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The story's premise has a clarinet player,
health food store operator who lived in Greenwich Village New
York , Miles Monroe (Allen) who was cryogenically frozen in
1973, after he had gone in for a simple operation, and something
went wrong. The story begins 200 years in the future, where,
in secret, underground antigovernment doctors have snuck his
capsule into a lab. They thaw him out, and took him back to
their house / headquarters where he fully recovers in a few
days. They then inform him about why they had illegally revived
him from his frozen sleep, and the reality of their totalitarian
government, run by an absolute dictator, known as "Our
Leader." The doctors then instruct
him that his mission must be to find out what the government's
Aerie's project is, and stop it. Miles, is reluctant to take
on the assignment, but is given no choice when the government
police suddenly show up at the house, forcing Miles to flee.
He barely escapes by disguising himself as
a mechanical servant, in a delivery truck. He is the last mechanical
servant to be dropped off, at an eccentric poet's house, by
the name of Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton). This easily to become
upset, poetic princess totally loves her life as it is, and
doesn't understand dissension. After a disastrous dinner party,
where Miles has problems with using new age mechanical devices,
and fights a monstrous instant pudding attack, Luna decides
to take him in to the local mechanical fix-it shop, where she
can get his head changed and his circuits checked.
After a hilarious sequence of events in the
fix it shop, Miloe escapes and jumps into Luna's electric car,
as she returns to pick up what she believes is now her esthetically
more pleasing, better performing robot. After he pleads his
case with her, she starts to scream for help. Miles is forced
to hijack her car, making her a hostile, uncooperative prisoner.
After some rather funny occurrences, Luna,
however, manages to arrange secretly with the police to have
Miles caught and herself rescued, by borrowing a space suit
from some rather odd people. Much to her dismay, the police
upon finding Luna and Miles, want to destroy her on the spot
because of the contamination she received for being with "the
alien." Miles rescues her in a unique way, and escapes
with her, as the air from space suit propels them at a fast
speed up a river.
Thus begins their adventures, and the laughs
keep coming, as Luna manages to find Bruno, the leader of the
Marxist underground, when Miles is captured and is assimilated
into "society" after a humorous brainwashing treatment,
which takes away his identity, and gives him a new self that
is more socially acceptable for this totalitarian run society,
where every aspect of one's life is planned for, by an all knowing
government.
Bruno and his boys, with Luna kidnap Miles
from his new apartment and mechanical dog, Rex, and undo his
brain washing. Then it is their mission to find out what the
Aerie's project is and gum up the works.
Sleeper is a classic because of its hilarious,
creative screenplay, brilliant pacing, gifted direction, physical
comedy that is perfectly done, clever props & sight gags,
and a terrific cast. A ragtime - style musical score, by the
Preservation Hall Jazz Band, in which Allen is a member, adds
to the fun of the film, enhancing the action of the story. Comedy
Sci-Fi is difficult to pull off. In a mixed bag of films that
includes "Galaxina," "Ice Pirates," and
"Spaceballs," "Sleeper" is definitely the
cream of the crop.
One of my favorite scenes involves Keaton and
Allen. As Allen attempts to regain his identity, he acts out
a scene with Keaton, from "Streetcar Named Desire,"
with Keaton playing Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), role and
with Allen playing Blanche DuBois (Vivian Leigh). Hilarious.
The comedic talent of Woody Allen isn't limited
to writing, directing, and a humorous delivery of his lines.
His physical acting is also chortle provoking. Favorite sequences
of scenes that illustrate this fact are the ones where he impersonates
a humanoid robot. His performances in these scenes have the
charm and whimsy of the silent film work of Chaplin and Keaton.
Diane Keaton's flair and talent for comedy
is showcased in this film, and it works well with Woody Allen's
abilities. She successfully transforms from a self-centered,
hypersensitive poet, to a hostile, whining captive, to a back
to basics rebel.
If you enjoyed SLEEPER you may like "Play
It Again, Sam," "Manhattan Murder
Mystery," "Annie Hall," and/or
"The First Wives Club."
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SLEEPER
... THE COMEDY REVIEW 
