Where to watch While You Were Sleeping
3 Stars
Nursing a secret and hopeless crush on the handsome commuter who passes her booth every day, the charming loner and Chicago “L” ticket seller, Lucy, is about to have a second chance at love. During one seemingly ordinary Christmas shift, Lucy witnesses the object of her desire falling off the platform, and in one of those spur-of-the-moment decisions, she saves him from certain death, only to be mistaken for his fiancée at the hospital. As Lucy enjoys the unexpected stroke of good luck, unable to tell the truth to his welcoming family, unforeseen romantic affairs further complicate matters. Now, the comatose patient’s suspicious brother, Jack, thinks he’s onto something. Will Lucy face the consequences of what happened while the beautiful stranger was sleeping?
My first job began in April 1995, working at a local cineplex. I vividly remember my Friday night shift during the opening weekend of While You Were Sleeping. It was my first experience dealing with a customer rush. The theater management, teenagers who were barely older than I was, hadn’t anticipated such large crowds for the film, so we found ourselves short-staffed and overwhelmed. I even spotted my uncle and aunt, who lived nearby, heading into one of the screenings. At that moment, I realized, along with Hollywood executives, just how much of a “star” Sandra Bullock had become.
The 1990s marked the second golden era of romantic comedies. Stars like Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, and now Sandra Bullock dominated the genre, and their collective works resulted in some of the most popular and profitable films of that decade. While You Were Sleeping is formulaic, movies like this are why the formula works in the first place. Pullman and Gallagher are ok, but this is the ‘Bullock Show,’ and she is beguiling.
Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Written by: Daniel G. Sullivan, Fred Lebow
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher