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While You Were Sleeping
A lovely performance by Sandra Bullock anchors 1995's While You Were Sleeping, a sweet-natured romantic comedy with a fuzzy screenplay but Bullock and a terrific supporting cast make it quite an enjoyable cinematic ride.
Bullock plays Lucy, a lonely, Chicago subway token attendant who has been crushing on Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher), a businessman who buys a token from Lucy every day who she has never spoken to. On Christmas Day, Peter falls off the subway platform and Lucy saves Peter from being hit by a train. Lucy follows Peter to the hospital where he falls into a coma and is mistaken for Peter's fiancee by his family. Things get stickier when Peter's brother, Jack (Bill Pullman) comes home for Christmas and he and Lucy fall in love with each other almost instantly.
The story created by Daniel G. Sullivan and Fredric Lebow is basically a good one, but there's a little more going on here than necessary, making the story more complex than it really needed to be. It starts with Lucy's useless narration about her childhood and moves to the goofy landlord's son who is crushing on Lucy. Once Jack arrives on the scene. it seems like he is onto Lucy, but about the halfway point of the film, all of a sudden it seems like he's not. The reveal that Peter really has a fiancee wasn't really necessary and when Peter awakens from his coma, he just accepts that Lucy is who his family tells him she is and starts battling his brother for Lucy's affections.
It's easy to overlook these minor screenplay problems because of this wonderful character at the center of the story. Though she starts off as bit of sad sack, we learn that she is a principled young woman. Love the scene where she goes to Peter's room for the first time after meeting his family and explains to Peter exactly what's going on, even though he's still in a coma. Director Jon Turtletaub (National Treasure) has to be credited for the chemistry he creates between Lucy and Jack, that has us rooting for these two to get together from the minute they meet.
Bullock's luminous performance in the starring role is one of the reasons this movie was one of her biggest hits. She manages to create chemistry with both Pullman and Gallagher and I must say I have rarely enjoyed Pullman onscreen this much, a severely underrated actor who has never gotten the acclaim he deserves. Also loved Peter Boyle and Nicole Mercurio as Peter and Jack's parents, Jack Warden as Peter and Jack's godfather, and Glynis Johns as their dotty grandmother. Appointment viewing for Bullock fans.
A lovely performance by Sandra Bullock anchors 1995's While You Were Sleeping, a sweet-natured romantic comedy with a fuzzy screenplay but Bullock and a terrific supporting cast make it quite an enjoyable cinematic ride.
Bullock plays Lucy, a lonely, Chicago subway token attendant who has been crushing on Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher), a businessman who buys a token from Lucy every day who she has never spoken to. On Christmas Day, Peter falls off the subway platform and Lucy saves Peter from being hit by a train. Lucy follows Peter to the hospital where he falls into a coma and is mistaken for Peter's fiancee by his family. Things get stickier when Peter's brother, Jack (Bill Pullman) comes home for Christmas and he and Lucy fall in love with each other almost instantly.
The story created by Daniel G. Sullivan and Fredric Lebow is basically a good one, but there's a little more going on here than necessary, making the story more complex than it really needed to be. It starts with Lucy's useless narration about her childhood and moves to the goofy landlord's son who is crushing on Lucy. Once Jack arrives on the scene. it seems like he is onto Lucy, but about the halfway point of the film, all of a sudden it seems like he's not. The reveal that Peter really has a fiancee wasn't really necessary and when Peter awakens from his coma, he just accepts that Lucy is who his family tells him she is and starts battling his brother for Lucy's affections.
It's easy to overlook these minor screenplay problems because of this wonderful character at the center of the story. Though she starts off as bit of sad sack, we learn that she is a principled young woman. Love the scene where she goes to Peter's room for the first time after meeting his family and explains to Peter exactly what's going on, even though he's still in a coma. Director Jon Turtletaub (National Treasure) has to be credited for the chemistry he creates between Lucy and Jack, that has us rooting for these two to get together from the minute they meet.
Bullock's luminous performance in the starring role is one of the reasons this movie was one of her biggest hits. She manages to create chemistry with both Pullman and Gallagher and I must say I have rarely enjoyed Pullman onscreen this much, a severely underrated actor who has never gotten the acclaim he deserves. Also loved Peter Boyle and Nicole Mercurio as Peter and Jack's parents, Jack Warden as Peter and Jack's godfather, and Glynis Johns as their dotty grandmother. Appointment viewing for Bullock fans.