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The Family Man (PG-13, 2000)

common sense media says

Pleasant movie despite some predictability.

parents & educators say
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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that the movie has some mature themes, including sexual references and situations. Jack is very nice to a woman he slept with, but it is clear that there is no intimacy between them. He and his wife start to have sex, but when he says something she finds inappropriate, she stops him. A woman suggests an affair, and Jack's friend tells him that it would be disastrous: "Don't screw up your whole life just because you're a little unsure about who you are." The movie does make it clear that loving, married sex is the ideal. Characters repeatedly turn to liquor to relieve stress, and a character makes a joke about his wife's drinking. There is some strong language.

Positive messages: What could have been if we remained compassionate, thoughtful and kind, or something akin to that.
Positive role models: Jack is reminiscent of Scrooge.
Violence: Brief scene of peril, no injuries.
Sex: Sexual references and situations, including adultery and a one-night stand.
Language: Brief mild language, mostly variations of "s--t."
Consumerism: Not applicable.
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Characters reach for drinks to cope with stress.
Our ratings and reviews are informed by child development guidelines. Learn more.

More on The Family Man

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
  • Families can talk about some of the "roads not taken" they still think about, and what they think their lives would be like now if they had made another choice.
  • How do we make choices?
  • What do we do when circumstances make choices for us?
  • What do you think the angel will do for the young woman who accepted too much change?

What's the story?

What's the story?
Nicolas Cage plays Jack Campbell, a man who is perfectly delighted with his life the way it is. He loves money, making it on Wall Street and spending it on expensive suits, gourmet meals, and a snazzy sports car. He doesn't mind Scrooge-ily calling a meeting at the office on Christmas, telling himself it is for the employees' own good, since they will be making so much money. But then he stops to buy eggnog and sees a man (Don Cheadle) pull out a gun when a store clerk refuses to pay off his lottery ticket. His offer to buy the ticket mysteriously catapults him into the life he chose not to have -- a life in the New Jersey suburbs, married to his college sweetheart (Tea Leoni), with two small children and a job selling tires. His old life has disappeared. It is his worst nightmare, and he gets many opportunities to be horrified by diapers and outlet store merchandise and completely deconstruct his old life before he begins to realize what he has missed.

 

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 

The grand tradition of "what if?" movies from A Christmas Carol to It's a Wonderful Life and the more recent Passion of Mind and Me Myself I show us an unhappy hero or heroine who finds out what life would have been like if he or she had made a different choice. But in this version, Jack loved his life to begin with.

Despite some predictability and some awkward construction -- the movie feels as though it was edited heavily after focus group testing, leaving some characters and plot lines unresolved -- the movie is a holiday pleasure. Cage and Leoni are enormously appealing in their various incarnations. There are some funny lines and warm moments, especially when the one person Jack cannot fool is his daughter, who knows this is not the Daddy she loves and decides he must be an alien. And there is a satisfying resolution that incorporates the best of both options.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Brett Ratner
Cast: Don Cheadle, Nicolas Cage, Tea Leoni
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 125 minutes
Theatrical release: December 22, 2000
DVD release: July 2, 2001
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: sexual references and situations and language
This review was written by Nell Minow
 
 

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