Review: Sleepwalk With Me

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

PLOT: A stand-up comic (Mike Birbiglia) juggles the demands of his career with those of his devoted girlfriend (Lauren Ambrose) – who’s looking to settle down. Meanwhile, he struggles with bouts of sleepwalking.

REVIEW: As I write this, I’m kicking myself for having missed SLEEPWALK WITH ME at Sundance. It was there as part of the NEXT selection, and as in years past, I was too busy with the higher-profile films to squeeze it in. Since then, two critic friends of mine have told me about how great it is, and fresh from a record breaking single theater release in LA, I was finally able to catch up with it.

SLEEPWALK WITH ME is the brainchild of writer-director-star Mike Birbiglia- and based on his one-man show that ran a few years ago on Broadway. Apparently, this is a semi-autobiographical story, with his character, Mike Pandamiglio being a fictionalized version of himself. (Birbiglia is also reportedly prone to bouts of sleepwalking) The film charts his early days as a struggling stand-up, with his stale material being jeered by audiences, and his spending most of his time working as a bartender at a comedy club, only going on stage in the event of last minute cancelations. The only bright spot is his home life, with his pretty, loving girlfriend Abby (Ambrose) being supportive- although after nine years together, she’s pressuring him to get married.

Knowing that if he settles down, he’ll have to get his life together, Mike takes a different tact- signing on with a small-scale agent, and taking any penny-ante gig that comes up-with him driving hundreds of miles at one point to take a university gig MC’ing a lip-synching contest. As if things weren’t bad enough, he’s started sleepwalking but- when he’s forced to use his own life as material after coming up short on-stage, his career actually starts to heat up- bringing things to a head with Abby- who’s unaware she’s become stand-up fodder.

To its credit, SLEEPWALK WITH ME doesn’t go the standard route of having Birbiglia’s character embark on some kind of journey of self-discovery that’s going to lead him back to a happy and stable relationship. Although Abby is portrayed as a wonderful partner, with the luminescent Ambrose (of SIX FEET UNDER) playing the kind of girl anyone would be thrilled to end up with- you’ll still sympathize with Birbiglia’s trepidation about settling into a life of normalcy. While he makes some mistakes along the way, Birbiglia’s a very sympathetic, extremely likable lead, and I enjoyed his low-key (rather than low-brow) humor. In addition to his one-man show, Birbiglia’s been popping up here and there- including a quick stint on GIRLS (co-star Alex Karpovsky also appears here) and recurring appearances on PRI’s THIS AMERICAN LIFE- with host Ira Glass on board SLEEPWALK as a producer.

Running a breezy eighty minutes, SLEEPWALK WITH ME also serves as an intriguing insider’s look at the work-a-day life of a middling stand-up comic. The camaraderie of the stand-ups, and the exhausting, thankless nature of some of the gigs are on full display- but it had to be said that even if it’s one that doesn’t offer a lot of financial or emotionally stability, it’s presented as attractive nonetheless.



Birbiglia also directs SLEEPWALK, and while it’s probably pretty low-budget- it doesn’t really look it, and is directed with flair and style. Hopefully SLEEPWALK WITH ME’s theatrical distribution will continue to expand, as it’s a very accessible film that could easily play to a mainstream audience. At its heart, it tells a very relatable story about how sometimes, putting love first isn’t necessarily the answer- which is certainly contrary to most mainstream relationship comedies. It’s a refreshing, vibrant film- and I expect we’ll be seeing lots more of Birbiglia in the years to come.

Review: Sleepwalk With Me

GREAT

8

Source: JoBlo.com

About the Author

Chris Bumbray began his career with JoBlo as the resident film critic (and James Bond expert) way back in 2007, and he has stuck around ever since, being named editor-in-chief in 2021. A voting member of the CCA and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, you can also catch Chris discussing pop culture regularly on CTV News Channel.