What Could Have Been... (The Family Man (DVD))

Member Name: IzzyS

Product:	The Family Man (DVD)
Date:	31/10/08 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good performances, interesting story, quite touching and tear jerking at the end, nice plot twist

Disadvantages: None really, that I can think of

I had recorded this movie right back in January this year but it seemed quite a long movie and it sounded quite slushy, so I had been put off bothering to watch it, until I finally decided to put it on last night. Find out more below:-


- Cast & Crew Info.-

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218967/fullcredits


- Plot -

The Family Man tells the story of Jack Campbell, who initially is a high flying bachelor businessman/financier in Wall Street in New York City. Its Christmas eve and, typically for him, he's at work, addressing his colleagues about a big merger thats about to happen the following day. His colleagues aren't keen on coming back in to work on Christmas morning but Jack tries to encourage them to do so, making it clear that the money they'll have from this merger will mean that every day could be like Christmas day, financially speaking of course. His PA later on informs him that there's been a call from his ex girlfriend, Kate, from college, who he hasn't seen since he left on a flight to London in the late 1980s and decided, of course against her wishes, to not return at the time and work on their relationship, thus splitting with her. This makes him wonder, for a moment, whether or not to take the call, why after 13 years would he suddenly get a call from her, after all? but, as another colleague points out, why bother, its old history, filed and forgotten, don't go back there, so he leaves it.

Then things turn a bit more tense, as an incident occurs in a shop he drops by, on the way home, whereby he shows himself in a different light and a person, it turns out, has sent him to an alternative existence. This he realises when he suddenly wakes up, to find that he's in bed with Kate and then the noise of young kids is heard. It turns out that he's suddenly married with two kids and a dog. He can't understand whats happened, so he rushes off back to the city and discovers that his colleagues don't know who he is and he doesn't live where he did before the change happened. So he has to go back to the modest family house Kate lives in and he starts to settle in to his newly found family life, which he's initially less than impressed with. His job is mediocre at best, he discovers and his Ferrari is gone, suddenly he has to look after kids, which he's never had before and he has no idea if he'll ever get back to the life he had before.

What will happen, can he manage to get back to his original life? can he learn anything of the benefits of being a family man? what lessons must be learnt before he might be allowed to change and when and if he goes back to his original lifestyle, what changes may he make? you'll have to watch the movie to find out, of course.


- Genre/Type of Movie -

This is a romantic comedy, of sorts, though its more sentimental and the romance isn't right throughout the movie, its more a moral story I suppose.


- Thoughts & Opinions -

I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this much but I gave it a go and actually I did enjoy it more than I expected. Reading that its a romantic comedy, I presumed it would be more 'lovey dovey' than it was. However, it is quite tear jerking by the end of the movie, I was taken in by that though and I particularly liked the fact that it has a clever twist to it. I thought that the plot was fairly clever, if it was more plain, it could be boring and lose my interest, though I've glanced at other reviews here and see people compare it to 'Its A Wonderful Life' which of course I've heard of but, as much as a sin it maybe is, I haven't seen that movie myself, that I can think of, so this movies story maybe seemed more original to me, I don't know.

I liked that the start and the end of the movie has a very 'Christmassy' feel to it, it was nice to watch it now, at the very end of October, thats the Christmas season started for me, I guess lol. It is pretty atmospheric, with the snow falling outside and the, quite touching at times, story, at either end of the movie.

Of course given the economical situation at the moment, this could be seen as quite a poignant movie, I hadn't thought of that before and I did smirk at times, given the story and how much im sure people in real life have little sympathy for such high flying financiers. I did feel that the character of Jack was portrayed in such a way that you do feel sorry for him, or that you want him to properly open his eyes and think about whats really important, yes it is a bit slushy that way but it isn't overly sentimental right throughout the movie either. It was interesting to see when he seemed to go from resentment to slightly more understanding this other version of himself and how he ended up where he is, although he doesn't exactly decide he wants to do nothing but live this new life either, there are definitely some things that puts him off and he acts fairly immoral at times.

I liked Makenzie Vega playing his daughter Annie, I thought she played her role particularly well, as the clued up young just post toddler aged daughter who tries to teach Jack what he has to do and is quite sweet, asking whats happened to my real dad? will he come back? etc. I also thought that Nicolas Cage gave another decent performance, he was quite believable in this role, with him playing another apathetic type character well. Aas I say, it was interesting to see how his character changed, I don't think I should say much more, for fear of giving it away too much.


- Would I Recommend It? -

Yes, I quite enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would anyway. This is quite a good Christmassy movie which is sentimental at times, though not really all the way through the movie, the end of the movie is quite tear jerking in a way and it has a good twist to it, which anyone who thinks it through too much, might be able to guess, but im not good at guessing such twists, so it surprised me.

Personally I enjoyed it, so I would recommend it.

I hope you found this review helpful, thanks for reading and thanks for all r/r/c's.

Also please be aware that this review, as about all my reviews will be, is also posted on Ciao UK under my username there, which is the same name, IzzyS.

Summary: A touching Christmassy (at start and end) movie with an interesting story.