Mrs. Winterbourne

Mrs. Winterbourne
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Benjamin
Produced by	Oren Koules Dale Pollock Ross Canter
Screenplay by	Phoef Sutton Lisa-Maria Radano
Based on	I Married a Dead Man by Cornell Woolrich
Starring	Shirley MacLaine Ricki Lake Brendan Fraser
Music by	Patrick Doyle
Cinematography	Alex Nepomniaschy
Editing by	Jacqueline Cambas William Fletcher
Studio	A&M Films
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date(s)	April 19, 1996 (1996-04-19)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$25 million
Box office	$10,082,005

Mrs. Winterbourne is a 1996 romantic comedy/drama starring Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, and Brendan Fraser. The film is loosely based on Cornell Woolrich's novel I Married a Dead Man, which has already been filmed in Hollywood as No Man of Her Own (1950) starring Barbara Stanwyck, and in Bollywood as Kati Patang (1970).

Plot

With flashbacks, Connie Doyle's (Ricki Lake) early life is given to give us an idea of her mindset. At 18, she meets womanizer Steve DeCunzo (Loren Dean), moves in with him and winds up pregnant. When she informs him of the fact, he kicks her out, denying responsibility. Destitute, Connie has nowhere to go, and, trying to find a shelter, gets inadvertently swept aboard a train at Grand Central Terminal. With no ticket, and no money with which to buy one, Connie is rescued by Hugh Winterbourne (Brendan Fraser) and taken to his private compartment. There, she meets his wife, Patricia, who is also pregnant. When the train crashes, Connie is mistaken for Patricia because she is wearing Patricia's wedding band and wakes up in the hospital, no longer pregnant. Patricia and Hugh both died in the crash.

Seeing the wrong name on the wristband on her child, Connie thinks the hospital has messed up until she sees the wedding band still on her finger. Once she realizes what has happened she tries to explain the situation, but is prevented from doing so by the nurses who believe she is just hysterical. Eventually, she meets Hugh's mother, Grace (Shirley MacLaine), who has a bad heart. Afraid of making her ill, and with nowhere else to go, Connie believes it is the best thing for her and her baby to accept the woman's offer and go to Grace's home. At the Winterbourne house, Connie meets Bill (Fraser), Hugh's identical twin brother. When the initial shock wears off, she nervously begins her new life. This life is one she never expected to be a part of. The world is very different, and she finds it difficult to adjust to the high society position she is now required to shoulder. Bill is a bit wary of Connie, and questions her identity. He even investigates things on his own. Eventually, he falls in love with her and her former identity doesn't matter to him anymore.

Connie bonds with Grace, and being an honorable woman, feels guilty for taking advantage of her kindness. She decides to leave, but is stopped by the chauffeur, who makes her realize she and the baby are just as valuable to Grace as Grace is to them. She returns home to find Grace has had a heart attack because of her absence, and decides to let things go and marry Bill as Patricia Winterbourne. Steve discovers Connie's good fortune, and tries to blackmail her. In the confusion that ensues, Steve is shot. Bill and Connie flee the scene, and think each one is the one who shot Steve. It is then that Bill reveales that he knows Connie's true identity. And that he loves her as Connie rather than Patricia. Both believe they are home free, until their wedding day. When the priest tells Bill and Connie that Grace is confessing to the murder, both of them hurry to her side and confess to the murder themselves. Shocked, the police tell them they already have the murderer in custody, and it is not any of them, it was the woman Steve started seeing after dumping Connie, who is also pregnant. The Police only came to question about the check Connie had written out to Steve. Connie tells Grace the whole story, the wedding goes ahead as planned, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Cast

• Shirley MacLaine as Grace Winterbourne
• Ricki Lake as Connie Doyle/"Patricia Winterbourne"
• Brendan Fraser as Bill / Hugh Winterbourne
• Miguel Sandoval as Paco
• Loren Dean as Steve DeCunzo
• Peter Gerety as Father Brian Kilraine
• Jane Krakowski as Christine
• Debra Monk as Lieutenant Ambrose
• Cathryn de Prume as Renee
• Susan Haskell as Patricia Winterbourne
• Bobcat Goldthwait (uncredited) as TV comedian
• Paula Prentiss (uncredited) as Maternity nurse

Reception

Mrs. Winterbourne received generally negative reviews; on Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 7% 'Fresh' rating (2 'fresh' reviews, 27 'rotten')^[1] It was also a box office failure, grossing only $10,082,005^[2] based on a $25 million budget.

References

1. ^ Mrs. Winterbourne at Rotten Tomatoes
2. ^ Mrs. Winterbourne at Box Office Mojo

External links

• Mrs. Winterbourne at the Internet Movie Database
• Mrs. Winterbourne at Box Office Mojo
• Mrs. Winterbourne at Rotten Tomatoes