Date: Fri 04-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Quick Words:

While-You-Sleeping-Bullock

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING

"WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING" SHOWCASES BULLOCK'S TALENTS

By Trey Alexander III

Ever since Sandra Bullock was seen racing through Los Angeles streets behind

the wheel of a jury-rigged bus in last summer's hit flick Speed , her career

has been on a meteoric rise. She is currently in theatres as the star of The

Net , a thriller that pits her against duplicitous forces on the information

superhighway. However, the movie that proved Bullock is a Hollywood force to

be reckoned with is While You Were Sleeping , a romantic comedy that was

released earlier this year and has become a bonafide success. It will be

playing at the Edmond Town Hall Theatre beginning August 4.

Bullock, touted recently by the New York Post as "the new Julia Roberts,"

stars as Lucy, a likable dreamer who works in a token booth at a Chicago train

station. Every day she notices a handsome stranger (Peter Gallagher) who

silently slides by her cubicle flashing a million-dollar smile. "He's the

one," she convinces herself. All she needs is an opportunity to muscle up the

courage to speak to him.

That moment comes while she is reluctantly working on a holiday and Mr Right

surprisingly drops by. He wishes her a Merry Christmas, but she is unable to

form any words from her lips. But before regret can set in, terror strikes as

Lucy witnesses a mugging in which Mr Right is thrown onto the train tracks.

She selflessy jumps into action and saves him from an oncoming locomotive, but

the falls puts him into a coma.

Although this may not sound like much of a comedy, this opening is the

springboard for the modus operandi of this movie: outrageous circumstances

beget outrageous misunderstandings. Once Lucy's Mr Right is taken to the

hospital, she mutters to herself, "and I was going to marry him." Of course, a

nurse overhears her and when the sleeping patient's loony family arrives, they

are told that their fallen relative, Peter, was heroically saved by his

fiancee. All eyes turn to Lucy, who is so quickly overwhelmed by the Callahan

clan that she can't think of a way to tactfully tell them the truth.

Although Lucy doesn't mean to deceive her new acquaintances, they welcome her

into their fold and provide her with the family she hasn't had in her adult

life. Thus, she further hesitates in telling the truth. Things escalate when

Peter's brother, Jack (Bill Pullman), arrives and begins getting suspicious

about his brother's "beloved." But the more his curiosity grows, the more he

becomes enamored of Lucy, thus creating a vicious triangle in which the

chemistry between Jack and Lucy must be denied due to the imagined bond

between Lucy and Peter.

To be honest, the plot of While You Were Sleeping didn't do much for me. With

each twist of the narrative, it was as if the writers of "Three's Company"

were taking over the movie screen. The inherent problem with any story based

on characters' misconstruing of a certain situation is that eventually the

viewer just wants to yell at the screen, "Just tell them the truth!" Although

the film's story didn't charm me, Bullock did, and she becomes the movie's

saving grace.

Bullock displays a likability, charm and down-to-earth sensibility that makes

the material go down easier. She truly captures the essence of "the girl next

door" and works that to her best advantage... and consequently, the best

advantage of the film.

Also successful is Bullock's teaming with Pullman, who is usually the second

banana in most films. Here, he gets to play a romantic lead and he makes the

most of his opportunity. Together, the two make a formidable couple. There is

an ease in the way they carry themselves and convey their characters' deep,

but submerged, longing for each other.

While You Were Sleeping is rated PG for some mild profanity and occasional

sexual innuendo. Despite the weaknesses of its plot, the slack is picked up by

the formidable appeal and comic grace of Bullock.