A Simple Twist of Fate (1994) User Reviews

destiny of necessity

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 28 September 2012]

In a departure from his usual roles, Steve Martin plays a lonely man who adopts a girl after she happens into his house. "A Simple Twist of Fate" is an almost mystifying movie, and a very good one. While there are certainly some funny parts, it's mainly about how the entry of this girl into his existence changes the course of his life, and also turns out to have a link to something else in his life. The movie has really good character development. Along with Martin, there's Gabriel Byrne as a slimy politician, Laura Linney as his unfulfilled wife, and Catherine O'Hara as a shopkeeper who helps Martin. This is a movie that I very much recommend to everyone.

Custody Battle With Steve Martin-Simple Twist of Fate ***

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 4 March 2010]

Something very different for Steve Martin as he portrays a man who divorced his wife when he found out that the child they expected was not his.

Enter another child in his life when a young woman dies on her way to the baby girl's wealthy political father. The father, who knew this was his child when he saw the dead woman, made no effort to claim the child as his. Instead, the child stays with Martin who loves her dearly and takes care of her in a manner of a true parent.

10 years later, the real father, Gabriel Byrne and his wife, Laura Linney, are childless and when Martin brings the child along with him to deliver furniture, Byrne confesses to all that he is the father of the child and a custody battle ensues.

These custody battles are very cliché in movies. Of course, everyone is wooed by the child's kind words for Martin. The ending is unexpected, but a good one. Everyone gets what they deserve.

This has aged well

[phoenixinvictus · 7/10 · 10 January 2023]

I must have seen this back in the 1990's and I remember how it made me feel good back then. So on the other day I was looking for something to watch and there were those blockbuster movies and I wasn't in the mood to see a Marvel or DC superhero tear up a city while ignoring the countless civilian casualties. I decided to watch something from my own youth and I remembered this little gem and I have to say that it has aged very well and would not need to do a remake. Considering that this movie is based on a novel that is over a hundred years old is a testament to how good it is. Steve Martin plays a serious role but his sense of humour bleeds out and manages to make you smile.

Steve Martin doing drama? Yes!

[callie-5 · 16 March 1999]

Steve Martin is, and will always be, a comedian first and foremost. But everyone needs to do something different in their life and he does it well! Mr. Martin took the story of Silas Mariner and has updated it to a wonderful story. It's not a comedy movie because it's not a comedic book that it came from. I think that Mr. Martin has kept the feelings of loss and rebirth (for lack of a better phrasing) vibrantly alive in this adaptation. Steve Martin CAN do drama and he does it so well. The story and characters are rich. You are drawn in to the despair of the main character, feeling for him, but still wanting to kick him in the pants and tell him to get on with, not just life, but living. And when the opportunity to do so presents itself to him. It is a joy to watch him become human again. I could go on forever, but I'm only allowed 1,000 words. Not enough for this movie, so see for yourself what it is that makes Steve Martin not just a versatile actor, but a GOOD actor.

Flaws can't overcome a warm heart

[Mr-Fusion · 7/10 · 14 December 2016]

Strangely, not one of the Steve Martin movies that spring to mind often, "A Simple Twist of Fate" seems to hit all the right notes. Tragic circumstances leave Martin embittered and reclusive until an orphaned child walks into his life. Cue the rehumanization process. Sure, it's a Hollywood movie, so the kid's gotta be adorable, but it's effective storytelling nonetheless. The movie grinds to a halt when the second half becomes a custody battle; I've never read Silas Marner, but you just know with that sentimental score, everything will somehow turn out right. The courtroom drama just feels drawn out.

But at its heart, this is about a man and his little girl, and that hits me where I live.

7/10

unlikely story with some great moments of comedy and warmth

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 3 October 2015]

Michael McCann (Steve Martin)'s pregnant wife leaves him after telling him that the baby isn't his. He becomes a recluse who collects gold coins for stability. John Newland (Gabriel Byrne) is an ambitious politician with a proper wife Nancy (Laura Linney), an unreliable brother Tanny (Stephen Baldwin) and baby mama Marsha Swanson. John tries to buy Marsha off. After a car accident, Tanny runs off with the money and steals McCann's gold coins. Marsha ends up frozen to death in front of McCann's house leaving him with the girl. John Newland hides from his responsibility and McCann adopts her as Mathilda McCann. April Simon (Catherine O'Hara) is McCann's friendly neighbor.

