Chances Are

Chances Are (1989) is a romantic fantasy comedy directed by Emile Ardolino — watch online on iFILM. Washington lawyer Louie Jeffries is killed on his first anniversary and reincarnated twenty years later as Alex Finch, a young man with no memory of his former life — until he walks back into his old house.

Robert Downey Jr. plays Alex, who slowly starts recognising Louie's widow Corinne (Cybill Shepherd), his daughter Miranda (Mary Stuart Masterson), and Louie's best friend Philip (Ryan O'Neal), who has spent two decades quietly in love with Corinne. The film milks the awkwardness of that geometry without letting it curdle — Alex is drawn to Miranda, remembers being married to her mother, and keeps slipping back into habits that belonged to another man.

Ardolino — who directed Dirty Dancing two years earlier — handles the comedy with a light touch, and Downey's elastic charm holds the implausible premise together. Stream Chances Are online on iFILM.