Regular Price $9.99

Starring: Steve Martin,  Gabriel Byrne,  Laura Linney,  Catherine O'Hara,  Alana Austin, 
Directed By: Gillies MacKinnon, 
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Release Date: 1994-09-02
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Format: Anamorphic,  Closed-captioned,  Color,  DVD-Video,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about A Simple Twist of Fate

Product Description
A recluse takes in an orphaned girl, discovering the pains & pleasures of fatherhood. The bond between them is threatened when the biological father comes to claim her.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: MARTIN,STEVE
Title: SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE
Street Release Date: 05/06/2003
Domestic
Genre: COMEDY VIDEO

Amazon.com
A Simple Twist of Fate, Steve Martin's second adaptation of a classic (after his Roxanne-ization of Cyrano de Bergerac), is a melancholy, dramatic comedy about a recluse coming out of his shell. Suggested by George Eliot's Silas Marner, this isn't a cutesy picture akin to Father of the Bride. It's much more heartfelt, gentle, and satisfying, as long as you accept its traditional and predictable conclusions. Scorned by life, Michael McCann (Martin) lives in an auburn-tinted town and goes on with his colorless life. That is, until an abandoned child is left on his doorstep, and he adopts her. A custody battle ensues years later with far too many cheap, unconvincing courtroom dramatics in which money is the root of all evil, but the tone and wholesomeness of the story are special. Gabriel Byrne pulls off a nearly unplayable role as the town's aristocrat with fine underplayed support by Catherine O'Hara and youngster Alana Austin. The wonderful score is by Cliff Eidelman. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews for A Simple Twist of Fate

I ADORE this movie!
A little gem of a movie. Not sure why some reviewers thought the start of the movie was slow - it explained his present day personality. Steve Martin is just superb in this - a very subtle, layered performance. It's one of those movies that stays with you long after you watched it. Wish he did more of these types of movies.A Simple Twist of Fate

Very Sweet
Flipping channels on cable one day I saw the end of this movie and purchased it. It sat on my self for a while and one day my granddaughter and I were looking for a movie to watch and she chooses this one because she likes Steve Martin, I knew I would like it but my 11 year old granddaughter loved it. And just like all the movies she likes we have watched this film about a dozen times.A Simple Twist of Fate

Steve Martin in unique role.
Basically Steve plays a crotchety geezer who is introverted and odd and suddenly is parenting this lovely little girl...NOT the typical comedy, nothing like you'd expect. Dearness, sweetness and love and awakening on a few scales. Not overly deep, not light...a feel good movie. Enjoy!A Simple Twist of Fate

A decent take-off on a classic
To Rana Blue: This movie is a take off on George Elliot's masterpice, Silas Marner. In that book the girl decides for herself that she will stay with her father rather than go to her biological father's home, but that girl is 16 and there is no custody battle in court (the story is set in England in the 1800s). However, in that story, as in this one, the brother steals the gold and then falls in to the lake and drowns. Mr. Newland didn't remember that he had thrown his brother into the lake because he didn't do it. Just as Matlida could have fallen in when she was a toddler, the brother -- drunk, in the dark and having just left a girl to die in his car -- left McCann's home and stumbled over the cliff. Do you not think a man would remember where he illegally buried his dead brother? The truth is, he didn't know that his brother was dead, and he was probably happy to be rid of him because the brother was the only adult alive who knew the truth about the baby, so he didn't bother to search for him. And the other truth is that the judge let Matilda stay with McCann because he was her father, and once he got his money back and all things were equal between the two men, there was no question as to where Matlida belonged.A Simple Twist of Fate

Heartwarming Movie
This is a great heartwarming movie. I think that Steve Martin is a great actor, and his role in this movie showed that he can play serious, as well as comedy roles. I feel that Steve Martin was the only "real father," in the movie...not the politician who only cared about himself, and only wanted to look impressive in society. And the politician's wife was even worse. I don't want to give away too much information about the movie, but I guarantee that it is well worth buying, and if you sit down and watch the movie from beginning to end, you will enjoy it.A Simple Twist of Fate