Mrs. Winterbourne (1996)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Great Film overall

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

OK, it isn't a masterpiece, OK the story is implausible but if you love old fashioned, simple entertaining movies you will love this. I'm not over fussed with Ricki Lake but having Brendon Frazier, Shirley McClaine and wonderful support actors and actresses more than makes up for what is lacking in Ms Lakes performance. Don't expect to be challenged by this beautiful shot movie. Instead sit back and enjoy and smile. The locations, the dated but beautiful clothing adds to the atmosphere. You will also love to hate the nasty piece of work that threatens Connie's new life. You will smile when Grace dances and sings to her new grandson. You will sigh as Bill tangos around the kitchen with Connie with the encouragement of a drunk Paco. It's lovely.

Mrs. Winterbourne is perhaps the epitome of romantic comedies, in the requirement that you suspend disbelief. It almost commands that you not think about the plot too much, because if you do, the entire movie falls apart.The plot is simple. Connie Doyle is thrown out by her boyfriend when she becomes pregnant, and she ends up on a train with the Winterbournes, a wealthy young couple on their way to Boston. The train derails, and both Winterbournes are killed. However, as Connie was trying on Mrs. Winterbourne's ring at the time of the accident, she is mistaken for her, and her baby for the Winterbourne grandchild. What follows is what always happens in romantic comedies, Connie is taken in by the Winterbourne family and falls in love with the dead Winterbourne's twin brother, who is initially suspicious of her, but then grows to love her. Complications arise, but everything works out in the end.Shirley MacLaine is quite winning at Grace Winterbourne, and Miguel Sandoval steals most of his scenes. The problem is that neither Ricki Lake or Brendan Fraser have much chemistry with each other, and Ricki Lake seems miscast in general. Of course, there are also massive plot holes here, and even in the end, no one really seems to care that the real Mrs. Winterbourne and the real Winterbourne grandchild are off buried somewhere under someone else's name. This is not a bad movie, it's perfectly pleasant, but you really are required to not think about the plot at all to really enjoy it.

When I was younger I used to watch this movie every time it was on TV. And that was almost every week. I finally just went out to buy it because I had an urge to watch it again. I had forgotten how much I loved this movie. It has just the right amount of romance in it without being in your face with love scenes. There's a slight bit of mystery too. But overall I would say it's a fun romantic comedy.This movie is about a woman named Connie who is pregnant and penniless. She gets on a train one day and ends up meeting a man named Hugh and his pregnant wife, Patricia. The two women get along great and exchange stories about themselves. Connie ends up trying on Patricia's wedding ring that's engraved "Hugh and Patricia", but while she has the ring on there is a really bad train wreck. After the wreck, Connie wakes up in the Hospital and everyone mistakes her as Patricia Winterbourne. The Winterbourne family takes her in and treats her as one of them. Does Connie feel bad and confess or does she pretend to be Patricia since she has nothing to go back to? I'll let you watch the movie to find out the rest.

As she gets older, veteran actress Shirley Mac Laine just gets better and better.In this wonderful 1996 film, Miss MacLaine portrays the mother of a son and daughter who are tragically killed in a train wreck. Since she never met her daughter-in-law, this will provide for the wonderful plot.Ricki Lake is a young girl down on her luck. Finding herself pregnant from an abusive hoodlum-like boyfriend, the latter kicks her out when he discovers her condition. It is her good fortune to meet up with MacLaine's son and new daughter-in-law. She is in the train when it crashes and having just put on the dead woman's wedding ring, she is easily mistaken for MacLaine's new daughter-in-law.When she gives birth to the baby, MacLaine is a grandmother! Lake soon finds her dead "husband's" brother (Brendon Fraser) as her love interest. Naturally, seeing Lake in the newspaper with her wealthy "family" brings back the boyfriend to do some blackmailing. The fun really starts when the boyfriend is murdered and some more surprises are revealed.The cast is just perfect and the storyline is done well.