Family FavoritePG

While You Were Sleeping

A story about love at second sight.

1995 • 103 min • Romance · Comedy

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Synopsis

A transit worker pulls commuter Peter off railway tracks after he's mugged, but—while he's in a coma—his family mistakenly thinks she's Peter's fiancée, and she doesn't correct them. Things get more complicated when she falls for his brother, who's not quite sure that she's who she claims to be.

Our family guide

Best from age 8

Movie Knight Score

2039 reviews

100 Reviewers · 5 · 65%
70 Audience · 2034 · 35%

After saving a commuter, transit worker Lucy finds herself entangled in his family’s lives when they mistakenly believe she’s his fiancée. As she falls for his suspicious brother, she navigates a charming Christmas deception, exploring themes of family, belonging, and unexpected love.

Violence & peril: 1/10
Language: 1/10
Drinking, drugs & smoking: 1/10
Romance & sensuality: 2/10
Scary moments: 1/10

Heads up

Brief discussion of a parent's death
One character falls onto subway tracks
Mild kissing and romantic attention

What it models well

The importance of family connection
Finding belonging
Honesty, eventually
Empathy and caring for others

Talk about it after

Truth vs. deception and their consequences
What it means to be family
Love at first sight vs. growing to love someone
Dealing with difficult ethical choices

Written by the Movie Knight editorial team for While You Were Sleeping. Our own words, our own scoring — always double-check against your family's standards.

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Top billed cast

Director: Jon Turteltaub • Crew: Daniel G. Sullivan, Fredric LeBow

Trailers & clips

Reviewer notes

Recommended
Sandra Bullock does almost all of the heaving lifting in this engaging, if slightly far-fetched love story. She works in the token booth at her local Chicago train station where every morning she sees that cashmere-coated "Peter" (Peter Gallagher).…
CinemaSerf, TMDB Community

Recommended
**A good and really funny romantic comedy.** I don't consider myself a fan of romantic comedies, so I feel free to talk about them with complete dismay. And what I want to say about this romantic comedy is that it manages to be much better than we might expect at first glance. In fact, this film manages to associate an excellent lead actress with a good story, full of comic moments.…
Filipe Manuel Neto, TMDB Community

Recommended
**While You Were Sleeping is about more than just romance. It’s about finding family and, in this case, an adorable but crazy and entertaining family.** While You Were Sleeping is a heartwarming romantic comedy with the lead falling in love with a quirky but sincere family as much as their charming son.…
The Movie Mob, TMDB Community

RecommendedTrusted family reviewers
Insanely cheesy and overtly sentimental... yet, I kinda like 'While You Were Sleeping'. Sandra Bullock is probably the main reason for the latter, as she gives a near perfect performance for this sorta role. The rest of the cast are good too, from Bill Pullman to Peter Gallagher to Jason Bernard. The story is paced finely, it's really just the strong cheese that brings the rating down for me. Still: 7/10.…
r96sk, TMDB Community

RecommendedTrusted family reviewers
Really good watch, would watch again, and can recommend. This feels like a classic watch, like a movie that started a trope...but I can't think of a single other movie that did what this movie does. Sure there are movies about comas, amnesia, lying, but they don't do it in the same way, and I honestly believe it's because this movie did it so well that no one wants to risk copying it and do worse.…
Kamurai, TMDB Community