The Family Man (2000) User Reviews

Beautiful

[jrkdany · 8/10 · 2 January 2022]

Wow ! What a movie. Very rarely I come across movie which keeps me absorbed till the end. This was one such movie. The knot was beautifully tied and untied. It tries to answer most of the questions we might tend to ask. The ending was more practical and was not forced just for the sake of an happy ending.

A great movie, I don't know how I didn't come across it so long. Along the lines of It's a wonderful life.

Great film but kinda sad

[zakkattackkkk · 7/10 · 16 December 2020]

Really enjoyed this movie, I felt like the chemistry between Tea and Nic was excellent. Not usually my type of film but I was engrossed. The ending felt like it was kind of sad, no? It caught me off guard, I was expecting a "feel good" ending. It seems most people have this emotional response to the ending but for me it just was a little depressing. The Kate he sits down with at the end is not the same Kate he was married to in his other life. ALSO, his adorable children they had he will never see again. Idk maybe it's just me, I definitely enjoy this movie. But the ending is much more sad than most people seem to admit

Touching Romantic comedy

[mjw2305 · 7/10 · 2 January 2007]

Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni steal the show in this very pleasant movie. Jack Campbell (Cage) is a Wall Street investment banker at the top of his profession, that is until one Christmas eve, when he stumbles into the middle of a grocery store hold up. The next day he wakes up married to his college sweetheart Kate Reynolds (Leoni) and he has children. When he finds his old life no longer exists he has to adjust his lifestyle to fit in with his family.

With slight comparisons to Sliding Doors in the way the story works and the concept of life altering decisions 'Family Man' is very entertaining, charming and heart warming, not to mention subtly amusing throughout. Cage and Leoni are a great on-screen couple and the story is definitely intriguing enough to make for compulsive viewing.

7/10 Not as good as Sliding Doors, but its definitely worthy of your attention.

It's A Wonderful Life in 2000

[whynotbacritic · 16 November 2004]

I found this movie to be a very nice remix of "It's a Wonderful Life", much like "You've got Mail" is a remix of "Pride and Prejudice" (and totally hints at this within the film). A classic film to make you reexamine your own life, and think about what is really important and meaningful for you, what is success and happiness? Young dreamers in love with their successful careers instead of each other, find out that maybe their love really was meant to be. This is what Nicholas Cage finds out, and when he wakes up from the dream of what 'could have been', he rushes to stop 'loosing her' again, and hopefully still live the happily ever after dream. Nicholas Cage provides a stunning and comical performance in character, from the aggressive businessman - big business and small business - to a loving father and husband with his charming sense of humor. Quite a romantic film to watch with that 'someone special' during the holidays.

It's a Wonderful Life redux

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 2 December 2013]

Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) is a big investment broker who leads a shallow personal life. One night, he tries to help out Cash (Don Cheadle) in a confrontation with a convenience store clerk. Cash is so impressed that he gives Jack a glimpse into the road not traveled. 13 years ago, he could have married Kate (Téa Leoni) and become a family man. Now he gets to see what could have been.

It's got all the awkward father scenes like changing diapers. Nicolas Cage gets the reluctant father fairly well. The scenes with the kid (Makenzie Vega) is especially funny.

Cage could do a better job being less angry. It's really off putting in a romantic movie. Luckily most of that can be ameliorated with Téa Leoni. Then it goes off into some uncomfortable territory. I've got to say that 'It's a Wonderful Life' never went down that road. It goes into more serious matter than a simple fable. It could have gone onto the wrong road many times, but eventually it gets on track. Although I would try a slightly different track for the ending. There's a really big piece missing from the way it ends here.

A worthy imperfect but charming version of a Scrooge dream...

[secondtake · 7/10 · 26 December 2016]

The Family Man (2000)

Because this is a Christmas movie, I've now seen it twice, and it's really not bad at all. The best aspects, like Don Cheadle, are too brief, and the plot is sometimes rammed into position by sentiment and a need to be popular. But it eventually makes sense and you come around to see the ordinary charm that pervades.

