It Could Happen to You (film)
Encyclopedia
It Could Happen to You is a 1994 romantic comedy
-drama
film starring Nicolas Cage
and Bridget Fonda
. It is the story of New York City
police officer (Cage) who wins the lottery and splits his winnings with a waitress (Fonda). The movie bears a striking resemblance to an actual event as documented by Snopes. Isaac Hayes
has a role as undercover reporter and photographer Angel Dupree, while also being the film's narrator.
) is a kind and generous man who loves his job and the Queens
area of New York City where he lives. His wife Muriel (Rosie Perez
) works in a hairdressing salon and, unlike Charlie, is selfish, greedy and materialistic, constantly complaining about their situation in life. Waitress Yvonne Biasi (Bridget Fonda
), is bankrupt because her husband Eddie (Stanley Tucci
), whom she could not yet afford to divorce, emptied their joint checking account and spent all the money without her permission, while also leaving her with a credit card
debt of over $12,000. Charlie meets Yvonne when she waits on him at the diner where she works. Since Charlie doesn't have enough money to pay the tip, he promises to give her either double the tip or half of his prospective lottery winnings the next day. He wins $4 million (in 21 annual payments) in the lottery the next day and keeps his promise, despite the protests of his wife. He and Yvonne become stars almost immediately. Yvonne buys the diner she was working in. She sets up a table with Charlie's name at which people who cannot afford food can eat for free. In another development, Charlie becomes a hero for foiling an attempted robbery at a grocery store but gets wounded in the process, forcing him to take leave from the police force.
At a gathering on a chartered boat for the lottery winners and other members of high society, Muriel gets to know the newly rich Jack Gross. She flirts with him and develops a strong liking for him, which is mutual. Meanwhile, Charlie and Yvonne spend a lot of time together, on one occasion paying for the train journeys of passengers of the subway, and on another treating the children of his neighbourhood to a day out at Yankee Stadium, about which the media report. Muriel gets fed up with Charlie's constant donations and overall simplicity and throws him out of their apartment, asking for a divorce. That same evening, Yvonne leaves her apartment after her husband shows up and threatens to stay until he gets $50,000 from her. Quite innocently, Charlie and Yvonne run into each other at the Plaza Hotel
and, unintentionally, end up spending the night together.
During divorce proceedings between Muriel and Charlie, Muriel demands all the money that Charlie won for herself. Charlie doesn't mind giving his share of the money but Muriel also wants the money he gave Yvonne, and Charlie's steadfast unwillingness to do so causes Muriel to take the case to court. The jury decides in her favor. Yvonne, feeling guilty at costing Charlie all his money, runs out of court in tears and tries to keep away from him. But the cop, by now hopelessly in love with the waitress, finds her at the diner and tells her that the money means nothing to him, and they declare their love for each other. While ruminating about their future at the diner and considering a possible move to Buffalo, they are gracious enough to provide a hungry and poor customer some soup, which he eats at the special table. The poor customer is none other than the disguised Angel Dupree, who takes photos of the couple and in the next day's newspapers publicly eulogises their willingness to feed a hungry and poor man even in their darkest hour. Just as Charlie and Yvonne are moving out of town, the citizens of New York City, no doubt touched by the generosity of the couple, send "the cop and the waitress" thousands of letters with tips totaling over $600,000, enough to help pay their debts.
After Muriel gets remarried, her new husband Jack Gross flees the country with all the money from their checking account, revealing himself to be a con man. She then has no option but to move in with her mother in the Bronx and go back to her old manicure job. Eddie Biasi, now divorced from Yvonne, ends up becoming a taxi driver. Charlie happily returns to the police force and Yvonne reclaims the diner. At the film's end, Charlie and Yvonne get married and begin their honeymoon by taking off from Central Park
in a hot air balloon that bears the New York Post
headline "Cop Weds Waitress", just before the closing credits roll.
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
film starring Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
and Bridget Fonda
Bridget Fonda
Bridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
. It is the story of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
police officer (Cage) who wins the lottery and splits his winnings with a waitress (Fonda). The movie bears a striking resemblance to an actual event as documented by Snopes. Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
has a role as undercover reporter and photographer Angel Dupree, while also being the film's narrator.
Plot
Policeman Charlie Lang (Nicolas CageNicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
) is a kind and generous man who loves his job and the Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
area of New York City where he lives. His wife Muriel (Rosie Perez
Rosie Perez
Rosa María "Rosie" Pérez is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, director and community activist.- Early life :...
) works in a hairdressing salon and, unlike Charlie, is selfish, greedy and materialistic, constantly complaining about their situation in life. Waitress Yvonne Biasi (Bridget Fonda
Bridget Fonda
Bridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
), is bankrupt because her husband Eddie (Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
), whom she could not yet afford to divorce, emptied their joint checking account and spent all the money without her permission, while also leaving her with a credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
debt of over $12,000. Charlie meets Yvonne when she waits on him at the diner where she works. Since Charlie doesn't have enough money to pay the tip, he promises to give her either double the tip or half of his prospective lottery winnings the next day. He wins $4 million (in 21 annual payments) in the lottery the next day and keeps his promise, despite the protests of his wife. He and Yvonne become stars almost immediately. Yvonne buys the diner she was working in. She sets up a table with Charlie's name at which people who cannot afford food can eat for free. In another development, Charlie becomes a hero for foiling an attempted robbery at a grocery store but gets wounded in the process, forcing him to take leave from the police force.
