No matter how many times TBS chooses to run this movie--sometimes twice in a row--I will watch it every time. It's entirely sappy and sentimental in its rendering--nearly every shot is bathed in a golden hue--but that's what I like about it. Normally, I cannot abide films that feature guardian angels, but It Could Happen to You features a quasi-guardian angel (played by Isaac Hayes), and I find him oddly endearing! What's going on here? The world is upside down! It's a Carnivalesque inversion!
Really though, I think my anomalous reaction to this movie stems from Bergman's willingness to portray the world not just as it should be, but as it is. Yes, there is a definite fairy tale aspect to it, evident right from the opening scene, where a woman takes a sheet off a clothesline to innocently reveal the New York skyline, to the closing scene, where Charlie Lang (Nicholas Cage) and Yvonne Biasi (Bridget Fonda) take off in a hot-air balloon. The plot itself, for those unfamiliar, is similarly fantasy-like: a good-hearted cop (Cage) finds he can't afford a tip for his waitress (Fonda), but offers to split the winnings, if any, from his lottery ticket with her. Of course, he wins--four million dollars, to be exact. And he falls in love with her. But there's a problem: he has a wife, Muriel (Rosie Perez), and she is not of the giving spirit.
But aside from the contrivances of the plotline, there is a concerted effort on the director's part to fill the screen with people--all types of people. The (albeit, somewhat stereotypical) Asian shopkeepers, the boys playing stickball in the streets of Brooklyn, the loyal customer at the diner where Yvonne works who has AIDS, the bellhops who excitedly commiserate over the fact that they served the now-famous cop and waitress--the list goes on. It is a portrait of a colourful, vibrant city--a love letter to New York, and one that finds particular resonance in light of recent events.
Finally, let's talk performances. Cage hits just the right note here; he's simple and heroic, but has a touch of the pathetic about him. (Just watch him try to cuddle up in a child-size sleeping bag at his partner's house after Muriel kicks him out, and you'll know what I mean.) I have a crush on Cage in this movie, and this movie only, if that tells you anything. Fonda is adorable in the scene where Cage tells her he won the money (and Carter Burwell's swelling score is a wonderful touch). Perez is shrill and annoying, but hey, that's her shtick.
As I said earlier, this films strives to show us that there is still good to be found in the world, and that it operates karmically. Yvonne and Charlie recoup their losses, in spectacular fashion, and you get the feeling that this is something that would happen in real life as well. Okay, perhaps people wouldn't be lining up at mailboxes to mail them money (seriously, this happens in the film: nuns, office workers, firemen, all at once), but you know what? Close enough.
-reviewed by the ladybug, Mar.24, 2002 |
