Nicolas Cage is a really fine actor, and it shows most when he is in sub-par retread material like "The Family Man", a cross between "It's a Wonderful Life", "A Christmas Carol", and (here's the bad part), and "Regarding Henry." Soulless capitalist, an 80s archetype, gets a chance to see his life as it would have been had he been hip and grooving and stuck with Tea Leoni.
Here is a big problem. Tea Leoni is noticeable only when she's grating. And for the film to work, we have to see that Cage's life would be appreciably better as a New Jersey tire salesman married to Leoni, as opposed to a driven, but apparently decent arbitrage multi-millionaire (a good deed gets him his glimpse of another life).
And his life as a tire salesman does suck. Objectively. Squadoosh.
The film has a few funny bits, and Cage makes much that otherwise wouldn't work.
Grade: C.
