The Family Man
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| The Family Man | |
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| Directed by | Brett Ratner |
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| Produced by | Armyan Bernstein, Thomas 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) |
The Family Man is a 2000 American comedy-drama film, directed by Brett Ratner and starring Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni. Cage produced the film under his Saturn Films production company.
The film centers on a man who sees what could have been had he made a different decision thirteen 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 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 two kids. Jack realizes that he is living the life he could have had if he had not gone to London and become an investment banker but had stayed in the States with his girlfriend. 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. Jack struggles to fit into the role of a family man, making many serious blunders such as missing opening Christmas presents, flirting with a friend's wife and forgetting his anniversary. Very soon, Jack's young "daughter" realizes his secret and decides to assist him in surviving his new life. He begins to succeed in his life, bonding with his "children," falling in love with his wife and working hard at his dull job. He suddenly finds himself being offered a contract to work as a banker in New York. While his old businessman personality wants to accept the offer, his new family man personality realizes it would be a bad idea. He refuses the offer and happily settles into his life with his family. Just as Jack is finally realizing the true value of his new life, his epiphany jolts him back to his wealthy—yet as he now realizes, lonely—former life. In desperation, he forgoes closing his $130 billion acquisition deal to intercept the real woman he fell in love with in his dream 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 have a future after all.
[edit] Cast
- Nicolas Cage – Jack Campbell
- Téa Leoni – Kate Reynolds
- Don Cheadle – Cash
- Jake Miller Smith - Josh
- Kasey Russell - Annie
[edit] Shared themes
Similar films include:
- Click, in which a man who puts work before his family is shown life where work wins out and his family leaves him.
- It's a Wonderful Life, in which a man is able to see how things could have been if he'd never lived.
- 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.
[edit] Trivia
The exterior shots of the street in suburban New Jersey were shot in Teaneck a city notable for its large Orthodox Jewish population. This lends some irony to the scenes as the houses (which are owned by Jews in real life) all have Christmas decorations in front.
[edit] External links
- The Family Man at the Internet Movie Database
- The Family Man at Allmovie
- The Family Man at Rotten Tomatoes
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