Redundant and unnecessary.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I enjoy the work of Steve Martin, so this was a film I was looking forward to watching this film.Sadly though, it's not worth the time. It's slow, it's overly sentimental and all in all a simple waste of time.Steve Martin can do all out laughs, he's shown that in films like 'Bowfinger', he can also do quietly comedic roles like 'Shop girl'. However this one seems to be neither. His character is dull and the moments where he does try and be funny seem more odd than funny.We are introduced to unlikable character after unlikeable character and in the end you wonder where the 'comedy' in this touted comedy drama have gotten to.Overall - poor.

This movie was a real disappointment. Steve Martin did okay in the lead role about a man whose wife tells him that their unborn child belongs to another man and they divorce and he becomes a recluse who drinks and counts his gold coins...but it was hard to see past the many years of outrageous comedy Martin did to take him too seriously here. The acting and dialogue were just awful. Linney and Bryne were wooden and lacked any depth whatsoever and I didn't care about anything that happened to them. The little girl, who rarely uttered a word (which seemed a bit unrealistic for any child)was played by so many child actors it was hard to tell it was even the same character in any particular scene. Overall it was mediocre and I would not recommend it.

A touching and sensitive retelling of Silas Marner, A Simple Twist of Fate provides Steve Martin with the role of a lifetime. His characterization is nothing short of stunning. This finely crafted and superbly written film is backed up by strong supporting performances and masterful direction. The girls who played Mathilda were perfectly cast and absolutely stole my heart. I rank A Simple Twist of Fate right up there with Jimmy Stewart's It's a Wonderful Life and it's one of the sweetest movies I've ever seen!

Sweet, Sentimental, Modernized Journey Through Silas Marner.This is about the best Steve Martin movie I've seen. That, for me, is saying a lot, since I love all his movies.Steve Martin plays a divorced hermetic carpenter who discovers a motherless baby on his doorstep and adopts her.The conflict comes when her millionaire father, denied a lawful child by his legal wife, seeks to take possession of the child he sired by a drug-hazed prostitute; Martin's little girl.Very good drama, with classic Martin style, and without smarm.Excellent movie.It rates an 8.8/10 from...the Fiend :.