It Could Happen to You is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda. In a plot inspired by a real-life news story, a New York City police officer (Cage) who is short on cash and unable to tip his waitress (Fonda), half-jokingly offers to share his winnings if he happens to win the lottery.

Isaac Hayes is the film s narrator and also plays a supporting role as undercover reporter and photographer, Angel Dupree.

The film was remade in Hindi as Bade Dilwala, which was released in 1999 and in Telugu as Bahumati in 2007.

Plot

Policeman Charlie Lang is a kind and generous man who loves his job and the Queens area of New York City where he lives. His wife Muriel works in a hairdressing salon and, unlike Charlie, is selfish, greedy and materialistic, constantly complaining about their situation in life. Waitress Yvonne Biasi, is bankrupt because her husband Eddie, whom she had not yet been able to afford to divorce, took her credit card and spent $12,000 without her permission.

Charlie meets Yvonne when she waits on him at the diner where she works. Since Charlie doesn t have enough money to pay the tip, he promises Yvonne to give her either double the tip or half of his prospective lottery winnings. He wins $4 million (in 21 annual payments) in the lottery the next day and keeps his promise, despite the protests of his wife. He and Yvonne become stars almost immediately.

Yvonne buys the diner she was working in. She sets up a table with Charlie s name at which people who cannot afford food can eat for free. In another development, Charlie becomes a hero for foiling an attempted robbery at a grocery store but gets wounded in the process, forcing him to take leave from the police force.

At a gathering on a chartered boat for the lottery winners and other members of high society, Muriel gets to know the newly rich Jack Gross. She flirts with him and later starts an affair. Meanwhile, Charlie and Yvonne spend a lot of time together, often giving gifts to passengers of the subway or to children, about which the media report. Muriel gets fed up with Charlie s constant donations and overall simplicity and throws him out of their apartment, asking for a divorce.

That same evening, Yvonne leaves her apartment after her husband shows up and threatens to stay until he gets $50,000 from her. Quite innocently, Charlie and Yvonne run into each other at the Plaza Hotel and, unintentionally, end up spending the night together.

When Muriel and Charlie divorce, Muriel wants all the money that Charlie won for herself. Charlie doesn t mind giving his share of the money but Muriel also wants the money he gave Yvonne, which causes Charlie to take the case to court. The jury decides in Muriel s favor. Yvonne, feeling guilty at costing Charlie all his money, runs out of court in tears and tries to keep away from Charlie. But the cop, by now hopelessly in love with the waitress, finds her at the diner and tells her that the money means nothing to him, and they declare their love for each other. While ruminating about their future at the diner, they are gracious enough to provide a hungry and poor customer some soup, which he eats at the special table. The poor customer is none other than the disguised reporter Angel Dupree, who takes photos of the couple and in the next day s newspapers publicly praises their willingness to feed a hungry and poor man even in their darkest hour. Just as Charlie and Yvonne are giving up and moving out of town, the citizens of New York City, no doubt touched by the generosity of the couple, send the cop and the waitress thousands of letters with tips totaling about $600,000.

After Charlie and Muriel get divorced, Muriel s new husband Jack Gross takes off with all her money, revealing himself to be a con man. She then moves in with her mother in The Bronx and goes back to her old manicure job. Yvonne s ex-husband Eddie ends up being a taxi driver. Charlie happily returns to the police force and Yvonne reclaims the diner. At the film s end, Charlie and Yvonne get married and begin their honeymoon by taking off from Central Park in a hot air balloon that bears the New York Post headline Cop Weds Waitress , just before the closing credits roll.

Cast

• Nicolas Cage as Charlie Lang
• Bridget Fonda as Yvonne Biasi
• Rosie Perez as Muriel Lang
• Wendell Pierce as Bo Williams
• Isaac Hayes as Angel Dupree
• Stanley Tucci as Eddie Biasi
• Victor Rojas as Jesu
• Seymour Cassel as Jack Gross
• J.E. Freeman as Sal Bontempo
• Red Buttons as Walter Zakuto
• Richard Jenkins as C. Vernon Hale
• Charles Busch as Timmy
• Beatrice Winde as Judge
• Vincent Pastore as Bowling Team Member
• Emily Deschanel as Paint Throwing Fur Activist
• Willie Colón as Mayor
• Frank Pellegrino as Water s Edge Maitre D
• Ann Dowd as Carol
• Lim Kay Tong as Sun

Production

The diner where Yvonne works in the film was constructed in a parking lot at the corner of N. Moore St. and West Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. The film was called “Cop Gives Waitress Million Dollar Tip” when it was shot there.

Reception

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2010)

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes calculates a Fresh rating with a score of 71% based on reviews from 35 critics.

The film grossed $37,939,757 in the United States and Canada but only $9.8 million internationally for a worldwide total of $47.7 million.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album was released by Columbia Records/Sony Records on July 19, 1994.

Real-life incident

In 1984, Phyllis Penzo was a waitress at a pizzeria commonly frequented by Yonkers, New York, police officers. In March of that year, Officer Robert Cunningham, a regular patron and longtime friend of Penzo, suggested that the two split a lottery ticket, each of them choosing three of the six numbers, in lieu of his leaving her a tip. Penzo agreed, and though she subsequently forgot about it, when Cunningham discovered that the ticket had won a $6 million prize, he honored their verbal agreement and split the money evenly with Penzo.

