While You Were Sleeping (1995) - Movie Review

 -May contain major spoilers-

Photo source: Disney+ 

While You Were Sleeping is a romantic comedy film directed by Jon Turteltaub with music by Randy Edelman and released on April 21, 1995.

Starring Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman.

Summary

Lucy Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) is a lonely woman who works as a token collector at a Chicago train station. She lives alone at an apartment complex and has no -living- family.

Lucy has a crush on the dapper Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher), a commuter who frequents her train line. 

On Christmas Peter gets pushed onto the train track by a group of muggers, and Lucy saves his life. While in the hospital, Lucy is not allowed to see him as she is nothing to him and doesn't even know his name. When Lucy mutters to herself -like a creep- "I was gonna marry him", a nurse overhears her and thinks Lucy is his fiancée and takes her to see him. 

A doctor arrives to check on Peter, and so does Peter's loud family consisting of his dad Ox (Peter Boyle), his mom Midge (Micole Mercurio), his grandmother Elsie (Glynis Johns), his sister Mary (Monica Keena) and his Godfather/neighbor Saul (Jack Warden). The doctor tells the family that Peter is in a coma and when the Callaghans wonder how could that happen to him, Lucy tries to explain the situation leaving the family wondering who is she. The nurse tells the Callaghan's that Lucy is Peter's fiancée.

The shy Lucy tries to explain that she is not Peter's fiancée, but the family can't hear her because they are loudly commenting how they didn't know that Peter was engaged as he had not been in contact with them, but they get happy as soon as they learn that it was Lucy who saved his life. 

Lucy stops herself from telling the truth because she doesn't want to make the Callaghan's sad as they are lovely people and also because Peter's grandmother Elsie has heart problems.

The Callaghan's invite Lucy to spend Christmas with them as they couldn't celebrate on the actual Christmas day. Lucy refuses but ends up going at the family's insistence. 

After dinner, Lucy spends the night sleeping on the Callaghan's couch and, in the morning, meets with Peter's younger brother Jack (Bill Pullman), who was just arriving.

Jack doesn't believe that Lucy is really Peter's fiancée, especially after he goes to her apartment building and meets with her annoying neighbor Joe Jr. (Michael Rispoli), who tells Jack that he and Lucy are dating.

Jack and Lucy start to spend time together and he starts to fall in love with her.

Now Lucy has to deal with her comatose "fiancé" and her own feelings towards Jack...

Thoughts

Although on paper the story might sound a little bit too creepy, While You Were Sleeping is actually quite heartwarming and always leaves me happy that Lucy found a family in the Callaghans. 

I love romantic Christmas or winter movies a lot, especially when they are well done (like this one).   

The cinematography feels nice and I loved the funny scenes (like when the newspaper boy falls or when Jack steps on dog feces) because those scenes felt strangely realistic, as if they naturally happened.

The acting in this movie is good, the characters feel mostly realistic (even Joe Jr. -haven't you ever met someone that was that bonkers?-) and everyone is charming. 

The soundtrack is lovely, I love how the movie starts its credits with This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) by Natalie Cole (by the way, that song was used quite a lot in the '90s and early 2000s, no?) and the movie's own opening theme fits hand in hand with Natalie's song. I also love the Peter's family theme it feels really mischievous (just like the Callaghan's).

I recommend this movie if you like good family dynamics, a winter setting, and a lovely romance.

Rating

Acting - 10/10

Plot - 7/10

Romance - 10/10

Soundtrack - 9/10

Cinematography - 10/10

Overall Rating - 9/10

Extended Movie Info.

Run Time: 103 minutes (1hs 43min).

Release Date: April 21, 1995.

Directed by: Jon Turteltaub.

Cinematography by: Phendom Papamichael, Jr.

Written by: Daniel G. Sullivan and Fredric Lebow.

Edited by: Bruce Green.

Music by: Randy Edelman.

Starring: Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman with Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Micole Mercurio, Glynis Johns, Jack Warden, Monica Keena and Michael Rispoli.