''Sleep with Me'' is a 1994 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by Rory Kelly and starring

Meg Tilly Meg Tilly (born Margaret Elizabeth Chan on February 14, 1960) is an American-Canadian actress and writer. For her role in the 1985 film ''Agnes of God'', she won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting A ...

, Eric Stoltz and

Craig Sheffer Craig Eric Sheffer (born April 23, 1960) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his leading roles as Norman Maclean in the film ''A River Runs Through It (film), A River Runs Through It, ''Aaron Boone in the film ''Nightbreed' ...

, who play good friends that become involved in a love triangle, a relationship complicated by the marriage of Tilly's and Stoltz's characters. It also features

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations. Posey made her film debu ...

Joey Lauren Adams Joey Lauren Adams (born January 9, 1968) is an American actress and director. Adams starred in ''Chasing Amy'', for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and played smaller role ...

, and a cameo by

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, Black comedy, dark humor, Nonlinear narrative, non-lin ...

, in which he expounds on the

homoerotic Homoeroticism is sexual attraction between members of the same sex, either male–male or female–female. The concept differs from the concept of homosexuality: it refers specifically to the desire itself, which can be temporary, whereas "homose ...

subtext of '' Top Gun'' to

Todd Field William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for directing three feature films: ''In the Bedroom'' (2001), '' Little Children'' (2006), and ''Tár'' (2022). He has received three Academy Award nomi ...

. Six different writers wrote a scene each about the arc and development of the relation between the protagonists, including Kelly. The film was screened in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section at the

1994 Cannes Film Festival The 47th Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 1994. The Palme d'Or went to the American film ''Pulp Fiction'' directed by Quentin Tarantino. The festival opened with ''The Hudsucker Proxy'', directed by Joel Coen and closed with ''Seri ...

. The film was a Gala Presentation at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival.

Cast

as Sarah * Eric Stoltz as Joseph *

as Frank *

Lewis Arquette Lewis Michael Arquette (December 14, 1935 – February 10, 2001) was an American film actor, writer, and producer. Arquette was known for playing J.D. Pickett on the television series ''The Waltons'', on which he worked from 1978 to 1981. Life ...

as Minister *

as Duane *

Adrienne Shelly Adrienne Levine (June 24, 1966 – November 1, 2006), better known by the stage name Adrienne Shelly (sometimes credited as Adrienne Shelley), was an American actress, film director and screenwriter. She became known for roles in independen ...

* Susan Traylor as Deborah *

Tegan West Tegan West (born in April 26, 1959 in California, USA) is an American actor and writer who worked in television, stage and film. He was married to actor Scott Atkinson. Career His film roles include ''Grace of My Heart, Sleep with Me, Spontaneo ...

as Rory *

Dean Cameron Dean Cameron (born Dean Eikleberry; December 25, 1962) is an American television and film actor and musician. He is known for his role as Francis "Chainsaw" Gremp in the 1987 Mark Harmon comedy '' Summer School''. He also played Dave Marshak i ...

as Leo * Amaryllis Borrego as Amy *

Thomas Gibson Thomas Ellis Gibson (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his television roles as Daniel Nyland on ''Chicago Hope'' (1994–1997), Greg Montgomery on ''Dharma & Greg'' (1997–2002) and Aaron Hotchner on ''C ...

as Nigel *

as Athena *

as Lauren * Alida P. Field as Gina * Vanessa Angel as Marianne *

June Lockhart June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American actress, beginning a film career in 1930s & 1940s in such films at ''A Christmas Carol'' and ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. She primarily acted in 1950s and 1960s television, and with performances on ...

as Caroline *

as Sid * Alexandra Hedison as Brunette Actress

Reception

The film received mostly negative reviews. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has a 21% rating, based on 14 reviews. Despite playing to standing ovations at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and being surrounded by a great deal of early buzz, the film suffered from distribution issues—namely, that it was acquired by a reorganized

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

and not a specialty division. Consequently it made no more festival appearances, was marketed by MGM as a mainstream romp, and was ignored by most top critics. One of the exceptions was

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

for the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

''. who wrote

Year-end lists

* Honorable mention – David Elliott, ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

Soundtrack

*"Wasted" (

Pere Ubu Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their ...

) *"Howl" ( Syd Straw) *"E Rockin 'It" ( Chucklehead) *"Funk Is on the Loose" ( Chucklehead) *"Ab Traffic Jam" ( Chucklehead) *"I Live in a Nice House" (

Thelonious Monster Thelonious Monster is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, led by singer-songwriter Bob Forrest and named after jazz musician Thelonious Monk. Active from 1984 to 1994, again from 2004 to 2011, and reforming a second time i ...

) *"Big Dumb Song" ( Chucklehead) *"Shaken" (Crossed Wire) *"I'm Yours" (Crossed Wire) *"Retrosexy" ( Chucklehead) *"Maybe You Should Change Your Name" (El Caminos) *"Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out" (El Caminos) *"I Miss You" (

) *"Daddy's Dead in Momma's Head" (

) *"Nocturne No. 2, Op. 9, in E-Flat Major" (

Peter Schmalfuss Peter Schmalfuss (13 January 1937 – 23 October 2008) was a German classical pianist born in Berlin, Germany. He studied with Walter Gieseking, Adrian Aeschbacher and, at the Beethoven-Class Positano, with Wilhelm Kempff. In 1960 he began touring ...

) (Sourced from IMDbSoundtrack for Sleep with Me
/ref>)

References

External links

* * * {{Mojo title, sleepwithme 1994 films 1990s romantic comedy-drama films American romantic comedy-drama films United Artists films 1994 comedy films 1994 drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films