|
One of the most fascinating (and futile) of human pursuits
is to wonder 'what if . . .?' In real life, we do not get to
see what would have happened if we'd made a different decision,
although that does not stop us from wondering. In the movies,
however, anything is possible and this theme has been explored
several times (usually at Christmas time), in Scrooge (what
if I carry on being a humbug?), in Sliding Doors (what if I
hadn't made the train on time), and most popularly in It's A
Wonderful Life (what if I hadn't been born). The Family Man
is a satisfactory, if not spectacular, film that carries on
this Christmas tradition.
Nicolas Cage stars as Jack Campbell, an archetypal New York
corporate banker whose job is his life. He has no concept of
family life and even insists on his team coming in for a meeting
on Christmas Day in order to finalise a big merger. Jack worked
his way up the banking ladder after a trip to London where he
started work as a graduate at Barclays Bank, 13 years ago. When
leaving for London, his then girlfriend Kate (Tea Leoni), pleaded
with him not to go, but Jack went anyway, promising that they
would be together in when he returned in a year. They never
did get back together.
On Christmas Eve, Jacks gets a message to call Kate. Disregarding
the advice of his secretary, Jack ignores the message. Later
that evening he has a strange encounter with an armed shoplifter,
who questions Jack's belief that he has everything in his life
that he wants. The next morning, Jack wakes up, not in his Manhattan
apartment, but in a New Jersey house with a wife (Kate) and
two kids. Jack has been given a 'glimpse' of what life would
have been like if he had stayed with Kate instead of going to
London.
The rest of the movie centres on how Jack comes to terms with
this suburban life, and (of course) how he learns that money
may not be the most important thing in the world. Its all pretty
lightweight stuff and does not ever consider the fact that it
may be possible to have both financial security and a happy
family life. It always a little ironic when Hollywood film studios
make movies about the evils of giant corporations.
Philosophical debates aside, this success of this movie for
me rests almost entirely on the shoulders of Cage and Leoni
who are a convincing romantic pairing and manage to rise above
the flawed story and two dimensional supporting characters.
After going on for perhaps twenty minutes too long, the film
ends in a predictable yet satisfactory way.
All in all, this film raises more questions that it answers
and could have been done in a more challenging way, but nonetheless,
it is still a fairly nice, crowd pleasing romance.
|