Family Man [Special Edition]

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"The Family Man" falls squarely into the well-known "what if" category of filmmaking. It´s a story about making choices, about what would come to pass if we got a second chance in life. It asks what would happen if we could change a past decision. What if we could get a glimpse of how things could have been had we made a different choice here or there? If that idea seems derivative or even corny, it´s supposed to be.

It´s a feel-good romantic comedy with serious overtones that we´ve all seen before, but that doesn´t necessarily make it any the less inviting. I suspect it´s the kind of film you´ll love if you´re in the right mood and barely tolerate if you´re not. It´s slick, professional, well-acted, well made, and predictable from start to finish. Sometimes, that´s all a person is looking for.

This little morality tale begins thirteen years earlier as the main character, Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage), is about to fly from New York to London, leaving his girlfriend, Kate (Tea Leoni), behind. They´re both young and in love, and she wants him to stay. But he´s off to further his education in the business world, promising to return in a year and marry her. He never does. Dissolve to the present, where it´s Christmas Eve and Jack is now a wealthy, powerful, Wall Street tycoon putting together billion-dollar deals. He´s a swinging single, drives Ferrari, wears $2,500 suits, and lives in a penthouse so big his walk-in closet has its own windows.

Then Jack meets a spirit played by Don Cheadle, who arranges for him to get a glimpse of what his life would have been like if he had stayed in New York thirteen years before and married Kate. Jack goes to bed and wakes up the next morning, Christmas morning, alongside Kate in a suburban home in New Jersey, complete with children and dog. His Ferrari is gone, replaced by an RV; his Wall Street position is gone, replaced by a tire salesman´s job for his father-in-law; his wardrobe is gone, replaced by bowling shirts.

If this sounds familiar, as I said before, it´s because it´s right out of Charles Dickens´ "A Christmas Carol" and Frank Capra´s "It´s a Wonderful Life." It´s about a guy who chose money and success over love and now must find the error of his ways. So, whether you like the film or not may depend on your point of view. The story gets serious by the second half when Jack begins losing it. Adjusting to middle-class life is not his strong suit, you understand; he wonders how anybody could live that way--changing diapers, walking the dog, going to work at a boring job, shopping at the mall, eating barbecued chicken. He sees this life as a failure, while Kate sees it as the ultimate in happiness. Then, as expected, he begins to soften, warms up to the kids, realizes how much he loves Kate, and doesn´t want to return to his old money-grubbing ways. But the spirit only promised him a "glimpse" of what could have been.

The trouble I had with the film was twofold. First, I could guess in advance what was going to happen in almost every scene. What´s more, having never seen the film, I was able to quote pieces of dialogue to my wife moments before they were said, and in every case the wording was practically verbatim. Secondly, while I understood that Jack´s new family arrangement was supposed to be more rewarding than his old lap of luxury, I sympathized with Jack´s plight and longed for him to get back to what HE wanted from life, not what was prescribed for him.

Director Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour," "Money Talks") and writers David Diamond and David Weissman would appear to get everything backwards. We´re supposed to see how crass and materialistic and empty Jack´s prosperous single days were, yet they´re presented so alluringly and glamorously, we envy him for them. At the same time we´re supposed to see how satisfying and fulfilling his family life is, yet we are shown such a stereotyped, clichéd, middle-class existence it seems almost a nightmare. Fortunately, the ending is a romantic grabber, even if we can also see that one coming a mile away.

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