Trama

A police officer promises to share his lottery ticket with a waitress in lieu of a tip.

Charlie and Muriel Lang have led simple lives for most of their existence. That's until they win $4 million on the lottery. There is a problem, however. Prior to winning the lottery, Charlie had eaten at a café and hadn't been able to tip the waitress. He had promised her, jokingly, that if he won the lottery he'd give her half of it. This is why his wife, Muriel, decides to leave him. She doesn't want the waitress to get a cent of their money. In fact, she wants all $4 million for herself.—Michael Feller <reb@magna.com.au>

Kind, soft-spoken, and with a heart of gold, the devoted husband and dutiful NYPD officer, Charlie Lang, finds himself short of money at the diner where the honest and recently bankrupt waitress, Yvonne Biasi, works. To get out of this embarrassing predicament, Charlie promises to share half of his lottery ticket winnings in lieu of a tip, unbeknownst to him that he is holding a winning $4-million-dollar lotto ticket. As a result--much to the disappointment of his rapacious wife, Muriel--Charlie has to keep his word; after all, there's still more than enough money to indulge herself in an endless consumer frenzy. Now, what would you do if it happened to you?—Nick Riganas

Charlie Lang, a New York cop with a heart of gold, wins a share of the lottery. However, the day before, having been caught without enough money to tip waitress (Yvonne), Charlie offers her half the winnings. Charlie's wife, Muriel, is the complete opposite of her husband. She wants more and more money, and she's not impressed by Charlie's honest and kind nature. As Charlie and Muriel grow apart, Charlie and Yvonne grow together.—Rob Hartill

Policeman Charlie Lang (Nicolas Cage) is a kind and generous man who loves his job and the Queens borough of New York City where he lives. Bo (Wendell Pierce) is Charlie's partner and together they work to maintain the peace in their neighborhood. Charlie is a good listener and loved kids. Charlie only wanted to help the community and never shied away from helping where he could (helping a blind man cross the street, teaching kids how to play baseball, catching petty thieves, delivering a baby on the public bus and so on) His wife Muriel (Rosie Perez) works in a hairdressing salon and, unlike Charlie, is selfish, greedy and materialistic, constantly complaining about their situation in life. Muriel hated Queens.

Waitress Yvonne Biasi (Bridget Fonda) is bankrupt because her husband Eddie (Stanley Tucci), whom she could not yet afford to divorce, emptied their joint checking account and spent all the money without her permission, while also leaving her with a credit card debt of over $12,000. The court holds her responsible for the entire bill; moreover, Yvonne's boss docks her pay for the time she spent in court, even though Yvonne gave ample notice.

Charlie meets Yvonne when she waits on him at the diner where she works. Since Charlie has cash to cover the bill but doesn't have enough money to pay the tip. So, he promises to give her either double the tip or half of his prospective lottery winnings the next day. Yvonne is sure that she will never see Charlie again in her life.

Charlie wins a $4 million share of $64 million (in 21 annual payments) in the lottery the next day (as 16 other people picked the same numbers) and keeps his promise, despite the protests of his wife. Muriel sees this as an opportunity to become a spokesperson for her favorite beauty products. Muriel asks Charlie to do the right thing for them, but he is adamant that he gave Yvonne his word.

Charlie returns to the diner and asks Yvonne to choose if she wants double the tip or half of the lottery (without telling her that he won the lottery). Yvonne goes for the split of the lottery and Charlie reveals that it is $4 million. Yvonne believes that Charlie is making fun of her string of bad luck, but he convinces her that they won $4 million in the New York State Lottery. For Charlie, a promise is a promise. Charlie and Yvonne become stars almost immediately. Yvonne buys the diner she was working in and promptly fires her ex-boss. She sets up a table with Charlie's name at which people who cannot afford food can eat for free. In another development, Charlie becomes a hero for foiling an attempted robbery at a grocery store but gets wounded in the process. Following a commendation, he takes mandatory leave from the NYPD.

At a gathering on a chartered boat for the lottery winners and other members of high society, Muriel gets to know the newly rich Jack Gross (Seymour Cassel). She flirts with him and develops a strong liking for him, which is mutual. Both Yvonne and Charlie miss the cruise because he had to go and make change for her taxi driver and bond over dinner.

Meanwhile, Charlie and Yvonne spend a lot of time together, on one occasion paying for the train journeys of passengers of the subway, and on another treating the children of his neighborhood to a day out at Yankee Stadium, about which there is a media report.

Muriel gets fed up with Charlie's constant donations and overall simplicity and throws him out of their apartment, asking for a divorce. That same evening, Yvonne leaves her apartment after her husband shows up and threatens to stay until he gets $50,000 from her. Quite innocently, Charlie and Yvonne run into each other at the Plaza Hotel and, unintentionally, end up spending the night together.

During divorce proceedings between Muriel and Charlie, Muriel demands all the money that Charlie won for herself. Charlie doesn't mind giving his share of the money but Muriel also wants the money he gave Yvonne, and Charlie's steadfast unwillingness to do so causes Muriel to take the case to court. The jury decides in her favor. Yvonne, feeling guilty at costing Charlie all his money, runs out of court in tears and tries to keep away from him. But the cop, by now hopelessly in love with the waitress, finds her at the diner and tells her that the money means nothing to him, and they declare their love for each other.

While ruminating about their future at the diner and considering a possible move to Buffalo, they are gracious enough to provide a hungry and poor customer some soup, which he eats at the Charlie Lang Table. The poor customer is none other than the disguised undercover photojournalist Angel Dupree (Isaac Hayes), who takes photos of the couple and in the next day's newspapers publicly eulogies their willingness to feed a hungry and poor man even in their darkest hour.

Just as Charlie and Yvonne are moving out of town, the citizens of New York City, no doubt touched by the generosity of the couple, send "the cop and the waitress" thousands of letters with tips totaling over $600,000, enough to help pay their debts.

After Muriel gets remarried, her new husband Jack Gross flees the country with all the money from their checking account, revealing himself to be a con man. She then has no option but to move in with her mother in the Bronx and go back to her old manicure job. Eddie Biasi, now divorced from Yvonne, ends up becoming a taxi driver.

Charlie happily returns to the police force and Yvonne reclaims the diner. At the film's end, Charlie and Yvonne get married and begin their honeymoon by taking off from Central Park in a hot air balloon that bears the New York Post headline "Cop Weds Waitress".