Mrs. Winterbourne
A poor woman is the beneficiary of a case of mistaken identity in this comedy. Luckless Connie (Ricki Lake) leaves home to move to New York, only to find herself stuck with no job, no money, and a louse of a boyfriend (Loren Dean) who gets her pregnant and abandons her. Despondently taking a train back to Boston, Connie meets Hugh and Patricia Winterbourne (Brendan Fraser and Susan Haskell), a wealthy couple also expecting a baby. Patricia notices Connie admiring her wedding ring, and lets her try it on; moments later, the train jumps the tracks, and Connie wakes up in a hospital to discover that the staff thinks she's Patricia Winterbourne, who died in the wreck along with Hugh. The Boston Winterbournes, led by sharp-tongued Grace (Shirley MacLaine), had never met Patricia, so they have no way of knowing that Connie isn't Patricia. While Connie isn't trying to cheat anyone, it doesn't take her long to realize that this isn't a bad environment for raising her baby, especially after she meets Bill Winterbourne, Hugh's twin brother (also played by Fraser). Mrs. Winterbourne was based on a short story by Cornell Woolrich, previously filmed as No Man of Her Own and J'ai Epouse Une Ombre. more..
Director: Richard Benjamin
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, Brendan Fraser, Miguel Sandoval, Loren Dean
Mrs. Winterbourne doesn't amount to much. But it's such a professional job, done with such glow and verve -- and the people making it seem to be having such an infectiously good time -- that it's hard to resist. Good comedies are easy to love anyway.
Because it is light and stylish and good-hearted, it is quite possible to enjoy, in the right frame of mind. This is more of a movie to see on video, on an empty night when you need something to hurl at the gloom.
Happily, MacLaine (who can pull off these lovable eccentric dowagers while she's sleeping) and Fraser, showcasing a previously untapped flair for romantic comedy, keep Lake on her toes.
The script is a little too clunky to serve Ricki Lake well, and Richard Benjamin's direction is a bit too sluggish to disguise her limited range as he crams this romantic fairy tale a little too forcefully into its predetermined mold.
Somehow, Hollywood has managed to reinvent the hard-boiled source novel -- Cornel Woolrich's "I Married a Dead Man" -- as a soft-centered candy of a comedy, and the result is indigestible.
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical
Satellite Awards (1997)
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