Sleepwalk With Me

A movie based on a This American Life skit is an interesting idea in theory. The danger in executing it is that it will feel like a fifteen minute skit dragged out for ninety minutes. The other danger is that a character who seems interesting for a brief moment will become loathsome over the long hall.
Sadly Sleepwalk With Me fell into both traps. The sleepwalking skit is one of the great TAL episodes. Mike Birbiglia's other bits are also typically funny. The problem is that he doesn't do the work to tie them together into a story that holds up for the duration. In many ways, the sleepwalking bit feels tacked on to a dull story about the end of a relationship. It doesn't add anything to the story and the humor is fleeting. The love story bit is too mixed up with the bit about becoming an adult and it doesn't seem to really mesh in anyway that is believable. It all hangs together like a ball of wet noodles. A film is too long for Birbiglia's meandering style to hold up. It works best when the audience cannot stop paying attention halfway through because they don't have time.
The other problem is that for the movie to work you have to like the central character. As he says "remember you are on my side". I was never on his side. I wanted the girl to walkout on him after the first five minutes. I wanted her to sleep with the hunky guy at the bar. I wanted him to fall asleep at the wheel. I didn't believe that any girl could have more than a passing "self loathing" moment where she would consider him suitable for anything more than a tool. I didn't even believe it when he finally figured out how to be funny.
Was it a terrible movie? No. Do I feel like it was a waste of ninety minutes? Not really. Would I pay to watch it? No.