The Family Man

Cage is mega-successful Wall Street banker Jack Campbell. He's filthy rich, enjoys the high life, gets off on power. Then he does a good deed, talking down a crazy black dude with a gun (Cheadle in a role so patronising it reeks), and before you can say 'the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come', Jack's waking up to the life he might have had: married ten years to college girlfriend Kate (Leoni), a couple of kids screaming, deadend job selling tyres. Yup, they're poor. And it seems Jack's stuck with it. Now, this first third of the movie is the most enjoyable - which is to concede that there's mild entertainment in seeing a rich man brought down to earth with a bump. Not one to do things by halves, Cage almost chokes on the ratty furniture, check shirts, and the dubious pleasures of bowling with the guys. It's rare that an American movie lets slip such a snobbish distaste for the humdrum lives of its blue-collar audience base, but of course it doesn't last. Fearful lest we get the deluded idea that it may actually be easier to enjoy life with tons of money, director Ratner takes enormous pains to assure us that nothing could be further from the truth - and then has the gall to contrive a happy ending promising love and money.