While You Were Sleeping

**A good and really funny romantic comedy.** I don't consider myself a fan of romantic comedies, so I feel free to talk about them with complete dismay. And what I want to say about this romantic comedy is that it manages to be much better than we might expect at first glance. In fact, this film manages to associate an excellent lead actress with a good story, full of comic moments. It all starts with a platonic passion that a young woman feels when she sees a man going to work every day. One day, she ends up saving his life, and a succession of misconceptions ends up making his family believe that she was going to marry him without them knowing. The comedy, of a familiar and friendly nature, has a Christmas background and is extremely appealing to watch in the company of the whole family. Sandra Bullock, however, is what makes the film work. I can't see an actress with more talent to be naive and nice at the same time as being funny. She has the time, space and material to shine, and she never misses an opportunity to dazzle us with her extraordinary creativity and skill. Bill Pullman also does a very nice job, and there are other actors (Peter Boyle, Jack Warden) who add even more talent to the film. On a technical level, the film is much simpler. Cinematography, sets, costumes and effects are quite regular, there is no real investment in these aspects, just an effort is made to keep the film within industry standards. However, this is not a real problem if we allow ourselves to be seduced by the story told and the moments of comedy that the film gives us.

Really good watch, would watch again, and can recommend. This feels like a classic watch, like a movie that started a trope...but I can't think of a single other movie that did what this movie does. Sure there are movies about comas, amnesia, lying, but they don't do it in the same way, and I honestly believe it's because this movie did it so well that no one wants to risk copying it and do worse. This is also a great example of good situational comedy without bleeding over into abuse humor: at no point is she "suffering", she's not attacked, or wronged, but she's in a difficult situation that doesn't lend towards pleasantness in a ridiculous fashion, mostly because the family is insane, in the best of ways. Every single actor in this really brings it too. There are plenty of notable names, but as much as Sandra Bullock elevates the quiet, reserved character of Lucy, there are so many other good actors and characters throughout the movie, it feels extremely balanced, despite all the different story angles happening. The other thing happening is that this is sort of a reverse mystery. Instead of information that other characters know being hidden from the audience to be revealed later, the audience is almost the only one to know the truth until aspects are slowly revealed to the rest of the cast. If you haven't see this yet, put it on your list, I promise it still holds up: even if there are no smart phones yet, you'll barely notice.

Sandra Bullock does almost all of the heaving lifting in this engaging, if slightly far-fetched love story. She works in the token booth at her local Chicago train station where every morning she sees that cashmere-coated "Peter" (Peter Gallagher). She's got a bit of a crush on him, but after he gets accosted by some muggers on the platform and knocked onto the track she is more concerned that he will end up getting crushed by the 7.45 express! She manages to drag him to safety and next thing we are in the hospital, he has amnesia and she has allowed a scenario to develop where everyone things she's his fiancée. It's only really his brother "Jack" (Bill Pullman) who's a tad sceptical about this woman about whom none of his family have heard and as the two start to spar, they also start to... The rest of this follows some quite predicable lines but there's a fun chemistry between the always expressive Bullock and Pullman with Jack Warden and the scene stealing Glynis Johns adding some character to the family dynamic. Though it's hardly laugh-out-loud, we do get a sort of feel-good feeling that warms your cockles as it trundles along amiably.