# Sleepless (2017 film)
**Sleepless** is a 2017 American action thriller directed by [Baran bo Odar](https://www.edgepedia.org/baran-bo-odar) and written by Andrea Berloff, a remake of the 2011 French film *Nuit blanche* ([Sleepless Night](https://www.edgepedia.org/sleepless-night-2011-film)). [Jamie Foxx](https://www.edgepedia.org/jamie-foxx) stars as Vincent Downs, an undercover Las Vegas police officer whose teenage son is kidnapped by gangsters after a heist of their cocaine, forcing Downs to spend a single night recovering the drugs, evading an internal affairs investigation, and rescuing the boy.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleepless-2017) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleepless_2017)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Baran bo Odar; screenplay by Andrea Berloff[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleepless-2017) |
| Source | Remake of *Nuit blanche* (2011), a French thriller directed by Frédéric Jardin[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleepless-2017) • [3](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D235259.html) |
| Lead cast | Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, Dermot Mulroney, Gabrielle Union, Scoot McNairy, Tip 'T.I.' Harris, David Harbour, Octavius J. Johnson[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleepless_2017) |
| Release | January 13, 2017 (wide, United States), distributed by Open Road Films; R rating; 95 minutes[4](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/sleepless) • [5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2072233/) |
| Budget / gross | $30 million budget; $8,344,128 opening; $20,783,704 domestic; $32,917,353 worldwide[6](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2017-2/sleepless/) • [5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2072233/) |
| Critical reception | 25% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 60 reviews; 37% Popcornmeter from 5,000+ ratings[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleepless_2017) |
| Home media | DVD and streaming release April 18, 2017[4](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/sleepless) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The film opens in the middle of a car chase in which Las Vegas police detective Vincent Downs (Jamie Foxx) and his partner Sean Cass (Tip 'T.I.' Harris) steal a large shipment of cocaine from drug dealers working for local crime boss Rob Novak ([Scoot McNairy](https://www.edgepedia.org/scoot-mcnairy)), who supplies hotel and casino owner Stanley Rubino ([Dermot Mulroney](https://www.edgepedia.org/dermot-mulroney)). The criminals kidnap Downs's teenage son Thomas (Octavius J. Johnson) to get the drugs back.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleepless-2017) The cocaine in dispute amounts to 25 kilograms.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/07/sleepless-review-thriller-to-keep-you-on-your-toes-jamie-foxx-michelle-monaghan-ti)
The rest of the film unfolds in a contained setting, with Downs sneaking through the grounds of a Las Vegas hotel and casino to save his son. Downs is divorced from his wife Dena ([Gabrielle Union](https://www.edgepedia.org/gabrielle-union)) and estranged from Thomas, and the story treats the rescue as a stand-in for repairing the family. A stab wound Downs suffers in the opening sequence slows him throughout the night and supplies much of the film's humor, as his adrenaline masks the pain until the action pauses.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleepless-2017) Most of the action takes place from dusk till dawn in a plush Las Vegas nightclub, the fictional Luxus hotel, with fights staged in a casino, a neon nightclub, and a spa pool.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/07/sleepless-review-thriller-to-keep-you-on-your-toes-jamie-foxx-michelle-monaghan-ti)
A parallel plot follows internal affairs detective Jennifer Bryant ([Michelle Monaghan](https://www.edgepedia.org/michelle-monaghan)), recently injured in a drug bust gone wrong, who investigates the events at the hotel with her partner Doug Dennison ([David Harbour](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-harbour)). As she and Downs piece together connections, the adversaries turn out not to have the motives the heroes assumed.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleepless-2017)
## Production
Executive producers Adam Stone and Alex Foster discovered *Nuit blanche* at the 2012 [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) and began adapting it for American audiences with [Roy Lee](https://www.edgepedia.org/roy-lee), co-founder of Vertigo Entertainment; Andrea Berloff was then hired to write the English screenplay.[3](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D235259.html) In June 2015, [Open Road Films](https://www.edgepedia.org/open-road-films) and Riverstone Pictures, part of India-based Reliance Entertainment, announced a co-financing partnership of two to four movies per year, and *Sleepless* was the first film under that arrangement. The budget was $30 million, and international sales began at the 2015 European Film Market in Berlin through a distribution partnership with FilmNation.[6](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2017-2/sleepless/)
Open Road first dated the film for February 24, 2017, then moved it forward to the Martin Luther King holiday frame on January 13.[6](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2017-2/sleepless/)
## Box office
**Theatrical performance.** Open Road booked the film into 1,803 theaters and did not screen it for critics before release. It opened to $8,344,128, placing eighth for the weekend behind the holdover *Hidden Figures*, then fell 58.6% to $3,453,212 in its second frame and 49.3% to $1,750,083 in its third. The domestic run closed at $20,783,704, and the overseas rollout added about $12.1 million, for a worldwide total of $32,917,353 against the $30 million budget.[6](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2017-2/sleepless/) • [5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2072233/) The earliest release was January 11, 2017 in [Trinidad and Tobago](https://www.edgepedia.org/trinidad-and-tobago), two days before the domestic opening.[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2072233/) Among international markets, France was the largest single territory listed by [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) at $1,622,534, followed by the Netherlands at $1,246,640, Germany at $1,171,661, and the United Kingdom at $1,108,880; AlloCiné records 208,579 admissions in France.[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2072233/) • [3](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D235259.html)
## Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 25% Tomatometer from 60 reviews and a 37% Popcornmeter score from more than 5,000 audience ratings; the critics consensus says the film wastes a talented cast and solid source material on a tired crime drama whose clichés outnumber its thrills.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleepless_2017) Reviews were divided on pacing. Simran Hans, writing in *The Observer*, called it thin but taut, zipping along at a propulsive, entertaining clip at a lean 95 minutes, and credited Foxx's committed performance.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/07/sleepless-review-thriller-to-keep-you-on-your-toes-jamie-foxx-michelle-monaghan-ti) Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com judged that the film needed to be much better or much worse to make an impression, criticizing its inability to settle on a tone and its rote, fast-cut action staging, while noting standout supporting turns from McNairy and Harbour.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleepless-2017) The London *Evening Standard*'s Matthew Norman gave it one star, writing that the final twist was unexpected only because of its irrelevance.[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleepless_2017)
Common Sense Media, which rates the film 16+, describes strong violence including shootouts, stabbings, and a torture scene, constant strong language, and a 25-kilogram package of cocaine as the object of everyone's pursuit, while crediting interesting characters, particularly Bryant navigating a male-dominated world, with saving an otherwise violent film.[4](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/sleepless)
## References
1. [Sleepless movie review & film summary, Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com, January 13, 2017](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleepless-2017)
2. [Sleepless (2017), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sleepless_2017)
3. [Sleepless – Film 2017, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D235259.html)
4. [Sleepless – Parents' Guide & Movie Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/sleepless)
5. [Sleepless (2017), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2072233/)
6. [Sleepless (2017): Open Road's First In-House Production, Bomb Report](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2017-2/sleepless/)
7. [Sleepless review – a thriller to keep you on your toes, Simran Hans, The Guardian, May 7, 2017](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/07/sleepless-review-thriller-to-keep-you-on-your-toes-jamie-foxx-michelle-monaghan-ti)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Action thrillers, 2010s › Crime and vigilante thrillers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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