While You Were Sleeping

Lucy (Sandra Bullock) is a train token taker without a family. She pines for frequent commuter Peter (Peter Gallagher), but never speaks to him. Then on Christmas, Peter gets pushed off the platform, and she rescues him. In the hospital, the family mistakes her for his fiancée. While he's in a coma, she and his brother Jack (Bill Pullman) slowly falls for each other.

This is a perfectly harmless Sandra Bullock rom-com, and she's so great at it. She can make any preposterous situations work. This movie is about Bullock's vulnerable charm. The biggest problem is that Bill Pullman doesn't get in the movie until almost 30 minutes in. They need more time together to develop the chemistry. I don't know why he doesn't get in right from the start.

A ticket-collecting romantic (Sandra Bullock) pretends to be engaged to an unconscious man (Peter Gallagher) but cannot fool his brother (Bill Pullman).

Romantic comedies are judged pretty harshly. And they probably should be, as they are generally sentimental, unrealistic fluff. But this is one of those rare good ones. Is it sentimental? Yes. Unrealistic? Yes. Fluff? Yes. But it really cemented Sandra Bullock as America's Sweetheart, and may be her finest role. Well, this and "Speed". She is going as strong as ever twenty years later, and it should be no surprise.

Peter Gallagher is a bit off, but Bill Pullman really succeeds as a romantic interest. Odd, but he does it. And the supporting cast is excellent, from Peter Boyle to... well, everyone.

This was the picture which proved things could be all about Sandra Bullock. "Speed" - one year earlier - showed this. This picture proved it. A lot of people nowadays make fun of a typical Bullock picture and speak of her as negligible in this day and age. They probably forget or were never aware that she was hailed as America's new sweetheart back in '95 and it was no idle chatter. There are very few actresses who can carry a picture on their own slight shoulders - I mean, really make it a success. Sure, Bill Pullman helped, but this really was Sandra all the way, in a sappy, soapy, cliché-ridden slight story of sudden romance usually very hard to buy into. But because Sandra is there on the screen throughout nearly every frame, it all works out, and you're rooting for her happiness in the final few minutes even knowing very well what is about to happen. It's like you've seen it all before, but Sandra makes you want to see it again. We are all very fortunate, those of us who have seen this story, that it was Sandra in the central role and not someone like (shudder) Demi Moore. And if a guy is really fortunate, he may meet someone like Sandra in real life.

While You Were Sleeping has aged surprisingly well. I remember watching this for the first time when I was about 10yrs, shortly after it came out, and I cringed so much and could barely get through it. Same thing when I watched it about 12yrs later. My husband had never seen it, and I felt we should definitely watch it together. I'm not a huge romantic comedy person, simply because of their annoyingly contrived nature, but this is one of those rare romantic comedies that has a good(not great script), with acting, setting, mood, music, and good direction, that truly elevates it's script to something great. Out of all of the 1990's romantic comedies, this one has probably aged the best, it does not feel dated in the least, and feels downright contemporary in many regards.

The premise itself is, of course, the source of the majority of the comedy and awkward situations, but were it not for the fantastic chemistry between Pullman and Bullock, and the chemistry between Bullock and he supposed fiance's family, this movie would fall harder than a lead brick. Bullock has fantastic comic timing here, and the supporting casts is even better.

If you are already predisposed to hate romantic comedies, you'll hate this anyway, but for awkward comedic moments and chemistry by the leads, this movie blows films such as "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" out of the water, and virtually every other romantic comedy post-90's. It has such likeable characters, great execution, and, a still, good premise, even 24yrs later. I would watch this 100 times times over most modern romantic comedies, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. My husband squirmed through the whole movie, and would not have gotten more than 15 minutes into it, were it not for me making him un-pause the movie during the most cringy awkward parts. That's not a negative, I see it as one of the movie's strengths, and again, even when the film isn't cringy, it has some wonderful romantic moments, and beautiful chemistry between Bullock and the family. Overall, it is a solid effort, and a definite 1990's classic Rom Com.

God Bless ~Amy

It's a shame that this movie has such a low rating at IMDb, because it deserves better.

"While You Were Sleeping" is the kind of film that must be hard to pull off, because there aren't many of them: solid, well-written and consistently funny romantic comedies.

Sandra Bullock exudes buckets of charm and a whopper of a comic presence as the heroine of this particular romance. She ably carries the movie, even when surrounded by veterans like Jack Warden, Peter Boyle and Glynis Johns.

Those who are familiar with Chicago will have fun with this film, as that's where it was filmed, and you could make a game out of spotting the inconsistencies in the movie if you actually know the city it's set in.

A fun movie to pop in here and there during the holiday season.

Grade: A