THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407300068
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
IF YOU DON'T leave ``It Could Happen to You'' feeling better than when you went into the theater, give up. There's no hope for you.
This is the only outright romantic comedy of the summer movie marathon; as such, it has novelty on its side. It's a little sweet at times, with two leading characters who are near-saints, but it never wallows in cuteness. There is always an aura of self-awareness that saves its image.
Any movie that tries to picture New York City as a center of goodness and light has got to be considered just a little brave.
The original title was ``Cop Tips Waitress $2 Million,'' which was a good deal more pithy and less commonplace. No matter, we'll put up with the blandness of this title if we can get a movie this charming.
Nicolas Cage plays Charlie Lang, an honest New York cop who likes pounding the beat and plays stickball with the neighborhood kids when he isn't helping old ladies across the street. When he doesn't have money to leave a tip, he gives waitress Yvonne Biasi half his lottery ticket, promising he'll split with her if he wins.
The waitress, played by Bridget Fonda, is a down-on-her-luck loser who has spent all morning in court declaring bankruptcy because her estranged husband ran off with her credit card and ran up big bills.
Of course, he wins big. He splits the $4 million winnings and the two become media celebrities.
Cage and Fonda score a breakthrough from their troublesome past movie images. He, at last, escapes those wierdos and low-lifes he played so convincingly in things such as ``Raising Arizona,'' ``Wild at Heart'' and ``Vampire's Kiss.'' Here, he looks and acts like a romantic leading man.
The breakthrough is even more important for Fonda, an actress who has been greatly misused. She has repeatedly been cast as a sexpot (in things like ``Scandal'') or an action-amazon (in ``Point of No Return''). The small-framed and rather bland-looking Fonda didn't fit either image. Here, she's delightful as a fresh-scrubbed nice girl to whom nothing much nice has happened - especially nothing as nice as $2 million. When she gets all dolled up in a glamorous red evening gown, she's Cinderella and Eliza Doolittle combined.
Cage and Fonda look great together. In fact, they look like movie stars.
Nonetheless, everything would have been too sweet to stomach if not for the force of Rosie Perez, who steals the movie handily. Her act is pretty much the same from movie to movie, but she's just about the funniest woman on any screen today. With some mannerisms left over from ``White Men Can't Jump,'' she plays Cage's wildly selfish wife - a hairdresser who is sick of living on a cop's salary.
``If only he were on the take, I could understand,'' she tells her girlfriends. When he wins the lottery, she takes to money in a big way - hitting Fifth Avenue with checkbook blazing. He comments: ``It's like we're on two different channels. I'm CNN and she's the Home Shopping Channel.''
As Muriel, a wife with the instincts of Cruella De Ville, Perez is a riot. She immediately suspects that something is going on between her hubby and the waitress. She purses her lips and juts out her jaw and takes action. Perez may well get another supporting actress Oscar nomination for this outing.
Wouldn't it be something if anyone ever makes a movie co-starring Rosie Perez and Jim Carrey? That would be taking over-the-top higher than ever before. I suspect we'll all get tired of them soon, but for the moment, they're the two most manic comics around.
Able support is given by Red Buttons (Oscar winner for ``Sayonara'') as Cage's lawyer and Seymour Cassel as a supposedly rich guy who flatters Perez. Isaac Hayes (Oscar winner for ``Shaft'') appears as a narrator called Angel. The narration is the film's most feeble crutch but it reminds us that it's all a fable. Just to be sure we notice, both Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett sing ``Young at Heart'' on the soundtrack.
Director Andrew Bergman is known for wacky but winning comedies - Bert Parks singing to a dragon in ``The Freshman'' and parachuting Elvis imitators in ``Honeymoon in Vegas.'' Here he goes for a Capra-esque goodness.
For the dating crowd who embraced ``Sleepless in Seattle'' last year, this is their flick for this summer. Even if you don't have a date, you should let it happen to you. ILLUSTRATION: TRISTAR PICTURES photo
A working-class waitress (Bridget Fonda) and a New York City cop
(Nicolas Cage) find their lives turned upside down by sudden wealth
from a lottery prize in ``It Could Happen to You.''
MOVIE REVIEW
``It Could Happen to You''
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Rosie Perez, Isaac Hayes,
Seymour Cassel
Director: Andrew Bergman
Screenplay: Jane Anderson
MPAA rating: PG (language)
Mal's rating: 3 and 1/2 stars
Locations: Movies 10 in Chesapeake; Janaf and Main Gate in
Norfolk; Kemps River, Lynnhaven 8, Pembroke and Surf-N-Sand in
Virginia Beach
by CNB