A Simple Wish (also known as The Fairy Godmother) is a 1997 children's-fantasy-comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie, and starring Martin Short, Mara Wilson, and Kathleen Turner. The film about a bumbling male fairy godmother named Murray (Short), who tries to help Annabel (Wilson) fulfill her wish that her father, a carriage driver, wins the leading role in a Broadway musical.

Plot

New York taxi cab driver Oliver Greening (Robert Pastorelli) aspires to be a performer on Broadway and, despite delivering an outstanding audition for a role in a musical based on A Tale of Two Cities, he loses out to veteran performer Tony Sable (Alan Campbell), simply for the fact Tony is considered to be a more bankable option, as Oliver's reputation as an actor is non-existent. Later that night, Annabel (Mara Wilson), Oliver's young daughter, fails to convince her elder brother Charlie (Francis Capra) that fairies exist, and after the two fall asleep, Annabel awakens to find Murray (Martin Short), a male fairy godmother, offering her one wish, which she uses for her father, asking for Murray to use his magic to secure him a role in the play.