Wolff rating: GOOD
Plot summary: Young girl speaking no English is taken in by a wealthy family, where she reveals she is royalty from the Orient.
Biased, pithy comments: Based on a true story (no, really), this is a cute fairy-tale yarn of a long-lost princess girl who dazzles the upper class. There are doubts to her authenticity, but the people available to investigate them are quickly turned by the young girl's charm. The script is pretty cluttered and the pacing sometimes too slow, but like a really good episode of ``Masterpiece Theatre'' you can't look away. With a fantastic cast, you can see how really great acting can cover for some dodgy plotting (Rea in particular has an underwritten role---it's hard to see him struggling between money and love, since clearly love is the way to go here). Kline vanishes into his role as a Greek butler, and Broadbent ends up being the Darth Vader of the story---the off-center-stage pivot around which the story revolves. I liked it, but it ain't exactly ``The Matrix'' for your action fans.
How many times I have seen it:
Starring: Phoebe Cates, Steven Rea, Jim Broadbent, Kevin Kline, Wendy Hughes, John Lithgow.