While You Were Sleeping (1995)

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

6/10

Starring

Sandra Bullock

Bill Pullman

Peter Gallagher

Peter Boyle

Glynis Johns

Jack Warden

Directed by Jon Turtletaub

Sandra Bullock has had a string of successes way back when, and While You Were Sleeping is one of them. If you watch the movie now, you may not get the same thrill you did when it first came out in 1995. Well, I didn’t get the same thrill. I guess some movies just don’t fit the “watch anytime” mold.

This romantic comedy is a feel-good movie that strings together some of the most unlikely events and uses the same cheesy formula that you can find in many others. But it makes it all better with a fantastic cast. Bullock, on her own, carried the bouquet, giving us a performance worth commending.

The movie’s plot introduces us to a lonely lady named Lucy (Sandra Bullock), who lost her mother when she was young and her father a year before the events we see unfold. She works as a teller at a train station and has developed a crush on one of the passengers, Peter (played by Peter Gallagher). She dreams of him regularly, and to her, he’s her prince charming.

While working during the festive period, Lucy sees Peter being mugged. The muggers push him, and he falls onto the tracks, hitting his head and passing out. With a train coming, Lucy runs onto the tracks and saves Peter. While at the hospital, she’s not allowed to be near him, and a miscommunication leads the doctor to think that Lucy is Peter’s fiancée. When Peter’s family comes to visit him at the hospital, they’re told he was saved by his fiancée, and they’re surprised to find out it’s someone they don’t know.

But the fact that she saved their son makes them warm up to her, and soon, she’s invited to the family’s holiday celebrations. It’s there that she meets Jack (Bill Pullman).

She and Jack start spending more time together because Jack doesn’t believe Lucy is engaged to Peter. Soon, they begin developing feelings for each other.

Peter wakes up, and that’s where the shit hits the fan.

The movie was a huge financial hit and earned Bullock a Golden Globe nomination. For a not-so-spectacular plot, I can say that one thing will guarantee you enjoy this movie: the cast. The characters will surprise you with their views, and the actors did an excellent job in their portrayals.

You should be able to catch this movie now on Disney+, it is worth seeing.