''Undercover Angel'', also known as ''Un vrai petit ange'' (French title in Canada), is a 1999

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed by

Bryan Michael Stoller Bryan Michael Stoller (born 1960) is a Canadian independent filmmaker whose films include “First Dog,” “The Amazing Wizard of Paws,” “Santa Stole Our Dog,“ (Universal) ''Turn of the Blade,'' ''The Random Factor,'' '' Miss Cast Away,'' ...

and starring

Yasmine Bleeth Yasmine Amanda Bleeth (born June 14, 1968) is an American actress and model. Her television roles include Caroline Holden on ''Baywatch'', Ryan Fenelli on ''Ryan's Hope'', and LeeAnn Demerest on ''One Life to Live''. Early life and career Blee ...

and

Dean Winters Dean Gerard Winters (born July 20, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Ryan O'Reily on the HBO prison drama ''Oz (TV series), Oz'' and had roles in TV series'' Rescue Me (U.S. TV series), Rescue Me'', ''30 Rock'', ''Sex and th ...

Plot

The story begins with a mystery-suspense script that is being written by a man, Harrison (

) who is a struggling freelance author of up-and-coming pulp novels. During the middle of Harrison’s day that was going uneasy for him, he becomes the unwilling babysitter of a charming, charismatic, and precocious little six-year-old girl, Jenny ( Emily Mae Young), when her mother, Melissa (Lorraine Ansell), one of Harrison's former lovers whom he hasn't seen for several years, asks him to babysit because she needs to be out of town for several weeks. Harrison is originally unenthusiastic about the arrangement, but soon he develops a tenderness for Jenny after spending time to get to know her. Little Jenny decides to play matchmaker for Harrison and Holly (

), a beautiful woman he admires who frequently visits the same coffee shop as Harrison and Jenny. Harrison tells stories for Jenny about Mr. Dodo—her favorite stuffed animal. Jenny secretly records them and gets Holly to transcribe the books, and they submit them to his publisher. Harrison accidentally discovers that he is Jenny's father. Jenny's mother returns early and takes her away. Harrison tries to find a job in order to have financial stability and eligible for custody of Jenny. Harrison tries to get custody of Jenny instead of her uncaring mother. The publisher contacts and contracts him for the Mr. Dodo series, which becomes a publishing success. Despite this, the judge (

James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...

) grants custody to Melissa. However, Melissa later realizes that she was wrong and returns Jenny to Harrison.

Cast

Production

* Most of the film was shot on location in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Ontario, Canada in July and August 1998. Some of the locations were the Canal Ritz Restaurant, Thunderbird Mini-golf and Go-Karts, The Supreme Court of Canada, and the Chapters location at the Pinecrest Shopping Centre. The scenes featuring Casey Kasem were filmed in a studio at CTV Ottawa. * A scene was scheduled to be filmed with

Jim Varney James Albert Varney Jr. (June 15, 1949 – February 10, 2000) was an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his broadly comedic role as Ernest P. Worrell, for which he won a Daytime Emmy Award, as well as appearing in films and ...

but was cancelled due to Yasmine Bleeth's agent refusing to allow her to be in a movie with him. Ultimately his part was played by a local actor in Ottawa as head of the go-kart track. *

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009 ...

was in talks to play the talk show host, but Casey Kasem ended up filling the role. * The ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'' had an ad to find extras for the film. Anyone interested was asked to write a short letter and fax it in. From those, extras were chosen for filming throughout the film. *

Glen Kulka Glenn Kulka (born March 3, 1964) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, hockey and football player who competed in Canadian independent promotions during the late 1990s and had a brief stint in the World Wrestling Federation in 1997. He al ...

, former football player and wrestler, moonlighted as security on the set. * A film premiere was held at the Coliseum Theatres on Carling Avenue the year after filming. Bryan Michael Stoller and Emily Mae Young were in attendance.

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0169347
Computer graphic of Mr. Dodo
as used in ''

Miss Cast Away ''Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls'' (also known as ''Miss Cast Away'' and as ''Silly Movie 2'' as titled for re-release in 2008) is a 2004 American parody anarchic comedy film written and directed by Bryan Michael Stoller, produced on a $2 mill ...

'', an otherwise unrelated film from the same writer/director. 1999 films 1999 romantic comedy films Canadian romantic comedy films English-language Canadian films Films shot in Ottawa American romantic comedy films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1990s Canadian films English-language romantic comedy films