The Family Man (2000)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Romantic Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer-Train Audio Commentary-B Ratner (Dir), D Diamond (Co-Writ) & D Weissman (Co-Writ) Isolated Musical Score-plus audio commentary from Danny Elfman Audio Commentary-Mark Abraham (Co-Producer) Menu Audio Featurette-Making Of Deleted Scenes Outtakes Featurette-Hi Jack Montage Biographies-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer Music Video-This Could Be Heaven-Seal Featurette-Opening Title Sequence with Alternate Music
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	120:47
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (83:14)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Brett Ratner
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Nicolas Cage Tea Leoni Jeremy Piven Saul Rubinek Don Cheadle
Case	C-Button-Version 2
RPI	$34.95	Music	Danny Elfman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (320Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, partly

   One of the truly great perks of forking over the bucks necessary for a business class airfare from Australia to the United States via London is the chance to indulge in those personal video screens with a virtually endless run of films. Even on that mega-flight (or flights really), there is so much variety that you don't ever get to see the same movie twice unless you want to. Okay, the downside is that you have to watch pan and scanned transfers, but when the bill of fare includes the likes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Chocolat; The Family Man; Bedazzled; What Women Want; Dr T and The Women; Unbreakable and Cast Away, you do get to fill in the flights with plenty of variety. So you can pretty much guess that if you watch the same movie twice (or more), then it must be pulling the right sort of strings as far as entertainment is concerned. Naturally, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon got more than a few views, but the only other film that I saw more than once was The Family Man. Whilst I can pretty much guarantee that the reason for watching the film the first time was Téa Leoni looking hotter than ever, I have to confess to enjoying the film more than I expected and re-watching it as a result. After all, the critics seemed to harp on about it being the 2000 incarnation of Frank Capra's classic It's A Wonderful Life, and a poorer incarnation at that. Well, let's get it out of the way - this is NO It's A Wonderful Life, nor does it pretend to be. What it is is another take on that immortal question of "what if?", a practise that we all too often indulge with. Sure there have been more than a few of these over the past few years, with the obvious ones being Sliding Doors and Me, Myself, I. Some have been good and some have been average, and if you believe the critics, The Family Man is an average one.

   However, if one looks back at film history, the critics also called It's A Wonderful Life an average film too, and that is now widely regarded as a true classic of the cinema. So we continue to stress the moral of the story as being - never believe the critics. Only you can determine whether the film is any good or not. Now in my humble opinion, The Family Man is a lot better than the critics made it out to be - the problem is that it is not as good as it should have been. Now where does the blame for that little dichotomy lie? Hint - I am no great fan of the director.....

   Contrary to the harping of some film critics, this is not the story of a man dissatisfied with his life. Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) is a good-looking, happy, single man. He is president of a boutique investment bank owned by Peter Lassiter (Josef Sommer), he lives in a rather sterile but obviously very expensive penthouse in New York, he drives a very nice and equally very expensive Ferrari and obviously is making plenty of money from the mega-deals that the bank is brokering. He naturally has no problem pulling the very hot birds as a result of the trappings of a very successful investment banking career. However, things could have been somewhat different. Thirteen years ago, Jack was heading off to London for an internship with a leading bank, with high hopes of this being a springboard to a successful career. His long time girlfriend Kate Reynolds (Téa Leoni) is not so sure that this is what they need. She knows that they have something very special and would be far more content with Jack staying behind and becoming a broker instead. She fears greatly that if he gets on that plane, she will not see him again. Ain't female intuition a wonderful thing? He got on that plane, she never saw him again and he had his successful banking career.

