On I List of Movie Reviews

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It Could Happen to You (1994)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 5/24

5/24: From time to time, Nicolas Cage will do a good film while behaving normally, and one of them is It Could Happen to You.

The longer the show went on, the more I couldn't help but feel the Capra-esque quality which is to say "they don't make movies like that anymore." Nicolas Cage is James Stewart, Bridget Fonda is Donna Reed, and Rosie Perez is Lionel Barrymore. By the way, a fun fact is that all were born during the same year: 1964.

You can hate Rosie Perez's character all you want, but she gives the best performance of the show. If it wasn't for her, there's no conflict and therefore no story. In fact, the incident did happen for real, but splitting the winnings of the lottery ticket instead of a tip was the furthest it went. So, the filmmakers decided to add more afterwards which is fine by me. It's also a very New York City picture.

By the way, the lottery doesn't work that way as shown in the film. For starters, winners will have to pay a huge amount of it back to the government for tax. Also, they don't get the full amount right away. If one wishes a lump sum now, the final number will be substantially decreased. Otherwise, it's an annual installment payment plan that's spread out over, say, thirty years.

All in all, It Could Happen to You is a terrific, clean picture that adheres to the tradition of Frank Capra's pictures.

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