The Sleepover

The Sleepover is an innocuous exercise that attempts to blend a teen comedy about a pair of siblings (Sadie Stanley and Maxwell Simkins) and their friends (Cree Cicchino and Lucas Jaye) getting into trouble while saving their parents from ninjas with a bland heist storyline involving the kids' cliche of a suburbs father (Ken Marino) discovering his wife (Malin Akerman) is a world-class thief with an ex-fiance (Joe Manganiello) who has been living in witness protection for 15 years and is now being blackmailed into one more heist by her former partners. Got that?

The film by Trish Sie and first-time screenwriter Sarah Rothschild is an unimaginative and forgettable affair that tries to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible without actually entertaining anyone. I feel sorry for both Akerman and especially Marino, who tries his best to make the insufferable Ron funny, for not being able to turn down such a lazy affair. The wacky kid segments have a bit more going for them, but there's nothing you haven't seen done far better countless times before. The Sleepover is so forgettable you might end turning off the television halfway through because you forgot you were watching it.