Prismark10 Chances Are is a charming, weird, clichéd and even a little bit perverse romantic comedy.Louie Jeffries (Christopher McDonald) is a lawyer who has uncovered a bent judge and suddenly dies in a road accident in 1964. He is reborn as Alex Finch (Robert Downey Jr) but in 1987 he meets Louie's daughter Miranda at Yale University and later his wife, Corinne and when he visits his old house for dinner, Louie's memories later return to Alex. He realises he is Louie Jeffries, Corinne's dead husband reincarnated as he has memories of events only Louie would had known.However it seems that Alex is not meant to get back together with Corinne but rather help her move on especially as their best friend Philip Train (Ryan O'Neal) a Washington Post journalist has always loved Corinne and help raise Miranda but Corinne has never got over her dead husband.At the time, Chances Are was a feel good comedy, well acted but stretched credibility and Alex falling for Miranda (Louie's daughter) was a little bit icky.

BobbyT24 "Chances Are" is one of several romantic-comedies in the late-80s/early-90s starring Robert Downey, Jr. as the romantic/comedic lead. In my opinion, this is one of his best.Along with the under-rated 1993 "Heart & Souls", these two movies bookend one another beautifully. They could almost be confused as the same movie since they look the same, have the same sense of humor and have the same leading man playing essentially the same character with minor differences. It may be why the new "Chances Are" cover has changed from the original 1989 purple and white cover. While "Chances Are" has RDJ being reincarnated to reunite with his long-lost love and her family, "Heart & Souls" has RDJ as the conduit for five ghosts to set things right with THEIR families. I believe "Chances Are" edges out the deserving "Heart & Souls" by a smidgen due to the better romantic theme and simple storyline vs. the more complicated "Heart & Souls" script due to the five ghosts' story lines.As for "Chances Are" by itself, RDJ plays a reincarnated Louie Jeffries who was married in the 1960s to Cybill Shepherd (this was her last "beauty" movie where she looked stunning). Louie dies on his first anniversary and is reincarnated as RDJ. RDJ stumbles across the adorable Mary Stuart Masterson at university and eventually crosses paths with newspaper superstar, Ryan O'Neal, and Cybill, who has kept the candle lit for her dead husband for two decades, all within the first 15 minutes of the movie. Through several twists and comedic turns, RDJ realizes who he was and tries rekindling the flames with someone old enough to be his mother - and everyone else thinks he's either a gold-digger extraordinaire and/or psychotic. The entire story reminds me of the old-time Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant comedies of yesteryear where a little bit of overacting was allowed because it put a smile on your face no matter if the story was credible or not.The movie is light, funny, charming, and just enough romance to make it a perfect date movie. The men will enjoy the humor and women will enjoy the romance. The cast looks to be genuinely enjoying themselves which makes the unlikely story easy to swallow. Robert Downey, Jr. has always been a special physical actor. He embodies the qualities of other actors into his own persona and magic comes out on-screen.This may not be perfection, but it is worth watching as a light-hearted romantic comedy. I enjoy it every time I watch it again. It's in my top-20 rom/coms of all-time not because it's a classic - but because all the pieces fit so well to make a fun movie experience. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. 7 out of 10.

babydevill728 The beginning of the movie was good, but as we get more into the movie it becomes absolutely terrible. When Louie died and had his soul put into another body, he and his wife should have overcome this and be together regardless. It's a disaster that Corinne ended up marrying her "dead husband's" best friend in the end. I don't know how any person with a heart could do such a cruel thing. Also, the movie ended in a horrible way. Alex, who is Louie with a different body, should have somehow gotten his original body back. And reunite in a loving way with his wife. After I finished watching this movie I was extremely disappointed. The director did an awful job with this movie. I think anyone would realize this. The ending of the movie killed the entire film. Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor. I can't understand why he even accepted such a role. I would never want to be in a movie like this. This is the worst movie I have ever seen in my whole entire life. Just disastrous, awful, terrible, disgusting.

blackberrybabe Another Downey must-see! If you are an obsessed fan like me, you have got to see this movie! He plays Alex Finch, a 22 year old Yale grad who realizes that the life he just came into is the life he left 26 years earlier. Alex is the re-incarnation of Louie Jeffries, a no-nonsense lawyer happily married to Corrine (Cybil Sheppard). Louie is killed on their one-year anniversary when he is hit by a car. He demands to go back, only this time in the body of Alex Finch. Enter Robert Downey Jr., a lot of confusion, and a lot of laughs.Although this movie is 15-years old, it still makes you wonder if there really is such a thing as re-incarnation. And if so, how often to you meet the same souls life after life. I don't know the answer. But I do know that you need to see this movie. It is a riot, and Downey looks SO GOOD in a tuxedo. This film makes you believe in love, and true love never dies. It just gets recycled.