Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Sleep with Me Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 9, 2016

Rory Kelly's "Sleep with Me" (1994) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original theatrical trailer for the film. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The not so perfect couple

I don’t know what it feels like because I have never had an experience like it, but I am pretty sure that it is tough to handle. How can it not be? Your best friend marries a beautiful girl whom you have known for as long as you have known him and soon after you suddenly realize that you always wanted her for yourself. To make things worse she also admits to you that she wanted to be with you, but because you never told her how you felt about her she ended up with your friend. How do you come to terms with this? To be honest, I don’t know if you can. Maybe as you get older you will learn to hide the disappointment and pain better and pretend that it no longer matters to you, but I think that deep inside you will always know that you missed your one big opportunity to be truly happy.

Something pretty similar happens to Frank (Craig Sheffer, Fire with Fire) after his best friend Joseph (Eric Stoltz, Killing Zoe) marries Sarah (Meg Tilly, The Big Chill). They go for a walk on the beach and Frank suddenly discovers that he could have had something very special with Sarah, but because he never opened his heart to her she ended up with Joseph. Sarah also realizes that she could have been with Frank if she would have given him a reason to believe that she was interested in him. The discoveries then abruptly force Frank and Sarah out of their comfort zones and place them right in the middle of some very awkward situations.

Meanwhile, the happily married but clueless Joseph begins to feel that his relationship with Sarah may not be as bulletproof as he had initially assumed but struggles to understand why. It all begins to make sense to him after Frank surprises everyone and announces how he feels about Sarah. However, instead of getting to the bottom of the ‘problem’ Joseph also surprises their mutual friends with some very unconventional counter plays.

The film has a fairly straightforward feel-good finale but only because first-time director Rory Kelly chose to end it while Frank, Joseph, and Sarah were still young. The film's message seems to be that eventually real friends find a way to work things out and life usually returns to normal. I don’t buy it. If you truly loved someone special and this person ended up with someone else, you will never forget. If you do, then you were only fooling yourself that you wanted this person to be an inseparable part of your life. It is really that simple.

It is interesting that the script for the film was written by six different writers, all good friends. I am willing to bet that at least two of them had their hearts broken by someone that ended up with someone else they knew. This must be the reason why in the film the balance between comedy and drama is so uncharacteristically fluid -- the quirkiness and humor probably mask some real pain that the writers wanted removed from their lives.

There is a tremendous sequence featuring a typically energetic Quentin Tarantino. I don’t want to spoil it, but I have to say that Tarantino’s deconstruction of Top Gun is spot on. The unfiltered delivery is pretty damn funny too.

Sleep with Me Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Rory Kelly's Sleep with Me arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The master that was used to source the release is not new, but the for the most part the film looks decent in high-definition. The darker footage is where you will notice the most prominent source limitations -- shadow definition and depth are not optimal and some highlights appear slightly elevated. When there is an abundance of natural light, however, detail and fluidity are typically good. Ideally grain should be better exposed and resolved, but there are no traces of recent digital corrections. Colors are stable, but the range of nuances should be better. Overall image stability is very good. A few tiny flecks pop up, but there are no distracting cuts, debris, damage marks, stains, or warps to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Sleep with Me Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitle are not provided for the main feature.

There are no technical anomalies to report. My feeling is that there is some room for improvement in terms of depth and balance in the mid/high registers, but the film has a pretty fluid sound design and there are momentary fluctuations that are in fact inherited. The dialog is stable and easy to follow.

Sleep with Me Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original trailer for Sleep with Me. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

Sleep with Me Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There was a period during the early 1990s when a few independent directors delivered some very refreshing romantic comedies. Rory Kelly's Sleep with Me is one of them, and you probably also remember Andrew Fleming's Threesome and Yurek Bogayevicz's Three of Hearts. I quite liked these films because even though they had a fair share of flaws they were not oversanitized or unbearably cynical like the various unfunny comedies Hollywood produces today. If you remember enjoying Sleep with Me, consider adding Olive Films' release to your collections. RECOMMENDED.