Not that Nicolas Cage is exactly charming. He's painted as a spoiled stockbroker jerk, both in life and in his dream. But like a Scrooge seen from within, and seeing an alternate life before his eyes, he has the revelation that changes his life. His arrogance slowly dissolves, and that's maybe what he learns most from the dream.

Téa Leoni is chipper and realistic in her cute way and makes for a love interest that isn't an over-idealized cliché, thankfully. And so she draws him into her life with natural ease. It's too easy of course, and there are unanswered questions—even "It's a Wonderful Life" is more believable in that sense, the logic of an alternative life—but it's fine by the end. And in fact, dreams do whatever they want, so there it is.

Add this to the growing list of movies that play with this profound and fun idea of seeing what your life would be like if…if whatever, if things had been different, or if you had been better. It's worth seeing on a lazy evening.

Just what I needed, When I needed it

[dacole1 · 10/10 · 24 November 2006]

I never thought that a movie would change my life. I never dreamed that a message could come through so loud and clear, as this movie's message. On the corporate treadmill, I was running faster and faster and creating a really chaotic life for my family. I nearly lost them, the family; to a corporation that did not love me, care for me, or nurture me. I got off of the treadmill, and took a less demanding job. I sleep in my own bed at nights with the woman I love. The frequent flier miles and first class upgrades, and huge bonuses are all gone but not missed. I named the llc company that holds our real estate investments ICHUZUS (I Choose Us) from the movie quote. I can't help but think that this flick has positively affected many people's lives. Many thanks to the writers and those that brought it to life. Take care, I chose us.

Heart warming Christmas film

[stretchfoofight · 7/10 · 22 December 2019]

A man who seemingly has everything, intervenes and tempts fate by insisting he has it all. In a Dickensian style of Christmas film, a man is given insights into how his life could be.

Better than most films, a great score by Danny elfman and a festive treat.

A favourite

[juneebuggy · 9/10 · 22 November 2014]

One of my guilty favourite movies that always sucks me right in. Cage plays a rich, ruthless business man who is shown the life he might have led (by guardian angel Don Cheadle )if he'd made a different choice. In A Wonderful Life kind of way he wakes up in suburbia with a mini van, bad suits and a couple of kids, but he also has true love with ex-girlfriend (Tea Leoni).

I love the relationship here between Jack and his daughter -its so sweet, she sees through him and thinks he's an alien that's replaced her father.

Cage is, Cage but this was made back before he stopped caring so he has some great moments. Leoni makes me smile in every one of her scenes, she's so genuine and happy and goofy amidst the chaos of their life. One of those warm-fuzzy movies.

Underrated

[rynodino · 7/10 · 26 November 2019]

It's good I don't know why people don't like it it's a great Nicolas cage film I just wanted more cage freak outs

Horrible stuff

[N667 · 1/10 · 15 December 2003]

This ultimately cheesy and clichéd movie has the (very preachy) concept that getting married and having kids young is better than first actualizing yourself and your career and getting your life "into shape" before running off into a marriage and child-rearing. What a really bad idea. It's all dressed up in low-brow sentimentalism to make it seem like the right choice.

Seems to me to be the comfort food of people who made bad choices and want to feel better about staying in that situation rather than doing something about it.

What really worries me is that many people are really influenced by movies, and this may lead to people making similar bad choices, which certainly won't end up as phonily rosy as the one depicted here.

Loved it.

[seshy · 10/10 · 30 July 2007]

This is a heart-warming, if somewhat sentimental film at times, but with a superb cast, and very well written. The chemistry between Cage and Leoni is something quite rare - in fact, I can't think of a film with such amazing chemistry between the two leads.

As far as the storyline is concerned, I don't have too much to add to the comments that are already posted. Whatever limitations the film's storyline or premise has, the individual performances rise above it.

In the DVD extras there is an interesting comment by the producer where he says he challenges any man to watch the film and not want to live with Tea Leoni and I must say I wholeheartedly agree with him. To be fair her character is completely idealised (naturally beautiful but unaffected by it, intelligent, insightful, sexy, gracious, humble, caring, unstoppably positive and non-demanding). Have you ever met anyone like this in real life?

I enjoyed this film so much that it just about creeps into my all time top ten. The only reason a romantic comedy made it in there is because the performances and the chemistry elevate the film above any other romantic comedy I have seen, both before and since.

