Michael Reuben
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- Real Name
- Michael Reuben
Studio: Columbia
Rated: PG
Film Length: 101minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
HD Encoding: 1080p
HD Codec: AVC
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1; French Dolby TrueHD 5.1; Portugese Dolby TrueHD 5.1;
Spanish DD. 51
Subtitles: English; English SDH; Portugese; Spanish; French
MSRP: $28.95
Disc Format: 1 50GB
Package: Keepcase
Theatrical Release Date: July 29, 1994
Blu-ray Release Date: May 5, 2009
Introduction:
It's hard to remember now, but before he crashed and burned with the Demi Moore bomb
Striptease, writer/director Andrew Bergman had a successful career. He wrote and directed The
Freshman, which, for my money, is Matthew Broderick's best film (and that includes Ferris
Bueller). Then he directed Broderick's future wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, with Nicolas Cage in
the very funny Honeymoon in Vegas, which he also scripted. He wrote Fletch, Soapdish, the
original In-Laws (sadly also the tepid remake) and co-wrote Blazing Saddles. And in 1994 he
directed the unlikely pairing of Cage and Bridget Fonda in a film that was known for the longest
time as "Cop Tips Waitress $2 Million" but was ultimately released as It Could Happen to You,
from a script by Jane Anderson (whose most recent credits include Mad Men). Sony has now
provided an exquisite, though barebones, presentation on Blu-ray.
It's hard to remember now, but before he crashed and burned with the Demi Moore bomb
Striptease, writer/director Andrew Bergman had a successful career. He wrote and directed The
Freshman, which, for my money, is Matthew Broderick's best film (and that includes Ferris
Bueller). Then he directed Broderick's future wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, with Nicolas Cage in
the very funny Honeymoon in Vegas, which he also scripted. He wrote Fletch, Soapdish, the
original In-Laws (sadly also the tepid remake) and co-wrote Blazing Saddles. And in 1994 he
directed the unlikely pairing of Cage and Bridget Fonda in a film that was known for the longest
time as "Cop Tips Waitress $2 Million" but was ultimately released as It Could Happen to You,
from a script by Jane Anderson (whose most recent credits include Mad Men). Sony has now
provided an exquisite, though barebones, presentation on Blu-ray.
The Feature:
Charlie Lang (Cage) is a New York City street cop who patrols a picture-book city that is like the
working stiff's version of Woody Allen's Manhattan. (The city was still a few years away from
the slick transformation, in both reality and the popular imagination, that would coincide with
Sex and the City). Charlie loves nothing better than making his rounds with his partner, Bo (a
young Wendell Pierce, who would go on play "Bunk" Moreland on The Wire), helping people,
preventing the occasional crime, and at night returning to his old neighborhood in Queens to play
stickball with the local kids. (Queens has never looked better than in this movie.)
It's a different story for Charlie's wife, Muriel (Rosie Perez). A hairdresser with aspirations, Muriel is
the quintessence of upward mobility, and it drives her crazy that Charlie seems so content with their
lot. Why can't he at least be on the take? she complains to a customer. At least that would show he
had ambition!
One day Muriel gives Charlie a specific set of numbers to bet on the New York Lotto grand
prize, which Charlie gets slightly wrong (the mistake becomes a plot point). That same day,
Charlie and Bo try a new coffee shop, where their waitress is Yvonne Biasi (Fonda), who is
having the worst day of her life. Her estranged unemployed husband (Stanley Tucci, who appears
not to have aged a day) has run up thousands of dollars on her credit cards, forcing her to declare
bankruptcy. When Charlie discovers to his chagrin that he only has enough cash to pay the check,
but not enough for a tip, Yvonne lets him know that it fits perfectly with the rest of her day.
Charlie, who is always trying to make people feel better, impulsively offers to split half the
winnings of his lottery ticket with her, and in any case he says he'll come back the next day to
give her a tip.
The ticket is a winner. After splitting with other winners who picked the same numbers, Charlie
and Muriel collect $4 million. To Muriel's horror, Charlie keeps his word and gives half to
Yvonne.
As the saying goes, money changes everything, and the bulk of the film is about how new-found
wealth changes the lives of these three people. The Langs' marriage, never entirely harmonious,
grows increasingly strained, because Muriel can't forgive Charlie for blithely handing away half
their winnings. Meanwhile, Muriel goes on a spending spree and Perez paints a portrait of the
insatiable consumer that, from the vantage point of today, looks almost like a cautionary tale.
