Released
1973
Runtime
89
Category
Language
Director
Actors
Sleeper
What's it About
Greenwich Village store owner Miles Monroe (Allen) reluctantly enters the hospital in 1973, needing treatment for an ulcer. Cryogenically frozen by his surgeon when the procedure fails, Miles reawakens in a bleak future world ruled by an unseen Orwellian Leader. Forced to disguise himself as an android to evade police, Miles eventually teams up with Pollyanna-ish greeting-card writer Luna Schlosser (Keaton) and joins the underground resistance.
Why we love it
An absurdist parody of sci-fi movies, Allen's "Sleeper" deftly mixes witty one-liners and nutty sight gags to lampoon the absurdities of contemporary society. Allen reaches Buster Keaton-esque comedic greatness here – battling a giant pudding, surviving an Orgasmatron, morphing into Blanche Dubois – and has a naturally funny, gentle rapport with Keaton, the perfect foil. With Allen's own Dixieland score providing a manic tempo for all the pratfalls and arch social commentary, "Sleeper" is one of the writer-director's looniest and most hilarious efforts.