An egotistical TV reporter learns to appreciate the good things in life thanks to an eccentric, homeless clairvoyant in this old-fashioned romantic comedy from director Stephen Herek (Mr. Holland's Opus). Seattle native Lanie Kerrigan (Angelina Jolie) has spent most of her adult existence trying to live down her gawky, geeky adolescence: She toils for hours at the gym to keep cellulite at bay; she's managed to snag an engagement to a star baseball player (Christian Kane); and through her chipper puff pieces on the nightly news, she's cultivated a loyal following of couch potatoes who pester her for autographs. She's ready to take the next step to national news when her boss suggests she further hone her skills with ace cameraman Pete Scanlon (Edward Burns), who also happens to be an old flame of Lanie's. Her comfortable but shallow existence begins to change the moment she and Pete do a story on Prophet Jack (Tony Shaloub), a sage soothsayer who spouts unusually accurate predictions to passers-by in exchange for spare change. Jack offers up the theory that Lanie will not get her cushy promotion; in fact, he says she'll die within a week. When Jack's other prophecies start coming true, Lanie starts living each day as if it were her last -- much to the dismay of her co-workers and her fiancé.
15 April 1958, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
February 6, 1993 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
13 February 1944, New York City, New York, USA
June 30, 1990 in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada
9 October 1953, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
27 June 1972, Dallas, Texas, USA
6 February 1978, Cape Town, South Africa
December 25, 2010
Old fashioned date movie for older teens.May 02, 2002
Formulaic, delusional and about as accurate a depiction of life in television news (or something like it) as a Pillsbury bake-off.April 30, 2002
Cloaks a familiar anti-feminist equation (career - kids = misery) in tiresome romantic-comedy duds.July 20, 2002
Life, though funny and sometimes charming, doesn't give Lanie a believable context in which to stop and smell the roses.April 29, 2002
[A] fun romp...June 19, 2003
Watching the bleach blonde actress prance around the steep hills of Seattle in skintight pastel skirt suits wobbling atop sky-high stilettos is almost more than one should have to bare.February 08, 2003
...Clearly displays the workmanlike instincts of its creative team, instincts which neither inspire greatness nor fail altogether.August 01, 2003
...mostly just dull and forgettable.April 29, 2009
Pseudo-spiritual nonsense...December 08, 2002
What begins as a somewhat predictable Hollywood romantic comedy, spirals into a tender, sweet love story and opens the door to life's deeper and more meaningful issues.June 01, 2002
Comes on like a romantic comedy with metaphysical pretensions, but somehow these opposing aspects manage to cancel each other out, leaving us with laugh-lite comedy and, well, metaphysical pretensions.April 26, 2002
Lanie, who suggests a blow-dried human Q-tip, is so jarring on the eyes, it's difficult to concentrate on the story.