Perez no doubt got the part because of the loud-mouth characters she'd created for Do the Right
Thing! and White Man Can't Jump, but she'd already shown with her Oscar-nominated work in
Fearless that she's a genuine actress. Her Muriel is an inspired grotesque, and her scenes after
she strikes it rich are the film's comic highlights.
Every fairy tale needs a magical presence, and in this one it's the late Isaac Hayes, narrating in
his unmistakable baritone. He plays Angel, who doesn't reveal his true identity until the end of
the film. If there's a deus ex machina in modern American life, Angel would be the one who
embodies it.
and Muriel collect $4 million. To Muriel's horror, Charlie keeps his word and gives half to
Yvonne.
As the saying goes, money changes everything, and the bulk of the film is about how new-found
wealth changes the lives of these three people. The Langs' marriage, never entirely harmonious,
grows increasingly strained, because Muriel can't forgive Charlie for blithely handing away half
their winnings. Meanwhile, Muriel goes on a spending spree and Perez paints a portrait of the
insatiable consumer that, from the vantage point of today, looks almost like a cautionary tale.
Perez no doubt got the part because of the loud-mouth characters she'd created for Do the Right
Thing! and White Man Can't Jump, but she'd already shown with her Oscar-nominated work in
Fearless that she's a genuine actress. Her Muriel is an inspired grotesque, and her scenes after
she strikes it rich are the film's comic highlights.
Every fairy tale needs a magical presence, and in this one it's the late Isaac Hayes, narrating in
his unmistakable baritone. He plays Angel, who doesn't reveal his true identity until the end of
the film. If there's a deus ex machina in modern American life, Angel would be the one who
embodies it.
Other familiar faces on the landscape are the reliably irritable J.E. Freeman as Yvonne's boss at
the coffee shop; Seymour Cassel as a smooth-talking businessman that Muriel meets during a
cruise for lottery winners; and recent Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins and the late, great Red
Buttons as dueling attorneys in the courtroom battle that inevitably results when there's money at
stake in America. Watch carefully and you'll also spot Vincent Pastore, later "Big Pussy" on The
Sopranos, among the winners sharing the jackpot with Charlie and Muriel.
As in all fairy tales, the good people live happily ever after, and the bad people get their just
desserts. As in all New York fairy tales (at least until recently), there's a scene at the Plaza. But
you'll have to watch the movie to see how the rest works out.
Video:
With most of the 50GB disc's real estate devoted to video, Sony has delivered a superlative
transfer without any artifacting, edge enhancement or DNR. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel's
delicate images, soft but never muddy, are delivered with accuracy and with grain intact. These
are not images whose colors are intended to "pop"; they're meant to suggest a kinder, gentler
world as Charlie sees it and as Yvonne wants it to be. Deschanel is a master of imagery that's
colorful without being overstated, and Sony did a wonderful job a few months ago with his
photography on Fly Away Home. The image on this disc is every bit as good, but only if you
appreciate subtlety. (If you're looking for "Wow!" factor, this isn't your kind of disc or movie.)
With most of the 50GB disc's real estate devoted to video, Sony has delivered a superlative
transfer without any artifacting, edge enhancement or DNR. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel's
delicate images, soft but never muddy, are delivered with accuracy and with grain intact. These
are not images whose colors are intended to "pop"; they're meant to suggest a kinder, gentler
world as Charlie sees it and as Yvonne wants it to be. Deschanel is a master of imagery that's
colorful without being overstated, and Sony did a wonderful job a few months ago with his
photography on Fly Away Home. The image on this disc is every bit as good, but only if you
appreciate subtlety. (If you're looking for "Wow!" factor, this isn't your kind of disc or movie.)
Audio:
According to the credits, the film was released in SDDS. But even though it was released in the
era of discrete digital sound, the film's mix plays more like something from the Dolby Surround
era (which is not unusual for films from the mid-90s). The mix is front-oriented, with little
noticeable use of the surrounds, even for city ambience. This is probably a good thing; too much
off-screen city noise might detract from the fairy-tale atmosphere that the film works so hard to
maintain.
