While You Were Sleeping (1995)

I love this movie - if you've ever wondered why comedies made in the 1930s or 1940s were far better than anything in more recent decades - it was really the writing. Well, this film is written as well or better than any comedy in the last half century - the overall plot is wonderful - the actors perfectly chosen - and all the small steps each character makes are entirely believable, consistent, revelatory of character, and gently leading - inevitably - to what a resolution viewer wants to see.This will stay in your mind - you'll want to see it over and over - you'll want to tell your friends - you'll want a sequel and a prequel. You'll want to remember each line of dialogue, to replay scenes, to make sure you have the quotations you tell your friends exactly right. Seldom mentioned in these reviews is also the beauty and feel for Chicago. It's underplayed - but there throughout - the Els, Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, the bridges and the skyscrapers and the lovely houses in the residential neighborhoods. Nothing is said about them - they're the background - but so well chosen. I would love to see a sequel - now 23 years after the film was made. Bullock and Pullman as a middle-aged married couple - Peter Gallagher's continued quest for the perfect woman, the sister Mary - and the reminiscence of the passing of the previous generation - of Boyle and Warden, Glynis Johns, and the others. The strange thing is that the two brilliant writers of this film seem hardly to have written ANY other film before or since!! Is it possible they used pseudonyms for this one? I would beg them to write a sequel for these characters. Don't doubt my review - this will become for you a beloved movie you'll never forget

After a lonely woman saves the life of a complete stranger, she's mistaken for his fiancé and slowly becomes integrated into his family, due to his coma. As her true identity couldn't be verified by anybody, everything seems to be well, until his brother shows up, whose character is about to play a very important role in the upcoming events.It's a lovely and romantic comedy, set in the heart of the winter holidays, which tells an improbable love story about two complete strangers who fall in love without their will and as much as they try to resist, as close they eventually become. It creates a warm and enjoyable atmosphere which lasts until the end. The actors play their roles very convincingly, making you care about their characters while keeping you eager to find out what will happen next and how it's going to end. Besides all of the above, it also manages to make you laugh from time to time, even out loud, just to spice things up a bit. It's a very good movie for everyone to enjoy, especially around the holidays, but not only.

I like Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman and pretty much all of the members of the cast. It was especially nice to see Jack Warden and Glynis Johns again. The film's "family" interactions were amusing.The picture is supposed to be a romantic-comedy-fairytale type film and I suppose it is that BUT I found it hard to accept the gorgeous, vivacious Sandra Bullock as a lonely, family-less waif alone in the city with only a cat and an annoying stalker-son-of-the-landlord as company. Are there no at least moderately homely actresses in Hollywood to play homely characters ? That said, the story, if implausible is a way to pass part of an afternoon. If you like this sort of film go for it. It's OK.

but I am in love with the movie.I'm kicking myself for watching this movie just recently. I was quite young when this movie was first released but that is not an excuse for overseeing this movie for so long. I am so glad I watched it. And I'm going to keep watching it over and over...I am a sucker for romantic comedies and a lot of them are disappointing. It's very rare to fall in love with a movie, and 'while you were sleeping' has that effect on me. The key to the Lucy and Jack's romance is chemistry, and boy did they have chemistry. The element to a great story, whether it is reading or watching is to show not tell. And that's what exactly what it was. The looks that you see Jack and Lucy give each other, their body language, the deep conversations they have, the way he describes her, and how she's head over heels for him. The tension they create when put together wasn't anything sexual; it was something much, much deeper. Something that will last a lifetime. The other key factors to this movie are the Callaghans and Saul, and everyone else. They bring out the comedy side to the movie. They are a hilarious bunch, and are not a tad annoying, not even the real fiancée or Peter; just really, really funny and fun to be with.Put two and two together, and they have formulated an almost perfect Romantic Comedy. (I am going to say almost, because nothing in this world is perfect)Now Bill Pullman—that's a different topic!