"Sleeper" -- Fri., May 19 at 8PM

Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory. Directed by Woody

Allen. (1973 -- United Artists -- 88mins. -- Rated PG)

Woody Allen goes to the hospital for a routine procedure, dies on the table, is cryogenically

frozen, and awakens 200 years later into a Brave New World of deadening conformity ruled with

an iron fist by a never-scene omnipotent Leader. So begins one of the goofiest yet insightful

dystopian films ever made. Four years before his Oscar-winning breakthrough with Annie Hall,

Woody Allen was still deep in absurdist humor. Over the course of Sleeper's 88 minutes, he wins

a beauty contest, kidnaps a nose, transforms into Blanche DuBois, impersonates a robot, is

strangled by a giant tape measure, battles a glob of pudding, reveals the truth about Richard

Nixon, and slips on a banana pee three times his size. While the humor is broad, it's hardly

unintelligent, delving into political and social commentary. Allen may have made more personal

and moving films later in his career, but on a laugh-out-loud scale, Sleeper is one of the most

enjoyable works he's ever produced.