Review of Sleepwalk with Me (2012) by Ryan H — 11 Sep 2012

Sleepwalk With Me reminded me of the same way I felt about Jeff, Who Lives At Home; it's uneven at times and has it's problems, but it's so charming and heartfelt and honest that what didn't work didn't bother me too much.

It starts out with one of my favorite jokes from Mike Birbiglia's stand-up where he says that people come up and asks him if his stories are true and he says yes and they ask, "really," to which he has no clue how to reply other than to say yes louder.

This is a great way to start out the film. Tell the fans they are in for things they've heard before but in a new setting while also set up new people for things they can begin to enjoy. The whole film isn't a repetition of his jokes, but if you've seen his one man show this is based on then you probably know most of what's going on.

What's unique about this is that you get to see the stories come to life, and if you're a fan like me then that's definitely a good thing. I was hoping to see the time when he jumps out of a window and gets stitches in his leg.

It sounded preposterous and I was glad that it was included. What this film's really about, though, is taking the rapid eye movement behavior disorder and giving it a purpose. He doesn't just get these because he's stressed about going on the road.

It mainly happens because he has been in an 8 year relationship with his girlfriend and everyone around him's getting married, which is putting pressure on him to decide whether or not to marry her.

The first time we see him sleepwalk is the night after their possible marriage is brought up with his family. He starts kicking a clothes basket in the middle of the night thinking it's a jackal. Here's a man who is in his late twenties or early thirties, dating the same woman for eight years, and working in a bar while hoping to become a standup comedian.

This is the time in his life he should have things figured out in either the job or love field, preferably both. But his jokes are stale because he's been doing the same ones for 12 years. He's still making jokes about the Cookie Monster and the A-Team.

And he only has about 10 minutes worth of material. One of my favorite moments was when he was on stage and had to fill 30 minutes and the comedian who follows him tells him to make fun of the audience or pull something else out.

Because of this, Matt tells a guy his shirt looks stupid out of nowhere. Of course he apologizes right away then carries on. When Matt hits his stride after realizing he should be using jokes about his real life he starts getting tons of gigs.

So much that he hardly sees Abby anymore. This might be a good thing because it can buy him time to figure out what he wants to do, or it could be bad because we see that she might be interested in other men when he's not around.

There's a scene when Matt cheats on Abby while on the road, and I was really glad that never became a fight between them, or the cause of their breakup. Instead it plays as something that's hidden below the surface after they become engaged.

We know this isn't right and so does he. We know he knows it's not right because he tells us he's in the future too. But while on the road he still has his sleepwalking problems, such as imagining the comedian at the bar ready to shoot him, so Matt goes running away in the hotel.

Then of course there's the dream about jumping out a window to help save the people because a bombed is aimed directly for him. They get worse as he becomes more stressed and worried about where he's going in his life.

In the end, of course since this is a movie about maturation, Matt and Abby break up. He comes back from a long trip and explains that they just can't get married she says she knows. Years later, when Matt's telling us this story, he says that he went and visited Abby again and she's married with kids and he asks why she didn't break up with him because they both knew the relationship was doomed she said because she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

They stayed together because they didn't want to hurt each other. This of course makes its way into his comedy, just like everything else in his life. His comedy connects people with their lives and their real issues which is what makes him so popular.

And today he still has the rapid eye movement behavior disorder, but he says he thinks that's okay. Basically it's okay because we're all messed up and that we will never find a spot in our lives where everything's calm and peaceful.

There will always be something hectic to stress you out, but you just have to go with things in your life that you know are right and make you happy. It's honest, sweet, and funny. I'm really glad Mike Birbiglia found a way to bring his one man show to the big screen.