Bullock’s Talent Carries ‘Sleeping’

Sandra Bullock is pretentiously being groomed by Hollywood to be “The Next Julia Roberts.” Maybe in the eyes and wallets of moviegoers she will be, but Bullock has several qualities that Julia Roberts, for the most part, lacks.

She can act, she has charisma and she’s versatile.

However, in Hollywood these elements are not essential in making a star (picture Tom Cruise), but they do help make better movies.

Now Bullock has her “Pretty Woman” of sorts. It’s called “While You Were Sleeping.” In it, Bullock carries the weight of the movie virtually by herself. Without her, the film would fall apart into another hokey sentimental love story/comedy.

Miraculously, nearly everyone in this film is at her performance level, even Peter Boyle. And any film where Peter Boyle is good is a treasure.

Lucy (Bullock) is a lonely young woman who works in one of the token booths at a Chicago subway station. She has a secret crush on Peter (Peter Gallagher), a rich, darkly handsome commuter. One Christmas Day she saves his life after he falls onto the tracks, but he falls into a coma. By a series of chance events, Peter’s whole family comes to think Lucy is Peter’s fiance. Lucy knows the truth would give Peter’s mother a fatal heart attack.

As unlikely as that scenario seems, it never stretches the bounds of reality to the breaking point, as many feel-good movies do. The plot unfolds nicely after a beginning that wastes no time, and soon we’re sucked in as quickly as Lucy is.

Opposite Bullock is Bill Pullman, who gives a performance just as good as hers, but on a smaller scale. He plays Peter’s brother, Jack, who is instantly suspicious of Lucy. Pullman has just the right balance of comedy and seriousness to make Jack seem like a real person.

The other actors and actresses in the film fare very well, too. Boyle makes Peter and Jack’s father into a likable loudmouth, and Gallagher is good at playing Peter asleep and awake. But Michael Rispoli, who plays Joe Jr., steals all his scenes as a hilarious tough guy who decides to begin dating Lucy.

“While You Were Sleeping” does buy into many of the cliches of this genre - like a happy ending and a small army of too-good-to-be-true characters, but the movie is not as sickeningly sweet or forcibly cheery as others. The ending where everyone has to be present is tastefully done and ends the film on the right note without being cheesy.

“While You Were Sleeping” could be the star-making vehicle for Sandra Bullock, but either way she is still great and this film is still good.

Grade: B+