We wanted something light-weight to watch, not too long or complex. ‘While you were sleeping’, which we first saw about ten years ago, seemed like a good choice. We had both forgotten what it was about, although as we watched a few incidents did seem familiar.
Sandra Bullock stars as Lucy, a young and not very confident girl who works as a ticket collector. She does her job well, and dreams… until one day she sees someone and feels an instant connection. He barely notices her, and she might never have seen him again, but for a dramatic incident in which she saves his life.
The bulk of the film takes place while he is euphemistically sleeping - in fact in a coma, fighting for his life. He has a family, all delightfully caricatured, who rally round. When they realise that Lucy saved his life, they want to adopt her - and get the mistaken impression that she is his fiancee. She loves being with this talkative, affectionate and quirky family that she can’t quite bring herself to tell them that she doesn’t in fact know him at all.
Then things become even more complicated when she starts to fall for his brother Jack. It’s obvious to the viewer that they find each other attractive, but neither of them realise it at first. Moreover, Jack thinks she’s engaged to his brother and he’s an honourable man. And Lucy feels herself falling further and further into deception…
The pace of the film is excellent, and there’s a nice balance between the two main characters, who become excellent friends before anything else develops. The more minor stereotyped characters are amusing - there are some good lines that made us smile, and also some poignancy in Lucy’s deeply felt need for acceptance. Sandra Bullock is perfectly cast and Bill Pullman is also ideal as Jack. His comatose brother (Peter Gallagher) has a much smaller part to play but also does it well.
We had entirely forgotten how the film ended; it could have gone several ways. We thought it nicely done and entirely satisfying.
This is a good film if you would like a light-weight gentle romantic comedy. It’s rated PG, unusually for this genre, but there’s no violence, only minor bad language, and nothing explicit. There are some innuendoes and sexual references but they would go over the head of most children. Not that a young child would find this particularly interesting.
Definitely recommended.
Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews
It’s nearly ten years since we acquired and watched the classic romantic comedy film ‘Sleepless in Seattle’. So it was more than time to see it again. We had totally forgotten what it was about, but as we watched, some scenes came back to us.
A young-looking Tom Hanks (this was made in 1993) stars as the recently widowed Sam. He’s grieving for his wife, but doing his best to bring up his eight-year-old son Jonah (Ross Malinger). Jonah decides that his dad needs a new wife, so he calls a radio station with a phone-in to a relationships expert.
The host persuades Jonah to let his dad speak. He’s initially reluctant, but eventually starts to talk about how wonderful his marriage to Maggie was, and how much he misses her. Hundreds of women around the country hear this, and either phone in or write to him, as he sounds like a perfect guy…
One of the people who hears the radio show is Annie (Meg Ryan), who has just become engaged to a pleasant (if a tad predictable) guy called Walter (Bill Pullman). She insists she is very happy with him, and loves him deeply, although odd comments from other people make her begin to have a few doubts. And she can’t get Sam out of her mind.
Jonah is very taken with a letter that Annie writes (though she doesn't intend it to be posted). He is not, however, keen on a woman Bill decides to date for a while, and some of their interactions are amusing, and very well done.
It’s a relationship-based story, and is obvious from early in the film how it’s going to end. But it’s quite tricky getting there. For one thing, Sam and Annie live at opposite ends of the United States. Sam’s nickname on the radio show is ‘Sleepless in Seattle’, because that’s where he lives, in Washington state, on the West coast. Annie is a journalist who lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland, on the East coast. She manages to get an assignment enabling her to fly to Seattle, then gets cold feet when she manages to see Sam…
There’s a lot of low-key humour, mostly relating to minor characters, and some excellent comic timing, as one would expect from Tom Hanks. The child playing Jonah is a delight, and their relationship is very believable with some poignant moments as well as some lighter ones. And there’s some tension towards the end, as it appears that Sam and Annie are destined never to find each other.
The pace is excellent, and we enjoyed it very much. The ending is perhaps clichéd, but done well, and we thought it a great film to watch in the Christmas season. I loved the sound track, with lots of old songs, now classics, presumably from the 1990s.
The rating is PG, and that seems about right to me. There are references to intimacies, and people seen in bed together but they’re fully clothed and nothing untoward happens. One or two mild profanities, no violence at all, and only the mildest tension as the ending is predictable. Having said that, the story as such wouldn’t be of much interest to young children, but Jonah’s significant role might make it appealing to children of around nine or ten and upwards.
Review copyright 2019 Sue's DVD Reviews
'Sleepless in Seattle' is one of those films I had heard about, many times, but for some reason had never actually seen. But, at last, I was given a copy, and we sat down to watch it one evening recently.
It’s a classic rom-com, but the 'romance' part is well done, and the 'comedy' part amusing and fairly subtle rather than being overdone. Tom Hanks is superb as Sam, a recently widowed young father who is still grieving the wife he loved. His young son, Jonah, expertly played by Ross Malinger, decides to phone a radio show to ask for advice about his depressed dad.
The conversation is heard on the car radio by Annie (Meg Ryan) who is driving at the time, en route to stay with her fiancé the rather too-good-to-be-true Walter (Bill Pullman).
There are some quite moving moments as well as the light humour, and I thought it was a good storyline. The ending is somewhat predictable, but satisfactory nonetheless. Nothing particularly deep or thought-provoking, but certainly worth watching.
All in all, we thought it an enjoyable evening’s light escapism.
Rated PG in both UK and USA, probably due to some mild bad language.
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
'While you were sleeping' is another film in the light romantic comedy genre from the 1990s which I had managed to miss out on entirely. Possibly because we did not buy films on VHS, and did not yet have DVDs. Or perhaps because I was a full-time mother of small children, with little time for going to the cinema.
So it's good to have these gentle classics available inexpensively on DVD. This is one I was given for Christmas, which I watched with my husband.
The story features Sandra Bullock as Lucy, a lonely ticket-collector who has a bit of a crush on one of the commuters: Peter (played by Peter Gallagher). One day, out of the blue, she saves his life. While he’s in a coma there’s a huge misunderstanding, whereby his family assume she’s his fiancée.
They are so grateful to her that they adopt her wholeheartedly... and, longing for affection and family life, she goes along with the deception, hoping that all will be sorted out when Peter recovers from the coma.
The problems start when Lucy starts to fall for Peter's brother Jack (Bill Pullman). So when Peter actually does wake up from his coma, life is far from straightforward…and she is caught between the two of them.
The main characters were excellent, the chemistry good, the story paced nicely. There were some amusingly caricatured minor ones characters, and a predictable but pleasant ending.
All in all, very enjoyable.
Rated PG in both the UK and USA, probably for some minor bad language.
Review copyright Sue's DVD Reviews
