Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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69 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Chick Flick that Guys can like too!, August 31, 2004
For her work after "Speed" my brother began referring to Sandra Bullock as "Queen of the Chick Flicks", and I won't disagree, although some of her films work much better for members of both sexes than others. "While You Were Sleeping" is an entertaining film for Guys and Dolls, and it works in repeated viewings.
Sandra portrays Lucy Moderatz, who takes tolls on the L train in Chicago and from afar has an obsessive crush on the handsome, well-dressed Peter Callaghan, played by Peter Gallagher. The audience must willingly accept that someone as likable and attractive as Sandra Bullock is stuck in a dead-end job where she is lonely and works all the holidays because, after all, she doesn't have anyone to share them with. The movie doesn't give you much time to dwell on this because before you know it, Peter is getting mugged and knocked off Lucy's train station platform where he falls unconscious onto the path of a rapidly approaching train. Not surprisingly, Lucy jumps down and pulls the man of her dreams to safety. Lucy then follows the comatose Peter to the hospital where a nurse overhears Lucy in one of her daydreams say "this is the man I'm going to marry" - which naturally leads the nurse to think that Lucy and Peter are engaged when, in fact, the only words that have passed between them are when Peter paused to say "Merry Christmas" as he dropped his token into Lucy's toll booth.
Peter's wonderful family arrives and the misunderstanding of Lucy as Peter's fiancee is perpetuated. Lucy could have cleared up the whole misunderstanding from the first moments but:
1. Peter's family is wonderful and Lucy is lonely.
2. Peter's grandmother has a "heart condition" and Lucy fears that telling the truth may send Grandma over the edge. (The screenwriters were clearly searching for a reason for Lucy to not just fess up....)
3. Since Lucy has been fantasizing about Peter for awhile it's not that difficult for her to pretend to be his fiancee.
I've heard Roger Ebert say it's not as important *what* a movie is about as *how* the movie is about that thing.
This movie would be doomed to failure if it were only about some pathetic toll-taker who pretends to be engaged to her dream-boat to his family while he's in a coma. But Lucy isn't pathetic - she's as likable and attractive as, well, Sandra Bullock, and Peter's family is full of charming, likable folks. Peter, as things would have it, isn't as charming as Lucy dreamt. Although he used to be in the family business of antique furniture, he went to law school and now barely keeps in touch with his family. He has a bitchy girlfriend who is in Europe leaving calls on his answering machine while he is in a coma - one of the calls tells him "yes, I'll marry you".
Again - it's not difficult to guess where much of this is going. Bill Pullman plays Peter's charming, easy-going brother, Jack, who has stayed close to the family, running Dad's business. (There is an extremely well-done low-key scene close to the end where Jack tells Dad, played by Peter Boyle, that he wants to MAKE furniture instead of just dealing it - which will mean getting out of the family business. The scene has both a ring of authenticity, not yielding to any histrionic cliches, and at the same time maintaining the warm feelings that you've built up for both of these characters by this portion of the movie. These kinds of scenes *make* this movie.)
Jack Warden gets special kudos from me as Peter's godfather, Saul, who loves his godson, but also comes to love Lucy as well. Michael Rispoli steals a few scenes as "Joe, Jr." the son of Lucy's landlord. In the early scenes Joe comes across as a shorter, heavier Andrew Dice Clay wannabe. But by the end even Joe has become someone deserving our admiration. This is the kind of movie where you want nice things to happen to the characters - and the movie goes about it's business in a very satisfying way.
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The SWEETEST movie!, April 18, 2003
While You Were Sleeping is one of my favorite movies of all time. I must have watched the DVD at least 20 times. My husband is getting a little tired of it, but there are nights when I tell him, "It's either this or 'Babe'!" From the opening scene, there is something sweetly philosophical about this movie, and Sandra Bullock has never been more appealing as a funny, klutzy girl who never makes it out of Chicago. (Of course, Sandra Bullock playing a woman who is frumpy is stretching credibility a bit.) And if any woman can keep from melting when Bill Pullman focuses that sweet, intense gaze, I've yet to meet her.The vulnerability of the main characters gets you pulling for them right from the start, and the secondary characters do a wonderful job of convincing you that they are real with their own histories. Peter Boyle is hysterical as the decent, but frustrated, father of Bill Pullman. And Peter Gallegher does a star turn as a handsome, spoiled "putz," as one of the characters calls him. Glynis Johns is laugh-out-loud funny as the sweetly confused grandmother. All in all, this is a movie that is well worth watching over and over again, especially when you need a little reminder that love is waiting out there for us all.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
While You Were Sleeping, March 27, 2008
Lucy Moderatz lives a comfortable existence. Her days consist of working at the L train collecting tolls, hanging out with friends occasionally, and living with her pet cat. She develops a crush on Peter Callaghan who frequents her toll both daily. When he is attacked while waiting on the train, Lucy risks her own life to save his. While waiting at the hospital to hear of his condition, she makes the statement that lying in there is the man she was going to marry. A nurse overhears Lucy and assumes that she is Peter's fiancée when in fact it was just Lucy's overactive imagination. She intends to clear it up until his family barges in. Lucy doesn't want to upset the family any more than they already are, so she keeps the truth to herself for the moment. She is included in the family, and really made to feel a part of them, so then she can't bring herself to tell them the truth at all. Lucy, who has never really felt a connection to another man, starts to fall for Peter's brother Jack while everyone waits for Peter to emerge from his coma. When Peter does finally wake, all hell breaks loose!
Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman have incredible chemistry and on screen rapport as the romantic leads. The supporting cast could not have been chosen any better, and a personal favorite of mine - Peter Boyle was priceless! I just love this movie, and will keep it on hand to see time and time again.
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