Woody et les robots

Sleeper is a comedy with one of the wittiest premises I've ever seen. It is a comedy about life in the 22nd century through a neurotic Jewish Brooklynite's cynical eyes. No matter how different things are in the future, his perspective doesn't change, his wry sense of humor stays the same, happily misplaced ragtime music plays over the movie, and old-fashioned sight gags are employed complete with the occasional stepped-up film speed.

Allen has always done well playing virtually the same character in all of his movies, but his talent as an on screen comedian is milestoned in this performance. He has the brilliance to mock even the most elusive and unnoticed physical conventions of screen acting, for instance his whispering to Diane Keaton while they pose as doctors in the presence of several people close by. It's a nitpicky sense of humor that contributes greatly to the intelligence behind all of his manic goofiness.

Diane Keaton is his match, however, whereas most of his leading ladies usually aren't. In fact, I hold Diane Keaton's performance in Sleeper as her crowning achievement so far that I've seen of her, even beyond her work in the Godfather films. She delivers great laughs. Her highlight is in what is possibly the funniest scene in the entire film, which eventually involves her doing an impression of Marlon Brando. Who would think that Diane Keaton would deliver the most convincing and dead-on Brando impression one has ever seen. While we're on the subject of that particular part of that hysterical scene that I will preserve for you to see for yourself, I must say that most people, even some of the most talented comedians and office/class clowns can hardly come close to mimicking Brando's voice, expressions and mannerisms. Diane Keaton somehow nails it. In Sleeper, she gives one of the funniest performances I've ever seen from an actress. She and Allen are truly one of the funniest comic pairs I've ever seen in a movie.

What makes Sleeper so funny is not just the physical comedy but the out-of-the-box, completely unorthodox creativity behind all of the physical comedy. There is a scene where someone slips on a banana peel. But the banana peel is the size of a canoe, as is the banana and all of the electronically preserved fruits and vegetables in this particular place, and Allen is being chased by a futuristic cop and both of them are slipping repeatedly on the peel. The film has robot butlers and maids of the future, and gradually throughout the film some are introduced as robots programmed to act and speak like effeminate gay men and Brooklyn Jewish stereotypes. There is also a great amount of intellectualism and cultural knowledge in even the zaniest of humorous moments in Sleeper, and that is what makes it one of Woody Allen's funniest films and a work of true comic genius.

Before he became a "serious" filmmaker and gained the respect and admiration of film critics, Woody Allen was already entertaining millions of fans with such unashamedly silly comedies as 1973's 'Sleeper.' The science-fiction story concerns an unfortunate Miles Monroe (Allen), the 1970s owner of the Happy Carrot health-food store, who goes into St. Vincent's Hospital for a routine peptic ulcer operation and wakes up 200 years later in a terrifying police state. He is revived by a subversive underground rebel organisation to help uncover the secrets of the dreaded "Aries Project," and to overthrow the tyrannical government and its dictator. Along the way, Miles enlists the help of the neurotic and exuberant Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton, who collaborated with Allen on multiple occasions, most notably in 'Annie Hall (1977)' and 'Manhattan (1979)').

A chaotic blend of razor-sharp satire and slapstick humour, 'Sleeper' contains enough of Allen's and co-writer Marshall Brickmann's trademark wit to remind us of what makes their later collaborations so brilliant. Of course, as Allen had yet to reach his creative peak, some of the jokes in the film work (the infamous Orgasmatron; the Volkswagen Beetle that starts up immediately after 200 years of neglect), whilst others aren't pulled off quite so well (the giant chicken; the mock Miss America pageant). In one memorable sequence, year 2173 historians show Miles a collection of historical items and photographs, and he idly gives off ridiculous explanations which they accept as fact. For example, yes, Howard Cosell's sporting reports were used as punishment for criminals who had committed a crime against the state!

The promotional posters for the film proclaimed: "Woody Allen Takes A Nostalgic Look At The Future." This, more than likely, refers to the style of comedy, which, aside from Allen's witty observations, very much evokes memories of the silent slapstick comedies of Lloyd, Keaton and Chaplin. Much like the latter did with most of his films, Allen wrote, directed, starred in and composed the score for 'Sleeper.' The score itself, which is very upbeat, New Orleans-style traditional jazz, was performed by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Allen sitting in on clarinet. 'Sleeper' may have been inspired by H.G. Wells' classic novel, 'The Sleeper Awakes,' which recounts the tale of a man who awakes from a 203-year sleep to find himself in a horrifyingly-transformed futuristic London.

