The first time I saw this film, it was very late at night and I was suffering from a bad case of insomnia. I was just planning on watching a little bit of it, and hopefully I'd get tired and want to go to bed. But lucky for me, I got hooked from the start and even when I did get sleepy, I couldn't make myself turn off the television. It caught my attention so much, I went out not long after and bought the video.
A Simple Twist of Fate is a modern retelling of the George Eliot classic "Silas Marner". Steve Martin, the last person you'd figure to be in a remake of a classic book, plays the lead character Michael McCann, a man who has to deal with an intense personal disappointment at the beginning of the film, and it changes his life. After finding a little girl and her deceased mother one cold night, he decides to adopt the girl, who he names Mathilda, and we see his successes and failures as a parent over the next 10 years. But the discovery of Mathilda's biological father turns everyone's world upside down and in the end, he discovers that even though he and Mathilda don't share the same genetics, he is her father, regardless.
Also in the film are Gabriel Byrne, an ambitious politician named John Newland whose secret past may keep him from achieving a position in Washington; Laura Linney, his loving, but selfish wife who cannot give him the children they want so desperately; Catherine O' Hara, a local store owner who befriends Michael and Mathilda and secretly has feelings for Michael; and Stephen Baldwin, a drug addict and rich, spoiled playboy who is the brother of John and the family "black sheep" .
While the novel is set in the 1800's, this movie is set in the 1990's. Normally, modern retellings leave out the soul of the book, and since you can't channel the author to ask them if you're doing it right, you just have to hope your interpretations hit the mark. But this movie (if you don't have the book sitting next to you and scrutinizing every last nuance) does a fine job of taking the viewer on a journey and before you realize it, you're caring about the characters and quietly pulling for them. Even the bad guy, who isn't as bad as you originally think.
This movie is one to rent if you're wanting a good story, and are tired of the violence and language of nearly every other movie out there to spend your money on.
Big-screen favorite Steve Martin (Father of the Bride) shines in this heartwarming motion picture about a single dad who discovers the joys and pain o...More at Buy.com
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