Family Man, The (2000) - Synopsis
13 years ago, when Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) left for London to pursue a prestigious internship, he promised his law school-bound girlfriend Kate (Téa 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 sleep-deprived 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.
Universal Pictures and Beacon Pictures present a Riche / Ludwig-Zvi Howard Rosenman-Saturn production, The Family Man, a romantic comedy drama about life's possibilities, starring Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage as Jack Campbell and Téa Leoni as Kate. The film also stars Don Cheadle, Jeremy Piven, Amber Valletta and Harve Presnell. Directed by Brett Ratner from an original screenplay by David Diamond & David Weissman , The Family Man is produced by Marc Abraham, Howard Rosenman, Tony Ludwig and Alan Riche, and executive produced by Armyan Bernstein, Thomas A. Bliss and Andrew Z. Davis. Dante Spinotti, A.S.C., A.I.C. is director of photography, Mark Helfrich, A.C.E. is editor, Kristi Zea is production designer and Betsy Heimann is costume designer.
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 start to feel at home. And little by little, Jack finds himself enjoying this new life of carpools and 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?
