What If? (The Family Man (DVD))

Member Name: christianfilm

Product:	The Family Man (DVD)
Date:	24/03/06 (106 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nicolas Cage, fun and honest

Disadvantages: Will never be a classic

It's 1987 and Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) is about to depart for London, where he is set to do a years placement at an acclaimed financial institution. His girlfriend, Kate (Téa Leoni), fears that they will grow apart, and begs Jack to stay. But he assures her that everything will be fine, and boards the plane.

Leap forward 13 years to Christmas Eve and Jack is now a hot shot on Wall Street and Kate is just a long forgotten memory. Jack's life revolves around his work and expects everyone to work as hard as himself, even on Christmas Eve. But although Jack is an arrogant slave driver in the office, he still has a compassionate side and comes to the aid of a shop keeper who is being harassed by an angry customer, Cash.

Having done his good deed, Jack thinks no more about it and returns to his luxurious apartment to retire. But when he wakes the following morning, he finds himself no longer in his swish apartment, but in a family house in New Jersey with Kate at his side. Struggling to come to terms with what is happening; he attempts to return to his apartment but is turned away, as no one knows him. It then transpires that the angry customer he had helped the previous night had somehow made Jack's world change and has allowed him to get a glimpse of what life would have been like if he had never gone to London.


So that is the basis of The Family Man and you wouldn't be wrong to be making comparisons between this and the classic "It's a Wonderful Life". The family Man borrows so much from its classic predecessor, but adds to it its own twist as it adapts it into a modern setting. The Family Man uses the classic "What If" scenario as the basis of the plot, but where as "It's a Wonderful Life" looks at what would have happened if the lead character hadn't been around. The Family Man looks at it from what life would be like if he hadn't gone to London.

Although the storyline is not the most original, and has been reworked many times over by other films, The Family Man does make a good attempt of being an enjoyable and interesting movie. Most of this can be put down to the performances of Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni who keep you entertained with subtle humour. But there are some wonderful sentimental scenes where Jack begins to understand that there is more to life other than making money and luxurious living. Talking of sentiment, this film could easily have over cooked it, and become overly sentimental, but after a couple of close calls, it remained strong.

In the lead role of Jack Campbell is Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas) who goes through a complete change of persona through the film. To start off with he is a brash, arrogant business man, who cares about nothing but work, but by the end of the film he realizes that there is more to life than the almighty dollar. Cage is as usual very good, not only at providing much of the humour but also at demonstrating the fears and emotions of a man who is thrown into a completely different world. Opposite Cage is Téa Leoni (Bad Boys) who plays Kate, the charming housewife. Not only does Leoni add beauty to the screen she also demonstrates a high quality of acting which easily matches Cage's performance. In supporting roles you have Don Cheadle (Ocean's Eleven) as Cash the angry customer who somehow has managed to make this alternate reality happen and Jeremy Piven (The Runaway Jury) as Arnie, Jack's best friend in this new reality.

The film is directed by Brett Ratner who has also directed Rush Hour 1 & 2 (and also No. 3 which is in pre-production). Unfortunately, The Family Man was always going to be compared to "It's A Wonderful Life" and in my opinion, I feel that Ratner has done a good job of making a film, which although will never be termed a classic, still stands up as an enjoyable film of the moment. The soundtrack to the movie features a long list of songs, by numerous artists, but with is being set over the Christmas period there is a strong Christmassy theme running through them.


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The Cast
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Nicolas Cage .... Jack Campbell
Téa Leoni .... Kate Reynolds
Don Cheadle .... Cash
Jeremy Piven .... Arnie
Makenzie Vega .... Annie Campbell
Jake Milkovich .... Josh Campbell
Ryan Milkovich .... Josh Campbell
Lisa Thornhill .... Evelyn Thompson
Harve Presnell .... Big Ed
Mary Beth Hurt .... Adelle
Ruth Williamson .... Mrs. Peterson


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Technical Details
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Certificate: 12
Length: 125 mins


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Conclusion & Rating
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Although Family Man may not become a classic in the same manner as "It's a Wonderful Life", it is a very good take on the "What If" question set against a modern back drop. There are all round good performances from its cast and the film moves along at a reasonable pace. Fans of Cage will of course enjoy this, but it will also appeal to fans of easy to watch films with subtle comedy. Although this film is set during the Christmas period, it is still very enjoyable what ever time of year you watch it.

Family Man is available on Amazon for only £5.97.

Summary: Modernised version of It's a wonerful life.