One clear indication of the soundtrack's discrete digital origin is the excellent frequency
response, most obvious in the bass extention of the score by Carter Burwell and Joe Mulherin.
The music is a light-hearted accompaniment to the story's enchantment, and the Dolby TrueHD
track reproduces it with excellent fidelity and detail. The dialogue remains clear and is never
overwhelmed.
According to the credits, the film was released in SDDS. But even though it was released in the
era of discrete digital sound, the film's mix plays more like something from the Dolby Surround
era (which is not unusual for films from the mid-90s). The mix is front-oriented, with little
noticeable use of the surrounds, even for city ambience. This is probably a good thing; too much
off-screen city noise might detract from the fairy-tale atmosphere that the film works so hard to
maintain.
One clear indication of the soundtrack's discrete digital origin is the excellent frequency
response, most obvious in the bass extention of the score by Carter Burwell and Joe Mulherin.
The music is a light-hearted accompaniment to the story's enchantment, and the Dolby TrueHD
track reproduces it with excellent fidelity and detail. The dialogue remains clear and is never
overwhelmed.
Special Features:
None to speak of. The disc includes trailers for Made of Honor and 13 Going on 30. It is also
enabled for BD Live, but this feature was not active as of this review, presumably because it was
written before street date. Given the unimpressive implentation of BD Live I've seen on most
other Sony Blu-rays, I wouldn't expect anything beyond coming attractions in both theaters and
on Blu-ray, plus the usual Blu-ray club promotion.
None to speak of. The disc includes trailers for Made of Honor and 13 Going on 30. It is also
enabled for BD Live, but this feature was not active as of this review, presumably because it was
written before street date. Given the unimpressive implentation of BD Live I've seen on most
other Sony Blu-rays, I wouldn't expect anything beyond coming attractions in both theaters and
on Blu-ray, plus the usual Blu-ray club promotion.
Final Thoughts:
Looking backwards, it's striking how well-matched Fonda and Cage were as the film's two leads,
even though their careers turned out to be heading in opposite directions. Cage would go on to
win an Oscar for the following year's Leaving Las Vegas and then be catapulted to genuine
movie stardom the year after that in The Rock. Fonda, despite her acting pedigree and her
previous success with Single White Female and Point of No Return (the American remake of La
Femme Nikita), would appear in a series of offbeat films like Touch and potboilers like Kiss of the
Dragon that would do little to showcase her talent or raise her profile. By 2002 she would retire
from show business altogether to be a full time wife and mother. Knowing what happened to the
principals just adds to the poignancy of It Can Happen to You, an urban tale told with such ease
and good humor that it holds up beautifully.
Equipment used for this review:
Panasonic BDP-BD50 Blu-ray player (Dolby TrueHD decoded internally and output as analog)
Samsung HL-T7288W DLP display (connected via HDMI)
Lexicon MC-8 connected via 5.1 passthrough
Sunfire Cinema Grand amplifier
Monitor Audio floor-standing fronts and MA FX-2 rears
Boston Accoustics VR-MC center
Velodyne HGS-10 sub
Looking backwards, it's striking how well-matched Fonda and Cage were as the film's two leads,
even though their careers turned out to be heading in opposite directions. Cage would go on to
win an Oscar for the following year's Leaving Las Vegas and then be catapulted to genuine
movie stardom the year after that in The Rock. Fonda, despite her acting pedigree and her
previous success with Single White Female and Point of No Return (the American remake of La
Femme Nikita), would appear in a series of offbeat films like Touch and potboilers like Kiss of the
Dragon that would do little to showcase her talent or raise her profile. By 2002 she would retire
from show business altogether to be a full time wife and mother. Knowing what happened to the
principals just adds to the poignancy of It Can Happen to You, an urban tale told with such ease
and good humor that it holds up beautifully.
Equipment used for this review:
Panasonic BDP-BD50 Blu-ray player (Dolby TrueHD decoded internally and output as analog)
Samsung HL-T7288W DLP display (connected via HDMI)
Lexicon MC-8 connected via 5.1 passthrough
Sunfire Cinema Grand amplifier
Monitor Audio floor-standing fronts and MA FX-2 rears
Boston Accoustics VR-MC center
Velodyne HGS-10 sub
so I'm gonna go add it to my Blockbuster queue now and see where it takes me. 
