Sleeping Dogs Lie
When the name Bobcat Goldthwait appeared on the screen at the end of Sleeping Dogs Lie, an audience member let out “no wonder it was so weird.” But the film is not that weird. It deals with issues that most everyone has to confront, including – but not limited to – trust, relationships and family. However, it surrounds a peculiar circumstance, which we won’t spoil for you. The film focuses around the first scene, an event that becomes the catalyst and raises issues – specifically, the issue of whether people should have secrets? Or, on the flip side, does one need to have no secrets for relationships to work?
Amy (Melinda Page Hamilton) is near engagement with John (Bryce Hamilton). The story proposes the conflict concerning of whether Amy should reveal her secret to John, or if some things are better kept secret. he realizes there is a secret, but he can’t get her to spill it even when he confronts her. This produces an insatiable desire in John to know the hidden truth.
The film takes hysterical twists and turns due to information only privy to the viewers. The secret creates a string of events from the start; especially once the couple goes to Amy’s parents house, the film will make you grab your seat, bite the bill of your hat, or slap your partners knee. It may be comparable to a Meet the Parents film, but it is so stylistically removed from the commonplace.
This is the third feature from director Goldthwait (my favorite cadet from Police Academy), and the comedy that we’ve come to expect from such a well-respected comedian is also in good favor for some really sentimental scenes. But it is not sentimental in a bad way; the film captures an uncommon feel for drama mixed with comedy. It realizes the seriousness in the comedy, and locates the comedy in the drama.
The secret in the film is not the point. It is the exploration of the consequences of truth, and the failure of expectations. Goldthwait craftily understands the dynamics of family structure, and though very typical, I don’t think that the paths taken here are the typicality for which that most critics might take the film to task. It is important to realize that the film doesn’t fail because it is similar to so many others, but it succeeds in its ability to pose a question that most need to consider in a funny, entertaining way.
© 2006 Myles David Jewell. All rights reserved.
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