Very Good

[jack_o_hasanov_imdb · 7/10 · 19 August 2021]

It's a complete family movie.

It was good, I enjoyed it.

Giving someone a GLIMPSE when they already are happy?? why??

[markk-1 · 1/10 · 8 October 2001]

This movie basically was telling the viewer that unless you are a FAMILY MAN, you truly can't be 100% happy. This person was happy and when he became a family man, looked rather unhappy. Why give him the glimpse? He didn't nead it. He was not happy being a family guy so why would he choose it in the end. He even went back to getting his old job back. Nothing made sense in this movie.

p.s. Just to let you know I am not a rebel, I am a family man and therefore I know this guy should not be. People can be happy with kids or without...let them choose. BAD MOVIE.

I laughed, I cried...

[Steve_Garfield · 1 January 2001]

The Family Man made me laugh so hard I cried. I went to see this movie yesterday with a couple of free passes that had to be used up before the end of the year. Happy New Year!

This is my favorite type of movie, the fish out of water movie. Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni were really great together. I've always liked Téa Leoni. I remember her in Flying Blind. Too bad that show only lasted one season.

It struck me funny when Cage, as Jack Campbell, says, "This is not my house.", that there wasn't any Talking Heads soundtrack behind him. It worked for me in the TV commercial.

Makenzie Vega was exceptional as the little girl.

Magical and sweet romantic movie after marriage with a sort of depressing end

[KineticSeoul · 7/10 · 2 March 2011]

I really liked this movie, it's basically about how there might be a chance you might miss the opportunity to be with the love that is just right for you or the one that got away. And what would happen if you got a second chance to be with that person again by going back in time or could be a alternate universe. So the whole movie is basically a what if scenario with romance in it. I admit the main reason I wanted to see this movie again after 10 yrs was because of one youtube video that makes a joke of one scene, the "Nicolas Cage Wants Cake" scene. But I am glad I managed to see it again, since it's a heartfelt and intriguing movie. I personally like Nicolas Cage as an actor, I find his performances to be very entertaining. Although his acting is a bit deteriorating now a days, but still entertaining never the less. His performance in this may seem a bit over exaggerated but believable. This movie question if you would pick money over true love or true love over money. It's not as magical as when I saw this movie 10 yrs ago and lack the closure in the end. But it's still a worthwhile movie to watch and enjoyable and I didn't mind watching it again at all.

7.5/10

Worth watching more than once

[Tom4Surfing · 10/10 · 3 October 2003]

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Plato put these words in the mouth of Socrates. Brett Ratner puts this theme into `The Family Man.' This is not "It's a Wonderful Life." While it is a "feel good movie," it is an intelligent, reflective one. Neither of the parallel lives led by the main character is shown to be flawless. Both have their attractions. Jack, the lead character, is forced from his comfort zone by a "glimpse" of a life connected by commitment and love to friends and family. This movie does something for me few "feel good" movies ever come close to causing. This movie makes me think about what I really value in life. Both pro-capitalist and pro-family, "The Family Man" either leaves you pondering whether your life is consistent with your values or goes over your head and leaves you with the impression that your emotions have been manipulated by another crass commercial Christmas movie. It depends on what the viewer brings to the table.

P.S. Tea Leoni's shower scene has got to be the sexiest portrayal of a movie mom I ever saw.

a good movie to see around the holidays

[triple8 · 7/10 · 6 December 2004]

Although this movie doesn't break any new ground, it's a fun couple of hours. I just saw this a day or two ago and moderately enjoyed it. The message of the movie was obviously that all the wealth in the world can't replace having someone to share your life with. While parts of family man were a bit sappy and not very original, there was enough sweetness and fun moments to make it a fun, if not exceptional viewing experience.

