''The Sleepover'' is a 2020 American

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

directed by

Trish Sie Patricia Mary Sie ( ''née'' Kulash; born October 11, 1971) is an American film and music video director, best known for directing the films '' Step Up: All In'' (2014) and ''Pitch Perfect 3'' (2017), as well as music videos, particularly for t ...

, from a screenplay by Sarah Rothschild. It stars Sadie Stanley, Maxwell Simkins,

Ken Marino Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as '' Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', '' Burning Love'', and '' Chil ...

Cree Cicchino Cree Cicchino (born May 9, 2002) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actress playing one of the lead characters, Babe, in the Nickelodeon comedy television series '' Game Shakers'', which aired from 2015 to 2019. She then went ...

, Lucas Jaye,

Karla Souza Karla Susana Olivares Souza (born December 11, 1985) is a Mexican actress known for her roles as Laurel Castillo on the ABC legal drama series ''How to Get Away with Murder'' and Marina Hayworth on the ABC sitcom ''Home Economics''. Early lif ...

Enuka Okuma Enuka Vanessa Okuma (; born September 20, 1976) is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as detective Traci Nash in the Global/ ABC police drama series, ''Rookie Blue'' (2010–2015). Okuma is also known for her work on the Canadian televis ...

Erik Griffin Erik Griffin is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor. He played Montez Walker on Comedy Central's ''Workaholics''. He has had acting roles in ''Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates'', ''I'm Dying Up Here'', and ''Blunt Talk.'' Early l ...

Joe Manganiello Joseph Michael Manganiello ( ; , ; born December 28, 1976) is an American actor. His professional film career began when he played Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man''. His breakout role was as werewolf Alcide Herveaux in five seasons of ...

, and

Malin Åkerman Malin Maria Åkerman (born 12 May 1978) is a Swedish actress. In the early 2000s, she had several small television and film parts in both Canadian and American productions, including '' The Utopian Society'' (2003) and ''Harold & Kumar Go to Wh ...

. It tells the story about a girl and her friends having a sleepover when they learn that her mother is a former thief under witness protection that gets roped back into that life when her old group successfully locates her. The film was released on August 21, 2020 by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

Plot

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Clancy Finch is invited by her crush Travis Schultz to a party at his house. Her brother Kevin is caught dancing in the restroom by some older students who record him and bully him, but Clancy's and Kevin's mother Margot, the lunch monitor, scares them away. The bullies upload a remix video of Kevin dancing and Margot admonishing them to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

, where it quickly goes viral, gaining over two million views. Kevin, Clancy, and her friend Mim are picked up by their father Ron, an awkward pastry chef. Clancy asks her parents if she can go to Travis's party and they both say no, leading to her insulting her mother and getting grounded. Later, Kevin's friend Lewis comes over for a sleepover in a tent in the backyard. That night, Clancy and Mim sneak out. On their way to the party, they first scare the boys, causing Lewis to run into the house to pee. While in the bathroom, he notices a man and a woman break into the house, force Ron at gun point and Margot (whom they call "Matilda") to come with them under threat of Ron's death to get their group back together. Margot agrees, removing her necklace as a clueless Ron is brought along. Lewis runs back to the tent and tells the others what happened. Not believing him, the four run back inside until they notice United States Marshals Agent Henry Gibbs sneaking into the house. An intruder, they attack him, tying him to a chair. He tells them Margot was in the

Witness Protection Program Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...

because she turned in the boss of the crime syndicate she was in, but has been located due to the viral video. In another location, Elise and her associate are briefed on the mission. Also present is Margot's criminal ex-fiancé Leo Bouchot, who had been in the Witness Protection Program before he was found. The kids follow clues Margot left them in the flour and her necklace when she was taken away, leading them to a storage unit, a secret spy center. They take a self-driving spy car to Travis's party. Travis agrees to take them to

Downtown Boston Downtown Boston is the central business district of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The city of Boston was founded in 1630. The largest of the city's commercial districts, Downtown is the location of many corporate or regional headquarters; ...

in his family's boat, but they are stopped by the

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

and he has a revoked license. The four jump off and swim away, then reach the building where they believe their parents are located. They instead find a secret passageway behind a painting of Margot's favorite poet

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

leading them to the hideout of Margot's best friend Jay, who tracks Margot's GPS chip to an extravagant gala. Jay tells the kids to stay, but Clancy handcuffs her to a pipe so they can all leave. At the gala, Ron, Margot, and Leo are attempting to steal Queen of Moldana's crown by poisoning her. Upon meeting her, Ron accidentally ingests the poison and vomits everywhere, gala security then detains them. When they are about to be sent to the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

, Margot and Leo knock out all the security guards. They go with Ron to the main floor, where they find the four kids, who got in by pretending to be live musicians. The seven escape to Leo's safe house. There, they discover Leo was never in the Witness Protection Program, but is actually the new head of the syndicate. Elise holds them at gunpoint and calls the police to frame them for the theft. Ron throws a

wolf spider Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae (). They are robust and agile hunters with excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or ...

at her to make her drop her gun and then shoots the chandelier at her. Margot hot-wires a car that Ron uses to drive Leo into a bunch of

construction barrel Construction barrels (officially known as "drums" in the United States) are traffic control devices used to channel motor vehicle traffic through construction sites or to warn motorists of construction activity near the roadway. They are used pri ...

s, then Margot kicks the crown out of his hands and Clancy catches it. The

Boston Police The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

arrest Leo and those involved. Henry drives everyone back to the Finch house where Travis returns Clancy's jacket and Lewis's mother picks him up. Everyone returns to their normal lives.

Cast

* Sadie Stanley as Clancy, a young girl who is the daughter of Ron and Margot * Maxwell Simkins as Kevin, the brother of Clancy *

as Ron, an awkward pastry chef who is the father of Clancy and Kevin *

as Mim, a social media-obsessed friend of Clancy and Kevin * Lucas Jaye as Lewis, an uptight friend of Kevin *

as Jay, the best friend of Margot *

as Elise / Dark Figure, a criminal that knows Matilda *

as Henry Gibbs, a United States Marshals Agent *

as Leo, Matilda's ex-fiancé who becomes the new leader of the crime syndicate that Matilda was a part of *

as Margot, a former thief for a crime syndicate who is in the witness protection program operating as a lunch monitor * Harry Aspinwall as Baxter / Pizza Guy, who delivers pizzas * Matthew Grimaldi as Travis Schultz, Clancy's love interest * Marissa Carpio as Mrs. Patoc * Savanna Winter as Emma / Mean Girl * Daniel Washington as Head of Security * Jasbir Mann as King of Moldana * Enku Gubaie as Queen of Moldana

Production

In August 2019, it was announced

, Sadie Stanley, Maxwell Simkins, Cree Cicchino and Lucas Jaye had joined the cast of the film, with

directing from a screenplay by Sarah Rothschild. LD Entertainment will produce the film, while

will distribute.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in August 2019.

Release

It was released on August 21, 2020 on

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

assigned the film a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on nine critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sleepover, The 2020 films 2020 action comedy films American action comedy films Films scored by Germaine Franco LD Entertainment films English-language Netflix original films United States Marshals Service in fiction Films shot in Massachusetts Films set in Massachusetts Films directed by Trish Sie 2020s English-language films 2020s American films