The Family Man Reviews

This really is a brilliant and satisfying motion picture. Every facet is polished, every actor perfectly cast. The concept has been condemned as a "steal" from Frank Capra, but it isn't; it's a universal wish made reality, if possibly by magical means. Tea Leoni continues to polish her work. She is a glowingly beautiful woman who can act. She almost steals the film from Nicholas Cage, but that is impossible. Cage is - if one can say this - the new James Stewart. His voice, his lanky physique, even his gestures are Stewart-esque. No wonder he got this role. Cage shines as this Jack Campbell, whether the man is an arbitrager with a carbon steel soul or a gentle, bemused husband and father. Cage is so good at this dual personality that it's clear that he still can play the guilt (sic)-edged, slightly deranged and/or highly dangerous types that have built his career, in spite of worried critics who think otherwise. One reads reviews of the film that praise with faint damns, and vice versa, because "Family Man" leaves a good feeling. What's wrong with that? The well-woven characters with interesting, contrapuntal flaws keep the film from being gooey.