The Family Man (2000) [PG-13] ****

Jack Campbell has the perfect life - playboy and millionaire New York investment banker, with beautiful, expensive women from an escort service and fast cars. But something is missing... love. Thirteen years earlier Jack had left his girlfriend Kate at JFK airport when he departed for a one-year banking internship in England. He didn't come back and they split up and lost contact.

Then Jack has a rare opportunity. He goes to sleep on Christmas Eve, slips through a crack in the space-time continuum and wakes up on Christmas morning in suburban New Jersey, married to Kate for thirteen years, with a family and a completely different history. There's just one problem - he remembers his millionaire investment banker life and not his thirteen years with Kate. In the ultimate what-if scenario, Jack experiences the path not taken as a glimpse, a temporary life, and a divine gift. He begins to understand what he has done by choosing money over love and how this choice has stunted his emotional and spiritual growth. The wisdom he gains and his reawakened love for Kate cause him to reevaluate his life and understand what he has missed.

This is a wonderful movie about giving love a second chance. Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni have incredible chemistry together. You won't want the story to end. Don Cheadle plays Cash Money, the angel who gives Jack his second chance. And, as an added bit of humor, Jeremy Piven plays Arnie, Jack's suburban neighbor and bowling buddy. When Jack briefly contemplates cheating on Kate with Evelyn Thompson (Lisa Thornhill) an attractive neighbor, Arnie reminds him, in a hushed, intense whisper: Fidelity Bank and Trust is a tough creditor. You make a deposit someplace else and they close your account - forever! If you like second-chance romances, I highly recommend The Family Man. 

Jack's Ferrari is a 1999 550 Maranello. Apparently Nicolas Cage actually owned the vehicle prior to filming, but he didn't own it at the time the movie was filmed. I can just imagine Cage calling up the new owner and asking him if he'd like to see his Ferrari used in a romantic comedy.

Labels: Christmas, comedy, drama, fantasy, Ferrari, reunion, rom-drama-faves, romance, space-time     
Internet Movie Database 68/100
MetaScore (critics=42, viewers=81)   
RottenTomatoes Averages (critics=55, viewers=74)     
Blu-ray
James Berardinelli's review (3 out of 4 stars)