   Since the film would be very short if something more did not happen, the writers used this premise as the basis of this "what if?". As the climax of the current mega-deal comes to a head on Boxing Day, the story really starts on Christmas Eve when out-of-the-blue Jack gets a telephone call from his old flame. Whilst this certainly piques the interest of his personal assistant Adelle (Mary Beth Hurt), he pays it no heed and makes plans to head to Aspen, Colorado to visit the somewhat nervous buyer in the current mega-deal. As it says in the film - the true spirit of capitalism. On his way home from the office though, Jack detours into a local deli for some eggnog, and thereupon meets Cash (Don Cheadle). Cash is what you might call an angel and is there to test out people. He tests out the storekeeper, who fails the test, but the ever pragmatic Jack sees a solution to their gun-toting standoff in a simple business deal - two hundred dollars in exchange for a winning lotto ticket worth thirty eight dollars more than that, if it is genuine. The deal goes down but Cash's employers have a surprise in store for Jack. Heading home, Jack goes to sleep alone in his penthouse, but awakens in a suburban home on Christmas Day with a wife and a couple of kids. The wife is of course Kate and the kids are Annie (Makenzie Vega) and Josh (Jake and Ryan Milkovich). The worst fears of Jack are realised and he does the only thing he can - bolt in the hope of finding his true life.

   However, this glimpse he has been given does not allow for premature resumption of normal life and Jack has to undergo the torture of the life that he so dreaded; partying with their Jersey friends and neighbours, working as a tyre sales executive for his father-in-law Ed (Harve Presnell), bowling and looking after the children. A torture made all the worse for the fact that the only person who has twigged that he is not the "real" Jack Campbell of this universe is five-year-old Annie. But through all the torture clearly shines the one inalienable fact - Kate is very much in love with Jack and there is a heck of a lot worse in life than New Jersey suburbia with a gorgeous wife and two great kids. It is not going to give too much away if this simple point is made here for this tale has all the obviousness of a stop sign at the end of a partly completed bridge.

   The twist of course is that this glimpse is just that and eventually Jack is torn back to his real life Christmas Day, despite his unwillingness to go. Well-content with his life, he now realises that there might have been less financial reward with the choice he did not make thirteen years ago, but the other rewards well and truly cancel out that diminished financial reward. So now he has to see if he can undo the past thirteen years and resume a relationship with the real life Kate - who funnily enough is just about to head off on a plane to Paris as part of her highly successful career as a lawyer.

   Whilst the story is a little obvious, and there are plenty of senses of deja vu from any number of other films, in a warm fuzzy feeling kind of way, it works well enough. However, I always get the feeling that despite the comedic talent of the two leads, there could perhaps have been a few more genuine laughs made out of some of the situations. But what makes the story memorable is the characters that populate it, and those characters have been brought to life so well by a really strong cast. Nicolas Cage is one of the pre-eminent actors of the age and this is another strong performance from him, highlighted mostly by those sequences where he does not have to speak. Some of the looks he manages to bring out in the film are spot-on in capturing the mood of the situation, and clearly demonstrate that he does have a strong comedic string to his acting bow. Téa Leoni was fresh from the joys of new motherhood here and obviously motherhood suits her well. Apart from the natural breast enhancement from lactation, she has a serene sense of beauty that really comes through in the film, despite the often frantic nature of the film. The result is one of the most strongly sensual, but firmly believable, performances that you could ever wish to see. There is absolutely no doubt that Kate and Jack are in love and it shines throughout the film like a beacon (pun intended). In my humble opinion, this is probably her finest moment in film to date.

   But this film succeeds enormously on the strength of the casting of the supporting roles. Whilst she gets basically little more than five minutes on screen, Mary Beth Hurt is stunning as Jack's personal assistant and is responsible for most of the really droll but witty lines in the film. She almost steals the show with her five minutes. However, even she is upstaged by the young Makenzie Vega here, who plays the role of Annie like a veteran. I am no sure how much emotional depth a young kid can bring to a role, but there is plenty here when she gets the chance. What is the old saying - never star with kids and animals? Well, the kid upstages everyone and most of the truly touching moments of the film centre around her and Nicolas Cage. Don Cheadle does a terrific job as Cash and plays him a couple of ways to boot, showing a nice depth to the multiple aspects of the character. Lisa Thornhill does a great job as the bored wife of a friend, who has a strong lustful eye on Jack, and this is really evidenced by her performance in the videotaped sequence at the birthday party. It is very subtle, but it adds a whole dimension to a character who would otherwise not really be much more than a pair of breasts contained in a push-up bra and peeping out through a low cut dress. You could go on and on, and to some extent they do in the commentaries, but the quality across the board really is very good here.