I think kudos go to the makers of Family Man for their casting of Cage and Leone in the lead roles, they were both perfect for the roles in question. I read some of the negative comments and can actually understand them. The movie does romantisize an awful lot. Still, I felt they were on target with much of it. Of coarse, not everyone who is rich and single is unhappy, not at all, but I think Cage's character was meant to be more of a caricature of one particular type of Person(The Eagles "desperado" comes to mind). I have seen this type of situation in real life amongst people I've known (the achievement of a certain lifestyle) and the "money don't buy happiness" theory happens to be in many cases true. Everyone makes choices in life but wouldn't it be fun to be able to get a peek into how one's life would have turned out if a different choice would have been made? This is a movie that's not heavy at all, to the contrary, it's very sweet and light and so mawkishly sappy at times. Still it makes you think. I'd give it a 7 of 10 and say it's worth a night's viewing.

Heartwarming

[virtue_srb · 10/10 · 25 November 2014]

The very feel this movie gives you is just something I think is a matter of past sadly, newer movies just seem to trivialize important topics as one presented in the movie, and aren't quite capable of treating them with so much beauty. I really miss movies like this, I cant actually define what it is they have, but I think it has something to do with times they were made in, 1990s and early 2000s had so much more optimism and happiness in them, and I think movies from that era absorbed spirit of those times. Eventually The Family man will leave you wondering what is it you value the most in your life. Also, its not the kind of movie that you will forget completely after some time. Honestly, it deserves an 8 (better than average), but I give it a 10, its current rating does it no justice.

Locations and good performances pull through strong

[Quinoa1984 · 7/10 · 8 December 2000]

(Possible spoilers and a rant on Teaneck ahead)

Brett Ratner's The Family Man has things going for it that many people wont know (or maybe just not care to know). I remember about a year ago, right near my house, this film was being made. True, it isn't much of importance, but knowing this, it made watching this film even more enjoyable. And while other people probably won't give a hoot when I say that, hey, I know where that Bloomingdales is or, hey I've seen that house without the fake snow or even, hey that's not the Teaneck public library. I just want to say that in case people wonder why this film gets such a grade it gets, and how that location setting can be a big boost instead of in a studio.

Because, as a film, The Family Man bears striking resemblances to It's a Wonderful Life, except when you substitute Jimmy Stewart for Nic Cage, there can be a drop off. Even so, Cage does do a good job in this film, and making it almost shine as a rich guy who finds everything he worked for in 13 years disappears into Jersian suburbia, thanks to Don Cheadle. Then, he discovers that his life could've been different if it had only been for one choice.

The conventiality and often corniness spoils the film like a under-roasted turkey, but it is saved (slightly) by the performances by Cage, Cheadle, and especially Tea Leoni as a loving yet often confused wife (that and the New Jersey locations). One of the better romantic dramedies of the year. B+

Moralistic Trash, not fit for free-thinking consumption.

[ax2groin · 1/10 · 21 June 2001]

Hmm, where to begin. I was on a plane. I knew that I didn't want to sleep for another couple hours. And, I wasn't up for reading. That pretty much sums up why I watched this movie, because no other set of circumstances would have induced me to do so.

This film can pretty much be summed up by the moralism: "Family life is the greatest life you can have." Everything in the movie leads up to this point, and it is painfully obvious from the get go (hey, look at the title). The concept is interesting, because who hasn't wondered "What if I went back and did things differently?". The premise here has Nicolas Cage's character transported into the life today that he would be leading if he hadn't dumped his girlfriend to go to London on his stepladder to being the head of some major corporation. This involves a couple kids and a house in the burbs. The whole condition of this change, however, is that he is stuck in it until he realizes that this is the life he absolutely wants, deep down inside. Then, in the end, it all gets taken away and he has to figure out what to do. The wrap-around, which sends him in the end to the old girlfriend's apartment, is utterly pathetic and absolutely unrealistic.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing wrong with love and intimate relationships, and even people seeing their lives somehow fulfilled by having children. For me, I just get sick of the idea that this is the ONLY way to live a fulfilling life, which is really the message of the film. I also do not honestly believe that this IS a fulfilling life to live, because people are not defined by who they reproduce, but by what they do themselves. This film really raises to the level of highest merit the idea that you completely bend your life to such a set-up. Not that this guy's life was worth a spit to begin with, his type should be fed to starving animals. But, moralistic pictures like this are best avoided, for fear that they might pique one's frustrations at the problems of this society enough to force you into more drastic measures.

