''While You Were Sleeping'' is a 1995 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film directed by Jon Turteltaub and written by Daniel G. Sullivan and Fredric Lebow. It stars Sandra Bullock as Lucy, a Chicago Transit Authority

token Token may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Token, a game piece or counter, used in some games * The Tokens, a vocal music group * Tolkien Black, a recurring character on the animated television series ''South Park,'' formerly known a ...

collector, and Bill Pullman as Jack, the brother of a man whose life she saves, along with Peter Gallagher as Peter, the man who is saved,

Peter Boyle Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. Known as a character actor, he played Frank Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'' and the comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof '' Young ...

and Glynis Johns as members of Peter's family, and Jack Warden as a longtime family friend and neighbor. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $182 million at the box office. Bullock and Pullman received praise for their performances. Bullock also garnered a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.

Plot

Lucy Eleanor Moderatz is a lonely fare token collector for the Chicago Transit Authority, stationed at the

Randolph/Wabash station Randolph/Wabash was an elevated 'L' station in the Loop in Chicago. Located at Randolph Street and Wabash Avenue, it served trains running on the Chicago Transit Authority's Brown and Green Lines on the outer loop track, and the Green, Orange, ...

. She secretly loves Peter Callaghan, a handsome commuter, though they are strangers. On

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

Day, she rescues Peter from the oncoming

Chicago "L" The Chicago "L" (short for "elevated") is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs in the U.S. state of Illinois. Operated by the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), it is the fourth-largest rapid t ...

train after muggers push him onto the tracks. She accompanies the comatose Peter to the hospital, where a nurse overhears her musing aloud, "I was going to marry him." Misinterpreting, the nurse tells his family that she is his fiancée. Lucy becomes too caught up in the crisis to explain the truth. She remains silent for several reasons: she is embarrassed, Peter's grandmother, Elsie, has a heart condition, and Lucy falls in love with Peter's big, loving family. While visiting Peter, she confesses her predicament to him, unaware Peter's godfather Saul overhears the truth and later confronts her. He says he will keep her secret because the accident has brought the family closer. With no family and few friends, Lucy becomes so captivated with the quirky Callaghans and their unconditional love for her that she is unable to hurt them by revealing that Peter does not know her. She spends a belated Christmas with them, then meets Peter's younger brother Jack, who is supposed to take over his father's furniture business, though he wants his own business. Jack is initially suspicious, but he falls in love with Lucy as they spend time together. She soon falls in love with him. After

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

, Peter wakes up. He does not know Lucy, so it is assumed he has amnesia. She and Peter spend more time together, and Saul persuades Peter to propose to her "again"; she accepts, though she is now in love with Jack. When Jack visits her the day before the wedding, she gives him a chance to change her mind, asking if he can give her a reason not to marry Peter. He replies that he cannot, leaving her disappointed. On the day of the wedding, just as a priest begins the ceremony, Lucy finally confesses everything and tells the family she loves Jack rather than Peter. At this point, Peter's real fiancée, Ashley Bartlett Bacon, arrives and demands the wedding be stopped. As the family argues, Lucy slips out unnoticed, unsure of her future. Some time later, while Lucy is at work, Jack places an engagement ring in the token tray of her booth. He enters her booth and with most of the Callaghan family watching, proposes to her. Jack and Lucy are married and then leave on a CTA train for their honeymoon. Lucy narrates that he fulfilled her dream of going to

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico a ...

, and explains that, when Peter asked when she fell in love with Jack, she replied, "It was while you were sleeping."

Cast

* Sandra Bullock as Lucy Eleanor Moderatz * Bill Pullman as Jack Callaghan * Peter Gallagher as Peter Callaghan *

as Ox Callaghan * Jack Warden as Saul Tuttle * Glynis Johns as Elsie *

Micole Mercurio Micole Diana Mercurio (March 10, 1938 – January 19, 2016) was an American film and television actress and artist. Her film credits included the roles of Rosemary Szabo in '' Flashdance'' in 1983, Mrs. Kelly in '' Gleaming the Cube'' in 1989, ...

as Midge Callaghan * Jason Bernard as Jerry Wallace * Michael Rispoli as Joe Fusco, Jr. * Ally Walker as Ashley Bartlett Bacon * Monica Keena as Mary Callaghan

Production

Both

Demi Moore Demi Gene Moore ( ; née Guynes; born November 11, 1962) is an American actress. After making her film debut in 1981, Moore appeared on the soap opera '' General Hospital'' (1982–1984) and subsequently gained recognition as a member of the Br ...

and Julia Roberts were offered the role of Lucy Moderatz but turned it down. Though the original screenplay was entitled “Coma Guy”, the title was changed shortly after the script was acquired by

Caravan Pictures Caravan Pictures, Inc. was an American film production company at Walt Disney Studios, formed by Roger Birnbaum and Joe Roth. Caravan's films were distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. While Disney would sign directors and talent ...

. The original script was also set in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, but to accommodate for the film's budget, the filmmakers changed the setting to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

where they shot on location. Filming took place from October 8 to December 14, 1994.

Reception

Box office

The film was a tremendous success, grossing a total of $182,057,016 worldwide against an estimated $17,000,000 budget. It made $9,288,915 on its opening weekend of April 21–23, 1995. It was the thirteenth-highest grosser of 1995 in the United States.1995 Yearly Box Office Results
''Box Office Mojo''.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has a "Certified Fresh" approval rating of based on reviews from critics, with an average rating of . The site's critical consensus reads, "''While You Were Sleeping'' is built wholly from familiar ingredients, but assembled with such skill – and with such a charming performance from Sandra Bullock – that it gives formula a good name." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...

wrote: "It's a feel-good film, warm and good-hearted, and as it was heading for its happy ending, I was still a little astonished how much I was enjoying it."

Accolades

Bullock was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. The film is recognized by the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

in 2002 with a nomination for the list AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions.

References

External links

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

"The Blossoming of a Wallflower"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. April 21, 1995. C16. * *
Script-O-Rama: While You Were Sleeping transcript

While You Were Sleeping
at Virtual History {{Jon Turteltaub 1995 films 1995 romantic comedy films American Christmas comedy films American romantic comedy films Caravan Pictures films Films about weddings Films directed by Jon Turteltaub Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago Hollywood Pictures films Rail transport films Films produced by Joe Roth Films produced by Roger Birnbaum Films scored by Randy Edelman Love stories 1990s Christmas comedy films Films set around New Year 1990s English-language films 1990s American films