Why “While You Were Sleeping” Is an Underrated Christmas Classic
In April 1994, a modestly budgeted, Christmas-set romantic comedy starring Hollywood up-and-comer Sandra Bullock became a surprise success. After 25 years and dozens of viewings, I can confidently argue that it should be a perennial Christmas classic — not to mention the fact that it is perhaps the perfect Christmas movie for this tremendously challenging year.
A Brief History of While You Were Sleeping
When While You Were Sleeping was released 25 years ago, Oscar-winning film icon Sandra Bullock was just breaking out. A key role in the surprise blockbuster Speed the year before had made her one of Hollywood’s hottest new commodities. The industry was waiting with bated breath to see if she would truly be the next Julia Roberts.
Her big-screen follow-up to Speed was arguably a risky move. While You Were Sleeping was a modestly budgeted romantic comedy with no A-list stars attached (her co-star Bill Pullman was well known thanks to films like Spaceballs and Sleepless in Seattle, but he was hardly a box office draw). It was also a Christmas-set film released in theaters in mid-April, which at the time was known as a dumping ground for films unlikely to be a success.
The film was unexpectedly a breakout hit, making it one of the biggest box office surprises of the year. It grossed $182 million worldwide on a mere $17 million budget. It was far better reviewed than most romantic comedies of the era, with an 80% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes and legendary critics like Roger Ebert were somewhat reluctantly won over by its charms. The late, great Roger Ebert wrote, “…as it was heading for its happy ending, I was still a little astonished how much I was enjoying it.” Seven months after its release, Sandra Bullock received the first of her five Golden Globe nominations for the film.
So given its breakout success, the now-legendary status of its star, and its widespread availability (it is prominently streaming on Disney+), why isn’t While You Were Sleeping a perennial Christmas classic?
Why While You Were Sleeping Is an Underrated Classic
Most people don’t think of While You Were Sleeping as a Christmas movie for some bizarre reason. Perhaps it was the April release date. The opening credits, set to Natalie Cole’s magnificent “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”, showcases a Christmas-decorated Chicago and the opening scene involve Sandra Bullock lugging a Christmas tree into her apartment. The entire film takes place over the next two weeks or so, with a belated Christmas celebration and New Year’s Eve serving as major plot points.
The second issue preventing it from bona fide classic status is that the plot is a hard sell. Lucy Moderatz (Bullock) is a lonely toll-booth worker on the Chicago “L” train who lost her mother when she was an infant and dropped out of college to care for her ill father, who recently passed away. She daydreams about a romance with dashing businessman Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher) who hops on the train at her station every weekday. While being forced to work Christmas day against her will (since she’s the only one without family counting on her), she sees Peter mugged and thrown onto the train tracks. She rescues him and accompanies him to the hospital. A wild series of mix-ups results in her being mistaken for Peter’s fiancee and things spin wildly out of control with his intrusive family. Not only does it sound utterly preposterous, but few people think about muggings, comas, and deception as being the hallmarks of a heartwarming Christmas tale.
This leads us to the third and most prominent issue, which reflects the only actual criticism I have of the film. Despite its many strengths (which I will delve into in a minute), the screenplay by Daniel G. Sullivan and Frederic Lebow requires viewers to suspend disbelief a bit too much and endure a few too many misunderstandings. Although a valid criticism, can you name a single Christmas movie that doesn’t require a suspension of disbelief or rely on plot contrivances? I think not. Nevertheless, the screenplay does veer a bit too close to “idiot plot” territory. (In literary criticism, an “idiot plot” refers to “a narrative where its conflict comes from characters not recognizing, or not being told, key information that would resolve the conflict, often because of plot contrivance.”)
But once you look past its “idiot plot,” the screenplay actually is remarkably nuanced. Virtually every major character is given depth and character development, and all of their motivations are crystal clear and believable. Lucy has no interest in deceiving the Callaghans, but a deep longing for connection (likely fueled by spending her first Christmas alone) and a fear of breaking their hearts leads her to do things she wouldn’t normally do. The family’s willingness to believe the mix-up is fueled by their estrangement from their son and their desire to reconnect with him. Peter’s brother Jack (Bill Pullman), who becomes Lucy’s love interest, is driven by his conflicting emotions about his family (he loves them deeply but wants to leave the family business and is jealous of his brother’s success) and his deepening love for Lucy.
The performances are remarkably heartfelt. Glynis Johns, most famous for her role as Mrs. Banks in Mary Poppins, is an absolute hoot as the vaguely senile grandmother. (Fun fact, she’s still alive at age 97!) As Peter and Jack’s parents, the late Peter Boyle (Young Frankenstein, Everybody Loves Raymond) and veteran character actress Micole Mercurio (whose credits include Flashdance, The Client, Hill Street Blues, and LA Law) are the perfect balance of quirky and charming. As Peter’s godfather who quickly figures out Lucy’s secret and conspires with her to keep it from the family, two-time Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Jack Warden is the comic highlight. As Peter (spoiler alert — he survives!), Gallagher is delightfully flustered as a narcissist who wakes up to find his world in disarray. Pullman proves a charming romantic lead (in many ways, the opposite of his character in Sleepless in Seattle) and effectively goes toe-to-toe with Bullock.
As good as the ensemble is, what makes this film work is the absolutely luminous, award-worthy performance from Sandra Bullock. She oozes longing and heartbreak with each stare out of the toll-booth window. Her heartbreaking confessionals, first with Peter in the coma, then with Saul, and eventually with everyone, are perfectly pitched. She shows restraint and radiance at every turn and gives a performance of astonishing emotional vulnerability and authenticity.
The film is skillfully directed by Jon Turteltaub (whose credits include Cool Runnings and National Treasure) and produced by industry heavyweights Roger Birnbaum and Joe Roth. Thanks to film editor Bruce Green, the film flows seamlessly and is superbly paced. It also has a restrained and whimsical score by Randy Edelman that is utterly sublime.
Is While You Were Sleeping one of the great movies of the 1990s? No. Is it in the upper echelon of greatest romances ever made? Also no. But is it an eminently watchable, utterly charming, and highly underrated film that is better than it should be in nearly every regard? Absolutely.
Why While You Were Sleeping Is the Perfect Christmas Movie for 2020
Set between the week before Christmas and the week after New Year’s, the film is brimming with holiday spirit. But not the Christmas spirit of Santa Claus and childlike wonderment or the monumental personal transformations that mark classics like A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life. Rather, it’s the holiday spirit of fairly ordinary people longing for love and connection during a time of the year when it is so hard to be alone.
Not only is While You Were Sleeping a great Christmas movie, but it is in many ways the perfect Christmas movie for 2020. Lucy is utterly alone, an only child whose parents have died young. She is struggling economically, forced to drop out of school and take on a passion-less job due to the tremendous costs of her father’s medical treatments. She spends most of the holidays in the hospital. Lucy also spends the film yearning to travel. She dreams of going to Florence, Italy and finally getting a stamp in her passport. Also, as memorably argued by R. Eric Thomas — one of my favorite writers — the film is deeply committed to a “pajamas” aesthetic that really speaks to quarantine culture.
Is there anything more 2020 than a film about people who are lonely at Christmas, dealing with the death of loved ones, preoccupied with family member’s medical issues, struggling in an unjust economy, navigating generational conflicts, and dreaming of someday being able to travel internationally?
Yet somehow, the film spins all of these admittedly heartbreaking issues into something charming, beautiful, and even hopeful. Even more than it’s Christmas setting or subject matter, that’s what makes it a great Christmas movie.
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