposed to be entertaining, or endearing, or something, but mostly it just sends the movie lurching into inertia. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Birbiglia's gift, really, is one of reassurance. It's nice to know that we can fail spectacularly and still be okay. Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: A thoughtful adaptation of Birbiglia's hit one-man, off-Broadway show. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: A smart, neurotic slice-of-life comedy about a stand-up comic with confidence issues, commitment issues, and career issues. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: I like this movie. More important, I like Mike Birbiglia in it. Whether he has a future in stand-up I cannot say, but he has a future as a monologist and actor. Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: It all adds up to a fine, funny exercise in disheveled self-deprecation: a self-portrait of a guy who can't control a major portion of his life. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Birbiglia's pleasingly nasal delivery and agreeable presence holds it together. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Notwithstanding its storytelling stumbles, "Sleepwalk With Me" points in a positive direction for this likable comedian's career. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: I liked Sleepwalk With Me-just not nearly as much as I would've liked to have liked it. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Sleepwalk with Me embraces its toughness and emerges with a sharp comment about evasion. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The semi-autobiographical tale is appealingly low-key and alternately funny and melancholy, informed by Birbiglia's casual delivery. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: An endearing indie feature about the day-to-day indecisions and nocturnal perambulations of a commitment-phobic New Yorker. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: [Rides] a weird tonal line, maybe aiming to split the difference between comedy and terror but coming off as afraid to really go for it on either. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: From start to finish, his character, called Matt Pandamiglio, is all by his lonesome -- reaching out of the fog. He's a funny fog person. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Birbiglia proves to be as engaging a presence on the screen as he has been all these years onstage and over the radio waves. Read more

Leah Rozen, TheWrap: When it comes to mining a medical malady for laughs across multiple platforms, standup comic Mike Birbiglia is a master. Read more