Aside from including a wealth of instantly-quotable one-liners ("I'm not really the heroic type. I was beat up by Quakers"), Allen also has a lot of fun in his disorganised futuristic dystopia. After pouring too much "Instant Pudding" into a bowl, the overdone dessert practically comes to life and has to be beaten into submission with a broom; it is also revealed that, contrary to popular agreement in 1973, such substances as deep fat, tobacco and hot fudge are not only not unhealthy, but probably the best thing for your body! When Miles happens upon a garden of human-size fruit and vegetables, we just know that the giant banana peel is going to come into play somewhere, and, sure enough, Miles inevitably takes a tumble.

Miles Monroe (director Allen), a health food store owner and jazz clarinetist, goes to a hospital for a routine operation, but something goes wrong and he is put to cryogenic sleep for over 200 years. When he is woken up in the 22nd century, the society has changed into a pleasure-addicted dictatorship. Miles is immediately pulled into revolutionary activity and soon has to flee the state police on his way to the mysterious ruler of the society. He also finds himself teaming up with an initially reluctant woman called Luna (Diane Keaton) and together they adventure through the futuristic society.

The comedic style of Sleeper is an entertaining combination of over-the-top farce and Allen's usual verbal jabs at the society of the 20th century. The silly jazz music accompanying the bumbling chase scenes evokes memories from the silent era (some scenes are even sped-up), and the old masters of slapstick have clearly been a major influence to the style. There are also many references to more modern works of science fiction, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Nineteen Eight-Four. Besides the funny farcical scenes, Allen gets to perform his classic neurotic worrying routine that works fine and will amuse fans of his on-screen persona.

A very notable aspect of the film is its visual style: the sets and props all look excellent. The futuristic houses, round vehicles, stiff servant robots, gigantic fruits and even an unruly pudding look hilarious and the many details of the society provide chances to comment on how things are advancing in our times. Be it an orgasm-machine or nonsensical poetry, they seem to suggest we are moving towards times where ignorance revels and empty pleasure-hunting is celebrated as the only correct form of bliss; it can be said that the underlying themes of Sleeper are not unlike those of Aldous Huxley's classic novel Brave New World.

Social commentary aside, Sleeper is also a very funny comedy that appeals not only to friends of Allen's neurotic shtick but also to slapstick fans and admirers of creative production design. Diane Keaton also deserves praise for her performance that features all the necessary comical energy and makes a good pairing for the protagonist Miles. In brief, I laughed out loud several times and would rank the film highly among the handful of Allen films I've seen so far. As far as sci-fi comedies go, Sleeper is a definite winner.

In this early comedy, Woody Allen plays Miles Monroe, a twentieth century healthfood restaurant owner and jazz clarinettist who is cryogenically frozen after surgery and awoken two centuries later. The America of 2173 is a totalitarian state ruled by an oppressive dictator, and Miles has been reanimated by a group of rebels fighting to overthrow the government. For reasons too complex to set out here, Miles is forced to go on the run disguised as a robot and finds himself falling in love with his new owner, an attractive but intellectually vacant young woman named Luna. The film recounts how Miles wins Luna over to the rebel cause and tells the story of their fight against the regime.

Unlike some of Woody's later films, this is a pure comedy. It does not try to explore philosophical issues or to analyse the human condition in the same way as, say, "Hannah and her Sisters" or "Crimes and Misdemeanours". Although I normally think of Woody as a master of verbal wit, much of the humour in "Sleeper" is physical slapstick, based upon (and no doubt deliberate homage to) the comedians of the silent era such as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. (I particularly liked the scenes where Woody is disguised as a robot and those where the villains are attempting to clone the dictator, killed in a bomb explosion, from his nose). The links with that era are reinforced by the musical score, composed by Woody himself, in a jazz/ragtime style reminiscent of the 1910s and 1920s. The sets, by contrast, are very futuristic, with the clinical glass-and-chromium look of many science-fiction films. The combination of a futuristic theme with a traditional style of comedy is doubtless why the film was advertised under the slogan "Woody Allen takes a nostalgic look at the future".

