THE FAMILY MAN (Theatrical Release USA 2000)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 4.1|5.0 Starsìììì

The Family Man fails when it contrasts a single, professional male living an exceptionally sophisticated, high-end lifestyle with that of a family man living a routine, let’s have a barbecue and go bowling lifestyle. The severe contrast between the two lifestyles plagues the movie despite the attempted launch to the old lifestyle toward the end of the movie. It’s difficult to make sense of the ending scenes of the movie because it seems an open invitation to a single, professional female living an exceptionally sophisticated, high-end lifestyle to share a routine, let’s have a barbecue, and go bowling lifestyle. The movie does not follow a Cinderella format and replaces that ‘feel good’ ending with a feeling of uncertain future. Despite this, the film works as a teen/adult film and seems to support family values over money and sophisticated lifestyle, but raises the question of why must one go down the bowling alley with the ball to have a decent marriage with children?

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) gets a view into what his life would have been like if he had made a different decision about marrying his college girlfriend, Kate Reynolds (Téa Leoni).

Additional Thanks

Thank You to Director Brett Ratner for directing effort. Thank you to Executive Producers Armyan Bernstein, Thomas A. Bliss, and Andrew Z. Davis for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Cash (Don Cheadle), Arnie (Jeremy Piven), Alan Mintz (Saul Rubinek), Peter Lassiter (Josef Sommer), Annie Campbell (Makenzie Vega), Josh Campbell (Jake Milkovich), Josh Campbell (Ryan Milkovich), and Evelyn Thompson (Lisa Thornhill).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. For Nicholas Cage fans, the film works and sports a digestible, simple romance/drama storyline that doesn’t quite classify itself as a chick flick.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers