It Could Happen to You

Name: It Could Happen to You
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Released: July 29, 1994
Duration: 101 min
Rating: 64
Cast: Bridget Fonda, Nicolas Cage, Rosie Perez

1994

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Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews

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Universal acclaim based on 10 Ratings

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It Could Happen To You

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Movie Details & Credits

TriStar Pictures | Release Date: July 29, 1994 | PG

Starring: Bridget Fonda, Nicolas Cage, Rosie Perez

Summary: A police officer (Nicolas Cage) promises to share his lottery ticket with a waitress (Bridget Fonda) in lieu of a tip. [Original working title: "Cop Gives Waitress $2 Million Tip."]

Director: Andrew Bergman

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy, Romance

Rating: PG

Runtime: 101 min

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Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert

The movie is not so much about romance as about goodheartedness, which is a rarer quality, and not so selfish. And Cage has a certain gentleness that brings out nice soft smiles on Fonda's face. Read full review

Joe Holleman

There is much to like about this film, good performances and writing, enough true laughs for the comedy label and enough true love to keep the romance fans happy. To top it all off, the soundtrack uses Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra at all the right moments. Try to leave this movie without humming one of the tunes on the way home. [29 July 1994, p.5F]

Peter Rainer

Even though It Could Happen to You has its tenderized, good citizenship side, it's been written (by Jane Anderson) and directed (by Andrew Bergman) with an embracing cheer. It's blissfully uncynical. Read full review

Jay Carr

Even as a romantic confection it would soar higher, glow brighter, if it had permitted itself some texture, some bite. It's too simply emblematic to muster all the magic it needs, even though it has a pair of utterly winning performances by Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda. [29 July 1994, p.53]

Empire Angie Errigo

The result never comes close to being hilarious, merely cute in the corniest way. That it is more of a pleasure than it deserves, is down to the light, bright leads. Cage and Fonda are both charming, though he’s particularly endearing in his uncharacteristic but welcome turn as a soft-hearted, irresistable darling. The slightness is a disappointment, but the concoction is still very sweet indeed. Read full review

Caryn James

The other miracle is that the two stars of It Could Happen to You keep it sailing over a script that is often as predictable and flat as the movie's new title. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Ideally It Could Happen to You should be fun all the way, with the audience confident things will turn out right. Instead it's mostly annoying, with an ending that feels tagged on. Read full review

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DawdlingPoet

Nov 20, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a good movie to watch to cheer you up, I feel, it is in a way a bit formulaic and kind of uses a fairy tale sort of a theme, as its a story of two normal people, a cop and a waitress, leading normal, hum drum lives, who suddenly find themselves in an extraordinary situation and of coruse there's the villainous character who wants to have it all. The character of Muriel is really rather OTT (over the top), you might want to turn the volume down on your TV when she starts shouting, she's got quite a high pitched voice put it that way! she really comes across as a panto 'boo hiss' kind of a villainous, self centered person.

The movie does have quite a moral undertone, with the story being about two good people who wish to partially use the money to help others and in the end, you'll see how this pays off. It also carries the message of what can happen if you become too obsessed with money and fortune, also in the movie Muriel finds herself trying to move up in the world so to speak, going on a cruise full of other wealthy people and its here that she meets someone who ends up not being quite what she thought, as you find out at the very end of the movie.
I really enjoy this movie as something to watch to make you daydream about winning the lottery I suppose and it makes you think about what to do with the money if you ever were to win and win big. Its a comforting tale when you see it all and see what happens to the characters and the way that they use the money they have. Yes it is perhaps a bit predictable and could be seen as a little cheesy but thats kind of what I like about it, it makes for a good movie to watch when/if your feeling a bit down and wonder if there are any genuinely nice people in the world! also to back this up, believe it or not, but it is actually based on a true story. You can read about this here:- http://www.snopes.com/luck/lottery.asp

Yes this is definately what I would like to call a daydream movie, I mean who wouldn't like this to happen to themselves? and as far as the characters are concerned, you really root for them, both Cage and Fonda give their usual great performances. You root for them even more when you realise the backgrounds they come from and see their desire to really help others as well as themselves.
Another almost sort of fairy tale side of this movie is that at the start and end of the movie, there's a narrator that creates or explains the scene to the viewer, the narrator in this case being (remember this movie dates back to 1994, so a few years before South Park started) Isaac Hayes, this also sort of works as his voice comes across as a good, comforting voice, its almost sort of the kind of voice I think I remember hearing when I used to listen to thos Disney audio story tapes that you got with the story books back in the 80s and early 90s as a kid. He even shows up at one point, walking along the streets of NY as a regular guy telling the story of another ordinary guy (Charlie).

Like I keep saying, I think this is a good feel good movie, it has a sort of a fairy tale feel to it and it, I suppose, could be seen as something of a 'chick flick' perhaps, although im sure some men might enjoy it too but those are the phrases I'd use to describe it in my opinion.
Overall this movie works well with great performances from Cage and Fonda, like already mentioned I felt like I really wanted a happy outcome for both Charlie and Yvonne and I didn't lose interest in the movie at all as it was well scripted and acted, it wasn't too weak a movie, especially with the character of Muriel, an over the top selfish and somewhat self obsessed wife that you can tell wants to and will do all she can to get in the way of Charlie and Yvonne (boo! hiss! she's behind you! *eek*), there is a definate kind of a pantomine almost dame type of feel to that character but I think that helps alot in keeping my interest in this movie while I watched it and Rosie does well in portraying this character, who is rather scary! if anything, perhaps she over acts a bit but I think she had to be quite a strong character for the movie to work well overall.

I would recommend this movie to anyone wanting to watch a decent, feel good movie with good acting performances and an interesting story. I walked away from having seen this movie feeling more reassured that there are nice and giving people in the world, you have to see the end of this movie, I don't want to give too much away but let me put it this way, its not necessarily the ending you'd expect, there's a twist at the end! I don't think I can say much else.… Expand

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