Beyond this basic premise, the film is entirely fictional, with the backgrounds of the film s characters and the events depicted in the film subsequent to their lottery win bearing no resemblance to the actual lives of Penzo and Cunningham. As a result, neither Penzo nor Cunningham were required to authorize the film, nor were they entitled to collect royalties from its proceeds. The closing credits of the film include a disclaimer stating that although the film was inspired by actual events, at the time of production both Penzo and Cunningham were happily married to their respective spouses.

Year	1994
ReleaseDate	1994-07-29
RuntimeMins	101
RuntimeStr	1h 41min
Plot	A police officer promises to share his lottery ticket with a waitress in lieu of a tip.
Directors	Andrew Bergman
Writers	Jane Anderson
Stars	Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Rosie Perez
Produced by	Gary Adelson,Craig Baumgarten,Joseph Hartwick,Mike Lobell
Music by	Carter Burwell
Cinematography by	Caleb Deschanel
Film Editing by	Barry Malkin
Casting By	John S. Lyons
Production Design by	Bill Groom
Art Direction by	Dennis Bradford
Set Decoration by	George DeTitta Jr.
Costume Design by	Julie Weiss
Makeup Department	Alan D Angerio,Francesca Paris,Lizbeth Williamson
Production Management	Richard Baratta,Joseph Hartwick,Paul A. Levin,Ron Lynch
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Julie A. Bloom,Henry Bronchtein,Michael DeCasper,Christopher Surgent,Jeff Habberstad
Art Department	Laura Lambert Andrusko,Martin Bernstein,Roland Brooks,Donald Caruthers,Gerald DeTitta,Kathleen Dolan,Nicholas Lundy,Ann Miller,Maria Nay,James Neill,Christopher Nelson,Joseph Alfieri,Henry Antonacchio,Brick Mason,John Ralbovsky,Paul Robotti
Sound Department	Andy Aaron,Gary Alper,Laura Civiello,Marko A. Costanzo,Lee Dichter,Frank Kern,Michael Kirchberger,Dan Korintus,Tony Martinez,Jane McCulley,Michael W. Mitchell,James H. Nau,Bitty O Sullivan-Smith,Eliza Paley,Bruce Pross,Mike Schmidt,Warren Shaw,Paul P. Soucek,Marc-Jon Sullivan,Michael J. Wechsler,Larry Hopkins
Special Effects by	Al Griswold,Bill Traynor
Visual Effects by	Janos Pilenyi
Stunts	Steven Arvanites,Peter Bucossi,John Cenatiempo,Gary Cerveny,Michael Dane,Norman Douglass,Tim Gallin,Deborah Habberstad,Jeff Habberstad,Don Hewitt,Jeffrey H. Kaufman,Suzanne Klein,Mike Lisenco,Jim Lovelett,John Patrick McLaughlin,Michael Russo,Manny Siverio,Paul Sklar,Alex Stevens,Gary Tacon,Jeff Ward,Gregg Smrz
Camera and Electrical Department	Myles Aronowitz,James R. Belletier,Ted Churchill,Thomas Jirgal,Henry Lynk,Patrick McGrath,Mike Miller,Greg Quinlan,Richard Quinlan,Scott Rathner,Kurt E. Soderling,Howard Weiner,Joe Collins,Raymond Fortune,Michael Flash McDonald,David Norris,Andres L. Porras,Leigh Rathner,Frank Rinato,Dustin Smith,Phillip Todd
Casting Department	David Diamond,Judie Fixler,Christine Sheaks,Todd Thaler,David H. Kramer,Julie Manoogian
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Timothy Alberts,Kevin P. Faherty,Sally Kruteck,Suzanne Schwarzer,Melissa Stanton,Diego Percossi Papi
Editorial Department	Sam Adelman,James Brown,Marc Cohen,David Orr,Joe Violante
Location Management	Drew Dillard,Gregory Routt,Robin F. Samson,Pamela Thur,Douglas Tirola
Music Department	Peter Afterman,Thomas S. Drescher,Shari Johanson,Todd Kasow,Sonny Kompanek,Joe Mulherin,Jeffrey Pollack,Nick Vidar,Tom Boyd,Alexander Janko,Frank Macchia,John Moses,James Thatcher,Elizabeth Wendel
Script and Continuity Department	Robin Squibb
Transportation Department	Thomas Reilly,Patrick Hogan
Additional Crew	Alexis Alexanian,Jacob Bergman,Kenneth G. Brown,John Carrafa,Betty Chin,Mara Hade Connolly,Alston Geer,Steve Herman,Jason Imber,Jason Kasperski,Diane L. Langone,Amy Lauritsen,Jeff Levine,Peter Lombardi,Thomas Meehan,Stuart Meltzer,Cyril O Neill,David Penotti,Jennifer Phillips,Jessica Roulston,Lisa M. Rowe,Nina Saxon,Alysa Shwedel,Betsy Sokolow Sherman,Tom Yeager,Joseph Zolfo,John D. Bair,Paul Malmont,Jodi Shapera,Zach Wolf
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Companies	TriStar Pictures
Countries	USA
Languages	English, Spanish
ContentRating	PG
ImDbRating	6.4
ImDbRatingVotes	40129
MetacriticRating	64
Keywords	hot air balloon,generosity,lottery,waitress,winning the lottery