Mrs. Winterbourne

((Romantic comedy -- Color))

Ross Canter, Oren Koules. Executive producer, Patrick Palmer. Directed by Richard Benjamin. Screenplay, Phoef Sutton, Lisa-Maria Radano, based on the novel "I Married a Dead Man," by Cornell Woolrich.

Grace Winterbourne ... Shirley MacLaine Connie Doyle ... Ricki Lake Bill/Hugh Winterbourne ... Brendan Fraser Paco ... Miguel Sandoval Steve DeCunzo ... Loren Dean Father Brian ... Peter Gerety As calculated as the cries of "Go, Ricki!" on its star's talkshow, "Mrs. Winterbourne" is a sappy, old-fashioned and predictable vehicle for actress-turned-talk maven-turned-actress-again Ricki Lake that delivers requisite warmth but few laughs. Lake's ebullient charm and solid performances by Shirley MacLaine, Brendan Fraser and Miguel Sandoval provide some highlights, though box office prospects appear moderate unless Lake's daytime TV audience can be counted on to go, go, go see her.

Based on the novel "I Married a Dead Man" by Cornell Woolrich (filmed twice before as Barbara Stanwyck vehicle "No Man of Her Own" and the French "I Married a Shadow"), pic, as written by Phoef Sutton (a "Cheers" alumnus) and Lisa-Maria Radano ("The Tracey Ullman Show"), also bears similarities to last year's "While You Were Sleeping."

Striving for a fairy-tale tone,

story centers on Connie Doyle (Lake), a down-on-her-luck young woman -- impregnated and abandoned by her lowlife boyfriend (Loren Dean) -- who through a bizarre series of coincidences is wrongly believed to be the widow of a young man who was an heir to the Winterbourne family fortune.

Awakening in the hospital after a train crash that took the life of one of the Winterbournes and his wife, Connie at first tries to clear up the case of mistaken identity but eventually realizes that keeping quiet can offer her infant son great opulence, as well as the family provided by matriarch Grace (MacLaine) and Bill (Fraser), her dead "husband's" twin brother.

Winning over the stuffy Bill, however, doesn't prove to be much of a challenge. Only the untimely appearance of Connie's boyfriend, seeking to blackmail her, provides a remote sense of suspense.

There are a few amusing moments as Connie seeks to fit into her lush new environs, telling off snooty debutantes with the blessing of Grace, who suggests the Winterbournes need women like them (she was a former showgirl) to strengthen their bloodline.

That idea of a regular gal winning over a bunch of snobs and breathing life into a moribund clan would have more impact, in fact, if it weren't so well-worn and the transformation of the only major character who disapproves of Connie didn't come so easily.

Director Richard Benjamin made an auspicious debut with "My Favorite Year," but his recent credits have been less impressive. The brazen sentimentality at work here -- while effective in the context of what some might call "a chick flick"-- doesn't give the material much weight.

Most of the laughs come courtesy of MacLaine's ailing Grace, who can't resist cigarettes or booze, and her loyal butler, Paco (Sandoval), whose machinations help bring together Connie and Bill.

MacLaine has limned this personality before, but she does so effortlessly, while Lake manages to be winsome even when her character is behaving foolishly. Fraser has a more thankless task in portraying Bill (and, briefly, his brother Hugh) but still manages a quirky likability.

Tech credits are mostly sound. Production designer Evelyn Sakash captures the elegance of Connie's new surroundings while Patrick Doyle turns out another score striking up the schmaltzy chords to which "Mrs. Winterbourne" aspires, with marginal success.

Camera (Technicolor), Alex Nepomniaschy; editors, Jacqueline Cambas, William Fletcher; music, Patrick Doyle; production design, Evelyn Sakash; art direction, Dennis Davenport; set decoration, Casey Hallenbeck; costume design, Theoni V. Aldredge; sound (Dolby, SDDS), Richard Lightstone; assistant directors, David McAree, Elizabeth Scherberger; unit production manager, Adam J. Shully; casting, Nancy Foy. Reviewed at UA Theater, L.A., April 11, 1996. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 104 min.

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