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Yar, you be here: The Sleeping Dictionary > Customer Reviews The Sleeping Dictionary Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 28 Reviews)I liked it despite myself.
The Sleeping Dictionary (Guy Jenkin, 2003) I have to admit, I rented this for the sole purpose of seeing Jessica Alba naked (well, okay, Jessica Alba's body double naked). The fact that it had a surprisingly high-powered cast I found out later. And despite itself, the movie managed to keep me interested, so it wasn't that bad. The time: the 1930s. The place: Borneo, the English bit. John Truscott (Ella Enchanted's Hugh Dancy) is fresh out of school and ready to civilize the barbarians. The local guv'nor (Bob Hoskins) and his wife (Little Voice's Brenda Blethyn) try to keep Truscott stiff-upper-lip British while acclimatizing him to the local customs, the oddest of them being that an Englishman's language tutor is also his bedmate-- the "sleeping dictionary" of the title. Of course, said sleeping dictionaries are to be used and left so the stiff upper etc. can go back to society and marry a proper English girl. More fool Truscott, then, for his SD is Selima (Jessica Alba), who is, well, devastatingly hot. Needless to say, his upper lip wilts relatively quickly (all the blood must have rushed off somewhere else)-- just in time to find out that the guv'nor is setting Truscott up with his daughter Cecil (Red Dragon's Emily Mortimer), whom guv desperately hopes he'll marry to keep her out of the clutches of Neville (Max's Noah Taylor), whom no one likes. It's all got that vaguely superior "but, fatha, the natives are people just like us!" feel to it that aspires to equality and yet still retains a distinct, though faint, odor of racism-- lily-white chap learns to love the natives despite their barbaric ways and all that nonsense. Still, for mildly offensive formula filmmaking, it's at least watchable, and Truscott's stubborn refusal to let go of his naivete comes off both stupid and, in its way, charming. The characters are two-dimensional, for the most part (Hoskins' character is predictable, but at least slightly thicker than the rest of the cardboard cutouts). You could pull up the English colonials and drop in thirties superheroes, and they wouldn't really seem out of place. Despite all this, and despite my best efforts, I found myself-- not liking it, really, but not hating it, either. I probably wouldn't watch it again, but I don't feel like demanding my money back. (Good thing, as the library doesn't charge me anything to borrow movies.) ** ½ The Sleeping Dictionary
nice A magnificent surprise "The Sleeping Dictionary" was for me, indeed a wonderful romance
This is a film that had a good idea, and good execution of what the idea turned into. It is a shame the film never appeared in theaters as the visuals of Sarawak would have been great on the large screen and the audio and music are well done and would have benefited from a theatrical environment. Unfortunately, a little bit more planning would have helped. At 109 minutes, this film won't bore you, but it could have been rightfully intriguing with 20-30 minutes of good plot added. The film is carried on the sound film-making and charm of it's actors. In particular, Alba is really good. She plays the part with the seriousness it was intended, and never lets her intentionally accented English fall into 'stupid foreigner' stereotype, a tough job for many young actors and actresses who have attempted the same. Her partner, Hugh Dancy, is good enough. He channels a little bit like a scrawny Heath Ledger, but never quite gets rugged enough. The other joy of the cast is the ever-underrated Bob Hoskins. By coincidence, I saw 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' a couple of weeks ago before watching 'Sleeping Dictionary,' and am never let down by his appearances in films. He plays a character who isn't written subtly enough; still, he acts it. The endless looks of "Damn bloody fool. Good for him, the w***er" scattered through the film isn't enough for a man of his caliber, but we'll take what we can get. Their performances are weaved together well by Writer/Director Guy Jenkin, who is making his big screen debut as a director, though his writing career goes back to the late '70's without much acclaim. Directing-wise, he knows what he is doing. The camera work is graceful and beautiful, and he compliments the fantastic elements of the story well. As a writer, well, there are things left to be desired. Most of all, this film seems too short. The story is predictable, but it never drags. The love scenes are contrived, as is the underdeveloped climax, but that's not where the film is weak. The characters are cleverly set up to be mirrors, and the overlapping triangles are so complex they rival those brainteasers that ask 'how many triangles are in this picture?' The problem is, the most important one is never realized, because of the lack of development between Dancy and his best friend within the tribe. Without much difficulty, and a little more time, that relationship alone would have lifted this film from not quite enough to a good, if not better, movie. As a result, you're left with a film that doesn't challenge anything because it just challenges the same old things. But it is romantic, and has much more spark than many other movies you may see of this type. This film is worth seeing.
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