Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Family Man



It's a little early to think about Christmas movies since it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but the Hallmark Channel has been having a Christmas movie marathon for the last two weeks with no end in sight. And, yes, I am beginning to thaw to the idea of Christmas in mid-November.

That said, I want to talk about one of my favorite Christmas movies: The Family Man (2000), starring Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni. 

Nicolas is Jack Campbell, a self-centered, money-hungry, Wall Street tycoon, who finds out what his life would have been like if he'd chosen "love." An angel (Don Cheadle) gives him a glimpse of his life in an alternate universe if he had married the love of his life (Tea Leoni). To Jack's dismay, he discovers that he would be a "family man," with a wife, two kids and a dog. Goodbye, Wall Street. He now works at his father-in-law's tire store in New Jersey. 

When all is said and done, Jack finds true love and gets his priorities in order. Merry Christmas!

Excellent performances by Nicolas and Tea, as well as the delightful Jeremy Piven as Jack's best friend and Don Cheadle as the angel who gets the ball rolling. The cuteness factor is evident with Makenzie Vega as Jack's daughter, Annie. She's the only one who knows that Jack is not her real dad. 

I love this scene:

ANNIE: Do you like kids?
JACK: On a case-by-case basis.
ANNIE: Do you know how to make chocolate milk?
JACK: I think I could figure it out.
ANNIE: Promise you won't kidnap me and my brother and plant stuff in our brains?
JACK: Sure.
ANNIE: Welcome to earth.

I enjoy magical stories like The Family Man. Something supernatural happens to get your attention and, ironically, brings you back to "reality." 





4 comments:

  1. I like this movie, too! It's definitely the perfect time of year to watch it. *goes to dig it out.* Nice to meet you! :)

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  2. Hi, Bethany. Great meeting you as well.Blessings!

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  3. I saw this at the theater - it was a well done movie. I think like most of his movies it gets a bit of short shrift because it was directed by Brett Ratner, who apparently no one in the world likes as a person.

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  4. Great movie but the hack written hype was horrible.The fact that the publicity said it was "hilarious" and worst of all "A substantial comedy" (whatever that is) just shows that nobody at Universal's marketing department bothered to watch the movie. If they ever get the smarts to re-market it, then they should simply say, " A modern Christmas Classic.... See it!"

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