While You Were Sleeping (1995)

DIRECTOR: Jon Turtletaub

CAST: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Jack Warden, Micole Mercurio, Glynis Johns, Jason Bernard, Michael Rispoli, Monica Keena, Ally Walker

REVIEW:

While a truly exceptional romantic comedy that does something special remains an elusive beast, Hollywood churns out mediocre entries like link sausages. While You Were Sleeping is such a film; it goes down pleasantly and easily for those who don’t demand too much of a movie as long as it indulges their inner romantic, but is assembled wholly from familiar ingredients and does nothing exceptional with any of them. Whether or not you’re the type to appreciate its modest charms, you probably know who you are.

The premise is a little more convoluted than the typical rom com set-up. Lonely fare token collector Lucy Eleanor Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) pines from afar for handsome regular commuter Peter Callahan (Peter Gallagher), although they’ve never said more than two words to each other. One day, Lucy comes to Peter’s rescue when he takes a tumble off the train platform, but when she accompanies him to the hospital, a misunderstanding results in the man’s entire family (Peter Boyle, Micole Mercurio, Glynis Johns, Jack Warden, Monica Keena) mistakenly believing Lucy is Peter’s fiancee. And the comatose Peter is not in a position to clear up the matter. Of course, an assertive word or two from the bewildered Lucy could get herself out of the dilemma she finds herself in, but then there wouldn’t be much of a movie. Soon, the hapless Lucy is invited to Christmas dinner with the Callaghan clan, and being welcomed into a family’s warm embrace makes her reluctant to straighten things out. But complications arise when Lucy uncovers a mutual attraction with Peter’s brother Jack (Bill Pullman).

Despite featuring a convoluted premise that could have been ripe for sticky dilemmas, and a switcheroo in exactly who the real “love interest” turns out to be, While You Were Sleeping isn’t aiming to do anything ambitious or original. It’s content to coast along being generic rom com fodder: warm, mildly amusing, unchallenging and undemanding. Lucy’s loneliness driving her to be complicit in a fictional engagement is meant to give her a smidgen of depth—and excuse her dubious actions—but none of this is gone into with more than perfunctory development. It’s not the kind of movie for hard-hitting “dramatic” moments. It goes on its blandly cheerful way, content to adequately fill out the formula in which it resides. Some viewers will welcome its gentle charms. Those who demand more from a movie are in the wrong theater to begin with.

I’m not one of Sandra Bullock’s biggest fans, but her latest entry in the rom com genre allows her to continue to heighten her profile as one of its most popular and bankable leading ladies. Bill Pullman is rather dull as the terminally laidback Jack (though one could argue it’s a nice switch to see him as the romantic leading man after being the disposable “other man” in Sleepless In Seattle), and the “romance” between Lucy and Jack is unexciting. These two might be acceptable as buddies, but they don’t work up any sparks. The rest of the family—made up of recognizable character actors like Peter Boyle, Micole Mercurio, Glynis Johns, and Jack Warden—is okay, although everyone seems a little too cheerful for a family whose son is in a coma. The higher marks for humor usually come from those with less screentime, including Jason Bernard making a few dry observations as Lucy’s boss, Michael Rispoli as an inept would-be suitor, and Peter Gallagher as the superficially charming, befuddled Peter, once he eventually gets more to do than lay comatose in a hospital bed.

While You Were Sleeping has a few nice moments, none of which are especially memorable and many of which have nothing to do with the rather dull central Lucy/Jack romance and are only tangential to the plot, like a convoluted conversation over New Year’s dinner that ranges everywhere from the heights of actors to Argentinean beef to Cesar Romero. The eleventh hour includes a couple predictable plot complications, like Peter inevitably coming to and his snooty real girlfriend (Ally Walker) showing up, but perhaps thankfully, the movie doesn’t draw out these developments into some big melodramatic climax. Daniel G. Sullivan and Fredric Lebow’s script stays rather low-key and sedate, and there’s nothing noteworthy about Jon Turtletaub’s direction or Phedon Papamichael’s cinematography except they really want you to know the movie takes place in Chicago. The happy ending is inevitable, of course, but it feels a little anti-climactic and unsatisfactorily developed. None of these weaknesses will affect While You Were Sleeping’s appeal to the undemanding romantic comedy fans whom it aims for. In truth, the movie is as undeserving of any real scorn as it is unworthy of particular praise; it is what it is, it’s watchable and goes down easily and pleasantly, and doesn’t make much of an impression except perhaps a grudging smile and warm feeling. Perhaps that’s enough.

* * 1/2