While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Directed by Jon Turteltaub. Starring Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Jack Warden, Peter Gallagher, Peter Boyle, Michael Rispoli, Jason Bernard, Glynis Johns, Micole Mercurio, Ally Walker. [PG]

Grating romantic comedy cashes in on the sudden popularity of Sandra Bullock after her breakout role in Speed. Here, she plays a lonely train station token collector who crushes on one of her anonymous regular customers (Gallagher), and then saves his life after he is pushed onto the tracks and slips into a coma. Things only get awkward when she is mistaken by the man’s family for his fiancée and, rather than come clean, she goes along with it…only to later fall in love with his brother (Pullman). Bullock is likable enough to almost forgive her character for the barefaced deception, and she shares an easygoing rapport with Pullman, but the story is just a hideously contrived mangle of misunderstandings—a high-wire act to pull off, and this one falls into the net repeatedly. Will Gallagher wake up before the end? Does his family exhibit that cozy kind of kooky so loved by Hollywood? Will they forgive Bullock for her mountain of lies? The answers are self-evident, so considering the insufficient levels of charm and sparkle, there’s no need to watch and find out.

36/100