Sleeping Dogs Lie: When's the truth too much?

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****

The shock of Sleeping Dogs Lie comes early on. If you’ve heard about the movie, you're likely to be "in" on its singular event. But what will surprise--nay, flabbergast--is that the film was written and directed by stand-up comic Bobcat Goldthwait. That's right: the director of Shakes the Clown. Given that exceptionally screechy, over-the-top movie and the subject matter of this new one, you could be forgiven for expecting something witless, ugly and unappetizing in the extreme. And if you are one who gives points to filmmakers who handle tricky subjects tastefully, forget it. Goldthwait isn't tasteful here, either. Better than that, he gives you everything you need to see, hear and consequently feel without going one step too far--or not far enough. It's been sixteen years between Shakes and Dogs, and while Goldthwait has directed only a handful of entertainments--all for television--he's managed to learn quite a lot. Maybe it's the ton of acting jobs he's essayed (more than 70 of them in his 22-year career) that's led him to this point.

The film that I might most compare Sleeping Dogs Lie to is Craig Chester's Adam and Steve from 2005. Both deal with an event so shocking and embarrassing to the participant that each movie revolves around how to address this event--with honesty or something less. Goldthwait introduces us to his main character (the pretty, intelligent and spunky young woman who commits the "act", played by Melinda Page Hamilton), her boyfriend, parents, brother, co-worker and a few others, each of whom creates a genuine character via intelligent writing and his/her own acting ability, which, in every case, is noteworthy. Nobody pushes; every moment is clean and real. The result is a movie with numerous quiet laughs (and one screamingly funny fantasy), some sadness and surprise. I have heard, bandied about by certain critics, word of Bobcat's lack of visual skill. Fair enough, the movie will win no awards for technical prowess. Still, there is nothing here to be embarrassed about, either. In terms of honoring difficult content, of taking a subject fraught with potholes and pitfalls but navigating it skillfully and truly right through to the finale, this long-gestating writer/director has bloomed at last.