History Film / WhileYouWereSleeping

Lucy is a lonely transit worker in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} who by chance is mistaken for the fiancée of a rich bachelor named Peter (Creator/PeterGallagher) when the latter gets mugged on Christmas Day and falls into a coma. His family are very welcoming to her and she finds herself slowly [[BecomingTheMask falling in love with the whole charade]]... when Peter's [[BlackSheep younger brother]] Jack (Creator/BillPullman) arrives, and suspects that not all is as it appears. Things become even more complicated when Lucy finds herself falling in love with ''him'' instead.

* BecomingTheMask: The longer Lucy spends with the Callaghans, the more she becomes to feel part of their family even though there is no genuine link between them. This eventually escalates to the point that when Peter comes out of his coma and spends some time with her, he eventually decides that she ''must'' be his fiancée and proposes marriage "again".

* BigEater: Lucy -- just listen in on her Chinese takeout orders.

* CoolBigSis: Lucy becomes this for Mary, Peter's sister.

** At one point, Lucy and Ashley -- supposedly Peter's ''real'' fiancée -- board the same elevator at the hospital, both intending to speak to Peter at the same time. This would seem to be the build-up to sparks flying... except Lucy, unaware that Peter's been moved, ends up getting off on the wrong floor, and completely misses Ashley's confrontation with Peter. The two never end up really meeting.

** During an argument, Jack claims -- somewhat tactlessly -- that Lucy is ''not'' Peter's type, explaining his skepticism of their engagement but hurting her feelings in the process. If true, Peter's type apparently includes rather superficial and buxom blondes like Ashley.

** Sol eavesdrops on Lucy talking to a comatose Peter and finds out they aren't engaged, but agrees to keep her secret to protect Peter's family from being hurt.

* StalkerWithACrush: Lucy's infatuation with Peter initially borders on this, at least a little; although she's under no delusions about the exact nature of her relationship with Peter, she's nevertheless convinced that she's in love with and has built up a fantasy scenario of a potential relationship with a man she knows solely from a series of second-long interactions through a transit station token booth. She's a lot nicer and sweeter than the usual example, however, and eventually grows out of it over the course of the movie. It's also more out of her fundamental sadness and loneliness than any serious obsession.

* NoAntagonist: Except for [[spoiler:Peter's actual fiancée]] (who plays a very minor part in what happens anyway), the only obstacle is the awkward situation itself. Jack is initially positioned as an antagonist, being the only one who disbelieves that Lucy is engaged to Peter, but he gradually warms up to her.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Subverted in that we do see evidence that Peter is a lawyer.

%%* ChickFlick (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample)

* ConvenientComa: After his tumble on the L-train tracks, Peter Callaghan spends most of the movie in the kind of coma that keeps him out of action for at least a week but conveniently results in no kind of physical, psychological or cognitive issues

** Joey also. As dumb and off-puttingly forward as he is, he seems legitimately ready to protect Lucy when he thinks Jack is bothering her.

* NoAntagonist: Except for [[spoiler:Peter's actual fiancée]] (who plays a very minor part in what happens anyway), the only antagonist is the awkward situation itself. Jack is initially positioned as an antagonist, being the only one who disbelieves that Lucy is engaged to Peter, but he gradually warms up to her.

* OneDialogueTwoConversations: At one point, Lucy encounters a co-worker of Peter's who remarks that Peter had had an "accident" earlier in the year as if Lucy would know all about it. Because Lucy naturally doesn't know a thing about it, she remarks "accident?" in a questioning tone. The co-worker however assumes that her tone is because Peter has been blaming ''him'' for the accident, and begins to rant about it, in the process giving her far more detail than she wanted.
* OneDrinkWillKillTheBaby: Jack attempts to prevent Lucy from drinking booze when under the [[MistakenForPregnant misconception that she's pregnant]]. In front of all her friends. It... doesn't go so well, largely because this occurs during the SevenMinuteLull.

* RichBitch: Ashley Bartlett-Bacon, [[spoiler:Peter's actual fiancee. Except not quite -- she actually said no, but changed her mind -- but is also still married]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Ox asks Lucy what was the first thing she noticed about Peter. She says it was his teeth and Ox laughs and explains that they are very expensive caps. This foreshadows the fact that everything she admires about Peter is fake.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Joey is a rare male example of this trope, being not quite a StalkerWithACrush but still annoyingly fixated on Lucy. In Joey's defense, he doesn't seem to be ''intentionally'' abhorrent, and his admiration for Lucy is pretty genuine. He's just so... ew!

* BettyAndVeronica: Peter is the rich and handsome lawyer while Jack is the ruggedly handsome craftsman.

* FeetFirstIntroduction: The first thing we see of Jack is his boots stepping out of his truck. Jack is the last major character to be introduced, and this shot teases out his introduction by making us wait a few seconds longer to see his face. Focusing on Jack's boots and jeans also highlights his working class lifestyle, as contrasted with Peter's fancier clothes and lifestyle.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: When Peter wakes up and, understandably, doesn't remember Lucy being his fiancée, everyone assumes he's got a dose of this despite the fact that he remembers absolutely everything else about his life. He gets to the point where he's reciting locker combinations he had in grade school before throwing up his hands and going along with it.

* LoveTriangle: Lucy soon finds herself in the middle of a love triangle between Peter and his brother Jack.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: The movie never quite reveals why Jack is so suspicious that Lucy is Peter's fiancée, beyond some hints that it's really because he's attracted to her. It initially seems to hint that Jack has met Peter's actual fiancée

* FollowInMyFootsteps: Jack wants to start his own carpentry business, but his father is set on him inheriting the family business. When Jack finally works up the courage to admit to his father he doesn't want to do this, his father is upset... [[MilhollandRelationshipMoment because if he'd known sooner, he could have sold his business and retired a year ago]].

* HasAType: When Jack is asked about "his type", he deliberately gives a false answer (blondes) to hide his feelings (and flatter his blonde mother). Only for his kid sister to relate what his real type is: a general description that easily includes Lucy.

** Lucy tells her boss what's going on, and he gets confused trying to keep up with the ensuing plot twists

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: At various points in the film, all three acceptable pronunciations for the word "fiancee" are used, with stresses on each syllable.

* MissingMom: The movie never really makes a big deal of it, but Lucy's mother appears to have died either before she was born or before she was old enough to form lasting memories of her; the flashbacks to Lucy's childhood involve only her and her father.

* WrongGuyFirst: After being mistaken for Peter's fiancée, Lucy begins to realize that he's nothing like her fantasy. And then she starts to have feelings for Jack, who ''does'' turn out to be Mr Right.

Lucy is a lonely transit worker in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} who by chance is mistaken for the fiancée of a rich bachelor named Peter (Creator/PeterGallagher) when the latter gets mugged on Christmas Day and falls into a coma. His family are very welcoming to her and she finds herself slowly [[BecomingTheMask falling in love with the whole charade]]... when Peter's [[BlackSheep younger brother]] Jack (Bill Pullman) arrives, and suspects that not all is as it appears. Things become even more complicated when Lucy finds herself falling in love with ''him'' instead.

Lucy is a lonely transit worker in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} who by chance is mistaken for the fiancée of a rich bachelor named Peter (Peter Gallagher) when the latter gets mugged on Christmas Day and falls into a coma. His family are very welcoming to her and she finds herself slowly [[BecomingTheMask falling in love with the whole charade]]... when Peter's [[BlackSheep younger brother]] Jack (Bill Pullman) arrives, and suspects that not all is as it appears. Things become even more complicated when Lucy finds herself falling in love with ''him'' instead.