This is not, however, simply a pastiche of silent humour like the one Mel Brooks was to attempt a few years later in "Silent Movie". This being a Woody Allen film, there is also a good deal of verbal humour, particularly one-liners along the lines of "I haven't seen my analyst in 200 years. He was a strict Freudian. If I'd been going all this time, I'd probably almost be cured by now". (As that line suggests, Miles is the typical, neurotically insecure Woody Allen character). As is often the case with humorous science-fiction (such as Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker" books), the humour is frequently used to make satirical points about twentieth-century society as seen from the viewpoint of an imagined future. Contemporary worries about our diet are neatly satirised by a joke about how the science of two hundred years hence has proved that fatty foods and smoking are actually beneficial to health whereas what we now think of as healthfoods are regarded as unhealthy. This joke has remained topical because anxiety about what we eat is, if anything,even greater today than it was in 1973. There is perhaps also a dig at seventies "radical chic" as the vacuous conformist Luna becomes an equally vacuous revolutionary. (The plot of "Sleeper" seems to owe something to another tongue-in-cheek science-fiction film from a few years earlier, "Barbarella", which also dealt with rebellion against a dictator and even featured similar "orgasmatron" machines; the star of that film, Jane Fonda, had by 1973 become Hollywood's most famous radical chic actress).

The humour of "Sleeper" is often directed against figures from the sixties and seventies- perhaps too much so, as this type of humour tends to date very quickly. Some of it is still funny (such as Diane Keaton's Marlon Brando impersonation), but some can now be difficult to understand, particularly for non-Americans. (I had no idea, for example, who Howard Cosell was- apparently he was a sports commentator). That is, however, a minor quibble. Overall, this is an entertaining film and, in places, very funny, combining successfully two very different styles of humour. 7/10

Woody Allen's films are generally treasured among other comedies because of their wit and charm. Many critics would agree, though, that Allen's earlier films were among his best. One of those movies was a lighthearted film called `Sleeper,' which starred a younger version of Allen and a younger, but always beautiful Diane Keaton. Although `Sleeper' leaves a person in stitches from laughter, its one flaw is that it lacks an ending. But don't let that stop you from seeing this comedy classic. In the end, who cares where it goes because it's just flat out funny. `Sleeper' is the story of Miles Monroe (Allen), who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 after having a procedure in a hospital. He is awoken nearly 200 years later by a group of scientists who want Monroe to help them defeat the leader of their society, as America's future consists of a totalitarian state. While on his adventure through this futuristic world, Monroe meets a beautiful woman named Luna Schlosser (Keaton) who he begins to have a love interest in. The two team up to try to oust their tyrannical government and bring about freedom and prosperity. `Sleeper' was hysterical from beginning to end. The very opening scene shows Monroe covered in tin foil-clearly scientists in 1973 found new and amazing uses for this wonderful kitchen product. As soon as Monroe awakens, he is disoriented, smiling aimlessly into space and walking backwards and into people. Allen's comical blend of intellect and charm shows up soon after. 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 use Monroe to fill in the historical gaps by showing him pictures of famous twentieth century individuals, such as Joseph Stalin. Monroe provides his own synopsis of their contributions to the world in his own clever way, as he does also for former President Nixon. Allen's writing, direction and performance were hilarious. Rarely do we see writing as clever and sidesplitting in today's comedies. The only other comic director today that could even compare to Allen would be Christopher Guest, whose mockumentary films such as `Best In Show,' and the recent `A Mighty Wind,' have a real source of comedy. Most present comedies are trivial, filled with rehashed jokes that depend more on toilet humor than any form of real wittiness. The film's only problem is that after an hour and a half, it doesn't seem to know what to do with itself. It ends on a clever note about love with the protagonists somehow managing to save themselves, but not really the day. They realize that perhaps the only thing worth fighting for, in the end is love. All in all, `Sleeper' was a very funny farce on science fiction stories, and it cemented Allen's ability to be an engaging and funny in his films. ***