Sleeping with the Enemy

Name: Sleeping with the Enemy
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: February 8, 1991
Duration: 99 min
Rating: 48
Cast: Claudette Nevins, Elizabeth Lawrence, Harley Venton, Julia Roberts, Kevin Anderson

1991

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Mixed or average reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Ratings

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7.4

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7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Ratings

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Sleeping With The Enemy

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Movie Details & Credits

Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: February 8, 1991 | TV-14

Starring: Claudette Nevins, Elizabeth Lawrence, Harley Venton, Julia Roberts, Kevin Anderson, Kyle Secor, Marita Geraghty, Nancy Fish, Patrick Bergin, Tony Abatemarco

Summary: A young woman fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her nightmarish marriage, but discovers it is impossible to elude her controlling husband.

Director: Joseph Ruben

Genre(s): Drama, Thriller

Rating: TV-14

Runtime: 99 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Staff (Not Credited)

In Sleeping with the Enemy, a chilling look at marital abuse gives way to a streamlined thriller [from the novel by Nancy Price] delivering mucho sympathy for imperiled heroine Julia Roberts and screams aplenty as she's stalked by her maniacal husband. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Sleeping With the Enemy is bound to be a crowd pleaser, with its cool, crazed villain and with Julia Roberts in the lead, as a woman who fakes her death in order to escape her husband. But everything surprising and gripping about the movie happens in the first 20 minutes, and after that it follows a predictable course. [08 Feb 1991, p.C1]

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

Sleeping With The Enemy teeters constantly on the verge of silliness but director Joseph Ruben keeps the cornball melodrama scaled down to a pleasant lull. Read full review

Bill Cosford

Basically, it's an inversion of an already proven formula, a kind of Fatal Attraction's Revenge, with every bit of business save the parboiled rabbit, and you can see the ending coming up Main Street. [08 Feb 1991, p.G5]

Rita Kempley

Ultimately Sleeping With the Enemy wants to be about one woman's rebirth, but Roberts neither grows nor glows in this empty movie. Read full review

Gene Siskel

Director Joseph Ruben would have done much better to limit the physical horror and make it more of a psychological terror game. Read full review

Empire Jack Yeovil

Dump thriller which trivialises the subject matter. Read full review

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User Reviews

OriginalDanger

Jul 4, 2020

Sleeping with the Enemy is a thriller made in 1991 by director, Joseph Ruben and stars Julia Roberts, Patrick Begin and Kevin Anderson.... The formula is pretty simple, wife fakes her own death and leaves her abusive husband and changes her identity, name and starts a new life in a smallSleeping with the Enemy is a thriller made in 1991 by director, Joseph Ruben and stars Julia Roberts, Patrick Begin and Kevin Anderson.... The formula is pretty simple, wife fakes her own death and leaves her abusive husband and changes her identity, name and starts a new life in a small town or community somewhere and meets a drama teacher or something and starts a relationship with him kinda meanwhile whilst enjoying her new life her other husband she's escaped is looking for her... Sleeping with the Enemy maybe not the best Julia Roberts film but it's certainly my favourite film of hers . Julia Roberts has made some good films from Pretty Woman, Flatliners to Erin Brockovich but this film is my favourite. Patrick Bergin gives a great performance as the husband and there are a few dumb parts in Sleeping with the Enemy such as Patrick Bergin finding the wedding ring in the toilet and not noticing it earlier in the movie but I guess nobody is perfect. The ending of the movie could of been better but all in all a great movie. Some bad language and sex scenes and the content of the film in general makes this one for adults only.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

timone

Nov 9, 2018

For the start of 2018 I would like to show you list of one of a cycle of thrillers made during the early 1990s which were set around husband and wife characters which I've already reviewed. Deceived which is forgettable, Consenting Adults which I didn't like, Presumed Innocent and SleepingFor the start of 2018 I would like to show you list of one of a cycle of thrillers made during the early 1990s which were set around husband and wife characters which I've already reviewed. Deceived which is forgettable, Consenting Adults which I didn't like, Presumed Innocent and Sleeping with the Enemy is the film which I'm going to do. Of course, there are some thrillers that I haven't seen and yes, I have seen some of them which I've already reviewed. Sometimes they're been done to death like the stories the filmmakers had put out is the same story they put out so many times. OK, so Sleeping with the Enemy is the story about Laura Burney escapes his abusive husband and start a new life over. And that's it, that is for the fact that I'm not spoiling the film for people who haven't seen it which is what thrillers for. Some of the scenes are chilling and will keep you on the edge of the seat. I actually love the scene where Laura's new boyfriend who is her next door neighbor singing the jet song and the two couple dancing to "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. I can also remember watching the music video of it on TV with Julia Roberts in it. For thrillers that are recycled goes, this one is underrated. I guess you guys will be entertained by thrillers that will keep you on the edge of the seat that is if you watch them alone. I know I did.… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

Dunkaccino

Apr 28, 2023

This movie has some entertaining cinematography and an unsettling score. It’s a shame that Ruben only has misguided screenplays to work with.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

FilipeNeto

Dec 14, 2019

Almost forgotten, but essential in Julia Roberts's career.

This movie is all about a case of domestic, physical and psychological violence, where the wife of a controlling and violent husband decides to fake his own death in order to escape and start living again. Of course, things getAlmost forgotten, but essential in Julia Roberts's career.

This movie is all about a case of domestic, physical and psychological violence, where the wife of a controlling and violent husband decides to fake his own death in order to escape and start living again. Of course, things get complicated later, when the husband discovers that he was deceived and starts looking for the runaway wife. A classic thriller where she can run but can't hide, which marked (along with "Pretty Woman") Julia Roberts' rise as an actress.

This is, to a large extent, a movie that has aged quite badly, I think. Looking at him today, it is hard not to see him as a rather weak movie, where only the quality of the actress who gives life to the main character stands out. Continuously betting on the emotional response of the audience, the script is tiring and the story told has a series of problems of logic and likelihood. For starters, why did you prefer the character to fake her own death rather than go to the police, tell everything, risk it, and file for divorce? It was, to a large extent, the first thing to do. And that trick with the broken street lamp? If there wasn't such bad weather on this boat trip, how was she going to pretend she drowned convincingly? There's a lot of luck on her escape. And there's a lack of tension and suspense throughout most of the movie, except for the hospital scene, where things get really hot and we're glued to the screen. Even the ending of the movie was too warm and that was disappointing.

Nonetheless, the story is solid enough to withstand the movie and get us to see it all the way through. The construction of the two central characters, played by Julia Roberts (in a performance that showed that she was a safe bet for the industry and a promise of talent), and Patrick Bergin, who can turn his character into something worthy of the game. our hatred, although sometimes quite cartoonish. The worst was really Kevin Anderson, in such a nice stupid character.

In short, this is a highly dated movie that has aged very badly, almost falling into oblivion. The one thing that made this movie not completely forgotten was Roberts' performance, which manages to show a promise of talent and make the movie worthwhile in the least.… Expand

0 of 4 users found this helpful04

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