   You can also add into the mix some rather delightful cinematography that highlights many subtle aspects of the film, really highlighting a strong sense of purpose and commitment to the film. There are some nice touches as far as lighting is concerned and none more so than the transition from Manhattan Jack to Jersey Jack. Add in some great touches in the sets, with the rather simple, stark and GQ-ish penthouse apartment for instance contrasting enormously with the very cluttered, homely suburban house in Jersey. A rather imaginative use of sumptuous tones for the city and some rather starker, colder tones for Jersey provide a nice counterpoint to highlight the fact that Jack is very comfortable with the city lifestyle, but is completely at odds with the Jersey lifestyle. It is a nice contrast too to the normal stark, steely city look and the more comfortable, homely look of the suburbs.

   Whilst I doubt that we will in fifty years time be calling The Family Man a classic along the lines of It's A Wonderful Life, it is quite obvious that this is a good film brought to fruition by an enormously dedicated and sympathetic cast and crew. A few more genuine laughs might not have gone astray, and perhaps a few more judicious edits to get the film down from the full two hour length might have also helped. Nonetheless, it is an enjoyable evening's viewing that will certainly satisfy both sides of the partnership. Check it out - you might find that you enjoy it more than the critics said you would.

Video

    One of the great problems of watching a film four times in rapid succession (once for the film and three times for the commentaries) is the fact that you become acutely aware of every flaw in the transfer. Unfortunately, that is the case here. After the first view, this was going to be in the very good category with a few minor blemishes here and there. By the end of the fourth viewing, it is in the good category but I cannot help but feel that we should have got something better. Roadshow Home Entertainment have given us some gems in recent times as far as transfers go, and whilst this is still miles better than some can do, this effort is not amongst those gems.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced. I would hazard a guess without checking that the film was shot anamorphically. It has that nice glossy look to it...

    The transfer itself is quite beautifully detailed, with some aspects of it being absolutely exquisite. Immediately springing to mind in that way is the sequence around 99:40, where the shot is purely of white snowflakes falling against a jet black night sky, with the background being some snow-covered branches of a tree. The whole thing looks absolutely perfectly rendered. Another terrific example is the beautifully-lit night time street scene at 36:40. These are the sorts of scenes that have me really in raptures over a transfer. A pity therefore that not every minute of every scene shows the same exquisite detail. The transfer is generally beautifully sharp throughout, with only a few extreme edge details showing any sign of real blur. Unfortunately some of the scenes, most especially those during the ride around in the Ferrari around 23:30, seem to display some edge enhancement. Perhaps it is just my setup, but this did seem to me to detract form the otherwise excellent quality. Shadow detail is a little disappointing at times, as some scenes are deliberately shot dark and with minimal detail. The external shots however are rather nicely handled and more than effectively balance these disappointments. Clarity is stunning throughout and I really would be hard-pressed to detail any portion of the film as containing anything significant in the way of grain. Any suggestion of low level noise in the transfer might be considered an insult to Roadshow Home Entertainment - so I will not insult them, for there is none.

    This is a gloriously handled palette of colour, with the transfer being really vibrant. As indicated, there is a sharp contrast between the sumptuous tones of the city and the starker tones of Jersey, but the whole thing is handled exquisitely by the transfer. There is a gorgeous depth to the tones whether sumptuous or stark, and I would be hard-pressed to recall any instance where the blacks (of which there are plenty) were not solid in definition and depth. It has been a fair while since I have seen a colour palette as gorgeously handled as this one. Skin tones are in particular very well-handled. There is nothing approaching oversaturation here at all, and colour bleed is a non-issue of the highest order. In fact the only thing that I could have wished to be a little better is the odd instance of a slight darkness in the transfer, but I am sure that this was as intended by everyone concerned.

    There did not appear to be any MPEG artefacts in the transfer. Indeed, the only real problem with the transfer is the presence of some minor aliasing throughout the transfer: the shelves at 3:22, the car and bridge at 25:12, the gutter at 27:34, the brick wall at 28:55 and so on. In themselves they are quite minor and might well pass by without being noticed, but after four straight views of the film they are a tad too noticeable for me. You can pretty much forget about film artefacts in this transfer: although I made no notes, about the only thing I noticed was one small black spot during the film and about three white spots during the credits. had there been less consistent, albeit minor aliasing in the transfer, this would have been held up in my view as a reference transfer.

