Charming

“It Could Happen to You” is one of those loosely based true stories that you wish was more true than it is. It evokes the idea that fairy tales can still happen, even in a big, bustling city, and that old-fashioned generousness hasn’t completely evaporated. It was 1994’s New York love story akin to “Sleepless in Seattle”, yet entirely better done.


Loosely based on something that happened in 1984 yet set in present day NY, it has Nicolas Cage playing Charlie, a cop who goes above and beyond for his city and seems universally loved in return. Except by his wife Muriel (Rosie Perez), who so laments the little money he makes that she often wishes he was on the take, cause at least that would show initiative.


Bridget Fonda is the other part of this love story as Yvonne, a woman who came to the city to be an actress but ended up a waitress married to a man who broke her heart, left her bankrupt, and what’s worse, ruined her faith in people.


As luck would have it, Charlie ends up stopping into her diner for lunch one day only to not have enough to pay her a good tip. So he makes her a win-win offer instead- pulling out his lottery ticket and offering her half of any winnings that he may reap from that night’s drawing. She’s skeptical but kindly accepts.


That’s the set-up for what is a very enchanting film about two good, hardworking, selfless people who suddenly find themselves on the receiving end for a change. The money won’t change them, but it will change their lives in ways they’re perhaps too good and selfless to really expect. The way they stand up to cynicism is the film’s real charm.


Soon the story of the waitress and the cop is national news. She winds up buying her restaurant, leaving one complimentary table open for the homeless to get a free meal. He continues to work and save lives. They find a kindred spirit in each other, which is partially the reason for the court case they face which ends the movie.


Leading the way are two big-hearted performances from Cage and Fonda. He’s altruistic to a fault- almost as though he can’t even help himself- and she is so loving and giving, almost to a fault of having her heart stomped on, that the scene where Cage finally allows her to experience kindness back for a change is a moment of pure delight.


Other than the lotto win, you just really do grow to love this couple more and more. Their generosity of spirit is always genuine. They seem to begin as a friendship yet you can feel a personal happiness growing between them that was, perhaps, lacking in their lives before. Instead of hating Charlie for cheating, we instead admire him finally doing something for himself.


That Muriel is such a wonderfully self-involved wicked witch makes the story go down easier. Perez plays her as an over the top cartoon villain, a greedy, reprehensible, shameless money grubber who hates parting with every penny and usually takes right back when Charlie gives to the homeless.


Her blunt, chastising screams directed at Charlie are often very funny ("They should put you in a straitjacket and take you to the loony bin on Staten Island that Geraldo Rivera is always exposing.") and suggest the nightmare Charlie, somehow, never knew he was getting into. Her character is so selfish she even turns being generous into a fake PR stunt for herself.


In the face of cynicism, it’s pretty gratifying to see two people trying to spread joy. No matter how the media, outsiders, or their own jilted lovers try to bring them down, the film seeks to tell us that there is some hope for the human race after all and it makes us believe it. Paying it forward is rarely presented in the movies, hardly ever this well.