Don't Use This Film For The Love Lessons

Romantic comedies give us all the best possible outcomes to discovering love and romance in the most mundane or totally insane situations. But the problem with looking at romantic comedies in this light is that they can give us unreasonable expectations on how and where to get the love we all want. While You Were Sleeping is a perfect example of this very issue. The film, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, follows Sandra Bullock's Lucy as she is mistakenly taken for the fiancee of a coma patient, Peter, whom she heroically saved by jumping onto the tracks of a train line to protect him.

Lucy had fallen for Peter as he walked by her every day while she worked at the train station for the Chicago Transit Authority, but they had never really spoken before the day she saved him. Nevertheless, she continues the charade and gets taken in by the family. And what’s more, she starts to fall for Peter’s brother Jack. While the story is, in its own weird way, rather romantic as it unfolds, there are so many moments that should never be emulated in the movie. These are the love lessons you should not take away from While You Were Sleeping.

To be fair, things alway work out in the end of romantic comedies, so for the most part, that alone is unbelievable enough to stop everyday people from running to the hospital and picking out their very own coma patient, or Catfishing each other on the Internet like in You’ve Got Mail. Oh wait, there’s an entire show dedicated to that. Nonetheless there are still those want to see the best possible outcomes for love happen in their lives, and that’s totally understandable. But these are just a few things you really should follow, because While You Were Sleeping is just too unbelievable to really work in real life.

Pretending To Be The Fiancee Of A Coma Patient Is Crazy, Not Romantic

Guys, this isn't real life, this stuff doesn't just magically happen. In fact, if you pulled a Lucy and fell for a man you had only just seen but never met and then pretended to be his fiancee if he was sent to the hospital in a coma, you could get in big trouble. Just be straight with the family and if they get angry by the confusion, just tell them you saved his life and you’d do it again. Like a good samaritan, not like a crazy stalker.

Do Not Fall For The Brother Of Said Coma Patient

It’ll just make things awkward with the family in real life and no one is really going to feel all that comfortable accepting this union if it started with such a creepy lie.

Continuing The Fiancee Charade With Coma Patient's Family Will Not Result In Happiness And Love

The family probably won’t take you in and make you a part of their family in a matter of a week or two. They’ll probably be really hurt and betrayed by how long you felt you had to lie. And if you want to get back into their good graces, this is where pulling a Lucy and giving a heartfelt, vulnerable apology would work. The rest of it however? Not so much.

Agreeing To Marry Said Coma Patient When He Wakes Up Is Again Crazy, And Could Lead To Terrible Consequences

Come on! The guy just woke up from a coma and doesn’t remember you. If this isn’t the best time to stop the charade, than what is? Plus, now you want to manipulate this man and his family and sneak your way into their lives forever? That’s just creepy. Oh and what happens if the marriage starts to go downhill from the lies and the things you were never able to find out about one another? That's just a recipe for misery.

Do Not Continue The Fiancee Charade All The Way Up To The Altar

Seriously, there are so many better moments to do this! Correction: There are so many sooner moments to do this.

Do Not Marry The Coma Patient's Brother A Week After Meeting Him

Maybe quickie marriages do work for some people, but for the most part you're not going to find out all of the things you need to know about someone in a week. It's especially difficult if the person in question is the brother of the guy you originally thought you loved. The chemistry between Lucy and Jack is quite obvious and sweet, but they could have waited and really gotten to know each other, lived together, or at the very least go on at least one proper date before tying the knot.

But hey, what do I know? Maybe a marriage that started from a little over a week or two of knowing each other could result in a happily ever after. Crazier things have happened, right?

Images: Screenshot/Buena Vista Pictures (6)