If Lucy Fell (1996)

19% of critics liked it
(27 reviews)
47% of users liked it
(5,118 ratings)

This vanity project from writer, director, and star Eric Schaeffer is a romantic comedy about a pair of New Yorkers with a suicide pact. Joe MacGonaughgill (Schaeffer) is a painter and teacher who has been spying for years on Jane (Elle Macpherson), the gorgeous woman who lives across the alley,… More This vanity project from writer, director, and star Eric Schaeffer is a romantic comedy about a pair of New Yorkers with a suicide pact. Joe MacGonaughgill (Schaeffer) is a painter and teacher who has been spying for years on Jane (Elle Macpherson), the gorgeous woman who lives across the alley, where she can be secretly observed undressing. Joe lives with Lucy Ackerman (Sarah Jessica Parker), a psychotherapist who's also his best friend. Suffering from her own relationship troubles with her boyfriend Dick (William Sage), Lucy is reminded of a long-ago pact she made with Joe: if neither is involved in a serious relationship by her rapidly approaching 30th birthday, they will commit suicide by jumping together off the Brooklyn Bridge. Then Jane comes to a show of Joe's artwork and he musters up the courage to ask her out, while Lucy begins dating Bwick Elias (Ben Stiller), an oddball artist who paints with his body parts. Only after Jane and Bwick turn out to be major disappointments do Joe and Lucy realize that they're perfect together -- and not in the platonic sense. Struggling independent filmmaker Schaeffer convinced Parker to take the female lead in If Lucy Fell when she hailed the cab he was driving. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 32 min.
Directed By: Eric Schaeffer
Written By: Eric Schaeffer
Genres: Drama, Romance, Comedy

In Theaters: Mar 8, 1996 Wide
On DVD: Jan 30, 2001
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Janet Maslin, New York Times
All coy grins and daffy mugging, Mr. Stiller plays the role as if aspiring to become the Elliott Gould of his generation. Compared with jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge, that's a reasonable goal.
Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
If Lucy Fell is funnier more often than not, and when it's not being funny it's at least being strange. I'll take strange over what most major-distributor comedies are when they're not being funny.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
There is an affectation that I find particularly annoying, and that is when people choose to perform at a level below their natural intelligence.
Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
It's airy, fluffy and ultimately uninteresting.
Hal Hinson, Washington Post
If Lucy Fell should be a chore, and yet I kept catching myself having a good time.
Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today
Sadly, the story is nowhere as original as the details and performances.
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
These writer-director-actors seem to want to make movies just so they can be cuddly in them.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
I just don't find this to be an appealling or believable film.
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Romantic comedy about loving the one in your heart instead of the one in your fantasies.
Michael Szymanski, Zap2it.com
Eric Schaeffer is never more arrogant than with this one!
Christine James, Boxoffice Magazine
Schaeffer is the one who fells Lucy by casting himself in the male lead, then failing to convince anyone that either female lead could be attracted to his character.
Brian Webster, Apollo Guide
If Lucy Fell has all the attributes of romantic comedy, including absolute predictability. The only surprise is that it also provides a mostly-enjoyable journey to its ultimate destination.

Read all 12 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Nicki M

I know it's not a great movie, but this is one i used to have on VHS when it first came out and just loved, so I have good memories of it, which have probably sent the rating up a star it doesn't deserve! I recently picked it up on DVD after not seeing it in years, and… More
I know it's not a great movie, but this is one i used to have on VHS when it first came out and just loved, so I have good memories of it, which have probably sent the rating up a star it doesn't deserve! I recently picked it up on DVD after not seeing it in years, and still love it, even though I can see it is a bit silly in hindsight. This is a really nice role for Sarah Jessica (particularly when you look at some of the movies she is picking these days. Geez!). I also didn't realise a very young Scarlett Johansson is in this too with a small part! Elle McPherson plays the same vapid pretty girl she always seemed to play around this era of her career (as with her character on Friends, I think was around the same time). Pretty face, wooden acting. Really not a fan, funny you don't see her these days. But I guess she suits the shallow Jane here. Eric Schaffer as Joe is not all that well cast, actually kind of weird. (I think written that way, though). Still not annoying enough to put me off the movie! Also worth a look for a younger Ben Stiller - also better than anything he has been in recently (Fockers, anyone?). Just a sweet, romantic little story which is a bit quirky. Undemanding viewing.
Naughtia N

Lucy has a terrible dull lovelife and lives as a single woman together with her roommate Joe. Lucy and Joe are best friends so they agree to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if either of them aren't in a committed relationship within a month. This movie wasn't the best I've… More
Lucy has a terrible dull lovelife and lives as a single woman together with her roommate Joe. Lucy and Joe are best friends so they agree to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge if either of them aren't in a committed relationship within a month. This movie wasn't the best I've seen and it wasn't the worst either. Ben Stiller's character was hilarious and extremely weird in this movie and it gave a lot of laughs. This movie has a lot of talented actors in it and I thought this was what made the movie much better than it was.
Sunil J

A really dumb girl movie.
Leo L

Loved it.