Product Details

• Actors: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Rosie Perez, Wendell Pierce, Isaac Hayes
• Directors: Andrew Bergman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: July 25, 1995
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303334598
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,051 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Inspired by an actual incident, this unassuming, wonderfully good-natured romantic comedy tells the story of a New York City street cop named Charlie (Nicolas Cage) who makes a promise to a coffee-shop waitress named Yvonne (Bridget Fonda) that will change both their lives. One day after coffee, Charlie is embarrassed to discover he doesn't have money for a tip, so he tells Yvonne that he'll share half of his winnings if the lottery ticket he's holding comes up a winner. Sure enough, he wins the jackpot--a whopping $4 million payoff--and Charlie's wife, Muriel (Rosie Perez), goes ballistic when he tells her about his deal with Yvonne. From this point, It Could Happen to You follows Charlie's dilemma as he is forced to decide the proper course of action, and director Andrew Bergman smoothly incorporates a gentle love story into this amusing crisis of conscience. Fonda and Cage have an easygoing chemistry that adds a pleasant touch to the movie's fairy-tale plot, and the story's kindhearted sentiment is never so thick that it becomes sticky-sweet or artificial. As feel-good comedies go, this one's a class act. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
The main characters in Andrew Bergman's sweet-spirited romantic farce are a cop named Charlie (Nicolas Cage) and a diner waitress named Yvonne (Bridget Fonda)-a pair of generous, honest, kindhearted working-class lovers who might have seemed too good to be true even in one of Frank Capra's sunny populist comedies. Bergman treats their impossible virtuousness as a species of screwball-comedy idiosyncrasy, and makes us believe in them. Cage gazes at Fonda with his characteristic look of stricken canine ardor, Fonda flashes back one of her radiantly loopy grins, and we smile at both the rightness and the weirdness of their union. Rosie Perez, as Charlie's beady-eyed, greedy wife, gets most of the big laughs, but it's the relationship between the cop and the waitress that gives the picture its distinctive comic spirit. The joy that Charlie and Yvonne take in doing good has the erotic quality of a shared secret, a ticklish pleasure that only they know about. Also with Seymour Cassel, Wendell Pierce, Stanley Tucci, and Isaac Hayes. Screenplay by Jane Anderson. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chick Flick, but good movie for guys too, March 19, 2006

By	Hicoselman "TomC172" (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It Could Happen to You (DVD)

Light-hearted rendition of the true-to-life story of a police officer who was forced by his conscience to share his lottery winnings with a waitress, fulfilling a promise he made when he was otherwise unable to leave a tip. Presents the ways in which sudden prosperity changes people, for the better or worse. A little sappy in order to please the ladies; a little action and a good story so as to please everyone - even us 'macho guys'.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True Romance, August 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: It Could Happen to You [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Very sweet movie. I loved it, and I think true Romantics will love it too. Based on a true story, it follows the adventures of a cop who wins a lottery and shares his winnings with an out-of-luck waitress. Rosie Perez did an excellent job as the Cop's overbearing and greedy wife, as did Ms. Fonda and Mr. Cage.

I nearly cried at the end when the citizens of NY came through for the kind-hearted Cop and the Waitress.

When you find out what happens to the Cop's wife at the end of the movie, you will laugh out loud.

I couldn't get through Sleepless in Seattle, and found this movie to be much better than the usual so-called Romantic movies.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful, July 19, 2001

By A Customer

Truly a delightful movie. I love the fact that the Charlie and Yvonne are so innocently just "doing the right thing" whilst staying so unassuming and carrying on with their lives. The scene at the end in their "darkest hour" almost had me in tears, and really showed out their true characters. A real heartwarming film - for a change I felt a well spent 90 minutes rather than an empty hour and half. Refreshingly different from the usual shallow romantic comedies out there which are all basically the same.