Mr. Destiny is a 1990 romantic comedy about an unhappy man who sees what his life could’ve been like, had he made that winning home run as a teenager.
It’s always what if? Right? What if we went left instead of right? What if we went to that party and talked to that cute guy/girl instead of staying home? What if we did whatever differently than we did? Lots of movies have taken to asking that question, from A Wonderful Life to The Best of Times to The Butterfly Effect and many more and one of the best and most underrated is this little gem from writer/director James Orr called Mr. Destiny. Talk about your super satisfying time-traveling-ish romantic fantasy, this is it. While it might be light and easy to predict, what it does to compensate is nothing short of a minor movie miracle.
Here’s the story. At a high school championship baseball game, 15-year-old Larry Burrows (played young by Rich Devaney) is at the plate needing to get a hit to win the game and the admiration of the town and the eye of the lovely Cindy Jo Bumpers. Naturally, he swings and whiffs it, losing the game and all hope of being the hero. It’s the worst day of his life, but his best friend Clip Metzler doesn’t give up on him and the kindly Ellen shows compassion. She’s so kind in fact, a few years later when they are grown, he marries her (played as an adult by the great Linda Hamilton).
Now Larry (played by James Belushi) is thirty-five and his life is well, pretty mediocre. He has a simple two bedroom house that’s not quite finished, a whacky dog, and a generally comfortable existence as a corporate lackey for a major sports equipment company where he works with Clip (Jon Lovitz), and where Cindy Jo (Rene Russo) is married to the company president. The problem is, he constantly wonders if his life turned out the way it’s meant to.
On his way home on the night of his birthday (thinking everyone forgot it), his car breaks down in front of a classy old pub where he goes in and meets Mike the Bartender (Michael Caine), who ends up being Larry’s guardian angel, offering him a chance to relive that moment at the base and see if things will change. When young Larry manages to knock one out of the park, it completely changes everything. When he wakes up the next morning, he’s married to Cindy Jo, is the company president, super rich and living the life of luxury. But is this life better than the other? Not all that glitters is … well, you know the saying.
The message is clear of course, but the movie isn’t really about tweaking the formula, instead looking to offer up a fun and highly-satisfying tale of what if with a great cast and good script. Larry finds himself in all kinds of bends when he gets what he wants and what the film does best is give these outcomes genuine weight, something that many in the genre avoid. Yes, there are lots of great bits of humor, but what Mr. Destiny does right is keep that humor grounded in a bit of authenticity, even as it deals with a magic elixir. This is where the real darkness lies and it’s a testament to Orr and his screenplay that it’s all so well masked in laughs.
It’s Larry’s relationships with the women that strike best (and true) as Orr completely steers clear of some basic tropes, such as making Cindy Jo an arrogant monster so that it would be easy to make loving Ellen the obvious choice. Instead, she’s a kind, devoted, and decent woman who is entirely thrown out of sorts by her seemingly off-kilter husband. This is a terrific twist that fully gives Mr. Destiny its heart as Larry must deal with dreams coming true and the consequences of just that. He must come to discover who ‘Larry’ really is and what matters most, and in doing so asks some pretty existential questions. How can hitting a baseball rather than missing it really change so much? It makes you think carefully about every move you make afterward.
My favorite moment is when Larry begins to spend time with Ellen again, even as he’s married to Cindy Jo. I won’t reveal what that means and what happens, but it’s pretty terrific writing and both Belushi, who was in his charming prime, and Hamilton, who is embodies unconditional love, are a perfect pair. Pay attention to a special moment at a diner and an even better one after mini-putt golf course.
Mr. Destiny is described as a comedy but it’s really nothing of the sort even as it has plenty of laughs. It’s much more a dramatic twist on Charles Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol where Larry must learn of all his faults – of which there are many – and come to terms with his problematic choices. Some of these include some potentially devastating scenarios, of which one concerns Clip. Sure, we are engaged in the comedy because the film never fully drives in the serious lane, but that it keeps one wheel there at all times makes this more of a challenge than it first implies.
Belushi really makes this click, his big teddy bear personality lending Larry an honest naivety that works because Larry is always aware of what is happening, his original gruff and tumble Larry living in a new timeline that allows him to recall his past while struggling to handle this new truth where he’s expected to be a posh exorbitantly rich socialite. Orr plays with the inherent comedy that this naturally conjures before giving it a subversive dark spin, often ending scenes with a kind of heavy note where the lovable Larry is fully out of his element. It’s a decidedly tricky line to walk but Belushi does it just right.
One minor thing I found sort if interesting is Hamilton’s name. Her maiden name is Ellen Ripley, which is also the name of Sigourney Weaver‘s character in the highly-influential sci-fi horror Alien franchise. Any connection? Probably not but it’s sort of fun to draw a line of comparison where a woman is forced to deal with something very extraordinary, and while Alien is a horror film with a monstrous creature from space that burrows (Larry Burrows?) into its host and emerges as a deadly threat, with Mr. Destiny it is a comedy about a woman who deals with an alien of sorts who has some equally volatile effects.
While Mr. Destiny is obviously light fare and suffers from unwarranted narration and some simple contrivances, however there is far more that makes this worthwhile. It’s fun to think about destiny and Orr does a great job at layering the fun with lots to think about. Watch it with that in mind and enjoy a wonderfully underrated fantasy.