Synopsis

Abby Barnes is a successful veterinarian and radio host who is far more confident helping animals than facing romance. When photographer Brian becomes interested in her, Abby asks her glamorous neighbor Noelle to pose as her. The arrangement draws all three into an increasingly complicated deception, forcing Abby and Noelle to confront assumptions about beauty, identity, and what makes someone truly lovable.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is a modern romantic adaptation of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play "Cyrano de Bergerac," replacing the original story's poetic correspondence with radio conversations and personal deception.

• Screenwriter Audrey Wells had worked as a disc jockey at San Francisco jazz station KJAZ-FM. That experience helped inspire Abby's work as a radio advice-show host.

• The production began as a smaller independent project and became a larger studio release after Uma Thurman joined the film.

• Janeane Garofalo and Uma Thurman had a noticeable height difference. Garofalo sometimes stood on a box so both performers could be framed together.

• Uma Thurman's brother, Dechen Thurman, appears as the bookstore clerk who comments on her character's appearance.

• Bob Odenkirk and David Cross can be spotted in the background during the bookstore scene.

• Released in the United States on April 26, 1996, the film earned approximately $34.9 million domestically.