Sleepwalking

A stylistically strange, sluggish, and ultimately unsatisfying domestic drama, filmmaker William Maher's Sleepwalking stars Oscar-winner Charlize Theron as Joleen, a white-trash single mother who dumps her ‘tween daughter Tara (AnnaSophia Robb) off with her pathetic younger adult brother James (Nick Stahl). Trying to be a real guardian, James spirits Tara away from state custody and the pair hit the road, eventually winding up at the home of his and Joleen's father (Dennis Hopper), a gloomy, tyrannical rancher. When the old man abuses Tara the way he did her mother years before, James intervenes with tragic but strangely uplifting results. The narrative trajectory of Sleepwalking is a trifle peculiar, but what really sends the picture off the rails are the wild shifts in tone: from somber kitchen-sink melodrama, to almost lighthearted road movie, to a positively gothic, expressionistic final act. While each leg of this cinematic trip exhibits points of interest—especially thanks to the generally fine performances—taken together the film feels like a series of bits and pieces that never cohere into a satisfactory whole. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include the 16-minute “making-of” featurette “A Mother's Shame, A Family's Pain,” and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a flawed film.] (F. Swietek)