Mrs. Winterbourne
"Fabulous! Ricki Lake is a perfect Cinderella for the '90s." -Jeanne Wolf, Jeanne Wolf's Hollywood
Academy Award®-winner Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment, 1984), Ricki Lake and Brendan Fraser star in this whirlwind romantic comedy about a girl caught between true love and mistaken identity. Through a twist of fate and a quirk of character, 18-year-old Connie Doyle is mistaken for the widow of a millionaire's son. Homeless, penniless and pregnant, Connie reluctantly accepts the generosity of the dead man's grieving mother, and finds herself falling in love with "her" late husband's twin brother. "MacLaine is at her all-time best as the unpredictable fairy godmother at the center of this comic Cinderella story. An absolute delight that's simply sensational." (Ron Brewington, American Urban Radio Networks)
Member Reviews
Touching and sweet.... - anwallette
This movie plays up intrigue in a cute and sassy way.
It is the story of mistaken identies as "Patricia" attempts to fit into a life of high society all the while dealing with the fact that she is not who she says she is.
There are many touching scenes whose message is "if you don't fit in, make them fit to you". It seems to be the mantra throughout the movie and there are many laugh out loud scenes that result from this. It reminds you what family truly is.Touching But Quite Flawed - revsdd
As a romantic comedy, from the very beginning this is quite heavy, showing young Connie as homeless, then meeting up with a sleazebag and then tossed out by him when he gets her pregnant. Then mistaken identity turns into deliberate (although not malicious) deceit on Connie's part. Once she gets taken in by the Winterbournes after the train wreck that kills their son/brother and his wife (whom the family has never met, and whom Connie is mistaken for) the only character who made sense to me was Bill, who was appropriately suspicious of her (if ridiculously obnoxious) given the circumstances. But then, for no obvious reason, he fell madly in love with her and decided to marry her! Where did that come from?
There is some fun in this, most of which comes from Shirley MacLaine as the matriarch of the Winterbourne clan. She was probably the best part of the movie. The closing scenes (as everyone tries to protect Connie/Patricia) was quite touching, as was the point that the Winterbournes became the family she never had. There was a nice feel to that, especially because we know that Connie isn't out for the family's money, but just wants the sense of family for herself and even more for her son.
There was one huge inconsistency here that just made everything else fall apart, though. Bill finally figured out what's going on because he sees "Patricia" sign "Connie Doyle" on a check, and investigated who Connie Doyle is. He gets back a report that Connie and her unborn baby were killed in the train wreck (it was, of course, the real Patricia and her unborn baby who were killed.) How would he get that report? Connie wasn't supposed to be on that train. She got swept into it by a huge crowd of people, she had no ticket, and since it wasn't really Connie there would be no way of identifying the body as Connie. No one on the train even knew Connie.
There are aspects of this that are both enjoyable and touching, but it does have a lot of flaws!Mrs Winterbourne - p98l256
Enjoyable film. I loved the plot of this story and Ricki Lane plays her role perfectly. Her 'Rags to Riches' transition is well portrayed & made even more delightful by Shirley McLean who herself had become wealthy through her mariage.
I would recommend this light-hearted comedy to all those who also love a bit of mystery along with the love story.
Member Reviews
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Touching and sweet.... - anwallette
This movie plays up intrigue in a cute and sassy way.
It is the story of mistaken identies as "Patricia" attempts to fit into a life of high society all the while dealing with the fact that she is not who she says she is.
There are many touching ...Touching But Quite Flawed - revsdd
As a romantic comedy, from the very beginning this is quite heavy, showing young Connie as homeless, then meeting up with a sleazebag and then tossed out by him when he gets her pregnant. Then mistaken identity turns into deliberate (although not malicious) ...Mrs Winterbourne - p98l256
Enjoyable film. I loved the plot of this story and Ricki Lane plays her role perfectly. Her 'Rags to Riches' transition is well portrayed & made even more delightful by Shirley McLean who herself had become wealthy through her mariage.
I would recommend ...