Steve Martin adapts 19th-century novelist George Eliot's book Silas Marner. The film has a sad surrealism which may not fit Steve Martin's public persona. The biggest problem is that the script struggles to bend the plot to fit. There is a bit too much happenstance and coincidences. The emotions and motives are sometimes awkward and wrong-headed. The movie does have some great moments of comedy and warmth that is reminiscent of Parenthood. The dramatic parts of the story needs a little rethinking. The trial is not particularly fun or dramatic. If only the moments of sweet humor can be transplanted into a better written story.

Good movie starring a very young Steve Martin

[lisafordeay · 7/10 · 29 August 2022]

A Simple Twist Of Fate is a 1994 drama starring Steve Martin(who also wrote and produced this film),Gabriel Byrne,Catherine O Hara,Alana Ausin and Laura Linney.

A lonely high school teacher named Micheal McCann(Martin) is devastated that his ex wife left him and got pregnant with someone else's child. All that is about to change when Micheal stumbles on a deceased woman and her young daughter who were found at his house. He later decides to adopt her and call her Mathilda(Austin). However the young girls real father John Newland(Byrne) wants to take her back and raise her up with himself and his new girlfriend(Linney),as John was in a relationship with Mathilda's real mother who was also a herion addict. Will Mathilda choose Micheal or John as her dad? Overall it was a good movie that is criminally underrated. If your a fan of Steve Martin's then check it out.

Stephen Baldwin co stats as Mathilda's mother's ex boyfriend/brother?.

Far-fetched even when the original novel was written.

[MOscarbradley · 4/10 · 4 December 2018]

This updating of George Eliot's novel "Silas Marner" to contemporary America is just weird enough to be of more than passing interest but if its storyline seems far-fetched to say the least, remember it's a Victorian melodrama that was probably hard to swallow even when Eliot wrote it. Steve Martin is the Silas Marner character who finds a baby abandoned in the snow and through her finds a new meaning in life. The child's natural father is corrupt politician Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney is Byrne's wife who wants to adopt the child.

Given the material, (Martin did the screenplay himself), they aren't really that bad and it's always good to see Catherine O'Hara, (the local woman with a soft spot for Martin), in any role and at least Martin does manage to inject a degree of comedy into the proceedings that just about alleviates the overall yuckiness. The director was Gillies MacKinnon, better known for somewhat more hard-nosed pictures. This has a 'made-for-tv' feel to it and is much too cosy for my tastes.

I simply adore this movie

[CoffeeGoddess · 9/10 · 18 November 2006]

This film is so understated and underrated as to be in danger of completely disappearing from the radar screen. For Steve Martin to be in a non-Jerk type roll makes seeing this movie next to impossible for a great number of people. No, he's not acting weird. No, he doesn't have an arrow on his head. No, he isn't going for the laugh. This is Mr. Martin at his acting best. If you were impressed by his recent turn in 'Shopgirl' the do yourself a favor and go out of your way to find a copy of this movie. Are there times when humor finds its way into this movie? Oh yeah but for the most part there is nothing but good solid storytelling with excellent casting and an excellent script. See this movie if you want to see a wonderful character study acted out by a superb cast.

Aha! We Found Your Coins. That changes everything. Here's Your Daughter Back.

[Snowgo · 6/10 · 15 October 2015]

I thought this was a perfectly-good movie, but am confounded regarding the second-to-last scene, where-in the politician's brother's skeleton is found, along with the gold coins he stole from Mr. McCann (in a "drained lake?"). What relation did the finding of the skeleton have to do with the custody battle? I paid close attention while watching the movie, and still, fail to make a connection. This one incongruous scene caused me to detract one star in my rating of A Simple Twist of Fate. I do appreciate the movie's characters being multi-dimensional. Mr. McCann is both eternally-wounded by his former relationship and ecstatically happy with his new one. He is both a hard-drinker and a very responsible parent (did he give up the booze?).

The senator is not single-dimensional, either: Although he seems like an ambitious, material-driven capitalist, fate brings his daughter back to him and his paternal instinct, he finds, is still intact. He actually has a bit of a heart.

The acting in A Simple Twist of Fate was good, maybe especially that of Catherine O'Hara. The message of this movie seems to be that love can heal your heart and make you whole again.

The scene with the skeleton...I have no idea how that is pertinent.

Martin is out of his depth

[Contra-2 · 4/10 · 8 February 1999]

There is something kind of sad about seeing someone who is so good at doing something try to do something very different ... and end up being mediocre. I was thinking about Jordan playing baseball, but the same applies to Steve Martin.

