At the start of Sleepwalk With Me, Mike Birbiglia turns to
the camera and insists that the story we are about to see is true. He also
reminds the audience to turn off their mobile phones, before he recalls being
in a cinema when a fellow audience member answered his phone with "Who
dis?" – "Not only was he willing to talk to someone on the phone, he
was willing to talk to anyone on the phone!" a perplexed Birbiglia
exclaims. This opening quickly establishes the style that will carry Birbiglia
through his debut feature; the stand-up comic's wry observations on everyday
absurdities, the frequent reiteration that all of this really happened, and the
direct address to the viewer, which allows him to take us into his confidence
and ask for our support. "It's important before I tell you this portion of
the story to remind you that you're on my side," he tells us before an
episode that potrays him in a particularly unflattering light.
Birbiglia's ability to keep us onside even as his behaviour
occasionally appalls us is one of the key factors in Sleepwalk With Me's
success. He has given the leading character in the film the name Matt
Pandamiglio, but the events his film depicts are drawn from those covered in
Birbiglia's confessional one-man show. Matt is an aspiring stand-up comedian
whose aspirations haven't been dimmed by the lack of success he has had with
his few performances to date. His girlfriend Abby (Lauren Ambrose) is
supportive of his ambitions, but she wants something more from their long and
now stagnating relationship. Abby has started talk of marriage and kids,
something which sends Matt into paroxysms of anxiety, and that anxiety
manifests itself as a series of incredibly vivid dreams and sleepwalking
episodes.
One of the more persistent and troubling archetypes in
recent American comedy is the selfish, commitment-phobic schlub who nonetheless
manages to sustain a relationship with a woman who clearly deserves much
better. When the star of the film is the director or creative force of the
picture, this disparity between partners can come off looking like narcissism
or wish-fulfilment, and some viewers will surely note that Matt doesn't deserve
a woman as virtuous and lovely as Abby, even before his behaviour seals the
deal. Much of the film is based around his unkindness and deception. When he
finally gets the opportunity to take his act on the road, driving hundreds of
miles for low-rent gigs, his first spark of success comes after he introduces
his marriage woes into his routine with the line, "I don't want to get
married until I'm sure nothing else good can happen in my life." Matt
makes his relationship with Abby the central thread of his act, hiding this
fact from her while she waits at home, proud of his promising progress reports
from the road.
Birbiglia gets away with it partly through his own affable
charm, and partly because his film feels so well-observed and sincere. Both the
portrait of a young comedian's struggles and the scenes of awkward domesticity
feel authentically depicted, and the fantasy interludes drawn from Birbiglia's
nightmares ensure the film feels more accomplished cinematically than a
stand-up's adaptation of his own routine might otherwise have been. In many
respects, the tone and content of the film recalls Annie Hall, though there's a
rough-and-ready quality to Birbiglia's filmmaking that leaves it falling short
of Allen's great relationship comedy. There is plenty of promise evident in
Sleepwalk With Me, though, and Birbiglia has already stated his intention to
adapt his latest autobiographical comedy routine for the screen too. In
Sleepwalk With Me he manages to play himself as the bad guy and still earn our sympathy; whether he'll be able to pull off the same trick
twice is an open question.