ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610210110
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 7 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
"Sleepers" suffers from an unusual lack of focus, both in characters and in plot. Reportedly based on real events, the story becomes increasingly far-fetched until it ends in a trial that stretches credulity beyond all limits.
By then, though, many viewers will have ceased to care what happens in writer/director Barry Levinson's lethargically paced drama.
It begins in Hell's Kitchen in New York City, 1966, with four young friends, Lorenzo, Michael, Tommy and John. They're mischievous scamps - altar boys for Father Bobby (Robert DeNiro), even though they also work for Mafia hitman King Benny (Vittorio Gassman). But after a prank goes awry, they're sentenced to a long stretch at a reformatory where they're repeatedly raped and abused by the guards, led by Nokes (Kevin Bacon).
Many years later, Tommy (Billy Crudup) and John (Ron Eldard) run into Nokes and take their revenge. By this time, Michael (Brad Pitt) is a district attorney and Lorenzo (Jason Patric) works at a newspaper. Lorenzo and Michael conspire with Father Bobby, their friend Carol (Minnie Driver) and Snyder (Dustin Hoffman), a drunken lawyer, to free Tommy and John.
At the same time, they mean to expose the corruption of the system and to right all past wrongs while keeping everything secret.
The first problem is the subject. It's almost impossible to deal with this kind of child abuse in popular entertainment without cheapening it. Second, with so many stars in the key roles, Levinson has to divide the action evenly. Is the story about Michael's legal trickery? The relationship between Carol and Lorenzo who's also our narrator? Father Bobby's key decision? Snyder's courtroom bumbling?
It's obvious in several key scenes, that Levinson is using Coppola's "The Godfather" as his model. The film reaches for that same scope, that same rich New York mixture of Catholicism and crime. Some scenes come close, but even a long film - this one's almost two and-a-half hours - is the wrong dramatic medium for a story that's trying to cover so many years, changes and characters.
Finally, the embarrassment of wealth in casting doesn't work either. Despite the large number of highly popular actors, who all do solid work, the film's star power is diluted.
Sleepers **
A Warner Bros. release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View 6. 149 minutes. Rated R for subject matter, graphic violence, strong language.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB