Year: 1973
Director: Woody Allen
Country: US
Language: English
In the Science Fiction genre of film, there are magnificent dramas. Blade Runner, Solaris and Moon captured the imagination of millions. However, there are very few Science Fiction comedies. I can think of three off the bat; Mel Brook's Space Balls, Ron Underwood's horrendous The Adventures of Pluto Nash and Woody Allen's Sleeper. While Brooks picture is good satire, the funniest of the three has to be Sleeper. That is what I shall review now.
In the film a clarinet player (Woody Allen) who also runs a health food store is frozen and brought back in the future by anti-government radicals in order to assist them in their attempts to overthrow an oppressive government.
Director Woody Allen not only wanted to make an imaginative sci-fi fantasy, but also a plausible one. During a lunchtime meeting with famed novel writer Issac Asimov (I, Robot) they confirmed the scientific feasibility of his screenplay ideas. He also consulted with leading science fiction writer Ben Bova to make sure that some of his futuristic predictions were feasible. Indeed Allen's future seems distant, but not too distant. The gadgets, with exception of the Orgasmitron Booths, designed to replace sex, are plausible. Unlike futuristic films like Back to the Future II, Sleeper doesn't depend on technology to sell the plot. Rather it's focused on its story and characters, which are a mix of Orwell and Woody.
The futuristic society is comprised of people who have no historical references for the events of the past 200 years, as their leader has undoubtedly outlawed certain forms of knowledge that could lead to rebellion.They need Allen's unfrozen character to give them this knowledge back, though his synopsis of certain events are clever and not at all accurate. This of course is due to Allen's brilliant screenwriting that delivers gag after gag in a very natural way. Some of the humor can be dated, certainly most people living in the twenty-first century won't get all the jokes, but overall it's side-splitting.
In conclusion, Sleeper is a remarkable Allen hit that certainly makes its mark. It likely won't make anybody's "top ten" list as Allen has made much greater and much more serious and philosophical works, but as a comedy it is fine on its own. The movie has a lunatic decadence to it, and a kind of nostalgic abandon, It's silly and edgy at the same time. Praise it! 4/5
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