Sleepwalk With Me

An aspiring stand-up comic (director and co-writer Mike Birbiglia) tries to cope with his piddling penny-ante career, a girlfriend (Lauren Ambrose) who’s losing patience with his commitmentphobia and a sleep disorder that drives him to sleepwalk into some truly dangerous situations. Birbiglia himself suffers from the same disorder, and the unmistakable aura of autobiography, the sense that we’re seeing the barely veiled story of his real life, saves the movie (expanded from a one-man stage show) from being a shameless ripoff of Annie Hall, one of Birbiglia’s favorite movies. Birbiglia is likeably self-effacing, and the supporting cast helps: Ambrose is an unexpected pleasure—beaming, vivacious and a charming singer—and James Rebhorn and Carol Kane are fine as Birbiglia’s nerve-wracking parents.