How sad is this?

Did you people see the same film I saw?

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

With the curtain being drawn back to reveal a soft focus NYC skyline by a woman taking down her rooftop laundry line and the film's narrator, Issac "Shaft" Hayes, starting the film off with the words "Once upon a time..." the fairy tale tone is set for this charming love story set in the big city. Nicholas Cage plays a kindly NYC police officer who one day doesn't have enough money to tip a waitress, Bridgette Fonda, so he promises her that he'll split the winnings of his lottery ticket if he wins. Cage does hit the lottery jackpot and he and Fonda become media sensations when he follows through with his promise. Cage follows through with his promise much to the consternation of his greedy, self-centered, materialistic wife, Rosie Perez, and Fonda has to fend off her gold digging, irresponsible separated husband, Stanley Tucci. With their awful partners, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Cage and Fonda become star crossed lovers in a highly predictable, but none-the-less highly enjoyable film in the mold of 1930s/40s romantic comedy. The story is pure Hallmark Channel sap, but director Andrew Bergman and the two leads bring so much charm and likability to the film that it's nearly impossible to resist. For all the terrible films Cage has appeared in, this film served to remind me of what a good actor he can be, particularly because it was so different from his more frequent over-the-top, wild-man roles (i.e. "Wild at Heart," "Leaving Las Vegas," "Face-Off," etc.). Cage has a quiet easy charm in this film, playing a kind, very ordinary of character, which I'd forgotten he was able to play. Fonda is equally good as the kindhearted waitress and as whenever I see one of her film, I miss seeing her in new films and would love to see her come out of retirement. The two make an terrific onscreen couple and it's hard not to smile as you see them walking the streets of NYC, playing baseball with kids over Frank Sinatra standards, or even when they're doing the very 1990s activity of rollerblading through Central Park. However, one thing that jumped out at me, and maybe I'm reading too much into this, but there seemed to be a weird racist undercurrent with the waspy Cage and Fonda being unhappy in their marriages to their more "ethnic" of partners (Latina Perez and Italian Tucci). There's also a scene in the film where cage stops a convince store robber and the robber for no apparent reason is middle eastern. I hope this all was unintentional, but it did have an off-putting effect that was completely unnecessary in moving forward the film's plot. Despite that bit of likely unintentional racism, I really do love this film. The leads are terrific. The photography by Oscar nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (father of Zoey and Emily Deschanel) has the same kind of mythic feel he brought to "The Natural" and "The Right Stuff". The Carter Burwell score is gorgeous, as are the song choices, which include Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, The Supremes, and contemporary artists like Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lyle Lovett, and Wynton Marsalis, which serves as a nice bridge between the film's classic sensibilities and the modern setting. It's a charming and sweet old fashioned romantic comedy that just as easily could have starred Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Overall, "It Could Happen to You" is a the type of romantic comedy you'd seen a hundred times before, but overcomes it's cliches and familiarities to become one of the better if not one of the best examples of this type of fluffy rom com.

So Muriel is a beautician. Her husband flirts with a waitress because he can't pay his coffee bill (he is a cop) and offers her half of his lottery ticket if he wins.Poor Muriel, her luck is in and they win 4 million, her husband gives the waitress half without telling her. He continues to make expensive financial decisions without speaking to his wife thus ruining their marriage. It's OK though because he has the waitress as a back up.Muriel grows a pair and demands her portion of the money, he refuses and she has to take him to court. She gets her money but that's OK because her ex isn't interested in money, or so we thought. The second the waitress finds out Nick cage is poor again she runs away for a few days. It takes him 3 days to track her down (at her own cafe).The town takes pity on him and send him money via post so the waitress gets to own the cafe.Finally Nick Cage and the waitress decide to fritter the money away that the city gave them by hiring an expensive hot air balloon and littering the city with pink paper hearts (probably incuring a fine in the process).

Seriously, where did this rubbish come from? January is non-ratings time here in Australia so you can end up with pretty much anything on tele.. some programmer from channel 10 decided to dish this up on Saturday night... mmmmmm.. Nauseatingly sweet plot, badly acted by a cast who should have known better in the first place. There were a number of similar "schmuck" parts Nicolas Cage played in this part of his career which were equally horrible (and forgettable), hence I am not a fan... at all. Except for "Con Air"... Racist and condescending the way the bad people (eg: the wife) are not blonde-haired Caucasian with perfect teeth and accents.. A couple of hours of my life I will never get back..

It was some many years before I ever got around to watching this lovely film, but as I've seen it multiple times in the last five years or so, now I hold it dear as one of the fonder movies. It has such a real decency to it. It's realistic display of depicting a very kind gesture, sharing millions of lottery winnings money with a complete stranger, makes it simultaneously edgy while homely. It Could Happen to You is a soft-spoken hit film. There's not a lot of fuss to how good it is, it's just there, and it's just good. It's lead by its acting, with such good actors and actresses. Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, and Rosie Perez are all very good for the viewing. I really like all three of these movie stars. This is one of Nic Cage's more appreciative films, and he has so darn many. Bridget Fonda gives a good, lovely performance starring in one of her best, most memorable movies. Rosie Perez is so good and she's doing her best to try to steal the show, but there's no way she would have been able to. The beautiful growing relationship between Charlie and Yvonne is too good in It Could Happen to You. It Could Happen to You is a great, great, great film to get lost in, really good to lose yourself in for a time. It's wonderful, and it really makes you think. After all, it could happen to you.