Sleepwalk with Me (***)

The comedian Mike Birbiglia is perhaps best known to the several million listeners of public radio’s This American Life (including me), which helped popularize the autobiographical monologues that he had done on stage. The show’s host, Ira Glass, is a producer and cowriter of this film. The particular problem Birbiglia has, in which he sometimes acts out his dreams while still sleeping, has already been a basis for a stage show, a comedy album, and a book. It is one of the three plot pillars of Birbiglia’s film, in which the character he plays is called Matt Pandamiglio. The other two pillars are Matt/Mike’s efforts to transition from a dead-end bartending job to success as a New York-based standup, and his erstwhile eight-years-and-counting relationship with his girlfriend (Lauren Ambrose).

Of the three, the sleep disorder part may be most interesting to those who haven’t already heard about it on the radio or the stage. For those who have, getting to see the La Quinta Inn where a certain episode occurred may be a bonus, but the visuals render it unfortunate, not funny, as it is in story form. Other dreams, shown from Matt’s view as if real, are funny, though. The comic-on-the-road segments are welcome, that being relatively unexplored turf in cinema. I do suspect, however, that where Matt’s breakthrough seems to follow easily once he starts doing more personal material, Mike’s probably involved more stops and starts and hard work than is seen here.

The relationship plotline, with Matt as the commitment-phobic guy (if I can oversimplify), is the most familiar one, and the one that takes up the biggest chunk of the film’s 90 minutes. It’s not a bad portrait of a relationship that’s become merely comfortable. Matt says everyone thinks “the best thing about my life is my girlfriend,” which is a nice line. He feels pressure because his sister is getting married after a much-less-than-eight-year courtship, but still won’t move forward. Carol Kane and James Rebhorn have a few scenes as the parents; Rebhorn is funny as the well-meaning yet mildly irritating father.

Gluing these three themes are connecting segments with Mike/Matt narrating as he drives along, telling the audience to turn off cell phones and, in one case, apologizing for the stupid thing his younger self has just done on screen. “I know,” he says. “I’m in the future, too. ” This way of putting it is as least as good an example of his bewildered-by-his-own-life sensibility as we get in the movie. It’s a line from his stand-up act. If you’re not big on radio programs and podcasts, this warm comedic drama is still worth your while, and goes down as easy as Birbiglia’s puppy-dog voice and mien. But look online for the This American Life episodes that feature Birbiglia for what is still the best introduction to his brand of idiosyncratic, yet easily relatable humor. Look especially for the one about his adolescent desire to make out with a girl, a subject absent from this movie but that might well be the basis for another one.
IMDb link

viewed 9/12/12 at Ritz Bourse [PFS screening] and reviewed 9/12–14/12