This movie is reasonably well acted and directed, but the script is a stinker. Martin did a great job adapting a classic story into a comedy in "Roxanne", but this effort to bring a Victorian drama to the contemporary scene smacks straight into a wall of implausibility. If you want to see an old story updated with some style, best to rent "Great Expectations".

Outstanding adaptation of a great novel

[mrmultimedia · 10/10 · 14 March 2002]

I had never even heard of this movie until a couple of years ago. This is yet another stellar movie from the tremendous class of 1994.

I was absolutely enthralled by this story, so I went and read the novel it was derived from, Silas Marner by George Eliot. It was a really good story as well, but Martin's adaptation was outstanding. He managed to modernize the story so it could be more meaningful to new audiences, and yet still preserved the heart and soul of the story. While the original story was good, the novel was difficult to read not just because of the time difference (it was written in 1861) but also because of Eliot's overly descriptive language, making a wonderful story fairly unapproachable to most people.

For me, the most successful adaptations must start with a great story, then keep the best parts and lose the worst parts, while understanding and compensating for the differences between the mediums. Martin's screenplay excels at this, even surpassing Darabont's outstanding adaptation for The Shawshank Redemption.

The acting in the movie was very good as well. There's just something about a gifted comedian playing a dramatic role. Kind of like the image of a clown crying, when someone you normally associate with happiness and laughter convinces you that they're sad, there's a finer point to it, it has more impact. (Think of Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, Awakenings and more recently, Good Will Hunting). Steve Martin was convincing and provided a character that you could empathize with. Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney were very good as they always are. The girls that played Mathilda were just right-extremely adorable and convincing, yet not so cute that you couldn't take it.

This is one of my favorite movies and I highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen it give it a try.

Warm and Fuzzy

[winslowmusic · 7/10 · 25 August 2019]

Love kids, love Steve Martin? Just a great feel good movie with good acting across the cast. Steve Martin is pretty good in his roll as a new father and makes the rest of the cast look good. Don't want to give anything away so quit reading this and just watch the movie!

Good story, terrible script and acting

[wildferalfemme · 5/10 · 8 June 2006]

This movie was a real disappointment. Steve Martin did okay in the lead role about a man whose wife tells him that their unborn child belongs to another man and they divorce and he becomes a recluse who drinks and counts his gold coins...but it was hard to see past the many years of outrageous comedy Martin did to take him too seriously here. The acting and dialogue were just awful. Linney and Bryne were wooden and lacked any depth whatsoever and I didn't care about anything that happened to them. The little girl, who rarely uttered a word (which seemed a bit unrealistic for any child)was played by so many child actors it was hard to tell it was even the same character in any particular scene. Overall it was mediocre and I would not recommend it.

The funny thing is

[gavintabineruk · 15 February 2003]

It was only by a simple twist of fate that i saw this film, that twist being that there was nothing else worth watching on tv last night, and so i tuned in and watched this film, and really enjoyed it. Like so many people have commented, it is a nice change to see S M doing drama, i found that he added some very comical moments to the film (the weather ballon scene). This is a touching story that makes you happy. aaaawwwwwwwwww, sniff***sniff****

A simple waste of time

[studioAT · 1/10 · 9 March 2016]

I enjoy the work of Steve Martin, so this was a film I was looking forward to watching this film.

Sadly though, it's not worth the time. It's slow, it's overly sentimental and all in all a simple waste of time.

Steve Martin can do all out laughs, he's shown that in films like 'Bowfinger', he can also do quietly comedic roles like 'Shop girl'. However this one seems to be neither. His character is dull and the moments where he does try and be funny seem more odd than funny.

We are introduced to unlikable character after unlikeable character and in the end you wonder where the 'comedy' in this touted comedy drama have gotten to.

Overall - poor.

A Good Adaptation of "Silas Marner"

[GoldenOldie · 8/10 · 28 October 2003]

I missed the first two or three minutes that would have included the credits and so did not realize that I would be watching George Eliot's moving novel. Although the movie was thoroughly modernized it took very little time for me to realize what I was watching. -- Much to my surprise and delight. I felt that George Eliot would have loved this movie. I give it a strong recommendation if you have read "Silas Marner". Those who have not, though, may find it contrived.

Sentimental excess

[=G= · 5/10 · 12 October 2001]

"A Simple Twist of Fate", a second rate syrupy Hollywood knock-off of Sand's novel "Silas Marner", is carefully crafted to tug at the audience's heart strings while forsaking any semblance of realism. Full of Kodak moments, predictable, and staged, the film is not without entertainment value and will appeal most to sentimentalists.