At a gathering on a chartered boat for the lottery winners and other members of high society, Muriel gets to know the newly rich Jack Gross. She flirts with him and develops a strong liking for him, which is mutual. Meanwhile, Charlie and Yvonne spend a lot of time together, on one occasion paying for the train journeys of passengers of the subway, and on another treating the children of his neighbourhood to a day out at Yankee Stadium, about which the media report. Muriel gets fed up with Charlie's constant donations and overall simplicity and throws him out of their apartment, asking for a divorce. That same evening, Yvonne leaves her apartment after her husband shows up and threatens to stay until he gets $50,000 from her. Quite innocently, Charlie and Yvonne run into each other at the Plaza Hotel
Plaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel with a height of and length of that occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue extends along the east side of Grand Army Plaza...
and, unintentionally, end up spending the night together.
During divorce proceedings between Muriel and Charlie, Muriel demands all the money that Charlie won for herself. Charlie doesn't mind giving his share of the money but Muriel also wants the money he gave Yvonne, and Charlie's steadfast unwillingness to do so causes Muriel to take the case to court. The jury decides in her favor. Yvonne, feeling guilty at costing Charlie all his money, runs out of court in tears and tries to keep away from him. But the cop, by now hopelessly in love with the waitress, finds her at the diner and tells her that the money means nothing to him, and they declare their love for each other. While ruminating about their future at the diner and considering a possible move to Buffalo, they are gracious enough to provide a hungry and poor customer some soup, which he eats at the special table. The poor customer is none other than the disguised Angel Dupree, who takes photos of the couple and in the next day's newspapers publicly eulogises their willingness to feed a hungry and poor man even in their darkest hour. Just as Charlie and Yvonne are moving out of town, the citizens of New York City, no doubt touched by the generosity of the couple, send "the cop and the waitress" thousands of letters with tips totaling over $600,000, enough to help pay their debts.
After Muriel gets remarried, her new husband Jack Gross flees the country with all the money from their checking account, revealing himself to be a con man. She then has no option but to move in with her mother in the Bronx and go back to her old manicure job. Eddie Biasi, now divorced from Yvonne, ends up becoming a taxi driver. Charlie happily returns to the police force and Yvonne reclaims the diner. At the film's end, Charlie and Yvonne get married and begin their honeymoon by taking off from Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
in a hot air balloon that bears the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
headline "Cop Weds Waitress", just before the closing credits roll.
Cast
- Nicolas CageNicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
as Charlie Lang - Bridget FondaBridget FondaBridget Jane Fonda is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as The Godfather Part III, Single White Female, Point of No Return, It Could Happen to You, and Jackie Brown...
as Yvonne Biasi - Rosie PerezRosie PerezRosa María "Rosie" Pérez is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, director and community activist.- Early life :...
as Muriel Lang - Wendell PierceWendell PierceWendell Pierce is an American actor, best known for his work in HBO dramas, including his portrayal of Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire and trombonist Antoine Batiste in Treme.-Life and career:...
as Bo Williams - Isaac HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
as Angel Dupree - Stanley TucciStanley TucciStanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He has been nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones...
as Eddie Biasi - Victor RojasVictor RojasVictor Rojas is an American baseball broadcaster, currently the TV voice of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. -Playing career:Rojas is the son of former major-league player and manager Cookie Rojas...
as Jesu - Seymour CasselSeymour CasselSeymour Joseph Cassel is an American actor.He first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering independent films of writer/directorJohn Cassavetes...
as Jack Gross - J.E. Freeman as Sal Bontempo
- Red Buttons as Walter Zakuto
- Richard JenkinsRichard JenkinsRichard Dale Jenkins is an American stage, film, and television actor. After beginning his career in theatre, Jenkins made his film debut in 1974, and appeared in supporting roles in numerous film productions in the 1980s and the 1990s. His breakthrough came in the 2000s for playing the deceased...
as C. Vernon Hale
Soundtrack
The soundtrack album was released by Sony Records on July 19, 1994.- "Young at HeartYoung at Heart (song)"Young at Heart" is a pop standard, a ballad with music by Johnny Richards and lyrics by Carolyn Leigh. The song was written and published in 1953, with Leigh contributing the lyrics to what was originally a Richards instrumental called "Moonbeam." Frank Sinatra was the first performer to record...
" - Tony BennettTony BennettTony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
and Shawn ColvinShawn ColvinShawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age... - "They Can't Take That Away From Me" - Billie HolidayBillie HolidayBillie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
- "Now It Can Be Told" - Tony Bennett
- "Swingdown, Swingtown" - Wynton MarsalisWynton MarsalisWynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
- "She's No Lady" - Lyle LovettLyle LovettLyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
- "Always" - Tony Bennett
- "Overture" - Carter BurwellCarter BurwellCarter Benedict Burwell is an American composer of film scores.-Life and career:Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie , a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd...
- "I Feel LuckyI Feel Lucky"I Feel Lucky" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country artist Mary Chapin Carpenter. Released in May 1992, it was the first single from the album Come On Come On. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart...
" - Mary Chapin CarpenterMary Chapin CarpenterMary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer... - "Round of Blues" - Shawn Colvin
- "The Search" - Carter Burwell
- "Young at Heart" - Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...