I suffered through this film so that you don't have to. I would never subject myself to this film again, and my already low respect for Cage just dropped lower ("Face/Off" was a plus). Next time I'm on a long flight, I'll have to keep this film in mind when I make my decision about whether to watch or not. There are some films which just should NOT be seen.

My Go-To Christmas movie for 20 years

[heykateforever · 10/10 · 15 December 2021]

I don't know why exactly that this movie always makes me cry in the end, but it does. I have watched this movie many, many times over the years and I think, perhaps, the "I choose Us" line always suckers me in because, after being married myself for 43 years to the same wonderful man, I see this movie through the eyes of a person who fought together with her partner for 44 years altogether to keep "us" together. I won't even read the negative reviews in here about this movie. It's too special to me to ruin it by reading what sadder people who either they or their partners did not choose each other in the end and are jaded about relationships and/or marriage.

That is my connection to this well crafted do-over movie. But it's not the only reason I love this movie. The story is never rushed or taken lightly. It is a true love story between two soul mates who lost their way before their lives even started. And honestly? Nicholas Cage has never been better in any movie he made. I don't know what went on during the filming of this story, but I have seen Cage in many other movies and this is him at his very best. We get to live inside this story with them. I loved Tea Leone in Deep Impact. She is a rare actress who slips into her roles with elegance and humor unparalleled by any contemporary actress. Watching this movie, you see a rare connection between these two characters that Hallmark and Lifetime can never seem to reproduce in any of their movies (but I still watch them!). I fall in love with this couple every single time I watch this movie because these two great actors make love beautiful. They make giving up dreams and getting married and having a family in a suburban house look perfect. They pull off a romance in this movie that is sublime. And that is worth 10 stars under any circumstances!

Its not hot, but still sticky sweet, from it's head to it's feet

[movieman_kev · 6/10 · 28 June 2005]

Jack Campbell (Nick Cage) is a successful, talented, happy businessman on the top of the world. On Christmas Eve, while at a convenience store, he runs into a semi-helpful guy who offers him a glimpse of what life would be like if he had stayed with a previous girlfriend. Before you can utter "Holy Clichéd movie, Batman!", Jack is transported to a life of changing snotty nosed babies diapers and other pitfalls of married life. The topper being that he now lives in New Jersey (the horror, the horror).

Don't get me wrong I DO like this film, despite the ultra-simplistic moral that if you don't have someone to love you, you can never be truly happy no matter how much you think you are. If you don't have someone in your life, then you're just deluded in your happiness. That type of BS will NEVER sail with me. I like it, despite the amount of syrupy sweetness is enough to put Mother Theresa into a diabetic induced coma. It is well-acted and I was hardly ever bored, so that should count for something.

My Grade: C+

DVD Extras:Commantary with Director Brett Radner and Writers David Diamond & David Weissman; Second Commentary with Producer Marc Abraham; Music Score Commentary with Danny Elfman; A 20 minute Spotlight on Location featurette; 9 Deleted Footage; 6 Outtakes; Montage of people saying Jack; Seal 'This could be Heaven' Music Video; a lame Choose your Fate game; Opening scene with Alternative Music; Production Info; Cast & Crew Biographies; and Theatrical Trailer

DVD-ROM: Script to Screen Comparison; Screensaver; Wallpaper

because everyone needs marriage and 2.5 kids to be happy

[morobandgeek · 1/10 · 10 December 2011]

This movie is always on around Christmas, and it always makes me angry and/or nauseated. Nicolas Cage is a successful business man who is given a look at an alternate life for himself. Apparently, despite his success in his career and the fact that he was fine that way, what he really needs is marriage and 2.5 kids to be happy. Never mind that he doesn't like his job in this life and isn't crazy about the neighborhood, all you need is marriage and babies. Very predictably, he decides he loves his new life and doesn't want to go back, but of course he has to. Then he decides everything he spent his entire life working for means nothing without marriage and babies, and runs away to find his old girlfriend. She is also single and successful, and for some inexplicable reason decides that she too is unfulfilled and needs marriage and 2.5 kids.

In short, this movie sends the message that you need marriage and kids to be happy, and no matter how fulfilled you are in your career, it will never truly be enough. It's absolutely sickening.