The Family Man

The Family Man (2000) opens on a very rich and very solitary man working on Wall Street. Thirteen years earlier Jack Campbell left his girlfriend and went to London. One Christmas morning he wakes up in New Jersey, married to her, with two children, working in a tyre shop. Nobody explains what has happened. The idea comes openly from It's a Wonderful Life, but reversed. In Capra's film a man is shown the worth of the life he has; here he is shown the life he never lived, and when he returns he knows what he gave up. Brett Ratner directed. Nicolas Cage plays Jack and Téa Leoni plays Kate. Don Cheadle plays the figure who sets the rules and is never identified. The best thing about it is that it does not offer a simple choice between money and family. Jack is bored in the new life, embarrassed by his car, and makes no secret of it, and the film does not condemn him for it. It runs 125 minutes. Good for: Christmas films, second chance stories, and the comic side of Nicolas Cage. Less good for: the setup is long and the first half hour is spent making Jack unlikeable. Kate's own life and choices are barely explored; everything is tied to his transformation. The ending pushes hard for its effect.