WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1995 Christopher Null
In case you aren't already prepared, brace yourself for a literal onslaught of summer movie romances. WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING is one of 1995's early entries. It certainly isn't going to be the best.
As heavily promoted as it's been, you should know the plot by know. Sandra Bullock is Lucy, a goofy, salt-of-the-earth Chicago Transit Authority toll booth attendant who falls in love (at first sight) with Peter (Peter Gallagher), a yuppie lawyer. Almost immediately after Lucy swoons, Peter gets pushed onto the train tracks, whereupon Lucy comes to the rescue. Then the obligatory "misunderstanding" occurs: Peter's concerned parents think Lucy is Peter's fiancee, pulling Lucy into the family as a new member. But when Peter's brother Jack (Bill Pullman) arrives on the scene, Lucy and Jack begin to fall in love and, well ... you get the picture.
Or maybe you don't. Most of the film is pretty nonsensical. It's predictable at best and just plain dull most of the time, focusing ad nauseam on Lucy's moral dilemma about whether or not to end her charade. Slapstick is the preferred method of making the audience laugh: there is a considerable amount of falling down and other humorous forms of injury. Peter's dysfunctional family is good for a few laughs, but otherwise I barely cracked a smile.
The sad thing about WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING isn't just the lack of originality and humor, rather, it's the statement that the film ultimately makes. The movie's apparent bottom line is that people can be really shallow, but that's okay, because love will conquer everything, and it doesn't matter who gets trampled along the way. When you think about it, it's not just annoying, it's insulting.
RATING: **
|* Unquestionably awful | |** Sub-par on many levels | |*** Average quality, hits and misses | |**** Good, memorable film | |***** Perfection |
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