the family man (2000)

Name: The Family Man
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 125 min
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Tea Leoni, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Piven, Saul Rubinek

The Family Man

PG-13

Comedy

Documentary

Drama

Fantasy

Romance

Release Date: December 12, 2000
Director: Brett Ratner
Cast: Nicolas Cage , Tea Leoni , Don Cheadle , Jeremy Piven , Saul Rubinek , Josef Sommer
Runtime: 125
Main Genre: Comedy
Studio: Universal Pictures
Writers: David Diamond , David Weissman
Tagline: What if... you made different choices? you said yes instead of no? you got a second chance?

Summary

Thirteen years ago, when Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) left for London to pursue a prestigious internship, he promised his law school-bound girlfriend Kate (Tea Leoni) that they'd only be apart for a year. Now it's Christmas Eve, and Jack's a high-paid, high-powered and high-living Wall Street bachelor, and Kate's a distant memory. Stopping at a convenience store on his way home from work, Jack finds himself in the middle of a disagreement between the store's owner and an agitated street punk. After helping to settle the riff, Jack proceeds to lecture the young man Cash (Don Cheadle), who in turn, proceeds to questions Jack's values in life. "I have everything I've ever wanted," Jack tells him. Tucked safely inside the walls of his sleek, immaculate designer penthouse, Jack falls asleep... ... and wakes up in a cluttered suburban New Jersey bedroom next to Kate, 13 years older and sleepdeprived but still looking like he remembers her, with a baby crying in the next room and a six-year-old girl calling him Daddy. And that's just the beginning in a long list of surprises for Jack. Jack is horrified. Somehow Jack Campbell businessman has become Jack Campbell the family man. Not only does he live in New Jersey and not New York, but he drives a minivan instead of a Ferrari. Instead of masterminding deals on Wall Street, he sells tires at a place called Big Ed's. His closet is filled with flannel shirts, rather than thousand dollar designer suits. Determined to reclaim everything he thinks he's lost-including his mind-Jack's shocked to find that neither the doorman from his Manhattan apartment building nor the security guard from his Manhattan office building have any idea who he is. When he spies the young man from the convenience store the night before, he thinks he's been rescued. With a twinkle in his eye, Cash proceeds to set Jack straight about what's happening. "This is a glimpse," he explains, before disappearing and leaving Jack alone to deal with the circumstances. Returning to New Jersey, Jack reluctantly begins playing the role of suburban husband and father, selling tires by day and changing diapers by night. With six-year-old Annie coaching him in both roles, even though she's sure he's really just an alien impersonating her Daddy, he gradually begins to feel at home. And little by little, Jack finds himself enjoying this new life of carpools, funnel cakes and mowing the lawn. And he finds himself falling in love all over again with Kate, who despite her lack of sleep, her limited wardrobe and her meager paycheck, is more attractive, intelligent and centered than all the women Jack's met in the last 13 years. All of a sudden, this "glimpse" feels very real to Jack-more real than his real life. Is it really just a "glimpse" or is it a second chance? Does it have to end? And if it does, how can he keep from losing Kate all over again?