The Family Man
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| The Family Man | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Brett Ratner |
| Produced by | Armyan Bernstein, Thomas A. Bliss, Andrew Z. Davis, James M. Freitag |
| Written by | David Diamond, David Weissman |
| Starring | Nicolas Cage, Téa Leoni, Don Cheadle |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 22, 2000 |
| Running time | 126 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60,000,000 (estimated) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Family Man is a 2000 Brett Ratner fantasy film starring Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni, about a man given a glimpse at what could have been had he made a different decision 13 years ago.
It is similar to It's a Wonderful Life in that it begins on Christmas Eve with a life-and-death situation involving an angel who tries to convince the main character into taking an earnest look at his life. Moreover, in the end, the protagonists in both movies conclude that living a quiet family life is preferable to achieving huge success and wealth at work.
The film has also been compared to Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol in that the protagonist is a greedy man who cares little about anyone except himself, who then has his life outlook completely changed after a series of real-life "what if?" experiences.
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[edit] Synopsis
Jack Campbell is a single, wealthy Wall Street investment banker living the high life in New York City. All that magically changes one morning when he wakes up in a suburban New Jersey bedroom with the wife he never married and the two kids he never had—the life he would have led had he forgone investment banking as a younger man. While he desperately wishes to return to his high life, Jack is stuck in a "permanent acid trip" because an angel wants to teach the overly confident man a lesson. However, as he lives his life as a "family man," he gradually, begrudgingly but inexorably, grows attached to the family he never had. When he finally realizes the true value of his new life, his epiphany jolts him back to his wealthy—yet he now realizes lonely—former life. In desperation, he forgoes closing his $130 billion acquisition deal to intercept his dream wife before she heads off to Paris. He tells her about the happy family that they could have together; met with complete incredulity, he relates in impossibly precise detail what he remembers of his dream life. Shocked but intrigued, she agrees to a cup of coffee at the airport—suggesting that they might indeed marry and be happy together after all.
[edit] Cast
- Nicolas Cage – Jack Campbell
- Téa Leoni – Kate Reynolds
- Don Cheadle – Cash
- Jeremy Piven – Arnie
- Saul Rubinek – Alan Mintz
- Josef Sommer – Peter Lassiter
- Makenzie Vega – Annie Campbell
- Jake Milkovich & Ryan Milkovich – Josh Campbell
- Kate Walsh - Jeannie
[edit] Shared themes
Similar films include:
- Mr. Destiny, in which an angel-like being shows a man how his world would have been if an event in his past happened differently.
- It's a Wonderful Life, in which a man is able to see how things could have been if he'd never lived.
[edit] External links
- The Family Man at the Internet Movie Database
- Family Man The Family Man at Allmovie
- The Family Man at Rotten Tomatoes
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