Shortcut to Happiness (2003)

A down-and-out writer, sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for fame and fortune.

Director:

Alec Baldwin (as Harry Kirkpatrick)

Writers:

Stephen Vincent Benet (story "The Devil and Daniel Webster"), Archibald Macleish (play)

Stars:

Virl Andrick, Ray Aranha, Kaniel Arocho

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Virl Andrick	...	Dick
Ray Aranha	...	Mailman
Kaniel Arocho	...	Skateboard Kid #1
Jorge Arocho	...	Skateboard Kid #2
Mary Ashton	...	Production Assistant
Howard Atlee	...	Award Audience Man
Dan Aykroyd	...	Julius Jensen
Alec Baldwin	...	Jabez Stone
Gregg Bello	...	Rick Fusco
Bobby Cannavale	...	Cop
Jann Carl	...	Self
Kim Cattrall	...	Constance Hurry
Antoni Cornacchione	...	Security Guard
Bill Corsair	...	Aging Writer
Grenville Cuyler	...	Taxi Hailer

Storyline

In Manhattan, ambitious writer Jabez Stone (Producer and Director Alec Baldwin) is a complete loser. He is not able to sell his novels, he lives in an awful apartment and he does not have success with women. When one of his friends, Julius Jensen (Dan Aykroyd), sells his novel for one hundred ninety thousand dollars to an editor, Jabez feels envious and promises to sell his soul to the devil for success and accidentally kills a woman with his typing machine. The Devil (Jennifer Love Hewitt) knocks on his door, fixes the situation, and seals a contract with Jabez. His low quality novels have bad reviews but become best-sellers; Jabez enriches; has success with women, but has no time for his friends. Jabez meets with publisher Daniel Webster (Sir Anthony Hopkins) who offers him a chance to break the contract with the devil.

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Plot Keywords:

selling soul to the devil | author | book writer | pact with the devil | book adaptation | 

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Taglines:

the devil is in the details.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language and sexual content

Did You Know?

Trivia

Long known as "The Devil and Daniel Webster", the film's title was changed to "Shortcut to Happiness" after being acquired by Bob Yari productions and being heavily re-edited.

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Goofs

When buying the house, Jabez Stone sees the Devil on the beach. He runs to her with his shirt's collar over his jacket. But when he is there and talks to the Devil the collar is carefully tucked under.

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Quotes

Daniel Webster: Mr. Stone. Man of the hour. You're quite a success.
Jabez Stone: Thank you.
Daniel Webster: It wasn't meant as a compliment.

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Connections

Version of The Devil and Daniel Mouse (1978)

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Soundtracks

Are You There, Margaret? It's Me God
Written and Performed by The Baldwin Brothers
Courtesy of TVT Records

User Reviews

A Very Good film and definitely worth watching

I saw this film at the Venice Film Festival and have waited a long time to comment on it as I wanted to see it again when I was released. However, it still has not come out and I don't know if it ever will.

Alec Baldwin is a writer, down on his luck and nowhere to go but down even further.

As with many viewers I suspect, I was attracted to this film by the cast and the fact that it has received so much press, good and bad. The plot is based on the old casino idea of a writer whose career in next to nil and is getting ready to self destruct – and unless you get into it, it'll feel rather forced and silly at times.

However the film helped me to overcome this by being very low key and downbeat – very much like Baldwin himself. The film is not a great thing but one that is easy to get into. The film uses Las Vegas really well but it is a classic story that is fun to believe in. It is much better than the fun, breezy and slick fantasies that we are sold in other films. The mix of romance, comedy and violence works very well – at points it was very touching, at others quite funny.

It isn't perfect of course and the writing is where the problems lie; the story did rely on the audience buying into it and at times the dialogue comes very close to corn (but just misses). The only time I felt really let down was the ending, which, although fitting with the spirit of the film, missed a great chance to be fun, exciting and original all at the same time.

Still, a good film and definitely worth the watching.

Details

Official Sites:

Yari Film Group [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 August 2007 (Kazakhstan)

Also Known As:

The Devil

Filming Locations:

Bethpage, Long Island, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$686,846

Company Credits

Production Co:

Yari Film Group (YFG), Cutting Edge Entertainment, El Dorado Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1