    This is an RSDL formatted DVD. The first time through I completely missed the layer change and it was only during the first commentary that I noticed it - mainly because of the slight pause in sound. It actually comes mid-scene at 83:14 and it is during a still shot on Nicolas Cage. It is not that noticeable obviously if I missed it first time through, and is not really disruptive to the flow of the film, but I would have thought that a slightly better point could have been found to hide the layer change even better.

    There is just the one subtitle option on the DVD, as is usual for Roadshow releases. In the fifteen minute sample I did at the beginning of the film, these seemed to very well done with no major issues with their accuracy and completeness. This is of course bearing in mind that 100% completeness is pretty darn difficult to attain - I would say these are about 85% complete, dropping only names and repeated words with any regularity. They are nicely handled with a left-right presentation during conversations so the relevant subtitle appears under the relevant person.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are four soundtracks on offer on the DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, and three English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtracks, the second of which (the composer's effort) is surround encoded. I listened to all four soundtracks.

    There are no complaints with the dialogue in the transfer, which comes up very well and very easy to understand. There are no issues with audio sync in the transfer.

    The original music score comes from Danny Elfman, and a refreshingly non-characteristic score it is too. Just about every soundtrack I have ever heard from him has that characteristic spooky feel to it that is so epitomised by the score for Beetlejuice. This is a much more traditional, almost classic, sounding film score that certainly contrasts sharply with his general body of work. It is a nicely complementary soundtrack, as evidenced when listening to the composer's audio commentary.

    There is actually very little to say about this very nice sounding Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. This is not a film that uses a heck of a lot in the way of sonic demonstrations and the bass channel here basically is along for the ride with just occasional use. Nonetheless, that occasional use raises my only problem with the soundtrack: the bass is a little too forward in the mix during the opening sequence where Nicolas Cage is singing the opera, and again briefly later in the film. The result is a slightly unnatural, over-resonant feel to the soundtrack at those points. The surround channel use is generally excellent, although a bit more ambience out of the rears on occasion (the party for instance), might not have gone astray. But for those few minor issues, this too would have been a reference quality transfer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Well, if the film is arguably not a classic, the appellation might fall to the extras package. This is one seriously sized package indeed, and the only complaints would be that not everything is film-enhancing and that this is obviously one seriously filled DVD - is that the reason for the slight lapses in the video transfer? Not enough space on the DVD?

Menu

    As is typical for Roadshow Home Entertainment, all are 16x9 enhanced widescreen aspect ratio presentations. All have some audio enhancement (the same theme music) with the main menu having some animation enhancement too. Nicely themed, nicely presented - good one indeed from Roadshow.

Dolby Digital Trailer - Train

    The more I watch and listen to these, the more I feel that their presence actually detracts from the DVD. Loud, not really great indications of what Dolby Digital surround presence can do, they certainly are starkly contrasting to the feature itself.

Featurette - The Story Of A Film: The Making Of The Family Man (20:00)

    A fairly typical EPK type of effort that is generally put together for films nowadays. There is nothing really illuminating here, with only modest behind the scenes stuff. The interview stuff tends towards the cloying, "ain't everyone wonderful" style that we all love to hate. There is at least some interesting snippets that flesh out the extracts from the film. Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, it is 16x9 enhanced (as is everything on the DVD thankfully) and comes with decent Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. The technical quality is good even if the content could have been more interesting and informative.

Audio Commentary - Brett Ratner (Director), David Diamond and David Weissman (Writers)

    One thing that we have already learnt from Brett Ratner's limited film output is that the man is passionate about his film-making. Accordingly, this was quite an anticipated commentary track. In the end, whilst he is obviously enthusiastic about the film, and gets along pretty well with his commentary partners, this at times descends to the banal - references to look at who is on-screen type stuff. Still, whilst I would not classify it as a great commentary, it is an interesting enough one with enough background information to make it worthwhile to endure the entire length of the commentary.

