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However, when it comes time to settle down and commence a family, there a number of those things that are surely going to change. Going out on Friday night with your spouse and enjoying a nice and long, refined and tasteful dinner is going to have to take a back seat toward staying at home and eating with the entire family. Going out and seeing a romantic movie or an adult comedy will turn into going out and seeing a G-rated cartoon or perchance if you are lucky, a PG-rated kids action movie. Taking a vacation to Paris or Italy is going to be bumped by taking a family trip down to visit the grandparents or to an amusement park for a week of family themed fun. There is an endless list of sacrifices you are going to have to make as you go from a couple into a family, and your Friday night actions and vacation plans are just the beginning. When you were living as a couple, you and your spouse also had the option of living wherever you wanted. In a studio apartment in the center of a big city, or in a sprawling lake house deep down in the woods, away from all the traffic and hustle and bustle. However, when it comes to raising a family, you must consider a number of parts outside of personal preference. One of the basi questions you will have to ask yourself is: How safe is this neighborhood? Raising a family in a safe area is a big considerateness for any set of parents. Yet, while living in a safe part of town will have to be high up on your list, there are ways to protect your home even if you are living in a less-than-secure area. Home security schemes are fast getting a family’s best friend. An lowpriced option with dependable service, home alarm schemes are a outstanding addition to any family’s home, no matter where it might be situated. With a home alarm scheme in place, you may worry less with regards to what might take place if somebody were to try and approach your home. These home alarm schemes work as a deterrent to any person who is even thinking when it comes to targeting your house for the next crime, thereby keeping you and your entire family significantly safer. If a criminal is scouting out emplacements for his or her next crime, they are significantly more likely to ignore those houses that are fortified with security systems. As a result, homes that have these schemes in place are attacked much less oftentimes than their unprotected counterparts. In the end, while you would love to have a home that sits at the top of a mountain, out of reach of each criminal out there, the reality is that having a home security scheme in place will offer you the same security and assurance that when it comes time to hit the lights and go to bed, that every one resting inside will be safe and sound. Most helpful customer reviews 49 of 51 people found the following review helpful. Needless to say, Jack is confused; and the enigmatic Cash isn’t about to let him in on what’s going on– that’s for Jack to figure out on his own. So Jack has no choice but to go on living his life– even if it’s not really “his” life. And it becomes a journey of discovery; not only for Jack, but for the audience, as well. And what follows may be fantasy, but it’s fantasy with a message, from some filmmakers who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is, and they do it well.
What director Roth presents you with is an examination of what life is really all about, and what– in the final analysis– is really important. And make no mistake, this isn’t a film that aims for the head, it aims for the heart, scores a bullseye and doesn’t apologize for it. Is it pure, true, realistic, riveting drama? Of course not, and it never pretends to be. What it is, is a film that stays true to what it’s all about and says some things that need to be said in this fast-food, cybersaturated world of the here and now. It’s a poignant, well made and well acted film that appeals to the universal sensibilities that in one way or another reside within even the most jaded, modernized and “New Aged” individuals. Because it’s an entreaty to the most basic of human needs and concerns.
Cage was the perfect choice to play Jack; he’s got a natural, sympathetic look that makes him easy to like, and combined with the emotional aspect he brings to the character it makes Jack someone to whom it is so easy to relate. it’s a performance that allows you to feel something; and that’s really what this movie is all about, capturing that sense of humanity that is so often lacking in people’s lives today. Cage makes it work, and he makes it work beautifully, because he lets you share Jack’s frustration, his loss, his fears and, most importantly, the hope and the love he ultimately realizes has been missing in his life. It’s a challenging role that Cage not only met, but surpassed with just the kind of exacting performance that was needed to put this story across.
Tea Leoni gives an excellent performance, as well, as Kate. It’s a sensitive, sympathetic portrayal that serves the character and the story with great effectiveness. Leoni makes something special out of a character that could’ve been just the “female lead,” with the purpose of being nothing more than the means of moving the story of Jack’s self-discovery along. Instead, she makes it her story as much as his by making Kate an endearing, truly integral part of the film, and she fairly sparkles on the screen.
The supporting cast includes Jeremy Piven (Arnie), Saul Rubinek (Alan), Josef Sommer (Peter), Lisa Thornhill (Evelyn), Harve Presnell (Big Ed), Mary Beth Hurt (Adelle) and Francine York (Lorraine). There’s no doubt that personal experience and frame of reference is going to play a big part in the way “The Family Man” is received by the audience. But Ratner, Cage, Leoni and everyone else connected with this project are to be commended for making an honest, heart-felt film with an important message about life in today’s world. It’s a film that says success isn’t just being the guy at the top of the heap, that it’s okay to just “be” whomever or whatever you are, as long as it’s what makes you happy and content. It’s a bold statement for a filmmaker to make today, and we can only hope that more artists will have the guts to make more movies like this in the future. 67 of 72 people found the following review helpful. Nicolas Cage plays a harried but driven Wall Street executive playboy who wakes one day to find himself trapped in a life he never wanted, married to the woman he abandoned years ago. It’s a living nightmare at first, but the harder he tries to escape it, the more he begins to see that there are values and rewards that he somehow missed in his previous executive penthouse lifestyle. By the end of the movie, he’s learned a lesson he will never forget.
An unexplainable fantasy in the tradition of “Groundhog Day”, you soon find yourself accepting the unexplainable, even as the protagonist himself realizes there is no easy escape from his new reality, and learns to work within it’s framework. After all, life throws all of us some unexpected “curves”, and like the protagonist in this modern day Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Suburban Bowling League, we can become better people by accepting and embracing the crazy things life puts us through in the name of love. Chalk one up for old-fashioned family values in a feel-good movie with a message, served up without the sappy cliches.
Put the kids to bed early (The Family Man deals with some adult issues, and much as I enjoyed it, it would need a little editing before I would consider it a family film!), and just the two of you watch this one together with a bowl of popcorn and a glass of wine – you’ll be glad you did! 16 of 16 people found the following review helpful. Cage’s character, a rich, hard-working businessman with no time for a real relationship comes across his ex-finacee’s phone number after he chose to leave her in order to accept a job offer years before.
A ‘guardian angel’ of sorts gives him the chance to take a glimpse of how his life would be if he didn’t get on that plane. And the result is phenomenal. This is a movie for anyone who has ever wondered, “What if I made different choices in life.”
Why this movie wasn’t nominated for an Oscar is beyond me, but it is indeed a great film which the whole family will surely enjoy. |
A Romantic Fantasy That Works