Just like "Blue Streak" did not improve my opinion of Martin Lawrence, this film did not improve my opinion of Rosie Perez, who I believe has a more annoying voice than Olive Oyl.
Storyline in a nutshell. Cop buys a lottery ticket, doesn't have money to give waitress a tip, says if he wins the lottery, he'll split it with her and voila, he does (win the lottery) and he does (split it with her).
I believe this was based on a true story. Anyway. Isaac Hayes is the narrator, Nicholas Cage ("Leaving Las Vegas") is the cop, Bridget Fonda ("Single White Female") is the waitress and Rosie Perez ("White Men Can't Jump") is Cage's wife. First off, I couldn't see Cage and Perez as husband and wife.
Not only don't I like Rosie Perez' voice, I didn't like her character. The wife is a money hungry, selfish witch. She complains to her friend that he doesn't make enough money as a cop, but at least if he were a cop on the take, he'd have money.
Bridget Fonda's character, Yvonne is a waitress whose husband has run up her credit cards, run out on her, and made her declare bankruptcy. She can't even afford a divorce. However, she can afford Miracle Whip, because there are some things you just have to have.
After Charlie (Cage) wins the lottery, he goes to the diner where Yvonne works to tell her they won and therefore she won, because "a promise is a promise". He also sees how nice she is to her customers.
He tells Muriel (Perez) what he did and at first she's mad, but then he tells her that all of New York will think she's a hero and maybe she'll be able to do endorsements - shampoo, makeup (she works in a hair salon). He then takes her on a shopping spree.
Yvonne's big splurge? Fresh flowers. Both Yvonne and Charlie keep their jobs, but Charlie gets hurt on the job and begins spending time with Yvonne - just talking and rollerblading, etc. They spend their money on things that make them happy, like paying for everyone's subway tokens one night. Yvonne establishes "Charlie's table" at the diner, where anyone can have a free meal who needs it. They treat all of the kids from Woodside, Queens to a night ob baseball at Yankee Stadium.
At this point, Yvonne's estranged husband shows up wanting money. Muriel throws out Charlie because she doesn't like how he's giving the money away and she tells him she wants a divorce saying "I have wings. I want to fly." Fine. At that point I would've thrown her off the balcony.
Both Cage and Fonda are great in their parts. It also helps that their characters are nice and sweet. I guess Perez is good in her part too because she plays an annoying character really, really well.
This is a nice, feel good movie, with no nudity, very little swearing and hardly any violence (he is a cop after all).
So, do Charlie and Yvonne end up together? Watch and see!
When a New York police officer offers half of a lottery ticket as a tip for a waitress in a diner the gratuity ends up being worth over 2 million in t...More at Family Video
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.