SLEEPERS (50)

Directed by: Barry Levinson

Starring: Brad Pitt, Robert de Niro, Kevin Bacon

The Pitch: Four Hell's Kitchen youths, abused in a reformatory, grow up to take revenge on those who destroyed their lives.

Theo Sez: It would take a heart of stone not to be touched by the Dickensian plight of the teenage waifs in the first half of this misconceived drama - and a will of iron not to scream in indignation (or at least giggle helplessly) at the amateurish plotting and absurd contrivance when, grown-up, they take their elaborate revenge. Indeed the whole of the last hour (which, oddly enough, is when most of the big names make their appearance) is unbelievably thin and sketchy for such a high-profile movie, wheels of plot grinding grimly, mechanically on without a single scene that builds or reveals character. It's as if the movie, like its protagonists, loses some vital part of itself at the hellish reformatory - an appetite for Life, an ability to connect emotionally. This (doubtless accidental) congruence of film and subject may be why the ineptitude doesn't completely destroy it, or it may be that the early scenes are powerful enough to compensate. Whatever the cause, there's undoubtedly a charge to the film even at its most threadbare - the image of the four ruined, stunted men, united by a silent, secret bond of shame and suffering, is just too strong to resist. It's an extraordinarily poor movie, but its pulpy power gets to you.