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. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
The brazen sentimentality at work here -- while effective in the context of what some might call "a chick flick"-- doesn't give the material much weight.
Good heart-warming comedy as Ricki Lake looks so beautiful that she lost her own weight since Cry-Baby.
November 13, 2006
Dean McKenna
Super Reviewer
I really love this film. I dunno why. I think it's because Ricki Lake seems like someone you may actually meet. Cute story..and Shirley MacLaine owns it.
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