2015 Sleepers
                                                         Part 3

Here’s another batch of under-appreciated 2015 films for your consideration.
Focus begins with Margot Robie and her loser boyfriend trying to scam Will Smith with the old “caught in bed with my wife” trick. He quickly calls them out and they slink away. But then she decides he is an expert scammer (he is) and wants him to mentor her. He does. Their most entertaining scam involves betting the farm on Ms. Robie’’s ability to pick out the number guessed by the Chinese millionaire out of all the football players on the field. And after that it gets complicated!
Phoenix involves a woman who has miraculously escaped from a Holocaust camp. She has reconstructive facial surgery because of a bullet wound, and asks to look just like she did before. That can’t be done, but the surgeon can come close. The fact that she slightly resembles her old face is the key to this film. She reconnects with her former husband. He has thought his wife was killed in the war, and wants to use this woman to collect the “dead” wife’s inheritance. The ending is a stunner. 
Here in America, we have trouble getting our heads around the idea of arranged marriages. Not so in India. Completely Americanized Ravi Patel’s parents are determined to find him the right bride. He resists, but goes along with meeting dozens of candidates, all the while carrying a torch for his blonde California girl. Meet The Patels is a documentary that is both entertaining and instructive, and we can see some benefit for both ways of getting hitched. 
I’ve always liked Mark Ruffalo, starting with the under-rated You Can Count On Me (2000) through last year’s Oscar-winning Spotlight. His sleeper film from 2015 is the frantic, enjoyable Infinitely Polar Bear. He plays a bipolar Dad of two daughters, who are hugely embarrassed by his antics. Zoe Saldana is his loving, dependable wife who wins a scholarship to Columbia and convinces him to stay behind with the kids in Boston. Hijinks ensue but you can’t help but like the guy (and be greatly entertained).
An Honest Liar is a riveting documentary about James Randi, a magician by trade. He tells you he is going to fool you, and then he does. There is nothing supernatural about the magic of true magicians. He despises and sets out to destroy charlatans who bilk the public by pretending they have supernatural powers. How they do their tricks, and how he catches and exposes them, is quite good. 
All of the films in this article are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for mature audiences. Is this the last 2015 sleepers article? Probably not!