Well-acted, but this Movie's message is all wrong.

Film buff, I am so sorry you felt need to take something so dark from something so simple and cute. Before I go further, let me say that I'm entitled to any opinion, because I AM Lucy. Actually, I'm Larry, and I'm not a woman, but my point: all that defines this woman's existence on screen defines my own as well. I don't see how this movie depicts her life Aline as "bad." Maybe it only depicts her life as a struggle. And yes, maintaining your life when you're alone in it IS a struggle. At heart, the only one who sees Lucy as "alone" is Lucy. Everyone who meets her loves her because she's that lovable. Until her engagement (the real one), Lucy led a meager life. Meager but enough. And sometimes "enough" is a luxury all its own, because you learn that you're above your own struggle. It's amazing to find out what kind of things can make you happy and make you smile when you remove extravagances from the equation.

I've watched this film over a dozen times, and never once have I recognized Lucy's life as "bad." I see a woman standing on her own with a quiet dignity, a bright smile, and a charm that steals the heart out of everyone she knows.

Kind of interesting take Filmbuff ...

I agree with the cultural bias. ... it even infringes on people who choose to be single.

I personally love being single ... I've been in relationships, and married a few times and was always ultimately miserable - yet between relationships allegedly well-meaning family & friends and even strangers were always incredulous about me being single and apparently they took it as some kind of challenge to convince me I needed to date, fall in,love, etc etc.

I've always been stunned at how many people live in some sort of fantasy land based on no reality whatsover.

What if I went around pushing single-living on everyone that's married?

I mean - I could care less, other than to wish them all the best whether they choose to date, or marry or be single.

I can't understand why people take so much liberty against single people.


MEANWHILE - as far as the movie goes - the character of Lucy wanted to be in,a relationship. That was the impetus of the movie: she was very lonely, and her circumstances added to her feelings of lonliness. Some lonely people get rather swallowed up by their circumstances ...because the character herself wanted to have a relationship & had certain dreams, desires, & hopes for love & family - we cannot view Lucy, or the movie overall as being influenced or motivated by the status-quo of culture etc.

There are a lot of people like Lucy - If there were not, so many matchmaker sites would not be thriving.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong. But very few people have a genuine desire to be single, and in fact, many fear being alone, and sinply can not comprehend any one choosing it.

This was just a sweet romatic comedy about a girl who desperately WANTED to be in mutual love.

But - as a Filmbuff - you know this so ...
Lighten up.

;)

Dangerous?! Seriously?! This movie is about LUCY not wanting to be alone. I can sympathize with Lucy. I do have a family but I've never been in love. I've been single my whole blank blank life. I don't WANT to be single. Lucy wants to be surrounded by loved ones and there is nothing wrong with that!

I do wish that they would make more movies about characters ending up single or alone and being happy about it. (How to be Single actually did have this message. Surprisingly). It would be nice to teach people that that's okay to want.

But I agree with other commenters on here. Lucy didn't want to be alone. And she was completely alone. No family really. Honestly she would've been happy at the end if they all just accepted her as their own.

"This Film tells viewers that if you're alone then there is something wrong"

That wasn't the message. The message was that LUCY was tired of being alone, a sentiment I think most women and even men feel when they have no one waiting for them at home except a cat or dog, and we all so much wanted Lucy to find the love that she deserved. Like a Hallmark movie, we all know that the girl gets the boy at the end but we watch it anyway.

I don't see how a romantic comedy would play if the protagonists didn't care if they ended up together or not.

That's not at all the message I got. There are several messages this lovely film tells:

- don't ever lie about being engaged to someone
- get to know that person before ever committing to a relationship with them
- when you marry someone, you don't just marry them, you marry their family too, in a manner of speaking
- spending a lifetime with your parents doesn't make you an expert on them, any more than spending a week with them does
- sometimes the best person for you might be right under your nose, and you don't even know it!
- always be honest with the people you care about; a relationship based on lies is gonna eventually fall apart
- always be wary of crazy people
- when ordering a Christmas tree, make sure delivery is included in that order
- don't ever joke about being pregnant when some teen is eavesdropping
- don't expect the hot dog guy on the corner to know what your "usual" order is, even if you've been eating his product for many days

While You Were Sleeping would be deemed extremely predatory if the roles were reversed

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/kl69uj/while_you_were_sleeping_would_be_deemed_extremely/

Anyway, let's play along with the original idea of the script. A lonely ticket man spots a woman getting on the train every day, and despite never saying a word to her decides he's in love with her. Kind of creepy already. After she is mugged and pushed onto the tracks, he gets the one-in-a-life time chance to be her knight in shining armor and saves her. Only problem is, she's in a coma. At the hospital, he watches her comatose body, which that image alone would have so many people riled up. On top of that, he inadvertently lies to the nurse and the woman's family that he is engaged to her. Put a pin in that for later. This lie escalates to the point where he gets invited into the family home, and later gets into her apartment. At that point, this is a horror movie about a stalker infiltrating a woman's life while she is unconscious.

It's interesting to think about how the film would had been received if Peter Gallagher had saved Sandra Bullock from the train. I suppose we do get a bit of an idea of that original concept with Joe Jr., Lucy's sleezy neighbor who, like Lucy, lies about dating someone who has absolutely no interest in him. True, Joe Jr. comes off as a lot more creepy, but how is that any different from what Lucy is doing? In the original concept for the script, would a female version of Joe Jr. been perfectly in her right to try and force a relationship with her neighbor?

That's not my take on the message of the movie at all. IMHO the message of the film was "It's okay to break all the rules and lie and mess with people's lives, IF you want something REALLY badly.".

I mean I liked the movie back in the day, largely because Bullock put it all over, but it's one of those movies that doesn't bear too much thinking about.