Audio Commentary - Danny Elfman (Composer)

    Whilst this is billed as an audio commentary, it is more like an isolated music score with minimal added comments from the composer. Even billing it as an isolated music score is not entirely accurate as it still contains plenty of film dialogue. This however is only present where there is no musical contribution at all, and this sort of presentation is not entirely distasteful. The comments from Danny Elfman are not exactly verbose and are relatively limited, but at least do make some attempt at explaining what was trying to be achieved by the score.

Audio Commentary - Marc Abraham (Producer)

    The third commentary is actually probably the best of the lot! Whilst he is not really an engaging personality, he does provide a fair deal of background information to the film that, whilst occasionally duplicating comments made in the first commentary, does enhance the understanding of how the film was put together. Rounds out what are three not exactly inspirational efforts but still reasonably worthwhile listening.

Deleted Scenes (9) (13:32)

    Nicely presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, they are 16x9 enhanced and come with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Whilst understandable why most were exorcised from the final film, the loss of some is regretted, even if some are really not so much deleted scenes as alternate, extended scenes. The nine scenes are: Kate Made A Tape For Jack (1:08), Jack On The Football Phone (1:36), Extended Dog Walk (1:09), The Customer Is Always Right/Sidney Potter (2:47), Jack Rings The Bell (0:54), Kate Gets Ready/Annie Helps (1:04), Alan Mintz vs Jack Campbell (2:23), Annie Practices Violin (0:59) and Arnie Doesn't Know Jack (1:28). Quite good technically, reflecting the fact that many of these were late removals from the film.

Outtakes (7) (8:44)

    Where mainly Nicolas Cage and Jeremy Piven manage to reduce themselves to fits of laughter fairly easily. Again presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, they are 16x9 enhanced and come with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Nothing to really complain about as far as the technical quality is concerned for this sort of material.

Featurette - "Hi, Jack" Montage (0:41)

    Basically a collection of variations of the concept of saying "Hi, Jack" from the film. I have no idea what the heck the purpose of this is but they could cheerfully have forgotten it. All the material is from actual film and not the final version of the film, so we get all sorts of time encoding that means plenty to film-makers but sod all to me. Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, it is 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. The technical quality is pretty ropey, being quite grainy and prone to aliasing.

Biographies - Cast and Crew

    Quite detailed and up-to-date efforts for the main three cast members and the director.

Theatrical Trailer (2:27)

    A typical example of the genre of the era, it gives away much of the film and includes some scenes that did not make the final film. Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, it is 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Technically quite excellent.

Music Video - This Could Be Heaven - Seal (4:34)

    Whilst Seal has never been much to my taste, this is actually a quite decent song presented well. It is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, it is 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Nothing at all wrong with this.

Featurette - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (1:13)

    Not so much a featurette as the alternate opening sequence referred to in the commentary by Marc Abraham. This is reasonably raw looking as befits the fact that it did not go through any final processing. I am not sure that it would have made any better impression in the film, but worthwhile enough to see it. Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, it is 16x9 enhanced and comes with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

    According to Widescreen Review, the Region 1 release has the following additional features:

• Choose Your Fate game
• Production Notes
• Booklet
• DVD-ROM extras
• dts 5.1 soundtrack

    Whilst I could not give a rodent's rear end about the DVD-ROM content, the dts soundtrack option could be more persuasive. It sounds like Region 4 gets a better video transfer, whilst the audio transfer is pretty similar sounding. So it gets down to the extras and that extra soundtrack - sorry, as good as this is, Region 1 might well be the marginal choice here.

(Ed. There was physically not enough room on the R4 DVD to include a dts soundtrack whilst maintaining image quality according to Roadshow. Inspection of the actual space used on the DVD would indicate that this is true.)

    The Family Man is an enjoyable film, just not a classic film along the lines of It's A Wonderful Life. Apart from some minor issues, the video and audio transfers are generally very good and the extras package is superb in quantity if not entirely in quality. I would say that this is well worth looking at, but large screen owners may have some slightly more grating issues than small screen owners with the aliasing issues.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall