Sandra Bullock is a working girl who wants to travel. She has no family, and is usually stuck doing holiday shifts in the Chicago transit system (as a toll booth clerk on the elevated railway). She has noted one man who uses the station all the time (Peter Gallagher),and rescues him when he is thrown onto the train tracks just before a train comes into the station. Gallagher is in a coma and (due to a well-intentioned nurse) Bullock is introduced to the family of Gallagher as his fiancé. She tries to tell them the truth, but when she learns his grandmother (Glynis Johns) has a heart problem she hesitates. Soon she is treated as a member of this nice family as a member (well, she did save Gallagher, and she is thought to be his fiancé). Only his brother (Bill Pullman) has real doubts, and keeps mentioning them (and keeps apologizing for them. Bullock and Pullman find that they are also growing more attracted to each other. The film shows how these problems are resolved. And it is all done in a most charming manner.

This is one of those films that would take only a few minutes to quickly resolve in the real world, where Bullock would have told the truth early on. But the audience is allowed to suspend it's disbelief because the characters are uniformly likable. Although Jack (Pullman) is constantly questioning Bullock's story, each time she gives a plausible explanation of what is going on, and Pullman likes her enough to accept these explanations. The only one who knows the truth is the family friend Sam (Jack Warden) and he too feels that the news has to be broken carefully (he loves the family and doesn't want them hurt). Oddly enough his one effort at meddling almost screws up the situation in the film for Bullock, Pullman, and Gallagher. Pullman also faces the truth and explains to his father (Peter Boyle) that he doesn't want to continue in the family business. Boyle's reaction becomes important too.

The performances are flawless, and one finds oneself rooting for most of the cast (the sole exception is the actress playing "Ashley", Peter Galagher's actual girl friend). Her opposite number, "Joe Jr." is too comic a figure to dislike (in fact, at one point he thinks Pullman is annoying Bullock and offers to take care of him - not the act of a rat at all). For a sweet, lovable love tale WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING is hard to top. In the last decade only WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, WORKING GIRL, PRETTY WOMAN, NOTTING HILL, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, and YOU'VE GOT MAIL are on par with it, but the family becomes so important to Bullock in the plot this has a special warmth in it that is quite is different from most of the others.

The irony in my summary line above is that Lucy (Sandra Bullock) was the one to find Peter (Peter Gallagher),and not the other way around, and then, as things progress, she winds up finding Peter's brother in a film filled with clever second guessing and imponderable coincidences. The cleverest was the 'one testicle' scenario. I wondered how the script was going to pull off that little conundrum and the screenwriters did it with style.

So here's a romantic comedy that works without getting sappy. Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman affect a low key chemistry in the story that allows them to ride out the controversy of a phony engagement made all too real through a series of misjudgments. You really have to give the screenwriters credit here for making a believable story out of a set of unbelievable circumstances. The only thing that might not work here is the idea that someone who looks like Sandra Bullock wouldn't have eligible guys lined all the way up and down the block from her el-train cubicle to ask her out on a date. That aside, the story comes together in a charming way to make this not only an engaging chick flick, but an entertaining family film as well.

Sandra Bullock plays a lonely lady who works in a toll booth for the elevated train in Chicago. Her life is so empty that she begins fantasizing about having a relationship with a handsome customer. One day, this customer is robbed and thrown onto the track as a train is coming. Sandra pulls him off the track and accompanies his to the hospital, as he's in a coma. Through a funny mistake, the hospital staff thing she's his fiancée and the problem quickly snowballs when his family arrives and they, too, think she's engaged to their son.

This is a lovely romantic comedy--one of the best of the last several decades. Also, despite this very simple plot, the film does a great job of setting the mood and creating characters you will love. It's very engaging and sweet and I enjoyed it significantly more than SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (another fine film)--mostly because the film has such a great sense of humor. Oddly,despite having so much going for it, the rating for this is surprisingly low her on IMDb AND Leonard Maltin's guide also gives it a pretty low score. While I may sound like a fathead, I really can't understand why the score is so low as the writing is so clever, the acting excellent and the ensemble supporting cast so sweet while not being saccharine.

A wonderful and nearly perfect film--a terrific date movie or just a film if you could use a laugh or smile.