Critic Reviews
49
Metascore
Mixed or Average
positive
9(50%)
mixed
3(17%)
negative
6(33%)
Showing 18 Critic Reviews
90
Colorful characters, richly evoked settings, epic story of friendship, crime and punishment, and a strong dose of good old-fashioned star power.
88
Two and one- half hours of gripping entertainment.
88
Sleepers, for all the doubts it raises, is the work of a man who speaks for absent friends and "for the children we were." It's his secret heart.
80
At some low, what's-next level, Sleepers works like, well, gangbusters. [28 October 1996, p. 113]
75
Engrosses if it doesn't fully convince. [18 October 1996, p.1D]
75
As entertainment, the movie functions successfully. But I don't believe the story is true--not true to the facts, and not true to the morality it pretends to be about.
75
A visual masterpiece that powerfully explores male cruelty, too.
75
Sometimes the movie lacks a quietness, an omission most egregiously felt at the end.
70
It features a pleasing mix of good-guy gumshoeing, smart-alecky dialogue and courtroom surprises.
50
Muddy, confused, and worst of all boring, Sleepers grinds to the preordained halt shared by any over-budgeted epic that lacks the simple necessity of good story.