Another Great Steve Martin Film

[Bronco46 · 9/10 · 28 December 2003]

Steve Martin wrote, directed and starred in this film. And he did a great job! A heartwarming film about an adopted child, her adopted father, and some very unhappy rich people. Thank you very much Mr Martin

Great story but not original

[drcmart · 5/10 · 17 December 2004]

I hate to burst some of the viewers high opinion of Mr. Martin's writing prowess, but the fact is that this story was written in 1861, London by George Eliot which, by the way was the pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans. All Mr. Martin has done has changed the names of the charters, their occupations, and set it in America. At the end of the movie is a fleeting credit to the original author, however I fear most folks don't take the time to read those. I think if credit had been given in the start, for instance, adapted from an original work by George Eliot's Silas Marner, by Steve Martin would have been the honorable thing to do. I highly recommend the book, although the movie is done well, the original telling of the story is that much better. Read people! Your letting Hollywood do your thinking.

A well-intentioned movie suffering from an identity crisis

[glazed_doughnut · 5/10 · 22 October 2005]

Let me start by saying that I am a Steve Martin fan and anyone who questions his ability to do serious work has never seen Grand Canyon. I picked up this movie with the intent of watching it with my kids, aged 12 and 6. About 15 minutes or so into the movie, after witnessing shot-drinking, a heroin needle and two people sharing a joint, I seriously considered turning the movie off. The fact is that once past these moments, the movie does begin to work as a more heart-warming family tale. What irks me however is that I don't understand why people making a movie that kids can watch have to resort to adult imagery in some feeble attempt to generate adult interest. If one wishes to make a grown-up movie with adult images, then by all means do so, but this movie simply does not work on that level; it maintains too much of a superficial and sweet flavor to be considered as such. So, why then, if I am watching a family movie, should I be forced to lie to my children about some of the imagery they are seeing? I certainly don't want to explain to them what heroin or marijuana is and the truth is that none of these images were necessary to the telling of the story.

Therein lies my biggest problem with this movie as a whole. There are simply too many small scenes and images that are forcibly interjected into the story without necessity. The baseball scene, the scene by the edge of the quarry as well as many other smaller moments almost seem randomly inserted into the movie as though after the final cut the producers felt they need 20 minutes more to fill.

My kids, fortunately, asked no questions, but did ask to watch the movie again the next day (a practice they inherited from their father), so I would honestly say that the movie does function on their level and I would recommend it to any parent who doesn't feel uncomfortable by the occasional adult imagery passing before their child's eyes.

A misunderstood classic

[yoda87960 · 10/10 · 22 October 2006]

Note: This doesn't really contain spoilers, but hey, one slip of the mouse could blacklist me.

I just finished watching the outstanding Shopgirl and I couldn't help but think of this film. I've probably seen it around ten times. Only two or three times at home, but in high school I swear teachers showed it once or twice a year to kill some time. It didn't matter if we were reading Silas Marner or not. It has never gotten old.

People seem to go into this movie expecting a comedy, but it's really not. It's a haunting and beautiful movie filled with imagery that I can still see in my head, even though I haven't seen the movie in a couple of years. I assume when this came out, it was largely ignored because it had the look and conventions of other lesser movies of the time. Besides, who would want to see a drama from Steve Martin? Now that it's years removed from the climate it was released, it can truly be appreciated for what it is. A true gem.

Simply terrible!

[Clift · 1/10 · 17 September 2000]

This tear-teaser, written by Steve Martin himself, is so unbelievably bad, it makes you sick to your stomach!

The plot is pathetic, the acting awful, and the dialogue is even more predictable than the ending.

Avoid at all costs!

Watchable modern Silas Marner sentimentality

[FiendishDramaturgy · 9/10 · 28 November 2003]

Sweet, Sentimental, Modernized Journey Through Silas Marner.

This is about the best Steve Martin movie I've seen. That, for me, is saying a lot, since I love all his movies.

Steve Martin plays a divorced hermetic carpenter who discovers a motherless baby on his doorstep and adopts her.

The conflict comes when her millionaire father, denied a lawful child by his legal wife, seeks to take possession of the child he sired by a drug-hazed prostitute; Martin's little girl.

Very good drama, with classic Martin style, and without smarm.

Excellent movie.

It rates an 8.8/10 from...

the Fiend :.