Review of It Could Happen to You (1994) by Megan O — 18 May 2010

It Could Happen To You is the somewhat enjoyable, even if extremely random, "true tale" of a cop who gives a waitress a $2 million tip. Though, you'd have to be really gullible (and lack the power of Google) to believe that this is really a "true tale" at all.

In the film, Cage's character meets a waitress once, doesn't have enough money for the tip, and promises to come back the next day and give her either double the tip he owes her or half of the winnings of the lottery ticket that he has in his pocket.

And of course, in proper Hollywood-but-not-so-similar-to-real-life-fashion, he wins the lottery and is SUCH a stand-up (stupid) guy, that he comes back and gives her $2 million! This, obviously, ticks off his wife and they are driven apart by the riches.

.. only to set the scene for the inevitable romance to blossom between the lucky cop and waitress. However, in REAL life, the cop and the waitress had been friends for 15 years before the lotto win, and they had picked the winning number together -- so half of the winnings were rightfully hers to begin with, not just a lucky tip left by a smitten man with a heart of gold.

No romance really blossomed, and they both remained happily married to their respective spouses. Ahhhh but real, lovely, unadulterated-by-the-cliches-of-Hollywood life is so boring, right? Well, spice it up with some classic Nick Cage "this dialogue is too mundane for me to get too excited over" acting, and a bit of Rosie Perez' signature shriek, and we've got a hit on our hands! Well, for me it's just OK, not terrible, not great, but it's easy and enjoyable enough to watch.

It somehow finds the tomato...