The Family Man 2000
I don’t remember hearing very much about this movie when it came out. Maybe because the concept is kind of tired: rich arbitrager (why are they always in mergers and acquisitions?) finds he can be happy without money. Or maybe Nicolas Cage had done too many movies at the time. Although you won’t find much new here, you will find a movie that is very well made and very touching.
In the tradition of movies like Big and Groundhog Day and going all the way back to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, this is story of a guy who gets a different perspective on his life when something magic happens. Nicolas Cage plays the successful but single businessman who made a career decision to leave behind his college sweetheart played by Tea Leoni. Magic happens and he is put into a parallel universe where he stayed with his sweetheart and they raised a family in New Jersey. Jeremy Piven plays the same kind of best buddy he played in Grosse Pointe Blank. It’s fun as Cage freaks out over his new life and tries to hide that he doesn’t know these people, or his own anniversary, or anything about his kids. It’s a situation that everyone can identify with: how would my life have been different if I’d taken the other fork in the road?
I really enjoyed the whole movie as he struggles to find the truth that everyone watching knows from the very beginning. Tea Leoni has some tough scenes as she struggles with the changes she sees in the husband she’s been in love with for the past 13 years. Cage can’t just play it crazy here and has to strike just the right balance between ruthless power-monger and the lovable suburban dad. He does a great job. I’m a sucker for this kind of movie so I have to give it an A.
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital