SLEEPER
A film review by Ted Prigge
Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge
Director: Woody Allen Writers: Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Brian Avery, Douglas Rain
One of the many things Woody Allen is good at is making comedies funny the entire way through without loosing steam. His cure for it is locomotion: he always keeps the story moving and is always introducing various jokes, whether they be academic witticisms, bathroom humor, sly witty remakrs, sight gags, what have you. He also expresses all his hostile beliefs in his comedies, but not in a dramatic way. Most of his comedies have some sort of inner meaning to them which make them hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time. With the exception of "Annie Hall," no other of his comedies has ever come close to providing a message while still being hilariously funny.
"Sleeper" is his version of "1984" or "Brave New World," presented as a slapstick comedy a la Chaplin or any of the other silent slapstick films. To make it pretty authentic, Woody gives us a soundtrack done by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, swing music that perfectly makes the situations seem comical as they are all done silently. The rest of the time, we get Woody's famous dialogue with quick wit and pseudo-intellectual one-liners ("This is a picture of Norman Mailer. He dedicated his ego to the Harvard Medical School for study...").
The plot centers around Miles Monroe (Woody), a neurotic (is there any other kind of Woody-given character?) health food store owner who likes to play clairinet in a local jazz band ("I've always felt you had to be black to play jazz. I'm only a malatto. Yeah, my mother was white, and my father was black...and vice versa."). The film opens in 2173 in a utopian society where the government "is worse than California," as Woody puts it. A group of scientists thaw out Miles who has been frozen for the past 200 years after going to the hospital for an ulcer operation (but something went wrong...). He gets the fish-out-of-water treatment when he is awakened as he tries to adjust to that long sleep. Soceity is worlds away from what it was before. For one thing, tobacco is revered as a healthy product, as well as deep fat and hot fudge, etc. When the scientists ask him to help them with data from the 20th century that they don't understand, he gives them joke answers. For example, they show him a tape of "The Wide World of Sports" and say their theory on it was it was used as a form of government torture. Miles says, "Yes, that's exactly what it was."
But Miles soon learns the scientists had ulterior motives for thawing him out: they are part of the rebels who want to overthrow "the Great Leader." His job is to find the Underground in the "western district" since he has no data compiled in him. Before he can really say no, the "Security Police" come by and erase their minds for treason. Meanwhile, Miles escapes in a series of comical bits and ends up disguising himself as one of their android butlers. He is dropped by the house of a vapid poetess, Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton, in their first pairing in a Woody-directed film - "Play it Again, Sam" was NOT directed by him, contrary to popular opinion). She is duped by his amazing disguise and gets him ready for a party, which gets him wound up in a fight with giant pudding.
Soon, he has Luna involved in the rebellion as he forces her to take him to the Underground. They eventually fall in love, are parted, switch motives, and then get together to stop "Aries Day," a top-secret government experiment, which has them posing as doctors to steal the nose of the Great Leader who was blown up in an assasination attempt and is only a nose now. The climax has them in love again, and rejoicing as they have saved the day.
First off, Woody and Diane make a perfect team. They have such chemistry that it's reminiscent of great comedy teams Laurel and Hardy and Abbot and Costello. And Woody's dialogue is right on, with great banter and hilarious one-liners. He also tackles some serious topics, some which he has already tried out. His rebellious nature against an unfair government is reminiscent of "Bananas" and would come again in "Love and Death." But his cloning satire is fresh and more effective than any other cloning films I've ever seen. The people who cloned "Daisy" should have watched this film first. And he also does some "Clockwork Orange" recconaissance work as the government reprograms Miles when he is caught. He also spoofs several films. For one thing, the film is very reminiscent of Chaplin's "Modern Times." But it also spoofs "2001" (for the voice of the computer in one scene, they use the voice of Douglas Rain, who provided the errie voice of HAL) and "A Streetcar Named Desire" (with Woody as Vivien Leigh and Diane doing a mean Brando impersonation).
"Sleeper" works so well as a satire because it takes the other route when presenting it: it goes for slapstick laughs, mixing the message in nicely and still being hilarious the whole time. Even a non-Woody fan would appreciate this one. Slapstick is pretty much the universal form of laughter, and he does it brilliantly. He also gives us hilarious lines, and some comical romantic melodrama: Luna runs into the Underground and meets the leader, Erno (John Beck), who teaches her marxism and romances her, causing jealousy to rise in Miles ("He's got capped teeth, you know? He's got capped gums!") The characterization is also on here, as it wasn't really in his previous comedies. Miles is insecure and it gets in his way many times. He is a big chicken when it comes to being the helper for the rebellion and when a big man comes into his romantic ways, he just can't help but try to do everything in his power to show he's a better man. And Luna is very easily-led and switches partners with ease. She also easily goes from loving her utopian way of life to believing in the teachings of Karl Marx.
The use of sight gags and futuristic occurences also adds to the humor. For one thing, sex has been handled so it's quick, efficient and doesn't cause any diseases or pregnancies. Seems like "Demolition Man" ripped this movie off a bit. Instead, they have things called "Orgasmatrons," machines that do the sex for you with your clothes on in a matter of seconds. Miles makes fun of it later on, saying, "What do you do if it breaks? Switch to manual?" And as far as drugs, they have "The Orb," a large metal ball that gives off drugs when you touch it. And when in the woods, Miles goes to get food and finds a large plant where they make large food products, including celery, bananas and even a giant chicken.
This is also the first time Woody could construct a narrative and move his jokes easier. The main flaw in "Bananas" was it was way too episodic. "Sleeper" is episodic, but it at least moves to its new places easier and more smoothly. And the jokes are actually funnier than any of his other films and the satire more poignant. This is basically one of the most universally great Woody Allen comedies.
"Sleeper" is probably Woody's funniest film. For that, I will say it deserves to be placed around the top of his oeuvre, with his other masterpieces "Annie Hall," "Manhattan, "Hannah and Her Sisters" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors." "Sleeper" is my fave Woody Allen film, and undoubtedly a great work of comic art.
MY RATING (out of 5): *****
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