Film: ``While You Were Sleeping''
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman and Peter Gallagher
Theaters: Eastland, Park Lane, Woodland Hills and Cinema 8 (Broken
Arrow, Sand Springs).
Studio: Hollywood Pictures
Rated: PG (mild language)
Quality: THREE STARS (on a scale of zero to four stars)
The ultimate date movie for the '90s now comes in two conditions:
sleepless and sleeping.
A couple of years ago, it was ``Sleepless in Seattle'' that drew
tentative lovers and hopeless romantics to theaters in droves. It
was the perfect date movie -- old-fashioned and sentimental, yet
People are also reading…
hip and modern, at the same time. Insomniacs of the world rejoiced.
Now, ``While You Were Sleeping'' strums a similar romantic
lullaby. And while it's not strictly pitched at the comatose, it's
practically certain to lull moviegoers into a pleasant state of dreamy bliss.
This tale of star-crossed lovers starts at a dreary toll booth of
the Chicago Transit Authority, where a moon-eyed and lonely young
woman named Lucy works as a token taker. The high point of every
day for Lucy comes when a handsome, impeccably dressed young
attorney breezes past her booth in the morning to catch his train to work.
Lucy (Sandra Bullock) is secretly smitten by this preoccupied GQ
mannequin (Peter Gallagher), and she daydreams that some day he'll
notice her and they'll meet and fall madly in love. But in reality,
the rumpled and self-deprecating Lucy lives a solitary life in a
cramped little apartment, with only her cat for company.
As played by the highly appealing Bullock (last seen driving a
runaway bus in ``Speed''), Lucy is a lovable underdog who glows
with a kind of pure, inner goodness. From the first moment she
appears on screen, audiences will be rooting for her to live
happily ever after.
The first, meandering step to Lucy's happy ending comes one day
when her unknown dream-lover is mugged and left unconscious on the
elevated tracks. Lucy rushes to his aid and heroically pulls him
from the path of an onrushing train.
The man -- who is named Peter Callaghan -- is rushed to the
hospital where he lies in a coma. Through a series of
misunderstandings, his large and rambunctious family is led to
believe that Lucy is Peter's fiance.
Before Lucy can correct this mistaken identity, the Callaghan
family embraces her warmly as one of their own. And Lucy can't
quite bring herself to tell them the truth.
For a time, Lucy enjoys being a part of this eccentric but
lovable clan -- that comes complete with a wacky grandma
(marvelously played by Glynis Johns), a doting mother (Nicole
Mercurio), a put-upon father-bear (Peter Boyle), and a meddling,
rascally godfather (Jack Warden). There's also Peter's agreeably
sensible and charming brother Jack (Bill Pullman), who suspects
that Lucy is not who she claims to be.
Lucy knows that eventually her charade will end, but she doesn't
know how to come clean without hurting the family she's come to
love. And she also finds herself falling in love with the unassuming Jack.
As directed by Jon Turteltaub (``Cool Runnings'') and scripted by
first-time scenarists Daniel G. Sullivan and Frederic Lebow,
``While You Were Sleeping'' is a story that maintains a
light-as-a-feather balance between goofiness and credibility.
Bullock and Pullman are two immensely likable actors who fit
together on screen with an unforced, easygoing grace. Bullock is
every bit as wholesome and natural as Meg Ryan, and Pullman steps
into the leading man role with innate ease.
Even though he spends a large section of the movie in a coma,
Gallagher is especially fine as the shallow, self-absorbed egotist
who doesn't deserve to be the man of Lucy's dreams.
Of the rest of the cast, Johns is wonderfully cockeyed as the
Callaghan matriarch, and Warden does a memorable turn as the
godfather who proves to be an inept matchmaker.
``While You Were Sleeping'' is the kind of lightweight, feel-good
entertainment that harks back to the days when Hollywood turned out
scores of boy-meets-girl comedies that weren't about anything
weightier than a couple of engaging characters overcoming fickle
fate and falling in love. It's a welcomed and bracing shot of
old-fashioned romance.






