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A Simple Twist of Fate
When Michael McCann is thrown over by the woman he loves, he becomes something of a misanthrope and a miser, spending all of his spare money on collectible gold coins. Living in the same town is an affluent family with two sons: John and Tanny. Tanny's a wild boy, whom John cannot control, and one night he breaks into McCann's house, and steals the gold and disappears, which nearly confirms McCann's distrust of mankind. But then, a mysterious young woman dies in the snow outside McCann's house, and her small daughter makes her way to McCann's house and into McCann's life and heart.
| Release : | 1994 |
| Rating : | 6.3 |
| Studio : | Touchstone Pictures, |
| Crew : | Art Direction, Production Design, |
| Cast : | Steve Martin Gabriel Byrne Laura Linney Catherine O'Hara Alana Austin |
| Genre : | Drama Comedy Family |
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Reviews
Very disappointing...
Awesome Movie
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Michael McCann (Steve Martin)'s pregnant wife leaves him after telling him that the baby isn't his. He becomes a recluse who collects gold coins for stability. John Newland (Gabriel Byrne) is an ambitious politician with a proper wife Nancy (Laura Linney), an unreliable brother Tanny (Stephen Baldwin) and baby mama Marsha Swanson. John tries to buy Marsha off. After a car accident, Tanny runs off with the money and steals McCann's gold coins. Marsha ends up frozen to death in front of McCann's house leaving him with the girl. John Newland hides from his responsibility and McCann adopts her as Mathilda McCann. April Simon (Catherine O'Hara) is McCann's friendly neighbor.Steve Martin adapts 19th-century novelist George Eliot's book Silas Marner. The film has a sad surrealism which may not fit Steve Martin's public persona. The biggest problem is that the script struggles to bend the plot to fit. There is a bit too much happenstance and coincidences. The emotions and motives are sometimes awkward and wrong-headed. The movie does have some great moments of comedy and warmth that is reminiscent of Parenthood. The dramatic parts of the story needs a little rethinking. The trial is not particularly fun or dramatic. If only the moments of sweet humor can be transplanted into a better written story.
Something very different for Steve Martin as he portrays a man who divorced his wife when he found out that the child they expected was not his.Enter another child in his life when a young woman dies on her way to the baby girl's wealthy political father. The father, who knew this was his child when he saw the dead woman, made no effort to claim the child as his. Instead, the child stays with Martin who loves her dearly and takes care of her in a manner of a true parent.10 years later, the real father, Gabriel Byrne and his wife, Laura Linney, are childless and when Martin brings the child along with him to deliver furniture, Byrne confesses to all that he is the father of the child and a custody battle ensues.These custody battles are very cliché in movies. Of course, everyone is wooed by the child's kind words for Martin. The ending is unexpected, but a good one. Everyone gets what they deserve.
As we all know, the real book, "Silas Marner" was first published in 1861 by "George Eliot". Well, in the time the book was published, women weren't "supposed" to write books like this. George Eliot's real name is Mary Ann Evans 1819-1880. Her understanding of the "Human condition" and the effects of loneliness on a person are greatly adapted into the book. If you read the novel, even though the wording of the book is different than modern English, well... that's part of the charm of the book. It takes you into a time when that's how they spoke. When considering the era of the book, and once again the adaptation of the movie "A Simple Twist of Fate", I believe that Steve Martin did an excellent job. Although... there's no substitution for the original work.
Note: This doesn't really contain spoilers, but hey, one slip of the mouse could blacklist me.I just finished watching the outstanding Shopgirl and I couldn't help but think of this film. I've probably seen it around ten times. Only two or three times at home, but in high school I swear teachers showed it once or twice a year to kill some time. It didn't matter if we were reading Silas Marner or not. It has never gotten old.People seem to go into this movie expecting a comedy, but it's really not. It's a haunting and beautiful movie filled with imagery that I can still see in my head, even though I haven't seen the movie in a couple of years. I assume when this came out, it was largely ignored because it had the look and conventions of other lesser movies of the time. Besides, who would want to see a drama from Steve Martin? Now that it's years removed from the climate it was released, it can truly be appreciated for what it is. A true gem.
