MICHAEL MCCANN IS ABOUT TO FIND WEALTH BEYOND HIS IMAGINATION… A REAL FAMILY.

Loner Michael McCann (Steve Martin) adopts a two-year-old girl after the death of her mother; what he doesn’t know is that the child’s father is a local politician (Gabriel Byrne). Martin did a fine job updating ”Cyrano de Bergerac” in Roxanne (1987), but his stab at ”Silas Marner” is not quite as successful. He has written a somber screenplay without much depth, but a heavy dose of mush. The film is well-produced, but suffers from general Hollywoodization of the tale, as well as the casting of Martin himself who is not ideal as the loner.

1994-U.S. 106 min. Color. Directed by Gillies MacKinnon. Screenplay: Steve Martin. Novel: George Eliot (”Silas Marner”). Cast: Steve Martin (Michael McCann), Gabriel Byrne (John Newland), Catherine O’Hara (April Simon), Stephen Baldwin, Laura Linney, Byron Jennings… Anne Heche.

IMDb