No. 111 : While You Were Sleeping (1995)

While You Were Sleeping at the IMDb

This is one of the better known ‘W’ movie but also one that I’ve avoided as the whole set up seems a bit creepy and predictable.

Sandra Bullock plays Lucy a lonely ticket seller on the Chicago subway system. She fantasises about a hunky commuter but misses the chance to chat him up when he passes through on Christmas day. Happily crime doesn’t sleep and he gets a kicking on the platform and thrown onto the track. Lucy (Sandra) manages to save his life but fortunately for the script he’s fallen into a coma.

At the hospital a nurse hears Lucy talking about the victim to herself and takes her crazed talk of marriage as fact. She announces this to the gathered family and Lucy plays along, lest the mother get a heart attack. Things get more complicated when a wise old relative overhears the truth and when the hunky Bill Pullman shows up, disbelieving that his brother could be so headstrong as to get engaged without telling the family.

The family rally round and after a few gatherings they all love Lucy and sparks starts to fly with Bill. After an hour the coma victim wakes up and, happy at his second chance at life offers to marry Lucy, who agrees despite her feelings for Bills.

As the predictable climax approaches (see the poster!) we have to wonder if Lucy will choose the right man and find happiness. No spoilers required - you know!

I really didn’t enjoy this film at all. It didn’t ring true for a moment and the characters from the savvy old relative to the wise and kindly black supervisor were such clichés. The plot never took an unexpected turn with things panning out as I, and probably everyone else, thought from the start. The family were unbelievably accepting of the cuckoo in their nest and even after the big reveal they were quite happy to have been taken for suckers.

Obviously I’m not the target for this chick flick nonsense but they could have shown an ounce of respect for the audience by not stampings the cookie cutter quite so exactly. The mawkish voice over will make you cringe as will the sweeping power ballads. In mitigation there were exactly two sniggers and I quite liked the Italian neighbour's son who had the hots for Sandra. In truth she does look pretty good but given she plays a mental stalker I think most wise men would steer well clear of her, and indeed of the film.

Best Bit : Wedding Objections mount up
‘W’ Rating 9/23