Hey folks, Harry here and ya know... I think FAMILY MAN is going to work.... this review is a bit mixed, but sounds to me like someone that was fighting enjoying the film.... As though they liked it, then went back home.... got to a keyboard and started thinking... "Oh it is like this and this and this..." and started thinking about the originality issues and not the feelings in the theater that the movie spurned on. OF COURSE I COULD BE WRONG.... but we have had folks LOVE this film, and I believe this is our first mixed.... anyways... here ya go...
Hi Harry & Co
Last night in London there was a screening of the Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) directed The Family Man, starring Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni. The film was not yet finished, apparently the music was not finished on the 4th reel and there were no end credits as yet.
The film itself is something of a remake of It's A Wonderful Life, but very much focused on one family and not a whole town and the film company shouldn't even bother with comparisons - they won't help.
The film begins with a scene of college sweethearts Nicholas Cage and Tea Leoni parting company so he can go to London for an internship at a British bank (which has a great gag for people in the UK - and funnier than any other joke in the film). She is left dejected as he decides to go.
13 years later and bad ass successful businessman Nicholas Cage looks exactly the same as he did in that airport scene (oh well). He now has a supply of women and money at his disposal. He is a Master of the Universe. Living in an amazing New York apartment and driving a flash car are enough for him, heck he even makes his whole staff come in and work on Christmas Day. But things don't go quite according to plan for him....
An encounter with a mysterious figure (Don Cheadle) gives him the amazing opportunity to catch a glimpse of what life would have been like had he not gone to London and stayed with Leoni. So he wakes up on Christmas Day in a house in Jersey with wife Leoni and two cute kids. He works in a tire store, goes bowling and is considering having an affair with another local woman. Naturally he freaks. He still remembers his old life, but of course no one else does. The rest of the film is concerned with whether he will fall in love with his family, and especially Leoni, and whether he will be able to stay with them or have to return to his old life. Guess what happens....can you?
Of course you can. This is a film of no surprises. But it is a fairly sweet holiday film, but still there is something uninspired about it. Sub plots come and go and the whole thing adds up to very little.
Is there anything good?
Yes. Cage is his usual likeable self, well more likeable than in Gone in Sixty Seconds. his dashing bravado disappears as he becomes the dedicated Family Man of the title and he has an easy believable chemistry with Leoni. Which leads onto the other positive thing the film has - yes Tea Leoni. There is hope for Jurassic Park 3.
Much as I am loathe to say it, Leoni acquits herself very well and gives the most natural performance in the film. she has some good comedy and dramatic scenes and carries them off well. She seems to thrive under Ratner's direction and good luck to her.
The Don Cheadle of Out of Sight and Devil in a Blue Dress is nowhere to be seen. He is barely onscreen and the part does him no justice.
The direction is slick, although not distinctive and displays none of the energy of Rush Hour (although I didn't like that anyway).
Really it is an entertaining diversion and nothing else, not a Christams classic, not really stirring any emotion and full of sentimental excess. Pleasant but only mildly entertaining, but if you're a fan of Tea Leoni - enjoy.
Speak to you soon, Harry
Highsmith Major
