It Could Happen To You Review

In light of the recent news on the Powerball being a billion dollars,  I decided to buy a few tickets and see what happens.  My odds proved accurate and I didn't win a thing.  It was fun to dream for a few days though and wonder if the sequence of numbers would somehow win the money.   It also made me want to re-watch this 90s movie about winning the Lotto.  "It Could Happen To You" is the story about an honest hard-working cop who buys a lotto ticket and then promises part of the winnings as a tip to a poor waitress.  She doesn't think he will be honest if he does win - but Nicolas Cage is very honest and wants to do the right thing.  He ends up winning 6 million dollars and giving her half of it like promised.  Bridget Fonda plays the part of the bankrupt waitress (who also works for a jerk) who ends up romantically involved with Cage's character. I felt the movie pacing was good, and the characters were fairly entertaining.  However that being said - I consider this movie more of a romance, than a romantic comedy.  There is the cop's wife who is a greedy hard-to-live-with woman which is sort of played for laughs,  but all-in-all this movie is more a sweet story of romance than a true laugh-out-loud romantic comedy.

What I liked?

1. Great acting.

2. Fun story

3. Enjoyable experience watching

4. Great moral lesson about the power of money to corrupt.

What could have been better?

1. Unfortunately marriage is shown as anything but permanent in this movie.  Both main characters seem to be miserable in their marriages, and this movie just seems to suggest they would be better off ditching their marriages to be happier with someone else.

2. More humor.  Great story and cute semi-funny moments throughout.  Could have been a bit funnier though showing the ridiculousness of greed gone wild.

Summary: 

Cute story and fun to watch after the latest Powerball frenzy for over a billion dollars.  Still not good enough for me to consider owning though.   Nicolas Cage does a great job and this is one of his finer movies in my opinion.