Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Geoffrey DeLeons 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.

SnoopyStyle 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.

Anthm Wright When facing losing your child in the court system, a parent suffers a roller-coaster of emotions.Here, two wannabe fathers are fighting for their parental rights to a daughter.One father had been highly regarded in the community and had unbounded political ambitions.The other father was a town drunk and miser who lived on the land of the other father.The movie is suspenseful at times, dark at times, light at times, and has a great ending.

yoda87960 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.