Sleepover Reviews

John Sullivan's first feature would probably put the audience to sleep if it weren't for the honest and mature performances of the young ensemble cast. Trite doesn't begin to describe the familiarity of the terrain: teen ennui, alcohol, drugs, cars, sex, music, racism and broken homes in suburban, upper-middle-class Connecticut. Viewers will know what's coming long before the film ever gets there. The often unsympathetic characters function better as types than as individual personalities, the better to learn their stock lessons: Drugs are bad, giving in to peer pressure is bad, drinking is bad, racism is bad... you get the picture. Amazingly (and doubtless due in part to Sullivan's skillful direction), the portrayals are complex, heartfelt and powerfully moving in all the key moments, despite flaccid dialogue and hackneyed predicaments that could have stumped far more experienced actors. And the cinematography by Joaquin Baca-Asay is the richest, most successful use of 16mm film in recent memory. Ultimately, this Afterschool Special (with dirty words) squanders its copious reserves of talent on the cliched material. But it's clear that if John Sullivan ever got hold of a first-rate script, he'd be a director to reckon with.