(Apparently, even a comatose vegetable can have a complicated lovelife, too…)
CAST: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Micole Mercurio, Jack Warden, Glynis Johns, Monica Keena, Ally Walker, Michael Rispoli, Jason Bernard.
DIRECTOR: Jon Turtletaub
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and highly-dubious dalliances with comatose patients - straight ahead…
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING is the kind of movie that would be over in fifteen minutes if its characters would just sit down and have a good honest conversation with each other. The Romantic Comedy genre seems to depend on its characters’ inability to cut through the bullshit and tell it like it is, which leads to misunderstandings, which lead to arguments, which lead to problems, which have to be resolved. And before you know it, two hours of your life have gone by.
Fortunately, Sandra Bullock is such a likable heroine that we don’t mind that WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING’s central problem snowballs and snowballs until its about the size of the Rockies. Rather than noticing how contrived the set-up is, we actually find it interesting due to Sandy’s appealing vulnerability. Instead of questioning the premise, we willingly go along with the ride.
Sandra plays Lucy Moderatz, a Chicago DOT worker who always gets stuck working holidays because: (1) she’s an accommodating person, (2) her boss Jerry (Jason Bernard) is an opportunistic prick, and (3) she has no family in town to spend her holidays with. This last one, in particular, is apparently enough to make Lucy the automatic go-to girl for shitty shifts. Well, girl, at least you get all that Holiday pay. Let’s stay positive.
And her home life isn’t any more exciting. Unless you count getting hit on by Joe Jr. (Michael Rispoli), the horny son of her landlord, with the frequency of an express train, exciting. Which she doesn’t. It’s all she can do not to wrap her scarf around Joe Jr.’s neck - and garrote him with it. Oh, and she often shares Oreos and milk with her cat. I own a cat, too, but I draw the line at sharing snacks with him. He wouldn’t stand for it anyway, the pig.
But I digress. As usual. So, anyway, Lucy’s life is a modest one - and she’s fine with that. She’s fine with living with a cat. She’s fine with drawing the short straw every single time at work. She’s fine daydreaming about certain commuters that pass by her token booth.
Oh, I forgot to mention that? Yeah, she’s got this huge crush on a yuppie (Peter Gallagher) whom we will call Mr. Spectacular for now. Mr. Spectacular catches the 8:15 every morning. He’s tall, dark, handsome, and has a smile that could blind oncoming drivers. And Lucy has pretty much accepted that she is doomed to love him from afar. Or at least from the other side of the token booth window. Our Lucy seems to have just gone ahead and accepted a lot of things, hasn’t she?
Well, things start looking up all of a sudden. Stuck with a Christmas shift, Lucy is all alone on the train platform when Mr. Spectacular is accosted by a bunch of thugs. In very quick order, the following things happen: (1) the thugs hassle him about his hoity-toity coat and scarf, (2) try to rob him, (3) inadvertently push him off the platform, (4) and book it the hell out of there.
Lucy leaps into action and jumps down onto the platform to try to help Mr. Spectacular. Unfortunately, he’s out like a light, due to hitting his head on the tracks. Fortunately, that old wives’ tale about superhuman strength kicking in when one is scared shitless turns out to be true - so Lucy makes like Xena The Warrior Princess and pulls Mr. Spectacular to safety.
Mr. Spectacular is rushed to the hospital, where we discover the following things: (1) his name is Peter Callaghan, (2) he’s a high-powered attorney, (3) he’s in a coma because of his fall from the platform, and (4) through a highly ludicrous turn of events that makes the plot of PREDATORS look like a model of plausibility, the hospital staff somehow believe that Lucy is Peter’s… fiancee. Say. WHAT?
To make matters worse, right at that moment, Peter’s loud and colorful family barrels into the hospital room like a runaway L train. The passengers of the Callaghan Locomotive are: (1) Dad (Peter Boyle), crusty furniture builder; (2) Mom (Micole Mercurio), bubbly homemaker who loves, uh, creamy mashed potatoes; (3) Grammy (Glynis Johns), chirpy crone who loves Cesar Romero; (4) sister Mary (Monica Keena), your average annoying teenager; and (5) family friend Saul (Jack Warden), a quick study of the highest order.
Naturally, they’re just a bit upset that Peter is in a coma on Christmas day of all days. But the news that Lucy is his fiancee cushions the blow somewhat - and they basically smother with love and attention. For someone who doesn’t have a family, especially on Christmas, this is kind of like being a starving lion and then having a bloody steak tossed at you.
In short order, the Callaghan clan welcome Lucy as one of their own, and involve her in family activities. Then Peter’s brother, Jack (Bill Pullman), shows up and turns out to be an even quicker study than Saul. Jack instantly begins to suspect something is off. Specifically, he has doubts about Lucy’s relationship with Peter - and begins to sniff around.
Will Jack blow Lucy’s story wide open? Or will Saul beat him to it? What happens when Jack slowly finds himself falling for Lucy? How will Lucy tell the Callaghans the truth? And what happens when Peter wakes up from his coma? Will he be the one to end Lucy’s charade? Or will things pan out differently? How is it possible for Bill Pullman and Peter Gallagher to play brothers?
Suffice it to say, none of this would’ve happened if Peter would’ve just taken a cab. He’s a high-powered attorney - he shouldn’t be on the L trains, for crying out loud.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: As I mentioned earlier, Sandra Bullock’s performance goes a long way in making WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING as appealing as it is. At first, it seems like one big gimmicky set-up (lonely women finds herself with an instant family), but the script and the actors treat the premise with the right blend of seriousness and whimsy. Gradually, we find ourselves buying in to the story. As the relationships between Lucy, Jack, Saul and the various other characters deepen, we find ourselves caring for how everything will turn out.
Just like Sandra Bullock’s touching but never maudlin performance, the film’s tone doesn’t overdo the sentimentality or the humor. Another director besides Jon Turtletaub might have gone for either too screwball or too sappy a tone. Turtletaub wisely lets the actors tell the story. Fortunately, the cast hits all the right notes.
Bill Pullman makes an appealing male lead. He adds just the right hint of suspicion towards Lucy at the beginning, without being too antagonistic and falling into the bickering rut that many romantic comedy couples fall into. Their developing relationship has the right flavor too it. Pullman turns Jack into a very likable man’s man, in contrast to the more smooth and upscale playboy Peter.
Speaking of Peter, Peter Gallagher spends most of the film in a coma, but when the character wakes up, he vividly (and humorously) essays his confusion and befuddlement. Imagine coming out of a coma to find out what he does. The various actors and actresses playing the other Callaghans are all well-cast and memorable. Jack Warden as the sharp-eyed but sympathetic Saul is the standout.
In the end, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING wins you over by the sheer magnetic power of Sandra Bullock’s performance. She’s larger than life while being down to earth, at the same time. That quality is what makes us follow her characters every step of the way in whatever film they may feature in.
