Every actor or actress has one key role that elevates them to the leading above-the-title status – and for Sandra Bullock, it came with WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING, the follow-up film she did after SPEED with Keanu Reeves.
Bullock plays Lucy, a Chicago Transit Authority token vendor who watches Peter (Peter Gallagher) walk past her window each day at the station she works at and pines to be loved by him. One day, Peter is attacked on the platform and is pushed onto the tracks.
Saving his life and going with him to hospital, confusion reigns when she blurts out that she wanted to marry him, leading his family who have also turned up thinking Peter is engaged to Lucy. Lucy then becomes part of the close circle of friends. One of them, Saul Tuttle (Jack Warden, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN) overheard he say it, but rather than get her to confess the truth, he suggests playing along due to the fact that she saved his life.
At a family dinner, Lucy meets Peter’s brother Jack (Bill Pullman, INDEPENDENCE DAY, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE) and the two strike up an unlikely bond. In the meantime, Peter’s life begins to impact on Lucy, as her misunderstood identity starts to take a hold….
A gentle romantic comedy that was more than perfect for the ever-watchable Bullock, WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING is for the lonely heart and the hearts who aren’t and love a bit of extra love in their film viewing.