Ross Canter Movies
Todd Holland directed this Charlie Peters adaptation of Frank Parkin's novel. Respected anthropologist James Krippendorf (Richard Dreyfuss) and his wife, Jennifer (Barbara Williams), bring their three children along during their failed search in New Guinea for a lost tribe. After Jennifer's death, James reaches a zero point back in the U.S., having spent all his foundation grant money raising the kids as a single parent. Scheduled to lecture at a college and fearful he could be charged with misuse of grant funds, James concocts an imaginary tribe, the Shelmikedmu, and fakes a 16 mm "documentary" film, casting his children as tribe members and editing in footage of a legit New Guinea tribe. Anthropologist Veronica Micelli (Jenna Elfman) contacts cable-TV producer Henry Spivey (David Ogden Stiers), forcing James to continue creating fraudulent footage as the rival Ruth Allen (Lily Tomlin) gets suspicious. It seems a shame this racially insensitive film was made, while the once-announced plans to film anthropologist Kenneth Good's nonfiction Into the Heart (Simon & Schuster, 1991) never led to a production. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Jenna Elfman, (more)
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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, (more)
