Review of Mrs. Winterbourne (1996) by Stuart K — 05 Aug 2013
Directed by Richard Benjamin, (The Money Pit (1986), Mermaids (1990) and Made in America (1993)), this adaptation of Cornell Woolrich's 1948 novel I Married a Dead Man was originally pitched as a serious film, but was turned into a light and fluffy romantic comedy-drama on the suggestion of the producers.
It's got some good moments, and it's better than the critics said. 18 year old Connie Doyle (Ricki Lake) is heavily pregnant and dumped by her womanising boyfriend Steve DeCunzo (Loren Dean). She accidentally ends up on a train going from New York to Boston, where she meets Hugh Winterbourne (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Patricia (Susan Haskell).
However, the train crashes, Hugh and Patricia are killed, and Connie wakes up in hospital where the staff believe her to be Patricia Winterbourne and she's whisked away to the Winterbourne home, ran by matriach Grace (Shirley MacLaine) and son Bill (Fraser again).
Connie accepts this new life, but her past catches up with her. It's got some good moments, and some good performances as well. MacLaine is wonderful as always, and it's shocking that they still manage to get laughs out of the film, considering an heir and his wife and unborn child were killed in the film, but that's soon forgotten about, and doesn't spoil the film.
This review of Mrs. Winterbourne (1996) was written by Stuart K on 05 Aug 2013.
Mrs. Winterbourne has generally received positive reviews.
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