Loretta Castorini, a Brooklyn bookkeeper in her late 30s whose husband died several years earlier in a bus accident, decides it's time to get married again. So she accepts the proposal of a nice, middle-aged fellow named Johnny Cammareri. Loretta is convinced her first marriage was cursed because she and her husband had gotten married at City Hall; this time, she's determined to do things right, even as she admits to her mother, Rose, that she's not really in love with Johnny. (To which Rose replies: "Good. When you love them, they drive you crazy, 'cause they know they can." Rose speaks from rueful experience; she suspects, with good reason, that her husband, Cosmo, is cheating on her.) Loretta is convinced that marrying Johnny is the safe and sure thing to do - until she meets his estranged younger brother Ronny, who tends the ovens in a neighborhood bakery. Loretta discovers that in startling contrast to the pleasant, mild-mannered Johnny, Ronny is moody and passionate; what follow are complications worthy of a comic opera.

Nicolas Cage plays Ronny, a man with only one hand. In Cage's previous role in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Cage's character begged Peggy to marry him, saying he doesn't know what the future might bring: he might lose his arm.

[as Cosmo listens to "It Must Be Him" in the next room]


Rose:
Now he's going to play that damn Vicki Carr record, and when he comes to bed he won't touch me.

Continuity: When Loretta tells Cosmo she is getting married, the wine glasses and bottle do not match when the camera cuts from Loretta to Cosmo.

Performed by Dean Martin
Courtesy of Capitol Records, Inc.
Music by Harry Warren (uncredited)
Lyrics by Jack Brooks (uncredited)