The Family Man (2000)
Directed by Brett Ratner
Jack's lavish, fast-paced lifestyle changes one Christmas night when he stumbles into a grocery store holdup and disarms the gunman. The next morning he wakes up in bed lying next to Kate, his college sweetheart he left in order to pursue his career, and to the horrifying discovery that his former life no longer exists. As he stumbles through this alternate suburban universe, Jack finds himself at a crossroad where he must choose between his high-power career and the woman he loves.
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What critics compared The Family Man to
In this one which must have been put together by someone who watched "It's a Wonderful Life" after a little too much eggnog and methamphetamine Nicolas Cage plays a high-rolling international investment star who is shunted into an alternate universe by a helpful angel and comes to see the pleasures of living in a crappy house in New Jersey.
And why is it that when a film blatantly steals from a classic -- "It's a Wonderful Life," in this case -- the characters almost never acknowledge it?
The best "What if?" movies are dark and troubling on some level -- It's a Wonderful Life starts with a man who wishes he'd never been born, and in Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character is driven to suicide by the banality of day-to-day existence.
Cage eases into the role with the charm and affability of Jimmy Stewart and its no coincidence, since "The Family Man" is essentially a reworking of that Christmas staple "It's a Wonderful Life" (right down to its angelic Clarence Oddbody, here fleetingly realized by Don Cheadle).
December 25, 2000 -- "The Family Man" is a slightly different riff on the story in the old movie "It's a Wonderful Life."
As for Tea Leoni, we just haven't seen enough of this unique actress ("Flirting With Disaster", 1996; "A League of Their Own", 1992) and take comfort in the fact that she's in the upcoming, "Jurassic Park III".
Granted, we’ve seen the storyline before in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “A Christmas Carol,” and “The Family Man,” among others.
With this prequel to The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, self-anointed wunderkind Brett Ratner (The Family Man, Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2) has finally put some mojo where his mouth â and, barring any new evidence to the contrary, his métier â is.
The chips are stacked against director Brett Ratner (“Rush Hour 1 & 2,” “The Family Man”) right away with “Red Dragon.”
In Red Dragon, Director Brett Ratner ( Rush Hour , The Family Man ) rectifies the mistakes of Hannibal, which suffered from a surfeit of gore.
His previous movies were action comedies like the Rush Hour pictures or heartwarmers like The Family Man.
Of course, Mann and company had no idea that the award winning Jonathan Demme film would follow them, whereas director Brett Ratner - hot off his success with "The Family Man" and the "Rush Hour" films - obviously did.